Background

Chemring Nobel has has been producing explosives at Engene (close to Sætre) since 1876. Since then they have been poisoning its surroundings on the Hurum peninsula through production, testing and dumping of toxic waste. Chemring Nobel’s presence by the Oslofjord has made it a major culprit for the pollution of the Oslofjord. Since the fall of 2024 the Ministry of (so-called) Defence and Chemring Nobel have collaborated on the development of a new factory to produce even more explosives for military use. If they get their way, the planned factory will be Europe’s largest explosives factory and it will only further Chemring Nobel’s poisonous impact on the land, fjord and climate, as well as their complicity in bloody wars and genocide. It will have irreversible impacts on the ecosystem in Hurummarka, that is home to a large number of red-listed species.

The resistance against this planned factory has been strong for several years. As the factory plans are progressing in the political realm, the distrust in our so-called democratic structures are also rising. Recently, updated plans for the factory suggest to expropriate an area three times larger than the initial proposal, resulting in even greater ecosystem erosion, human suffering and loss of important habitats.

The AFS

An Aktivt Forsvart Sone (Actively Defended Zone) is a Norwegian version of the French ZAD (Zone á Défendre). This is an occupation of houses or areas to physically block a destructive project, such as the explosives factory in Avgrunnsdalen. But it is about much more than just occupying a place. It includes establishing new relationships with each other through horizontal and solidarity-based organizing and it aims to nourish deeper connections to a physical place such as Hurummarka. which in the capitalist system has no value.

Over the years ZADs have been established several places around the world, and they have won important fights already. The most famous one is the ZAD Notre-Dame-des-Landes near Nantes in France. Here, the ZADists stopped an airport that was to be built and in this way saved around 1600 hectares of wildlife and nature.

Instead of asking politicians for change, we demand it through action and people’s organizing. Armament and fear mongering does not create safety for humans, animals and the environment, rather it increases the risks for war. The AFS is part of the ecosystem of resistance that already exists in and for Hurummarka. We want to build a more solidary world, that is rooted in strong relationships and care for the land and each other. 

The AFS is located in a place of contention and strives to build a culture of resistance that works in mutual aid with its surroundings – the forest and neighbors. Rather than going down in a spiral of apathy and hopelessness we find deep meaning in a loving community that fights for the beautiful world we know is possible. And we need you! Let’s stand side by side in this fight.