Don’t Bank on EACOP

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French oil company Total and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are pushing for the construction of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), the longest heated pipeline in the world, transporting about 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Uganda to the Tanga port in Tanzania. The project threatens to displace thousands of families and farmers from their land. The land acquisition process has already begun, raising the question whether the rights of indigenous communities to Free, Prior and Informed Consent has been respected in accordance with international standards.

Total is facing a historical lawsuit in France for its failure to prevent human rights violations and environmental damage linked to these oil exploration projects. Total’s decision to move forward with opening a new oil frontier in Africa is in contradiction to their communication strategy that depicts the oil major as climate conscious, responsible, multi-energy company. Extraction of oil in Uganda generates up to 34 million tons of carbon emissions each year. EACOP will bring climate chaos and biodiversity loss and is already causing serious human rights violations. We need to #StopEACOP.

Building the biggest heated oil pipeline in the world is very expensive. Total and CNOOC are in need of a 3 billion USD debt finance from some of the world’s largest commercial banks to get this project off the ground. Standard Bank, through its subsidiary Stanbic Uganda, along with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), are acting as financial advisors to the project. These banks are expected to serve as lead arrangers, meaning they will need to approach other banks to co-finance the deal. The #StopEACOP alliance has written to each of those banks, urging them to rule out supporting EACOP in any way publicly. Thanks to the international mobilization, 24 banks have already pulled out. Below we list the banks in three groups:

  1. Banks actively supporting EACOP: Standard Bank (South Africa), ICBC (China).
  2. Banks that declined to answer or do not rule out to finance EACOP: Agricltural Bank of China (China), Bank of China (China), China Construction Bank (China), China International Capital Bank (China), BBVA (Spain), OCBC Bank (Singapore), Goldman Sachs (USA), Bank of America (USA).
  3. Banks that ruled out to support EACOP project: SMBC (Japan), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (Japan), Standard Chartered (UK), Santander (Spain), Natixis (France), Investec (South Africa), ANZ (Australia), CityGroup (USA), Barclays (UK), First Rand (South Africa), Credit Agricole (France), Deutsche Bank (Germany), BNP Paribas (France), Credit Suisse (Switzerland), HCBC (UK), Mizuho (Japan), Morgan Stanley (USA), Royal Bank of Canada (Canada), JP Morgan (USA), UniCredit (Italy), Societe Generale (France), Nedbank (South Africa), UOP (Singapore), Wells Fargo (USA), DZ Bank (Germany), Intesa SanPaolo (Italy).

YOU can still send your own message to the banks that are most likely to consider financing the pipeline. Support the #StopEACOP campaign! Though lots needs to be done to limit climate change and create a better future for everyone, it is clear that stopping the East African Crude Oil Pipeline is a critical first step.

Declare a Global Climate Emergency


Over 75,000 climate protesters took to the streets of New York City in the weekend on 16/17 September in a powerful show of force at the March To End Fossil Fuels, demanding world leaders take bold action to end the era of fossil fuels. It was the largest global climate mobilization since the pandemic. While the demonstration was big, it was just one part of a truly massive global effort, with over 700 actions in 65 countries on seven continents and even at the North Pole.

World leaders gathering for the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York which took place in the week after, completely managed to ignore our demands. The Climate Ambition Summit failed to deliver. Instead of fossil fuel “phase out,” nations agreed to “phase down” their use of fossil fuels only in regards to unabated coal power. After the hottest, most catastrophic summer in human history it is time to pivot to a more urgent and direct way to hold world leaders‘ feet to the fire.

Here is where The Third Force comes into play. Join The Third Force and let’s demand our world leaders declare a Global Climate Emergency by years end, or we’ll bring their doomsday machine crashing to the ground.

Starting this Friday, in 100 cities around the world let’s:

And let’s pick up the pace, the tempo, the rhythm of our activism. Turn every Friday into a global day of fuck-it-all civil disobedience!

