Saving Iceland

6 October 2007

Concerts, info, movies of 2007 SI summer actions, vegan food, bar, a lot of beautiful people and a big party!

Sleeping places available if you let us know:  savingiceland at riseup.net

Click here for a flyer to print and distribute

Thurs, Sept 6, 8pm.
Environmental Justice vs. Mining: Taking action in Appalachia & Iceland
A two-part evening with two special guests. Read More

Jaap Krater
Earth First Journal
3 August, 2007

Summer of Resistance in Iceland – an overview

This year, Iceland saw its third Summer of direct action against heavy industry and large dams. In a much-disputed master plan, all the glacial rivers and geothermal potential of Europe’s largest wilderness would be harnessed for aluminum production (see EF!J May-June 2006). Activists from around the world have gathered to protect Europe’s largest remaining wilderness and oppose aluminum corporations.
Read More

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
26 August 2007

Sold! Sigur Rós auction for Saving Iceland

A signed copy of a limited edition collection of Sigur Rós records has sold on ebay.com for US $512 [1]. As a gift of support, Sigur Rós had personally decided to donate all the proceeds from this auction to the protest group Saving Iceland. [2] Read More

Update! 26 August 2007
Wow, the collection sold for a cool US $512! Thank you to everyone who made up the twenty-seven bids and of course to ‘mictech_01′ from Germany who put down the winner. Also, another massive we love you to Sigur Rós for this, for the inspiring music and for the support. PRESS RELEASE Read More

In this exhaustive text, Felix Padel and Samarendra Das give a thorough analysis of the situation of the aluminium industry in India, its history as a global force of destruction intrinsically linked to the arms industry and its links to genocide. This is required reading for anyone with an interest in the aluminium industry, peace, and the desperate situation of the people of Orissa, India. Read More

Trouw (daily), Netherlands, 21 January 2007

Large dams have dramatic consequences. Ecosystems are destroyed and numerous people are made homeless, often without adequate resettlement. But it is yet little known that large-scale hydro-electricity is a major contributor to global warming. The reservoirs could, despite their clean image, be even more devastating for our climate than fossil fuel plants.

A few years ago, I spent a month in the valley of the Narmada River, to support tribal activists who have been resisting the Sardar Sarovar dam in central India for decades. These indigenous inhabitants, or adivasis, are desperate. In their struggle, inspired by Gandhi, they attempt to drown themselves when their villages are flooded. Death seems preferable to being forced to move from their valley to tin houses on infertile, barren soil. If they’re lucky, they can live on land that nobody else wants, the only available in the densely populated India. This forced resettlement, made necessary by ´progress´, is not unsimilar to what befell American Indians or the Aborigines in Australia. The consequences of mega hydro: cultures die and alcoholism, depression and violence remains. Read More

17 August 2007

The SI collective gave a presentation on Thursday 16th at the UK’s Camp for Climate Action. Over 30 people attended to hear about the heavy-industrial destruction of Iceland, Trinidad, South Africa, Brasil and India. Read More

By Felix Padel and Samarendra Das, Economic and Political Weekly, December 2005

“The evidence we present goes against the conventional history of aluminium, which tends to portray the industry as central to various countries’ economic power and prosperity, without understanding the financial manipulation and exploitation between and within countries, and the true costs.”

Few people understand aluminium’s true form or see its industry as a whole. Hidden from general awareness are its close link with big dams, complex forms of exploitation in the industry’s financial structure, and a destructive impact on indigenous society that amounts to a form of genocide. At the other end of the production line, aluminium’s highest-price forms consist of complex alloys essential to various ‘aerospace’/’defence’ applications.1 The metal’s high ‘strategic importance’ is due to its status as a key material supplying the arms industry. In these four dimensions ‘ environmental, economic, social and military ‘ it has some very destructive effects on human life.
Read More

START ART – Laugavegi 12b, Reykjavik

Over a dozen major Icelandic artists have donated their work for an exhibition and auction in Start Art, Artists House in support of this weekend’s Saving Iceland conference.
The exhibition is open 3-5 July at 3pm-7pm, both days, and concludes with an auction of the artworks on Thursday 5 July at 5pm. The works and the artists will be introduced an hour before the bidding begins. Birna Þórðardóttir will act as auctioneer.

The following artists have donated their works:

Áslaug Thorlacius, Birgir Andrésson, Eggert Pétursson, Erling Klingenberg, Eygló Harðardóttir, Gaga Skorrdal, Haraldur Jónsson, Helgi Þorgils Friðjónsson, Kristinn G. Harðarson, Kristinn E. Hrafnsson, Kristín Reynisdóttir, Magdalena Kjartansdóttir, Magnús Pálsson, Ólafur Lárusson, Ragnhildur Stefánsdóttir, Sigrid Valtingojer og Þórdís Alda Sigurðardóttir.

This is a golden opportunity to acquire a beautiful work of art at the same time that you can support a democratic debate about an issue that concerns all of us – children of Earth.