Turi Vaccaro, 53-yrs old ex FIAT worker and pacifist activist spent the 5th day of hunger strike, 2nd of thirst strike, on top of a fir tree near the site of construction of the much troubled Turin-Lyon high speed railway tunnel (loosely referred to as TAV), which is seen as an incumbing envronmental calamity by a vast part of the locals and is widely regarded as an unneded speculation fueled by already scarce public money. Turi received blankets (he refused syntetic ones) to resist to the night chill. He asked for audience from the civil and religious autorities. Turi Vaccaro is no new face to the protester scene. Weeks ago he stopped a caterpillar digger armed with a string of garlic, until the intervention of police, below In 2009 he smashed the board computers of two dutch F-16 war planes. No - dal Molin NATO base , Vicenza 2009
crazy dude... peaceful protest is one thing, going around destroying multi-million (billion?) dollar property is uncalled for.
Sounds like the legacy of barefoot tree-sitting activists with a cause continues... nice to see that there are people actively answering Julia Butterfly Hill's question "Where's your tree to sit in?" I guess, the next ones we'll hear more about are the indigenous activists of the Amazonian tribes in Brazil, now facing machinery to flatten part of their living space to prepare the construction of the long-time protested and delayed Belo Monte dam. There have been warnings, that some tribes there, including the Kapayo, will not stand by silently. This particular tribe is the most aggressive one living in the Xingu river basin, which is the site most affected by the dam. The most prominent person, also issuing that warning mentioned above, is that guy in the picture below wearing the cap (pictured during a protest rally in Brazil alongside Xingu river locals): Wiggling bare toes, ~*Ganesha*~
the TAV tunnel will be: useless: there is already another railway line which is used below 50% of its potential, and decreasing; TAV means high speed train, utter nonsense if we think it is a cargo train (only passengers need to spare minutes) expensive: 17000000000 € , during times of crisis. far in time: will take 20 years to complete; detrimental to environment: the excavation will release asbestos, uranium dust in the surroundings, and cut off water bearing strata which is going to cause spring water to go wasted. Springs go dry. The Susa valley dies. unwanted: local people , the religious and principals run an increasingly dense schedule of protests, but the only confrontation they get is with riot police.they are labeled as violents and take the gas grenades. while real violent protesters, always few and separate from the mass of peaceful protesters get media coverage weeks after each event, Turi Vaccaro is a "Turi who?" for nearly everyone, since his story will never hit our berlusconi-pwned TV news. lucky that as soon as the SOCCER SEASON starts, the govt will have to displace a lot of pigs to run after hooligans (and i thought that nothing good could ever possibly come from them...), this will mean the victory of protesters who will wipe out the building site. I met Turi the first and only time in Vicenza, 2009 if im not wrong, protesting from the enlargement of Dal Molin US base located in Vicenza. Too bad i didnt know him at the time.