Let’s put one big idea behind every one of our actions. One demand, clear and simple, roaring from our signs and banners, a big bold drumbeat to permeate the collective psyche of humanity. World leaders get together and Declare a Global Climate Emergency

New Online-Demo support pages


Online demonstration or netstrike is a legitimate form of non-violent protest, an act of electronic civil disobedience (ECD). It’s a direct mass action with which an institution or a cooperation is put under pressure so that it ends its unethical or criminal actions. Within the electronic, digital environment, ECD tries to interrupt information flows and capital flows on carefully selected websites / web servers, but without damaging files or hardware systems.

It is your right to join an online demonstration. Computer tools of dissent are like a virtual flashmob – the temporary suspension of a site’s service or the spread of its databases hasn’t to be considered a violent action and it don’t produce an irreparable damage.

Our Online Demonstration User Support pages are offering a wide range of short tutorials and software tools. Our Support pages provide materials and help for organizing or participating in online demonstration actions. Everything is centered on one page where you find links to guides on the use of proxies, Tor Browser, VPN, email encryption, iMacros scripts and a full anti-censorship package. Use the contact form if you have a comment, want to contribute a link of another ECD page or if you want to ask for support of your own online action project using the online-demo software.

Visit the new Online-Demo User Support:
http://zdemo.freeasphost.net/
Please add the page to your bookmarks / favorites.

From now on Lützerath is everywhere!


After the eviction of the village Lützerath despite fierce resistance of thousand activists and residents on 16 January 2023, we will continue electronic protests against RWE. The destruction of Lützerath and the burning of the coal is a further step towards aggravating the climate catastrophe and directly threatens people. Every tonne CO2 that is expelled means that even more people will suffer from heat waves, extreme weather, droughts, hunger and spreading diseases. Each additional tonne CO2 continues to destabilize the living conditions of the future. Therefore, the coal under Lützerath must remain in the ground.

Lützerath has created a great cohesion of everyone who fights for climate justice. We declare: Lützerath lives. From now on Lützerath is everywhere!

We expand the action zone around #ZADRheinland to the digital space. There are various ways to participate in the permanent online demonstration. With a Virtual Sitin Tool, you can find out by automatic calling the RWE websites why RWE sticks to dirty brown coal. With an iMacros script, RWE can be bombarded with emails using the contact form. Then we flood the headquarters of RWE with free product catalogs. There are also a few practical tips what everyone can do.

Join the online protest now:
http://odevenz.bravesites.com/
Action ended: 20 April 2023

Join Online Protest to save Lützerath


RWE is planning to extract around 900 million tons of brown coal. According to the German Institute for Economic Research Berlin (DIW), this is around four times as much as would be permitted under the Paris climate agreement. Economics Minister Habeck has announced an earlier phase-out of coal but that it is necessary for the energy giant RWE to mine a further 290 million tons of brown coal until 2030, including the coal under Lützerath. Habeck even sells this scandal as a success, since an agreement was reached to accelerate the coal phase-out from 2038 to 2030. It is certainly a success for RWE, since they can still make a lot of money until then, but by no means for the planet and the residents of the village.

RWE’s coal operations produce 90 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, so the energy giant is still the no. 1 polluter in Europe. Nearly 80% of the electricity RWE generates is from non-renewable sources. RWE also plans to ramp up on its fossil gas business, despite the clear need to reduce reliance on gas.

RWE shows persistence in digging up and burning brown coal despite its green PR shift and investment in renewables. RWE’s website continues to promote brown coal as a „valuable raw material“ which „will remain vital in the future, too – as a partner in the energy transition“.

In order to comply with the 1.5 degree limit agreed in the Paris climate protection agreement, only a residual budget of approx. 70 million tons of brown coal may be mined in the Garzweiler opencast mine. Excavating the coal under Lützerath is accelerating the climate crisis, which is already claiming countless lives. Anyone who touches Lützerath is a climate criminal!

