#Germany: The Fight against the #TeslaGigafactory
Some #OccupyTheForest, Some Shut Down the Power Grid
2024-03-08
"For several years now, locals, #anarchists, #environmentalists, and others have been engaged in a struggle against a #Tesla “gigafactory” in the small town of Grünheide, only five kilometers southeast of Berlin. This is the biggest factory producing electric cars for Tesla in all of Europe. Many important issues converge in this conflict: the struggle between global #capitalism and local #ecosystems, the question of what counts as 'sustainable' and who gets to define it, the power that billionaires like Elon Musk have acquired and are using to reshape our society in line with their authoritarian vision.
"Four years ago, the government of #Brandenburg overruled popular opposition to permit Tesla to destroy a forest in order to build the factory. Now, Tesla is seeking to expand the facility at further cost to local forest and groundwater. Two weeks ago, a majority of residents of Grünheide voted against Tesla’s proposed expansion.
"According to the law, however, the final decision is up to politicians, not the locals.
"Shortly after the vote, #activists established an occupation in the forest that is to be destroyed to make way for the factory expansion. A hundred people are now occupying the trees with a variety of structures. Thus far, the police have observed them but have yet to undertake an eviction.
"On the morning of March 5, 2024, a power pylon caught fire near Steinfurt, directly south of the Tesla gigafactory in Brandenburg. The act of sabotage temporarily cut off electricity to thousands of households in various parts of Berlin. It also halted work at the Tesla factory for at least a week, likely costing the company hundreds of millions of euros.
"A communiqué appeared claiming responsibility in the name of #Vulkangruppe— 'Volcano Group' —a clandestine anarchist group said to have been active since 2011. The group has claimed credit for burning a power cable in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 2018 and cutting the power supply to the Tesla factory construction site in Grünheide in 2021, among other actions.
"Here, we present an interview with a participant in the forest occupation alongside a translation of the communiqué by Vulkangruppe, in order to offer multiple perspectives from the movement against the Tesla gigafactory."
Read more:
https://crimethinc.com/2024/03/08/germany-the-fight-against-the-tesla-gigafactory-some-occupy-the-forest-some-shut-down-the-power-grid
#SaveTheForest #CorporateColonialism #Fascism #Corporatocracy #ForestsNotFactories #NoConsent #NoLocalConsent #Activism