{"id":2701,"date":"2018-09-23T21:39:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-23T19:39:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.studentoftheworld.de\/?p=2701"},"modified":"2019-05-30T21:25:09","modified_gmt":"2019-05-30T19:25:09","slug":"hambacherforestsundaywalks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.studentoftheworld.de\/index.php\/hambacherforestsundaywalks\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday Walks in Hambach Forest"},"content":{"rendered":"

During the last Sunday Walk in Hambacher Forst I saw a transformed forest and civil society. It was sunny and the activists in the tree houses were extremely happy to see hundreds of citizens who had entered the forest despite the police prohibiting it. They came with Michael Zobel’s Sunday Walks<\/a> which have now become rather giant protest marches with thousands of people. People re-erected blockades, carried whole trees onto the streets. Since Wednesday the forest is a different place. The fatal accident of a young talented journalist leaves a heavyness that I can feel although I am not in the forest at the moment.<\/p>\n

The Ugly Faces of the Powerful Elite<\/h2>\n

Yet again thousands\u00a0have joined the forest walk today. Against all odds. Despite the cold and rain. Despite the public train cancelling the trains running from Cologne towards the forest. I was shocked to learn that RWE and the government of the state of Northrhine-Westphalia are so powerful that they can even command Deutsche Bahn (German train company) to stop running trains at the time of the protest. The train announced that the train driver had reported sick at 7 am. Yet the train schedule in the internet already showed at 1 am that the train was cancelled. Lies over lies. Hambacher Forest makes the powerful elite show their ugly faces as they can’t keep up their masquerades in a labyrinth of falsehood and derison.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Solidarity wins: Sunday Walks in Hambach Forest<\/h2>\n

And still: People will win, no matter what. It makes me happy to see so much solidarity among people and solidarity with nature. Even if the Hambacher Forest will be logged, nobody can eradicated that solidarity. These weeks mark a turning point in mass civil disobedience and mass environmental activism in Germany. The country is finally waking up!<\/span><\/p>\n

My Visit of Hambacher Forest<\/h2>\n

I visited the forest to document the situation before the logging. And the day of my arrival turned out to be the day before the evictions. I stayed over night and witnessed the first day of the evictions as well as the sunday walk on the 16th. More pictures, videos and reports of my impressions soon on www.studentoftheworld.de<\/p>\n

Pictures<\/h2>\n
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Forest Pictures:\u00a0http:\/\/www.studentoftheworld.de\/index.php\/photo-gallery\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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