Netzdemo Portal will launch an online protest in support of the fight for Lützerath and #ZADRheinland against RWE Power AG on
November 18th, 2022
Join the online protest: http://odevenz.bravesites.com/

Stop the East African Crude Oil Pipeline


We are suffering from record heatwaves and unprecedented wildfires in Europe. It is outrageous that fossil fuel companies are continuing to dig and drill in the face of intensifying climate disasters. And despite record temperatures, banks are continuing to fund new oil pipelines and gas fields. French oil company Total and majority state-owned China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) are on the verge of constructing the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP), which will transport an estimated 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day from Kabaale, Uganda to the Tanga port in Tanzania. In order to transport the waxy crude oil, the pipeline will need to be heated to a temperature of 50 Degrees Celsius. The project threatens to displace thousands of families and farmers from their land. The land acquisition process has already begun, raising the question whether the rights of indigenous communities to Free, Prior and Informed Consent has been respected in accordance with international standards. Extraction of oil in Uganda generate up to 34 million tons of carbon emissions each year. EACOP will run along Lake Victoria, the African continent’s largest freshwater reserve which sources the Nile and which 40 million people rely on for drinking water and food production.

Building the world’s longest heated crude oil pipeline is incredibly risky business – especially when it runs through an active seismic zone, like the EACOP will. There is a great risk that an oil spill from the pipeline poisons Lake Victoria and millions of Africans will no longer have access to drinkable water. Without insurances to cover the risks, the project cannot go ahead. The world’s top four international reinsurers, Munich Re, Swiss Re, Hannover Re and SCOR have already stated that they will not reinsure the EACOP because of environmental and social concerns. We need to stop EACOP, here is what you can do:

  1. Tell insurer Lloyd’s to stay out off EACOP. You can either send them a comment on LinkedIn (requires a LinkedIn login), send a calendar invite or give them a call.
  2. Send a message to the CEOs of several insurers to abstain from providing (re)insurance to the EACOP project.
  3. Demand insurance broker Marsh to drop the EACOP project.

East Africa’s economic strength will come from recognizing the region’s biodiversity, heritage and natural landscapes not from reckless fossil fuel projects. Support the #StopEACOP campaign! Though lots needs to be done to limit climate change and create a better future for everyone, it is clear that stopping the East African Crude Oil Pipeline is a critical first step.

Bolsonaro accused of ecocide

Indigenous leaders Almir Surui and Raoni Metuktire have come together to present a formal request to the International Criminal Court (ICC), based in the Dutch city of The Hague, to investigate far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for committing crimes against humanity, specifically targeting indigenous peoples, within the broader context of environmental crimes. With the assistance of William Bourdon, a French attorney, they officially filed a request for preliminary investigation into Bolsonaro’s crimes to the ICC on January 22, 2021. They are accusing Bolsonaro of crimes against humanity, including also ecocide. Ecocide refers to a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, committed in the broader context of environmental crimes.

On August 5, 2021, the Brazil’s Indigenous People Articulation (ABIP), a coalition of Indigenous associations across the country, filed a second statement before the ICC, accusing Bolsonaro’s government of genocide and crimes against humanity due to its role in alleged crimes perpetrated against their community during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to claims by the indigenous tribes, Jair Bolsonaro was responsible for more than 1,160 deaths.

We also want to point to the Belo Monte hydroelectric complex in Brazil which has been approved in 2005 despite the absence of the legally required environmental impact assessment and consultations with affected indigenous communities. Netzdemo Portal protests against Belo Monte and other mega dams in the Amazon region – you can become a part of it:

http://kaltech11.bravesites.com/action

At the climate conference COP26, Brazil signed the Glasgow declaration on forests and pledged to rein in illegal deforestation by 2028. But critics noted the declaration isn’t legally binding and that the Bolsonaro administration has been effectively legalizing deforestation that was once considered illegal, undercutting its commitment. Deforestation has been on an upward trend in the Brazilian Amazon since 2012. It has accelerated sharply under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, who campaigned for opening up the rainforest to loggers, miners, ranchers, and industrial agriculture.

