Message from the Asambleas por un MAR LIBRE de petroleras to the people of Norway and the Netherlands who defend the sea

September 2022

From the Assemblies of coastal communities of Argentina, we salute and embrace the peoples of Norway and of The Netherlands who are expressing their opposition to the advance of extractivism over the sea, and we thank them for their support and solidarity in this struggle.

We feel as brothers and sisters because the sea connects the communities that resist. We are part of the same people and we face the same enemy that exploits, plunders and pollutes us.

We are part of a tide that grows and expands with force around the planet. In the coastal territories of Argentina we have been struggling for more than a year against oil corporations such as Equinor and Shell, which received authorizations from the Argentinean State to carry out seismic exploration campaigns to extract oil and gas in a semi pristine area of the Atlantic off our coasts.

Thanks to the effort and struggle of coastal communities from all over the world, we know that if they settle in our territory, they will cause irreparable damage to the entire marine ecosystem and impact on fishing activities, tourism, and socio-cultural and sporting activities linked to the sea, which are so characteristic of our communities.

This extractivist and colonial matrix extends throughout the length and wide of the planet, deepening the ecocide, poisoning the water, air and land, devastating ecosystems and territories, and dispossessing and territories, and dispossessing communities. They have turned us into sacrifice zones at the service of global capitalism.

In the face of the undeniable global ecological crisis, oil corporations and national states continue to expand the water frontier, using increasingly extreme, costly and polluting methods of oil and gas extraction, putting food and territorial sovereignty of the peoples, as well as our survival at risk.

These bad developments can only be possible because of the policies of delivery promoted by the of the different governments in power, which continue to support their agreements with the International Credit Organizations, and betting on the generation of foreign currency from the exploitation and destruction of nature.

With promises of jobs and economic spillover, they try to convince us that a green and sustainable capitalism is possible, but they can no longer hide the true face of this predatory system. For this reason, the socio-environmental struggles are spreading and strengthening throughout Latin America and the world, hand in hand with the communities and the working people.

We call upon ourselves to continue to deepen this process of resistance, to reinforce our commitment and participation in the struggle against the voracious system. commitment and participation in the struggle against extractivism.

We call on the whole community, all the socio-environmental assemblies and the organizations of the world to continue to unite organizations of the world to continue to unite our strength to put a stop to the power of the corporations. May our cry of resistance run across oceans, cross borders and reach every corner of the planet.

Let the ATLANTICAZO GROW WITH THE STRENGTH OF THE PEOPLE IN THE STREETS
AND BECOME AN OCEANAZO TO STOP EXTRACTIVIST POLICIES.

No oil companies in the sea, no mega-mining, no fracking, no agribusiness in our territories! Enough of colonialist extractivism!!!!

Asambleas de Comunidades Costeras por un MAR LIBRE de petroleras