Cyclists Support Campaign Against Biofuel Power Plant
On Wednesday 6th July thirty activist cyclists will roll into Portland during their hidden histories ride around the West Country. The Silent Victories tour is a ten-day trip visiting sites saved by local campaigners and will take a closer look at what makes social change by learning from past victories. During the tour the cyclists will also support current campaigns that are still being fought. The tour serves as a summer school on wheels to remind people that people power can change the course of history; it’s what brought an end to slavery, prevented the introduction of genetically modified crops in the UK and has stopped various destructive construction projects.
The students and campaigners from across Britain have put the biofuels protest in Portland at the heart of their ride because of its national significance on so many issues. One of the group, Claire, has spent the last two years living in Colombia working with human rights groups and peasant farmer organisations who have been denouncing the impact of palm oil on communities and forests there.
The group are inviting Portlanders to join them for a day of action on biofuels, starting at 11am at the Victoria Square roundabout. There will be activities throughout the day, culminating in an event at 7pm at the St George’s Centre in Reforne, which will include a live linkup with affected communities in Colombia as they talk about how people’s lives, including their own, are affected by the massive expansion of palm oil and how people are resisting it. This will be followed by discussion and the chance to send personal messages or pictures to those resisting plantations in Columbia.
