Khimki Forest Campaign: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 17:50, 3 April 2024

The Khimki Forest Campaign was a failed effort by environmentalists in Russia to stop the deforestation of Khimki Forest for highway construction in 2010.

Events

Residents of Khimki discovered trees with red markings that the government planned to burn them down to build a new highway to connect Moscow and St. Petersburg. Led by 33-year old mother and university graduate Yevgenia Chriikova, the group "Defenders of Khimki Forest" held a round-the-clock vigil outside the logging site to protest and rallies were held in downtown Khimki, there was also a 20,000-signature petintion to the French company heading the project. One night masked men attacked the group and forced several to hospital. In response, protesters wore masks and threw molotovs, vandalised buildings and graffitied messages in opposition to the plans.

Results

Roughly two months after the protests began, construction was halted. However, only four short months later, construction on the highway would resume.

References

Global Nonviolent Action Database - Russians campaign to save Khimki Forest, 2010

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-The '''Khimki Forest Campaign''' was a failed effort by [[Environmentalism|environmentalists]] in [[Russia]] to stop the deforestation of Khimki Forest for highway construction in [[Timeline of Libertarian Socialism in Eastern Europe|2010]].
+The '''Khimki Forest Campaign''' was a failed effort by [[Environmentalism|environmentalists]] in [[Russia]] to stop the deforestation of Khimki Forest for highway construction in [[Timeline of Anarchism in Eastern Europe|2010]].
 == Events ==
-Residents of Khimki discovered trees with red markings that the government planned to burn them down to build a new highway to connect Moscow and St. Petersburg.
+Residents of Khimki discovered trees with red markings that the government planned to burn them down to build a new highway to connect Moscow and St. Petersburg. Led by 33-year old mother and university graduate Yevgenia Chriikova, the group "Defenders of Khimki Forest" held a round-the-clock vigil outside the logging site to protest and rallies were held in downtown Khimki, there was also a 20,000-signature petintion to the French company heading the project. One night masked men attacked the group and forced several to hospital. In response, protesters wore masks and threw molotovs, vandalised buildings and graffitied messages in opposition to the plans.
-On 14 July
+== Results ==
-, officials began to log the forest. Beginning on 15 July 2010,
+Roughly two months after the protests began, construction was halted. However, only four short months later, construction on the highway would resume.
-Yevgenia led her group, Defenders of Khimki Forest, out to the logging
-site and held a round-the-clock vigil in protest. One night during the
-protest vigil, masked men in favor of the construction of the highway
-attacked members of the Defenders of Khimki Forest. Several campaigners
-were transported to the hospital and treated.  Campaigners
-engaged in property destruction, as well, when they stormed the Khimki
-Town Hall on 28 July. Wearing masks themselves, members set off petrol
-bombs, broke windows, and vandalized the building, writing messages
-opposing the deforestation in spray paint. Nobody was injured in the
-attack, and neither side engaged in such an attack again in the
-campaign.
-<nowiki> </nowiki>Several campaigners, led by Yevgenia, held rallies in
+== References ==
-downtown Khimki to protest the plans of deforestation. Seeking
+[[Global Nonviolent Action Database]] - [https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/russians-campaign-save-khimki-forest-2010 Russians campaign to save Khimki Forest, 2010]
-international help, Defenders of Khimki Forest began an online petition
+[[Category:Events]]
-on change.org to raise awareness of the issue. Eventually, nearly 20,000
+[[Category:AnarWiki]]
-<nowiki> </nowiki>signatures were recorded and French company Vinci, the private company
+[[Category:Russia]]
-contracted to head the project, found themselves up against an
+[[Category:Europe]]
-international audience. Famed musician Bono of U2 announced his
+[[Category:Eastern Europe]]
-solidarity with the movement during his tour through Moscow. Defenders
+[[Category:Northern Asia]]
-of Khimki Forest organized a separate protest concert on 22 August 2010,
+[[Category:Asia]]
-<nowiki> </nowiki>Russia’s Flag Day.
+[[Category:2010]]
+[[Category:2010s]]
-<nowiki> </nowiki>Finally, on 26 August 2010, President Dmitry
+[[Category:Environmentalism]]
-<nowiki> </nowiki>Medvedev announced on his blog site that he had halted the construction
+[[Category:Anti-Roads Campaigns]]
-<nowiki> </nowiki>of the highway and asked for a period of further discussion. He noted
-that the large number of appeals to the construction influenced his
-decision. This announcement was seen as a victory for Defenders of
-Khimki Forest.
-<nowiki> </nowiki>However, only four short months later, construction on the highway would resume, to be completed by 2014.