ALF. ELF. E.T.C., Sabotage, Arsons Attacks, Solidarity Means Attack

Berlin (Germany) : A cement giant loses its concrete trucks

[On the night of March 14/15 in Berlin, at around 3:50 a.m., six concrete trucks were completely destroyed and three other machines (excavators) damaged by flames on the A100 freeway construction site in Kiefholzstrasse. The concrete mixers belonged to the German HeidelbergMaterials group, the world’s second-largest cement producer. On December 27, 2023, the site of another concrete giant, CEMEX, was attacked in Berlin, setting fire to five concrete mixer trucks, the bulk material conveyor belt and a technical building near the silos. And on January 19, 2024, two excavators on the same Berlin A100 freeway site had already been consumed by the flames of anger.

Here is a translation of the communique about the March 15 attack on HeidelbergMaterials, published on indymedia germany on the same day].

Arson attack on HeidelbergMaterials // Attacking colonial legacies // Stopping the A100

Armed with incendiary devices and rage, last night we temporarily rendered harmless a HeidelbergMaterials AG cement plant on the A100 construction site. To do so, we set fire to several concrete mixers and excavators on the plant site. With over 800 subsidiaries, HeidelbergMaterials is the world’s second-largest cement producer – and the second-most climate-damaging company in Germany, behind RWE. But others have provided a detailed description, in a communique for the attack on CEMEX at the end of December 2023, just how environmentally damaging cement production is.

However, every truck that spills its concrete onto the A100 pavement not only produces huge quantities of CO2 emissions, but also consolidates colonial legacies such as land grabbing, resource plundering and wage slavery. Of course, the extraction of raw materials for concrete production here too leaves deep scars in the earth and destroys flora and fauna, but the scale and threat to human beings and nature in the global South are far greater and the consequences far more existential in most cases. No amount of greenwashing, however costly, will ever make people forget these facts. However, appealing to the conscience of those responsible would be a waste of time. More radical responses are needed to put an end to the ongoing ecocide resulting from massive extractivism and industrial production. One of these is to attack the infrastructures and work tools that are destroying nature. Switch Off.

  • For the indigenous Samin communities in the Kendeng karst mountain range on the island of Java, Indonesia, where HeidelbergMaterials, through its subsidiary PT Indocement, has built several cement plants and extracted limestone despite opposition from the local population. Massive intervention in the sensitive karst ecosystem is destroying the natural water resources that underpin the local subsistence economy, and threatening the livelihoods of thousands of people in indigenous communities.
  • For the Palestinians of the West Bank, where, in the shadow of the Gaza war and the deliberate starvation of its population before the eyes of world public opinion, expulsion, land grabbing and violence continue to intensify. HeidelbergMaterials operates the Nahal Raba quarry through its 100%-owned subsidiary “Hanson Israel”. The Nahal Raba quarry on territory occupied by Israel and claimed by the inhabitants of the village of az-Zawiya, who live in the immediate vicinity of the quarry. HeidelbergMaterials supports Israel’s occupation policy, deprives local populations of economic resources, damages the ecosystem and fuels the conflict.
  • For the nomadic Saharan communities of Western Sahara, where HeidelbergMaterials, through its subsidiary “Ciments du Maroc” extracts raw materials for cement production from Sahrawi territories occupied by Morocco, many of whom have been expelled and forced to live in refugee camps.
  • For the people of Togo, where HeidelbergMaterials is one of the biggest foreign investors in this former German colony, and maintains the best relations in the world with the dictatorial Gnassingbé regime. In keeping with the colonial tradition, the workforce is exploited and entire population groups are expropriated and evicted. Lime extraction is accompanied by the destruction of vegetation, leading to the disappearance of indigenous animal species and the destruction of archaeological, cultural and historical heritage, including sacred ponds and forests, ritual sites and traditional burial sites. Let’s attack the industry and economy that profit from colonialism and the destruction of nature, and make a future worth living increasingly impossible!

Combative greetings to fire-breathing volcanoes, to the Grünheide forest occupation and to the companerxs of Abya Yala’s Célula Insurreccional por el Maipo – Nueva Subversión, all your words warm our hearts. Besos!

For anarchy, for the earth, for our lives.

PS: Expanding capitalism, expanding capitalism, expanding capitalism… Yes, dear text-recognition software [used by the cops to try to establish linguistic links between the authors of communqiues], we too use passages from other texts without restraint, will you find them? A big FUCK YOU to VS, the BKA [Federal Criminal Police Office] and the complacent scribblers of the Springer Group’s tabloids. Get a life!