Dear climate fighters, all who are fed up with capitalism and friends of the good life,

this past May, several thousand “Ende Gelände” activists blocked the infrastructure of the second largest German lignite mining region in Lusatia for a whole weekend. That was great, but we have to keep struggling for the end of coal and for climate justice. The state government of North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, is planning to stick with lignite mining for another 30 years. Climate-wise, this would be disastrous. To avoid this disaster, we have to take on the fossil fuel industry: in the Rhineland mining region, RWE is operating Europe’s largest open-pit lignite mines, and the corporation is deeply entangled in local politics. In that area, the first “Ende Gelände” action took place last year, and we want to return in 2017, mobilizing masses of activists once again – because climate protection is still manual labour!

We want to begin organizing for 2017 over the weekend from September 30 through October 2 in Berlin. We would like to invite everyone who has been involved in the previous “Ende Gelände” campaigns, but particularly those who would like to join for the first time now. This kick-off meeting will be the ideal starting point: We will discuss our action plans for the next year in open debates, pick up on open questions from the evaluation process of our past actions, get organized in working groups – and drink to our plans in the evenings.

The schedule begins on Friday with a meal at 6 pm and will conclude on Sunday around 4 pm (the following Monday is a public holiday in Germany). In between, we will alternate between small-group discussions and plenary sessions both to hold strategic debates and to make decisions on our organizational structure.

If you want to join us in Berlin, please let us know in advance by e-mail (ende-gelaende-anmeldung@riseup.net) to facilitate our planning of food supplies, child care and sleeping places (please let us know if you need a place to sleep and/or child care). There will be vegan food in return for donations during all meal times. English translation will also be available. Please enquire ahead of time if you need translation into other languages.

The meeting will take place at the campus of Berlin’s Technical University (TU) in the vicinity of Zoologischer Garten. On Friday and Sunday, we will be in the Mathematics Department building and on Saturday, in the main building. [1] Please watch out for signs posted to find us there!

By the way: For 2017, there will be plans for a broader action concept in the Rhineland mining area. Different actors within the climate movement – from citizens’ initiatives to environmental NGOs to forest squatters – want to fight together, but by different means, for the end of coal and for a social-ecological transformation. In order to develop these plans, an action conference will take place in Cologne, October 28-30. The potential role of “Ende Gelände” in this so-called “area concept” will be considered at our kick-off meeting in Berlin.
In what ways we will continue our interventions in Lusatia, meanwhile, remains an open question to be discussed at the meeting as well.

We say Ende, you say Gelände!

[1] see campus map: http://www.tu-berlin.de/fileadmin/a70100710/Dokumentationen/Imagematerial/Campusplan/Plan_Campus_Charlottenburg.pdf (MA = math building, H = main building) – the closest subway station is Ernst-Reuter-Platz (U2).