Join the new Netzdemo Wiki

We launched the new Netzdemo Wiki on wikidot.com in October 2021. Meanwhile most pages from the previous FANDOM Netzdemo Wiki have been moved to the new place. The new Netzdemo Wiki is in the WikiMedia style which resembles the classical Wikipedia look. We continue with writing in German language. It will become the biggest German encyclopedia on net activism and history of online demonstrations. Currently, the wiki contains 83 pages on different aspects of net activism and digital resistance – and still growing. The wiki is open and anyone can become a member. If you want to be part of this exciting work, please join the new Netzdemo Wiki at wikidot.com:

http://netzdemo.wikidot.com/start

FANDOM has closed the former Netzdemo Wiki first in October 2021, without any notice. After posting a complaint to the (German) FANDOM community, it was re-opened but is threatened to be closed again. The reason given by the FANDOM help team was:

„Wikis with very few calls will be closed if your topic and the previous growth suggest that in the future no (significant) growth is to be expected.“

FANDOM agreed to keep the wiki open until the end of 2021. Netzdemo Wiki existed on Wikia/FANDOM since August 2008. It was finally closed on New Year’s Eve.

Netzdemo Wiki now on wikidot

FANDOM closed the Netzdemo Wiki some days ago without any further notice. After filing a complaint to the FANDOM community, it was re-opened but is threatened to be closed again if traffic statistics of the wiki pages show little interest. Netzdemo Wiki existed on Wikia/FANDOM since August 2008 and is the biggest collection of information on net activism in German language. The most common reason for closing wikis seems to be inactivity. However, Netzdemo Wiki was not inactive, it was steadily growing over the years, but the user community was very small from the beginning and only very few were writing or editing wiki entries.

FANDOM (originally Wikicities, and later Wikia) was a new platform that built off the core technology powering Wikipedia. We experience the closure of Netzdemo Wiki as kind of commercially motivated censorship. FANDOM is very much centered on gaming and entertainment. In reality they focus not on the wikis but more on their costumers, who they calls „fans“, meaning gaming-addicted people. We speculate that FANDOM wanted to get rid of some wikis with critical content.

We create the Netzdemo Wiki again – this time on Wikidot. The layout is now in the WikiMedia style which more resembles the classical Wikipedia look. We continue with writing in German language. It will become the biggest German encyclopedia on net activism and history of online demonstrations. It will take some time to move the wiki pages to the new place – but it’s worth it. The wiki is open and anyone can become a member.

If you want to be part of this exciting work, please join the new Netzdemo Wiki at wikidot:


http://netzdemo.wikidot.com/start

Prank the big data economy

Information is an important resource for companies to control customers, to prescribe the strategies of other companies and draw scenarios for the financial market. The creation of flexible marketing strategies, which are geared to each individual customer, is a central aspect of profitability. That’s why the constant control and traceability of individual behavior of each individual are so valuable for big data companies. Google, as one example, generates its enormous profits by spying on, selling, sold and targeted advertising the habits of Internet users.

Many actions have already taken place, such as diffusing fake press releases, but they usually had as main goal the creation of awareness over an issue, denouncing the policy of a specific company/institution, detouring the dominant discourse and unmasking the daily order of things. Other actions involved cracking, blocking servers, defacing websites,or similar are causing serious damage. What activists rarely tried to achieve, however, is causing a negative economical impact by spreading fake information on a company. And doing this may require really simple programming tools, a meticulous study of the „target“, some knowledge of the sector and, sometimes, the help of an „insider“ willing to pass some information, such as templates with the corporate design.

Some ideas for information guerrilla that could work in making them pay and in messing up their business models:

  • Fake news to publish in the media in order to affect the reputation of a company and disrupt its communication strategy.
  • A fake mail from a boss, a public servant, etc can create conflicts or make evident some usually hidden behavior. It can be a powerful weapon of retaliation.
  • A fake press release from a company reporting some fake financial facts in order to affect the stock market.
  • A fake website in corporate design with forged information. Numerous examples from The Yes Men.
      • Let’s share the information and the skills we have to counter attack!
      We can turn their information processes into their sleepless nightmare!