Capo Teulada is a promontory on the south-west coast of Sardinia. It was expropriated in the 50's and used as a permanent military range for ground, air and naval practice with live ammunition.
It is the second largest firing range in Europe with 7,200 hectares of ground and 750 square km of sea coastal area, “forbidden to navigation”. It was the first military range in Europe to be used intensively by U.S., NATO and other allied armies for war-game manoeuvres in ground-sea, ground–to-ground and air-sea-ground firing practice . Over the past 50 years due to high levels of activity, there has never been a thorough clean-up or reclamation of ordnance. The Italian Armed Forces have stated that there has never been enough time available to carry out compulsory land reclamation after each practice period.
A large area of the sea and the ground area at the base is permanently out of bounds to soldiers because of an excessive accumulation of unexploded and surplus ordnance.
Since the year 2000, the U.S. Sixth Fleet and Second Atlantic Fleet participated in war games in the area, having had to leave Vieques, Puerto Rico, due to a lengthy local campaign against the base.
At present, the military range is being restored and recommissioned to render it the biggest European high-technology war practice centre.
The fishermen of Teulada and Sant'Anna Arresi, two villages expropriated by the military for the installation of the military range of Capo Teulada, have been struggling for many years to keep working and avoid emigration and/or the charity of the State.
At the end of the 90's, having won in Court, they were entitled to be refunded earnings due to noot being able to go to sea because of military war games in that area.
This legal decision, awarded to them, after great difficulty, was only on paper, since the funds were only disbursed on occasion.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces increased restrictions by extending their use of the sea area for military use only and by consequentially, preventing any
traditional fishing in the area.
The struggle of the fishermen began again in the autumn 2002 and, since November 2003, there hes been cntinuous picketing at the port and at the base entrance, where there have been actions to slow down military traffic and to stop war games being enacted.
Stubbornly, daily, when the wind allows it, the fishermen courageously challenge the restrictions and the bombs. They direct their boats into the heart of the war games area and throw their fishing nets in a prohibited sea area, which is saturated with war ordnance.
Their demands are simple: the right to dignified work; the right to have the stolen sea returned; the right of safety in a clean sea and environment.
Fernanda Sau-Tanas
Comitato sardo gettiamo le basi
Translation By Patricia Cocconi (organiser),
(edited by the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report)
Pandora DU Research Project - Italy
For more info on this campaign email Patricia at:
rebelflower@libero.it
Pandora Depleted Uranium Research Project
http://www.pandoraproject.org
Photo courtesy of
ALLIED FORCES SOUTHERN EUROPE
Exercise Destined Glory 2002
http://www.afsouth.nato.int/exercises/destined_%20glory_%2002/destinedglory02.htm
It is the second largest firing range in Europe with 7,200 hectares of ground and 750 square km of sea coastal area, “forbidden to navigation”. It was the first military range in Europe to be used intensively by U.S., NATO and other allied armies for war-game manoeuvres in ground-sea, ground–to-ground and air-sea-ground firing practice . Over the past 50 years due to high levels of activity, there has never been a thorough clean-up or reclamation of ordnance. The Italian Armed Forces have stated that there has never been enough time available to carry out compulsory land reclamation after each practice period.
A large area of the sea and the ground area at the base is permanently out of bounds to soldiers because of an excessive accumulation of unexploded and surplus ordnance.
Since the year 2000, the U.S. Sixth Fleet and Second Atlantic Fleet participated in war games in the area, having had to leave Vieques, Puerto Rico, due to a lengthy local campaign against the base.
At present, the military range is being restored and recommissioned to render it the biggest European high-technology war practice centre.
The fishermen of Teulada and Sant'Anna Arresi, two villages expropriated by the military for the installation of the military range of Capo Teulada, have been struggling for many years to keep working and avoid emigration and/or the charity of the State.
At the end of the 90's, having won in Court, they were entitled to be refunded earnings due to noot being able to go to sea because of military war games in that area.
This legal decision, awarded to them, after great difficulty, was only on paper, since the funds were only disbursed on occasion.
Meanwhile, the Armed Forces increased restrictions by extending their use of the sea area for military use only and by consequentially, preventing any
traditional fishing in the area.
The struggle of the fishermen began again in the autumn 2002 and, since November 2003, there hes been cntinuous picketing at the port and at the base entrance, where there have been actions to slow down military traffic and to stop war games being enacted.
Stubbornly, daily, when the wind allows it, the fishermen courageously challenge the restrictions and the bombs. They direct their boats into the heart of the war games area and throw their fishing nets in a prohibited sea area, which is saturated with war ordnance.
Their demands are simple: the right to dignified work; the right to have the stolen sea returned; the right of safety in a clean sea and environment.
Fernanda Sau-Tanas
Comitato sardo gettiamo le basi
Translation By Patricia Cocconi (organiser),
(edited by the U.N. OBSERVER & International Report)
Pandora DU Research Project - Italy
For more info on this campaign email Patricia at:
rebelflower@libero.it
Pandora Depleted Uranium Research Project
http://www.pandoraproject.org
Photo courtesy of
ALLIED FORCES SOUTHERN EUROPE
Exercise Destined Glory 2002
http://www.afsouth.nato.int/exercises/destined_%20glory_%2002/destinedglory02.htm