Nails against officials

For what and what methods are fighting radical "green"

With their actions, these people violate the law. They know this, and it does not bother them. At stake - the ecology of their district, cities, countries. They are sure: the good they protect should be with fists. Radical "green" - who are they and what are fighting for - asked The New Times
June 2010. The city of Zhukovsky is Moscow. 15 young people with hammers in their hands and bags full of nails are quickly scattered along the forest. Soon a knock is heard from different ends of the forest: the guys, without hiding, clog nails into living trees. Then the trunk of each tree is marked with the letter "w". In the language of radical ecologists, this means “tricked”.

Good with spikes
Such a tree cannot be cut: saws on nails break. If a whole forest is stuck, it becomes unsuitable for cutting down. Among the green radicals, pitching is considered an effective way to stop the deforestation. At the same time, the shares participants assure that the method for trees is harmless. “For a tree, a pitch is like an acupuncture for a person,” says 23-year-old Anton Belov (name changed), one of the Zhukovo activists. “In a situation where legal methods of struggle no longer justify themselves, only a direct action remains.”

Several years ago, the city authorities decided to lay an access road to the airfield through the Zhukovsky forest, so that it was more convenient to get to the prestigious Airlines Salon Max. They decided - despite the environmental status of a local forest and the protests of citizens, for whom this is the only recreation area in the city. Rallies and negotiations with the authorities did not lead to anything. Then the youth turned to "direct actions." “In the current conditions, it is necessary to show its position radically,” Anton is sure. - At the same time, all methods are good. If necessary, we will block the tracks, climb on the trees and rivet ourselves to them. Otherwise, do not reach our officials. ”

Anton is not embarrassed that they violate the law: tremends are regarded as damage to green spaces, a fine of up to 5 thousand rubles. “The law is either one for everyone, or for no one,” says 24-year-old Muscovite Stepan, a participant in the green blitzkrieg project. - After all, officials calmly violate the laws: they make officials, take bribes ... Why should a violation of laws in the name of truth and justice stop us? ” In the track record of Stepan and his comrades-a kindergarten on Trifonovskaya, which was defended by hissing trees, and Khitrovka, which was not saved from the construction of a business center. But Stepan’s failures only redeem: “In conditions when the political glade in the country is completely scorched, and the nuts continue to tighten, active youth simply has no other choice, except to express their protest with radical actions. The authorities themselves created such rules of the game. ”

"

In conditions when the political glade

the country is completely scorched, there is no other choice,

except as express your protest by radical

actions. The authorities itself created such rules of the game

"

According to Stepan, legal methods of struggle can only delay the solution of issues and raise noise, but fundamentally do not cancel the solutions of corporations and officials corrupt they. According to him, there are rare exceptions, but, as a rule, they are connected either with a great policy (Putin saved Baikal, belonging to a pipe 400 km), or with the advent of the other interested party (corporation), which will bite officials and exacerbate the struggle from his interests (the banker Lebedev, Stepan believes, fights against point development, because he sees himself in the mayor's chair. Moscow). It is curious that legal environmental organizations are largely jointly jointly jointly conducive.

“I do not support those who“ hiss ”trees. But let's honestly say: so that this is not the case, normal mechanisms should work in society, ”notes Evgeny Schwartz, director of environmental policy of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF Russia). “Those who drive nails into the trees do this because all officials are purchased, forest guards are dispersed and there are legal lawlessness.” According to Schwartz, in a number of areas of the Caucasus, where the authorities do not conduct a dialogue with "green", only extreme ways of struggle work. And, for example, in the Arkhangelsk region no one hisses trees - "because there is an extremely civilized forest administration."

Watching the rainbow
The genes in the ears instead of earrings have woods, on the head-tangled braids. 25 years, sociable, well -read. Activist of the radical environmental movement "Keepers of the Rainbow". A convinced anarchist. Idols - Peter Kropotkin, Karl Marx, Mikhail Bakunin. The image of the latter is a tattoo in the entire left genino shoulder.

The main targets of Gene and his allies are nuclear facilities and harmful production. Environmental protest camps of the “Rainbow Guardians” appear where the population was desperate to reach power. “We are not supermen,” says Gene. - We act like an ambulance. Usually the population writes complaints to the prosecutor's office, courts, officials, but receives unsubscribes. They turn to official environmental organizations, but they are rarely what they can. And then we appear. We teach people to correctly apply for pickets and rallies, mobilize the local population, print leaflets. ”

Among the "keepers of the rainbow", according to Gena, many legal students, future ecologists and techies. The average age is 25 years. These are mainly people with higher or unfinished higher education. Many already have children and families. Promotions are held on their own, although many do not believe this. “The most frequent questions for us: who is the main one and how much they pay you,” Gennady grins. - Absolute absurdity. It is precisely due to the fact that we do not have the main thing and no one pays us, we win. The authorities can put as many people as possible, but others will come. We are not a hierarchical structure. We have neither the leaders nor ideologists, therefore it is useless to fight radical ecologists. ”

For local administrations, the emergence of “Guardians” under the side of the eco -camp is a natural disaster: usually they do not go away until the authorities make concessions. Methods of influence - from traditional (pickets, rallies) to radical ones: “green” rivet themselves to the doors of administrative buildings, climb on the roofs, overlap federal routes. They are planted for 15 days, the riot police beat - in vain.

So it was in the Azovs of the Rostov region, where the “keepers” managed to re -profile the terminal for the storage and transshipment of ethanol, in which the Italian company Triboldi invested $ 11 million. So it was in Perm, where the ecradics opposed the disposal of solid -fuel missiles at the open stand and achieved its transfer to a “closed” regime. So it was in the village of Nizhny Maltsevo Ryazan region, where at the local chemical plant they decided to build a workshop for the production of phenol -formaldehyde resins: after conducting a folk referendum and obtaining a black mark, the governor of the Ryazan region recognized the construction illegal. “The coolest is a sense of victory,” Gennady shares, “when you realize that the city in which thousands of people live in. Moreover, not the "guardians of the rainbow" close production, but the population. We just make it so that it begins to understand its rights. ” Today, on the agenda, Gena and his like -minded people - to prevent the construction of 23 new nuclear power plants planned by Rosatom. “This is crazy,” the activist is sure. -Each reactor seems to be specially located at a large millionaire city. If you hit paranoia and believe in the plans for the destruction of Russia, then this is the perfect plan. But we want our economy to reorient from atomic energy to alternative energy sources - wind, sun, water. We must strive in a bright future, and not turn the territory of Russia into a raw material hole. ”