Leading up to these actions, the Adriatic Climate Camp was both an activism training program and, crucially, a community building space. Both actions could have seen violence escalate very dangerously if the participants hadn\u2019t acted with clear purpose, calm and discipline. After the fact, such repression often results in diminished hope, fear and infighting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, organizers are already eagerly planning next year\u2019s camp and attracting more participants. Repressive state and corporate reactions have only galvanized commitment as this grassroots movement continues to grow and diversify locally, as well as to strengthen international ties of solidarity. This points to an incredible amount of trust, good faith and shared vision between people \u2014 in other words, strong community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To discuss the actions, the camp, organizing lessons and possible paths for journeying from frustrated citizen to community activism, I spoke with Lora, a co-founder and organizer of the Adriatic Climate Camp<\/a> and a member of political groups based in Zagreb such as Extinction Rebellion Zagreb<\/a>, Food Not Bombs Zagreb<\/a> and Vrrrane, an anarchaqueer-feminist group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You were involved in two recent actions calling attention to the dangers of LNG expansion that were met with brutal and illegal repression. Tell us about these actions and XR Zagreb\u2019s strategy going forward.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This year\u2019s five-day Adriatic Climate Camp was centered around community, learning and the peaceful disruption of a nearby LNG terminal<\/a> on the island of Krk, Croatia. To be exact, the camp was organized in protest of the planned doubling of the capacities of the LNG terminal, announced earlier this year. This is the place where liquified natural gas is imported from other countries (previously Russia, now usually the U.S. and Qatar).<\/p>\n\n\n\n First was the kayaking action \u2014 activists rowed out into the sea in front of the LNG ship, but were quickly met with aggression from police and security service boats, including being shot at with a water cannon. The activists refused to be stopped \u2014 their training, commitment and bravery shined through as they put up quite a resistance, even creating an hourglass [the symbol of XR<\/a>] formation with their kayaks. Eventually, their banner was taken away and they had to retreat back to the shore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The second action took place the following day. We traveled from the city of Krk, where the camp was situated, to Omi\u0161alj, where the LNG terminal is located. There we met activists from the local community and together (a total of around 120 people), marched from the city to the LNG terminal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the right to peaceful gathering being set in Croatian law, and despite XR Zagreb liaising with the police over safety, this final protest at the state-owned LNG terminal, which is a large international importer for the EU, was met with violence. We encountered several riot police cordons there waiting for us, but we stayed and rallied with speeches, chants, drumming and a die-in<\/a>. A self-organized group then separated and entered the premises of the terminal and displayed banners, quickly supported by those outside with chanting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, we were aggressively attacked by private security personnel and police officers. Protesters were pinned down and kept in painful pressure holds. All participants showed peaceful and nonviolent resistance. Nonetheless, the riot police violently threw 26 people into police vans and drove them to custody cells where we were held in inhumane conditions for up to 10 hours with no food, water, medical help or phone calls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even with the challenges, the actions were a success and provided valuable lessons for improvement in the future. We are committed to adapting the camp and our wider organizing strategies going forward. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the violence displayed by the police and security services, we are persevering together with high spirits. We are now even more determined to fight against the system of capitalism, backed by the state, which places profits in front of people and uses repressive methods to protect the fossil fuel industry which is taking away our collective futures. Their brutality has in no way diminished our hunger for climate justice. In fact, you could say it just further proves that we have to come together and rise up in community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Could you tell us about how the camp developed, who participated and especially about the attention to community building?