More than hundreds activists have gathered at Eda climate camp North of
Stockholm 2-8 of August organized by Friends of the Earth Sweden and
educational organizations. Here we were reached by the news from Moscow.
Right wing extremists have been used to attack environmentalist protecting
the Khimki forest and protesting against a high way project. The police who
came late to the site reacted by arresting the environmentalists. Thus we
issued a solidarity statement see, below. There are many ways to make
international protests both against the repression and against the European
investment Bank and EBRD who are possible funders of the toll high way
project. See links below. You find the links also at:
http://www.aktivism.info/socialforumjourney/?p=1748

Transportation and urban planning is at the core of the climate issue.
Emissions from ever increasing road transport is frequently addressed as
the main problem for solving climate change in industrialized countries and
targets set for diminishing the climate effects of transportation is as
frequently among the biggest failures in climate politics. The present
development model built on increasing social injustice domestically and
internationally needs ever increasing transportation and urban planning
segregating people to maintain its dominance and continue exploiting nature
and human beings. Thus it is no coincidence that some of the severe
environmental conflicts concerns road traffic and urban planning.

Furthermore we see a growing convergence of different movements in a time
of stronger repression. This calls for solidarity between different
movements and internationally. The growing repression we face have resulted
in a volatile situation for protesters and big fluctuations in the ability
to mobilize. Popular movements needs not only mass support in their own
countries but also that simultaneous struggles goes on in other countries
as well as at times international solidarity. This has been especially hard
in Central and Eastern Europe where people in common have lost much of
their faith in collective protests. Movements work under extreme conditions
with lack of visible popular support confronted by severe repression and
violence from civilian supporters of a strong national state or
corporations. Thus one activist was killed in an environmental camp against
a uranium processing plant in Siberia by right wing extremists attacking
the small camp beating most of the people in the camp in 2007. The
authorities responded by accusing the camp organizers for provoking the
attack.

The situation in Moscow is similar. Very few dare to take up a fight and
when they do so they get easily beaten or murdered. At the European Social
Forum 2010 Rule of Law Institute from Russia organized a seminar on right
wing extremism in Russia showing how more than a hundred persons get killed
each year due to the right wing violence. When the former leader of the
Rule of Law institute, the social democratic lawyer Stanislaw Markelov who
often defended antifascist anarchists came out from a press conference on
the crimes made by Russian military in Chechnya he was together with
Anastasia Baburova gunned down on the footsteps of the building in the
middle of Moscow.

One year later a mass manifestation in their memory of the two murdered
activists was organized on January 19. It was the biggest demonstration in
Moscow for four years with one thousand people attending from many
different strands in the movements in Russia with the police harassing the
demonstrators and anarchist antifascist as a strong component. In many
political struggles in Russia as the environmental or violence against
migrants or people from the periphery of the Russian federation
antifascists are the main organizers of solidarity and the strand of the
movement that do not give up neither in front of right wing extremism or
repression. This is of utmost importance in times of lack of visible mass
support. The unifying event on January 19 made it possible to gain strength
and renew efforts to confront strong economic interest as in the case of
the Khimki Forest. Earlier the exploiters closely linked to the local
Khimki government had succeeded in stifling the movement by violent attacks
on one of its voices, the journalist Mikhail Beketov. The attempted murder
in 2008 did not succeed and there are no official results of the
investigation but many Khimki residents believe that the local authorities
were involved in the attack.

A strong force behind the exploitation is the Transport Ministry and the
“non-commercial organisation”, Avtodor which combines the functions of a
government agency and a business. The project is planned as the first
large-scale public-private partnership with the involvement of western
investors – the EBRD and European Investment Bank. The intermediary link
will be the North-West Investment Company, backed by the French firms Vinci
and Eurovia, who have extensive experience of attracting European
investments. But the environmental laws were in the way.

Protesters tried to stop the illegal cutting of the forest for the road
project but were confronted by a combination of forces. One was the police
who helped the illegal exploiters in spite of a court ruling in favor of
the protesters. Another was the general lack of trust in protesting
collectively in Russia which makes the number of protesters small in spite
of a very broad support ranging from liberal party leaders, the alternative
globalization movement going to European Social Forums, a famous rock
stars to Anarchist and traditional environmentalists and local citizens
previously not engaged in conflicts. Finally when the protests continued
right wing extremist were called in to beat up the protesters followed by
the police arresting the protectors of the environment.

