Ecological Camp "Khimki-2011" 28th of July in 2011 Moscow Region

Submitted by Редакция on 24 June, 2011 - 00:15

Ecological and human rights activists and social organisations are welcome to the camp. The camp program will include protests against the destruction of forests in the Moscow region, workshops and trainings.

The Khimki forest became a symbol of the struggle between Russian civil society and the corrupt state a long time ago. Right now, forests in the Solnechnogorsk and Klin regions are also threatened, as the planned expressway is about to cross through them as well. But this is still not enough for the authorities, they also plan to build one more highway around Moscow, a Central Circular Highway (CKAD). The ecological protest camp to protect the forests of the Moscow region is organised by the Moscow group of Autonomous Action, members of the radical ecological movement "Rainbow Keepers," and other ecologists, anarchists and anti-fascists. All decisions, which are not merely of a technical nature, will be made at a general assembly in the camp.

Camp will begin on the 27th of July. The exact place of the camp will only be announced on the opening day, as it is not currently known where logging will take place at end of the July. We will go where the loggers will go in order to cause the maximum amount of disturbance to developers. Camp will continue until 6th of August.

You can contact the organisers of the camp, and send a filled-in participants' form to the address lesapodmoskovia@gmail.com. You will find the form below. If you plan to participate you must answer by the 25th of July 2011.

The camp is alcohol and drug free. Unregistered arms and any other illegal artefacts are also not allowed in the camp. Participants should have necessary camping equipment (sleeping bag, matrass and cutlery). In case you do not have your own tent, it is important to let us know beforehand so that we can find you a place in other tents.

Discrimination on the basis of nationality or race is not allowed in the camp, and people with xenophobic or nationalistic ideas, moreover members of nationalist organisations, are not allowed to join the camp.

The camp is organised with donations from its participants and supporters. It is possible, that there will be a fee for participants in order to finance collective purchase of food and equipment foractions.

Form to participate in the "Khimki-2011" camp

Name or pseudonym:

Age:

E-mail:

City or region you are from:

Previous experience in some social movements:

In case someone from these movements may reference you, please submit
their contacts:

Why you want to join the camp:

Please list your interests, and skills which might be useful during
the camp:

Any dietary requirements (vegetarian, vegan or other):

The camp will include the exchange of experiences between activists, as well as workshops and trainings on various issues. Any input is very much welcome! Do you have any ideas for workshops. Which topics of discussion would be most interesting for you:

Additional information (anything you consider necessary, and could be useful during the camp and actions):

Filling in and submitting the form means, that you agree with the aforementioned principles of the camp.

More about the problem the camp will address

Authorities want to build the first toll road in Russia through the forests of the Moscow region. This will worsen the ecological situation in the region, and deny local inhabitants of another recreation area. Although there are alternative locations for the project, which do not demand cutting down forests, and despite the wide protests by ecological activists and local inhabitants against the current location of the road, authorities do not want to take into account public opinion.

To the contrary, authorities have made many attempts to silence its critics.

The Khimki city administration, together with the developers, have used violence against defenders of the Khimki forest several times . They banned protest actions, invited ultra-right hooligans to disperse peaceful protests by ecological activists, illegally detained and beat up journalists. A vocal critic of local authorities, editor-in-chief of the "Khimki Pravda" Mikhail Beketov was permanently disabled after an attack by persons unknown in the autumn of 2008, the layout editor of another independent local paper, Sergey Protazanov was murdered in unclear circumstances.

After a radical demonstration at the Khimki city administration on the 28th of July 2010, Russian police and special services launched an unforeseen hunt for anti-fascists. People with antifascist convictions, who were, even slightly known to the Center to Counteract Extremism and the FSB, were forcibly taken to interrogations, got their homes illegally searched, and in some cases were arrested and also tortured.

Currently court proceedings are going on in Khimki against two anti-fascists and social activists, Alexey Gaskarov and Maxim Solopov. The third "Khimki hostage," Denis Solopov, accused of having participated in the 28th of July action, is remanded in the remand prison of Kiev, waiting on a decision on his deportation to Russia. Although the UNCHR has accepted a mandatory refugee status for Denis Solpov, Ukrainian authorities have detained him despite their international obligations.

The logging of the Khimki forest as well as the road construction are currently happening without the necessary authorizations and despite popular protests.

The point of view of the inhabitants and ecological activists of Solnechnogorsk and Klin, where the Moscow-St. Petersburg toll highway is projected, and the other regions of Moscow where CKAD is planned to be built, are also ignored by the authorities. Besides opposition against these projects, which was voiced in all public hearings, bureaucrats and developers are not about to back down from their plans. Recently it was found out, that developers had already left marks for forests not far from the village of Mendeleyevo, thus logging could start anytime.