Incredible violence is happening where people are being displaced and places destroied forever. Despite of a climate catastrophy that is already happening the german governments still allows corporations to enlarge open coal mines like the one called “Garzweiler” close to cologne that is one of the largest in Europe. Twelve villages had to be demolished for it in the past, homes, protected monuments, fertile soil, insects and other creatures, roman excavation sites the whole complexity of a peace of Earth taken out by a huge digger. What remains is a incredibly large and deep whole that seems to be empty but that is actually full of complaints and suffer, of ignored voices of protest. There is a fracture on GoogleEarth were the view of 2009 and 2020 meet each other. On the satellite picture we see the village of Borschemich that stopped existing in 2017 and we see at the same time, more that 100 meters below, the ground of the new coal mine. The next village that should fall is Lützerath were only one farmer was able to stay but that is accompanied now by hundreds of squatters that moved into the abandoned houses and selfmade treehouses. They try to amplify not only the complaining voices of those who are affected locally by displacement but also those who are and will suffer from the massive CO2-Emissions of the coal. Lützerath became a fertile space of complaining, of resistance and of the creation of an alternative sphere in opposition to capitalisms extractivism.
Squatted house in the village of Lützerath that is currently under threat of destruction due to enlargement of the coal mine Garzweiler.
The village of Borschenich (satellite image from 2009) that disappeared 2017 and the open coal mine Garzweiler (satellite image from 2020) in Germany near Cologne. Fracture found on GoogleEarth.