In response to the repression of the movement some 90 or 300 activists
anonymously attacked the municipal headquarter smearing it with stones and
graffiti. None was arrested at the occasion but afterwards Maxim Solopov
and Alexei Gaskarov got arrested. As both are publically known
spokespersons for the Anti-fascists they are easy to find for the police
who needed result in their reaction to the direct action against the
symbols of power in Khimki. There is serious questioning against the claims
made by the police as there are no proofs of their presence and that it is
hard to see a reason the very few persons known by the public and the
police should have participated in the action. In the general
“anti-extremism” change of laws the action against the municipal building
is claimed to be very serious and can result in 7 years of imprisonment.

The following violent arrest of the leader Yevgenia Chirikov of the Khimki
protest movement on August 4 shows clearly that the authorities are lying
and playing a political theatre orchestrated by other interests than
protecting law and order. She has been contacted by the police at several
occasions and appeared at voluntarily police stations as a witness in the
case of the murder of lawyer Stanislaw Markelov and the assault against the
journalist Mikhail Beketov. Now she was arrested in speculative and brutal
manner by the special police force OMON used against riots and terrorists
directly after a press conference against the arrests of Maxim Solopov and
Alexei Gaskarov . A spokesman for the Moscow Region Directorate of
Internal Affairs (i.e., the police for the region around Moscow, not the
city itself) later claimed that Chirikova was detained because she had
failed to respond to a summons in connection with the investigation of the
attack (allegedly by anarchists and antifascists) on the Khimki
administration building. But Chirikova was never given a summons and thus
not given the possibility to voluntarily come to the police station as the
system chose to organize a political theatre instead based on false claims
of the refusal of Chirikova to appear voluntarily. She commented afterwards
that her arrest resembled a “demonstrative action” directed against
environmentalists.

Was it at stake is not only the Khimk forest and profit interest high up in
the local and national government linked to abuse of the police to protect
those interests. It is also the question of the legitimacy of the present
development model in Russia which is much based on the same kind of close
linkage between private exploitation interests and the government keeping
people in common passive with the help of mass media and a combination of
police and right wing extremist violence. As this authoritarian system
lacks a belief in its capacity to get spontaneous support for their
exploitation they see any kind of protest also when it only concerns a
local matter as a threat to the whole system. This makes it utterly
dangerous for those that are organizing protests.

What is at stake is the future of the whole international/translocal
climate justice and other system critical movements. We are not stronger
than our weakest links. Furthermore the growing repression we see in Russia
is also taking place everywhere. With authorities that are given ever
increasing juridical means to stop any kind of protest as being caused by
“extremism” leaving all traditional juridical ideas of individual
responsibility and evidence behind. The Khimki protests against
exploitation is a case were especially the accusations against Maxim
Solopov and Alexei Gaskarov are crucial to challenge by combining
environmentalist and social justice concerns in a joint struggle against
repression.

What is remarkable is that those promoting the toll high way through the
Khimk forest refuses any compromise with the wide spread environmental
opinion against the exploitation in spite of that they are in a politically
fairly vulnerable position. 2/3 of the investments is planned to come from
Western funding through EBRD and the European Investment Bank, both known
to keep an eye on the environmental impact at least when the negative
effects are too obvious and concentrated. They also do not like to be
connected to projects that becomes too controversial including violent
repression. In spite of this political vulnerability those in power have
chosen to continue escalating the pressure against the protesters in an
attempt to split the opposition hoping for creating an image of violent
aggressive activists working against society and peaceful but harmless
opinion makers. Thus the exploiters are challenging the whole European
environmental opinion trying to establish a de facto acceptance of European
Bank support of any environmentally destructive project regardless how easy
a better alternative could be chosen which should save the forest but not
the highest level of profit. If the exploiters win and are able to get the
financial European support they need it would be a historical defeat for
the European environmental opinion.