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2022, the first edition of the Adriatic Climate Camp was wildly successful, despite being organized by just two people. It became clear that there is a widely shared desire for both community experiences and communal resistance experiences \u2014 so naturally, the second one had to be bigger and better. Enthusiasm grew and several more people joined our organizing team. It was still a very small team for this large-scale endeavor, but it was a dedicated one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d also like to highlight that the organizing team is entirely composed of queer persons who are either non-binary or women. This kind of representation is not often seen in the Balkans. We\u2019re very proud to be breaking with oppressive traditions through our organizing and to be accompanied by people of all genders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since we wanted to host more activists at this year\u2019s edition of the camp, and to have more impactful actions, we had to look for a way to finance these high ambitions. We were shown real solidarity from fellow members of the global climate justice movement<\/a> and are grateful to our friends in XR Serbia<\/a> for helping to connect us with Extinction Rebellion Global Support<\/a> for funding<\/a>. XR Global Support empowers local XR groups<\/a> to act together across regions, nations and continents peacefully disrupting business-as-usual. This year\u2019s camp definitely wouldn\u2019t have been possible without them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Not only were we able to host 160 rebels at our camp, double the amount of last year, but we were also able to cover the costs of the logistics necessary for traveling to two actions which were situated on the opposite part of the island. The cooperation with XR Global Support was super friendly and we felt supported along the way \u2014 their motto \u201cWe are all crew\u201d rang very true. Our XR Zagreb team was also very happy that some of our Serbian friends, including Scarlett who was our main contact for the financing, joined us at the camp so that we could meet in person to share experiences and activist stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Can you describe the camp itself and what participants engaged in on a day-to-day basis?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After six months of planning and meetings, our five-day climate camp was finally under way at a commercial campsite near the LNG terminal targeted by our protests. Set up beneath olive and fig trees, the camp included an info point, a kitchen area, several large tents for workshops, a lost-and-found spot, and space for sleeping tents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most days began with a morning plenary session for all participants where the day\u2019s program was introduced and roles were delegated for joining the kitchen, cleaning and awareness teams. We were especially proud of this year\u2019s camp program, because it included a wide array of activities and topics \u2014 from \u201cclassic\u201d activist topics such as NVDA<\/a> (nonviolent direct action) and legal workshops, to lectures on radical organizing, the effects of capitalism on food systems, digital activism, artivism, talks on off-grid living, herbalism and foraging, and kayak training. For deeper community building, which includes fun, we included \u201clighter\u201d activities such as drumming workshops, climbing, speed dating, standup night, movie screenings, yoga and silk dancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The camp gathered a wide variety of people and not just ecoactivists, but also members of the local community, anarchists, LGBTIQ+ rights activists, permaculture<\/a> practitioners, etc. Participants came from all over the region and beyond \u2014 with a few even traveling from as far as New Zealand and the U.S. In addition to opposing LNG expansion, the camp was also a space for human rights, for the rights of nature, and for living according to the values we seek for a better world. Together, we formed a community running the camp and joined forces for the two direct actions. After the last detained protester was released, the camp concluded with a big celebration on the beach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You and your fellow activists have learned and achieved much over the last few years \u2014 looking back, could you have imagined what you were able to achieve and the community you have built when you got started? What would you say to others who feel frustrated and don\u2019t know where or how to begin their own activism journeys? Everyone\u2019s circumstances and paths are different, but perhaps you can share a little about your own story, as an example of one person\u2019s path to action. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d say that I first became an activist in 2019, because that\u2019s when I left my soul-sucking corporate job that turned me into an anticapitalist. (I was fired because I complained about the unpaid overtime.) While I was working there, I spent my limited spare time reading and educating myself on the ecocidal horrors being committed by the capitalist economy, backed by unjust neoliberal politics. I also learned about positive alternatives to this system that people were fighting for, like degrowth<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I felt like being stuck up in a corporate office day in and day out was not only making me miserable but also complicit in the crisis. It was frustratingly meaningless and the opposite of what I should be doing with my life, if there was any possibility of trying to live differently. And so, when I was fired, I took a chance and started my small freelance business so I could finally prioritize my free time and dedicate as much of it as possible to environmentalism and climate activism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Lora,](\"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/ipra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/10\/slorkanxrzagrebinterview2023-1024x613.jpeg\")
![\"Activists](\"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/ipra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-10-06-at-11.56.54-AM-1024x824.png\")
![\"Adriatic](\"https:\/\/wagingnonviolence.org\/ipra\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/9\/2023\/10\/Screen-Shot-2023-10-06-at-11.49.16-AM-1024x604.png\")