There is an uncompromising aspect to squatting a forest; we will stay here, so you cannot proceed. In the early morning hours the forest is awakened by the noises of the clearing machines as well as activists, bustling through the woodland. Authorities systematically work on cutting a path through the Dannenröder Forest, north of Frankfurt, Germany, in order to make way for the construction of a multilane motorway. A project that was met with resistance since its beginning.
It started with small groups of locals form the nearby villages 40 years ago until the protest reached its climax in the beginning of 2020. Activists did not only rely on demonstrations and petitions anymore, much less the hessian ecological Green Party (die Grünen) who, together with their coalition partner the Christian Democrats (CDU), where pushing the logging — the Dannenröder forest, as well as two other pieces of woodland were squatted.
Within eight moths treehouses and ground structures where build to stop the process of deforestation. The eviction of the squatted forest by the police was to become the longest in the history of Germany. Along with the aim to fight for climate justice and change, an autonomous zone arose the woodland. Especially young people started organizing themselves within this frame, which gave space for all kinds of people, to defend the forest from the clearing and to prevent the motorway from being build.
There is an uncompromising aspect to squatting a forest; we will stay here, so you cannot proceed. In the early morning hours the forest is awakened by the noises of the clearing machines as well as activists, bustling through the woodland. Authorities systematically work on cutting a path through the Dannenröder Forest, north of Frankfurt, Germany, in order to make way for the construction of a multilane motorway. A project that was met with resistance since its beginning.
It started with small groups of locals form the nearby villages 40 years ago until the protest reached its climax in the beginning of 2020. Activists did not only rely on demonstrations and petitions anymore, much less the hessian ecological Green Party (die Grünen) who, together with their coalition partner the Christian Democrats (CDU), where pushing the logging — the Dannenröder forest, as well as two other pieces of woodland were squatted.
Within eight moths treehouses and ground structures where build to stop the process of deforestation. The eviction of the squatted forest by the police was to become the longest in the history of Germany. Along with the aim to fight for climate justice and change, an autonomous zone arose the woodland. Especially young people started organizing themselves within this frame, which gave space for all kinds of people, to defend the forest from the clearing and to prevent the motorway from being build.