The Russian opposition has chosen to show its strength by sticking
together. The protest leader Chirikova who by all means can be described as
a main stream environmentalist with modest and well informed arguments was
among the speakers at the press conference to defend the arrested anti
fascists Solopov and Gaskarov. It is hard to believe that the spectacular
arrest by special riot and anti-terrorist police force of her directly
after this press conference is anything else than an attempt to put a
violence stamp on the whole environmental protest and create fear. But
those in power failed to split the Russian movement. The 19 of January
committee which is the result of the unification of forces during the
comemoration of the murder of Markelov and Baburova calls for solidarity.
It is now up to international movements to show that the provocation
against the European environmental opinion in completely disregarding the
local opinion against building of the toll high way through the Khimk
forest and still believing in financial support from Europe is met by a
strong no. It is even more up to the whole global environmental justice and
all popular movements to show that the attempts at using right wing
extremism combined with repression against a movement is not accepted in
Moscow or anywhere else.

The growing repression we have seen at the Climate summit in Copenhagen,
against the landless movement MST in Brazil, against migrants and
protesters of all kinds not only in impoverished countries but also the
rich and industrialized must be confronted by common efforts. The
authorities start to leave all earlier notions of freedom of expression and
individual evidence for committing a crime behind. The heavy possible and
necessary involvement of EU funding in the project through EBRD and the
European Investment Bank makes it also possible to mobilize substantial
protests against the project. We have to join hands across borders and
movements to build solidarity.

Tord Björk

---

Protest against the arrests of Maxim Solopov and Alexei Gaskarov

We are protesting against the arrests of environmental activists in
connection with protests against highway construction around Moscow at
Khimki forest. We look with concern on how both the right wing extremist
violence and state repression is used against the protests. Everyone’s
health and the right to a living nature for future generations are at stake
in environmental conflicts. The authorities ignoring the right-wing
violence and repression against the protests are unacceptable.

Participants at the Climate camp in Eda organized by Friends of the Earth
Sweden and educational organizations.

Links

The Battle for Khimki Forest, Yevgenia Chirikova, 17 March 2010
http://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/yevgenia-chirikova/battle-for-khimki-
forest
— Available on ESSF: The Battle for Khimki Forest

Another Beautiful Day in the Russian Capital: Khimki Forest Defender
Yevgenia Chirikova Kidnapped by Police after Press Conference

http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/another-beautiful-day-in-the-russi
an-capital-khimki-forest-defender-yevgenia-chirikova-kidnapped-by-police-aft
er-press-conference/

The Kidnapping of Yevgenia Chirikova (4 August 2010, Moscow)

http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/the-kidnapping-of-yevgenia-chiriko
va-4-august-2010-moscow/

Yevgenia Chirikova on Her Kidnapping by Police

http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/yevgenia-chirikova-on-her-kidnappi
ng-by-police/

Khimki: Police Repression as an Aid to Deforestation, On the arrests of
Max, and Alexei.

http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2010/08/03/khimki-police-repression-as-an-aid
– to-deforestation/

Khimki: Territory of Lawlessness with more links to Khimki articles

http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/khimki-territory-of-lawlessness/

Antifascist Russian news in English regularly updated about the Khimki
protests:

http://www.avtonom.org/en/khimki

Take Action!

Send protest letters or go to the Russian embassy or consulate to demand
the realease of Gaskarov and Solopov. For arguments see the facebook group
below-

Join the protests on facebook:

Freedom for Russian antifascists Alexei Gaskarov & Maxim Solopov! 483
members August 5.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=123233894390151

Khimki: Save The Forest! A newly started facebook group. 17 members August
5.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=133292676712838&v=walli

Put pressure on the European banks:

Sign the online letter below and ask the European Investment Bank and the
European bank for Reconstruction and Development to condemn publicly
illegal acts of deforestation and violence against peaceful demonstrations.

http://bankwatch.org/involved/index2.shtml?x=2237867

Put pressure on the Western European corporations:

Greenpeace Russia: Help Defend the Khimki Forest!

http://chtodelat.wordpress.com/2010/08/04/greenpeace-russia-help-defend-the-
khimki-forest/

Send protest letters to European banks and President Medvedev:

Protect Moscow’s Khimki Forest—the land, the trees and local
environmentalists desperately need help

http://www.earthaction.org/2010/07/protect-moscows-khimki-forestthe-land-the
– trees-and-local-environmentalists-desperately-need-help.html