Action Camp against the Itoiz Dam - August 27th to September 2nd 2001 r0107061

road protests 2001 | road protests (current) | movement links

Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 19:09:00 +0100
To: rts@gn.apc.org
From: ALLSORTS (allsorts@gn.apc.org)
Subject: -ALLSORTS-intl mix july 2nd

Action Camp against the Itoiz Dam - August 27th to September 2nd 2001

Come to the action camp at Itoiz, in the Basque Country and show your resistance to this dangerous and destructive project which has been driven by corrupt politicians, some of whom have served prison sentences for fraud relating to the funds of the dam project.

We are urgently demanding that the filling of the Itoiz Dam is stopped until an international panel of experts is satisfied it is safe. The lives of thousands of people may depend on this.

Experts say the Itoiz Dam is potentially catastrophic, and the unstable terrain which would become the sides of the reservoir is likely to slip and cause a disaster like the one at Vaiont, in Italy in the 60's which killed 2000 people. The eminent geologist and engineer, Professor Arturo Rebollo Alonso, also warns that this catastrophe could destabilize the foundations of the Nuclear Power Plant ASCO, further downriver.

The dam was declared illegal in 1995 by the Supreme Court of Spain because it would destroy areas designated as nature protection zones. However, the construction work continued, and in March 2000 the Constitutional Court of Spain legalized the construction of the dam by changing the laws only for Itoiz. Now they are beginning to fill it, and are cutting down trees and removing topsoil to prepare for the reservoir.

For the last 17 years local people have resisted the dam from juridicial challenge and technical reports proving it to be unsafe, to mass demonstrations involving over 10,000 people, to sabotage of construction machinery, and the direct action campaign of Solidarios con Itoiz, who went across the whole of Europe, building solidarity and spreading information. Eight of their members face 5 years in prison for an action which stopped the construction of the dam for one year.

THIS DAM MUST BE STOPPED WE CANNOT LET THEM RISK THE LIVES OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE, AND DESTROY THIS BEAUTIFUL PLACE.

For more information about the camp, contact solidarias@gmx.de

For general information about itoiz, contact stopitoiz@yahoo.co.uk

Or check out the following websites -

http://www.infoladen-daneben.de
http://wagenstraat.squat.net/itoiz/

road protests 2001 | road protests (current) | movement links