The sun rises on a vast field of tents, dew still wet on the grass and rush hour traffic racing past – hectic contrast to the world we’ve created here at the Camp for Climate Action 2009. In the background Canary Wharf towers menacingly over the skyline and refuses to let us forget our reason for being here.
We pitched up on an area of common land not far from Lewisham in Central London and stayed for a week to contest the capitalist system and its use of false market based solutions to prevent catastrophic climate change and address social injustice. We ‘swooped’ in to grab the site before the Police knew what was going on; coordinated by twitter and text message, the morning of the site-take was extraordinary. I was part of the bike-swoop-group. Gathering with 200 other cyclists under Waterloo Bridge at noon we proceeded to take a leisurely ride around the city, taking the lane and creating a positive vision of the future wherever we went. There were flags, banners, bike-mounted sound systems and video journalists all on board as we cruised around chasms of capitalism.
We eventually received word of the location of the Camp and peddled up towards Blackheath to be greeted by the sight of tripods going up and busy people unloading marquee poles, wind turbines and kitchen tat. And there really were lots of people- all around there were other swoop groups, converging by foot and public transport. Everyone was smiling and the atmosphere was great. The sounds of The Clash drifted over the field on the summer breeze along with the sound of pegs being driven into the hard ground…
I located the rest of the Wales crew who arrived with the marquee structure in the back of a camper van which had kindly been offered to us after a problem with finding transport. We unloaded and awaited the arrival of extra hands. It didn’t take long until there were enough of us to attempt to put up the marquee, and after a battle with the wind we had her pegged down and were setting up the kitchen burners in one corner ready for a well needed brew.
Climate Camp is organised into neighbourhoods arranged by geographic regions. Others include Yorkshire, London, South Coast and Eastside. The story of Wales is as follows: Way back in 2007, at the second ever climate camp near Heathrow there was a handful of Wales folk who were taken in by the kind Westside crew; a neighbourhood which loosely covered the ‘west side’ of Britain. For lots of us from Wales this was our first experience of a Climate Camp and of taking Direct Action. I learnt so much during that week and felt privileged to be part of a neighbourhood which was full of experienced and trustworthy people. Blockading the BAA offices together and standing our ground peacefully against the police was eye-opening and proved to me what we could achieve when we work together.
The following year we were determined and united by our experiences at Heathrow. We went to visit the community living in Merthyr Tydfil in the Valleys of South Wales, with Britain’s largest open cast coal mine on their doorstep. We helped them in their struggle by introducing the idea of peaceful direct action and halting work at the mine for a day. We stood with them against the injustice served by the government upon a downtrodden community. We took this confidence and more people with us along to the Kingsnorth Camp in 2008 where the first Wales neighbourhood was born. However, things weren’t so straightforward and the cops took our marquee poles (they are weapons, you see) and refused to return them, so our grand structures looked a bit lacklustre as we used tarpaulins and rope to make some kind of shelter.
Luckily, our old friends in Westside were pitched next to us and once again took us in and annexed the Wales neighbourhood by way of a long tent connecting our kitchen tent to their meeting space – lovingly christened ‘the Severn Bridge’. We functioned as a popular neighbourhood, holding morning meetings and making decisions together during what was a testing time with the Police trying every method to disrupt our peaceful presence on the Hoo peninsula. For those of whom the Kingsnorth camp was their first experience of Climate Camp and perhaps Direct action, I felt warmed as I remembered my experiences of Heathrow and how this popular movement will keep growing.
Next, we joined the Climate Camp on April 1st 2009 down in Bisphopsgate outside the climate exchange for 24 hours of camping and protesting against carbon trading; a false and unjust excuse for continuing to burn fossil fuels. We shut down the exchange and held the street until the early hours when the police forcibly and violently removed us after preventing anyone from leaving for hours.
But the Wales story was only just beginning. Plans were hatched back at Kingsnorth to try and build the movement in Wales and the climate camp model seemed to be a good one. So over a period of 8 months we began to engage with groups in Wales and beyond to build our skill base and attract people to national gatherings where decisions on location and type of camp were made. The ball was rolling by spring and the hard work was about to get harder as August loomed. Following an amazing and hands on gathering in Pembrokeshire where we built rocket stoves, compost toilets and attended workshops on legal observing, while making group decisions affecting the upcoming camp, we were ready to head to Merthyr Tydfil for Wales’ first Camp for Climate Action. [If you want to read more about the Wales camp, check out the Website].
Back in London workshops ran at full capacity, locals poured through the gates and the sun shone. Morning meetings held at each neighbourhood formed the backbone of decision making for the camp, where important issues were discussed. We also made use of meeting times in Wales to plan for the Day of Action in Cardiff on the 24th of October which was called at the Wales Camp in August. Meanwhile, the focus of the action training at Blackheath was to equip the movement with the skills and confidence to join together for what will be very exciting ‘Great Climate Swoop’ on the 17-18 October to Shut down E.ON’s coal power station Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire, together and in an act of social responsibility where governments have failed to act and to imagine a future without coal.
Elsewhere on camp, plans formed for affinity group actions in London which materialised on the final days of the camp with blockades of RBS, claiming a people’s refit to withdraw investments in oil and gas. There were office occupations of E.ON’s PR firms while Shell and BP received their share of anger at their complicity with the Tarsands oil exctraction project in Canada. Activists were also present from the Rossport campaign in Ireland where Shell’s greasy fingers are all over Irish off shore gas with blatant disregard for local people and the countryside in County Mayo. Meanwhile, the Rambling Raffle of Resistance roamed about the city supporting actions with people and music.
The backlash in the wake of Bishopsgate for the Police has been massive; and following legal pursuits and media exposure led by Climate Camp since April 1st, the Met have been on the back foot. That’s proved to be a good thing for peaceful protest as this camp on Blackheath has shown. The police kept a lower than usual profile on the streets of London as we marched through the financial district and for the most part there wasn’t a copper in sight at the camp. All except for a CCTV camera peeking over some nearby trees you’d be fooled to believe they weren’t interested.
It remains to be seen where this movement will go next and indeed how the state will respond to our ongoing pressure for legitimate and immediate action on climate change; at Ratcliffe and beyond. But one thing’s for sure, we’re determined, we’re peaceful and we’re sure as hell not going away.
Climate Camp Cymru will be taking action and running workshops in Caridff on the weekend of the 24th/25th October 2009. Also, join us for the Great Climate Swoop on the 14th/15th! Check the website for more info and sign up to the mailing list.
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