From November 28th to December 1st 2024, 45 activists from 35 groups from the Balkan region met in Thessaloniki, Greece. The motivation to organize such a gathering came up from the discussions about the need for better connection and network grassroots and activists working on different fields in the region.
The topics discussed included fossil fuel & energy transition (fights of industrial renewable infrastructures and fossil fuels), authoritarian regimes in the Balkans, the rise of the far-right, police repression, militarisation, arms & surveillance companies, border policies. The goal of the gathering was the creation of a network in the Balkans by creating our system of resistance while fighting against an entire system of oppression. To this end, all the participants agreed on the necessity of better interconnection and work together in the different fields and concrete steps and tasks were undertaken for including more activists and groups and formulating the network.
Tuzla, Romania, is the place of resistance against the Neptun Deep gas project, Romania’s first deepwater gas project that promises to make the country the biggest gas producer in the European Union. While Austrian OMV Petrom & Romanian Romgaz are busy with gaining all their licenses and legal assessments, and the EU is supporting them with money for the pipelines, we are bringing together the people that can speak against them.
In 2023 we went to Tuzla, with Austrian comrades, as they also fight OMV. We wanted to learn directly from the few people tackling the problem and simply to see the place. We were stunned by the silence echoed in the cornfields, still green. The wind that blows in Tuzla has the sound of a sudden change. We needed to listen.
We understood that transterritorial solidarity is necessary and we aimed to contribute to build it.
“From Tuzla, to Baumgarten, our resistance is strong, and it is connected across countries – from Romania, across Hungary, to Austria.” (V. from System Change not Climate Change, Vienna).
In summer of 2024, we organised a small, and intimate meeting for grassroots organizers from Romania, Austria, and the region to build their skills, confidence, and connections.
The aim was to share learnings from our work with Austrian allies on gas in the Black Sea, to investigate the dynamics of energy imperialism, and workshop together how international alliances can take down this huge new gas project.
We hosted a big gathering for activists during the 2023 summer solstice (21-25th June) along the Danube river in Hungary. Around 80 activists came together to scale up the fight against gas infrastructure, reflect on inter-European power dynamics and the different contexts we fight gas in. We specifically experimented with hosting a gathering where informal moments were given a central place, with pottery classes, canoe excursions, No Talent shows and tattoos.
We also created a zine on the spot that comprises our learning, explorations and exchanges we had during the gathering. You can check it out here.
We hosted two meetings to connect east Mediterranean activists in Cyprus – one in October 2021 and one in February 2023. The gathering was hosted to build a climate justice understanding for and by activists from the eastern mediterranean, centering questions of militarisation, peace and extractivism.
We considered in-person meeting as essential to build trust in a region with important geopolitical dimensions and specifically invited people from south + north Cyprus, Turkey and Greece, as well as Israel, Palestine, and 48 Palestine.
Both gatherings lead to the organising of many more events, workshops, panel discussions, the creation of a comic, and alliances that are vital in the region.
Since 2022, a Climate Justice Camp has been organised in Greece in summer, bringing together activists from all over Greece, active in various movements (Fridays for Future, anti-FF extraction and LNG, anti industrial RES, nature conservation and environmental groups). It’s considered one of the key events on climate and environment in Greece and it’s organised in a different location every year, with the aim of connecting the movement with the local struggles. More than 50-70 people participate each time, sharing skills, knowledge, experiences and connecting their fights. The topics addressed are related, but not limited, to energy, extractivism, movement building, communication practices, presenting local alternative initiatives (e.g., energy communities, farmer initiatives, local low-tech labs, wind turbines made with local materials), as well as militarisation, fascism, racism, feminism and LGBTIQi+.
22-25 July 2022 camp, Nessonas ecovillage, Larissa
20-24 July 2023 camp, Αgiocampos, N. Evoia
25-29 July 2024 camp, Ioannina, Epirus
Back in 2021 gas was practically a non-existent topic in the CEE climate activism. In the West activists were already fighting it and with the increasing public pressure the gas industry started to look into stronger greenwashing tactics like hydrogen. But in the rest of Europe gas was still seen as a very positive fuel, less polluting than coal and relatively cheap. This is what Gastivists at that time were fighting to debunk, so we decided to hold a meeting specifically for CEE activists where we’d equip them with all the knowledge and resources needed to successfully resist gas investments in their countries. The meeting took place in February 2022 (just days before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine) in Budapest. We had participants from Romania, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Croatia and Ukraine.
We managed to discuss a lot over a course of less than 3 days: how bad gas really is for the climate, environment and the people, how we can get creative in fighting it, what was the state of play with gas investments in our region and how we can continue to exchange ideas, experience and solidarity within that group and beyond.
Every year since 2016, people who fight against the gas industry come together to strategise. Between 2017 and 2023, the Gastivists have helped host and facilitate the conference. Over the years, the group of people campaigning against gas grew dramatically – initially the conference serve as a moment to kick start joint campaigns (i.e. against the TAP pipeline) or agree on common narrative (i.e. rebranding natural gas as fossil gas), and has now become a space to network and share skills.
There is also an Beyond Gas email list that aims to be a platform that unites people from diverse backgrounds and geographies in the struggle against gas and the reckless practices of corporations and financial institutions supporting it. The list is meant to:
If you want to join the list, check here more details about this.
