direct action | ukwatch.net

Getting Stuck On

Tim Holmes — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 21:17:45 +0000

I’ve been campaigning and taking direct action against the growth of the aviation industry for the last two years. Last month I found out I won an award for my work. To collect it I was to go to 10 Downing Street and meet the PM, the same man who has been wilfully ignoring all of Plane Stupid’s campaigning work, and the objections to the third runway of 70,000 London residents. It didn’t take long to decide what I would do.

With a team from Plane Stupid backing me up, I put on my second hand suit wearing a device in my pocket which was linked up to an anonymous Skype account on a computer in front of the team, so that they could hear what was said. At 6.15, the Prime Minister made his way out into the audience to shake our hands. I knew what I was about to do as I squeezed the superglue packet into my left hand…

‘By the way Prime Minister, I’ve just super glued myself to your arm,’ I said. ‘Don’t’ panic. This is a peaceful protest in line with Plane’s Stupid uncompromising commitment to non-violent direct action.’

I continued: ‘We just wanted five minutes of your time because, Prime Minster, you cannot shake off climate change just like you can shake off my arm.

‘Prime Minster, you must realize that we can beat climate change- but not by expanding the worlds’ biggest international airport at Heathrow, and supporting aviation, the fastest growing contributor to global carbon emissions. That’s why we, Plane Stupid, are taking our campaign from the roof of parliament to inside ten Downing Street.

(to the whole audience including the PM):

‘We are the last generation with the opportunity to adequately tackle climate change before it is too late.

‘We need the Prime Minster to make the tough decisions he keeps on talking about and if he needs someone to hold his hand, then we are willing to do just that. But we are not going to wait around for politicians to catch up. Remember, he only has two possible legacies before he leaves office. As the first Prime Minster to take climate change seriously. Or the last one not to.

‘It’s time you stopped hiding from communities on the frontline affected by climate change.

Whilst we stand here smiling nicely for the cameras in the Arctic, Inuit communities are planning survival strategies for their families as the deep seas gradually engulf them. Whilst we stand here drinking champagne and eating canapés, communities in Tuvalu are desperately building sandbanks to stop their island, their families, their lives and ultimately, their dignity, from going underwater. And, Prime Minister, as you know so well, whilst we stand in each other’s arms, the community of Sipson in West London awaits complete demolition because the of the planned third runway at Heathrow airport.. ‘

Brown’s Heathrow consultation is a fix pure and simple. It is the single most anti-democratic, anti–national, anti-human, outright evil thing this government has done since the Iraq war and that’s saying something. If super-gluing myself to the Prime Minister is the only way to cut through the power of corporations like BAA and ensures he hears what people from West London really think, then so be it.

I talk of Heathrow, not because everyone is, but because it is a sign of things to come. In Heathrow, the battle lines are drawn. We could continue careering down the path of relentless economic growth and ignore the world’s top scientists who are calling on us to curb aviation, or stop, take a breather, and support workers in the aviation industry and communities living around airports into a sustainable lifestyle, before it is too late. The choice, Prime Minster, is yours.

Allow us, the future generation, to shake your faith. Put your hand in ours, let us lead you through this labyrinth and realize that we have this remarkable opportunity. I could be your son. Explain yourself to the next generation. The people of next generation will either thank us for taking the necessary, logical action, or lament us for not being radical enough. It is not good enough to do our bit- we must do what is necessary. Do this, because it’s important that you understand. If you find a basis to disagree, by all means take the other side. But please don’t ignore it, don’t look away. Prime Minister. It’s time to stand up to the bullies from BAA and stand up for the British public.

Every morning since leaving 10 Downing Street, I have woken up and asked myself whether I should write press releases or obstruct the machinery which is causing environmental destruction. The world is drowning in a sea of words, and I don’t want to add to the deluge. Almost everyday I notice signs that more and more people are longing for our species to cease its self-destructive war with the earth and each other. And that’s the real strength of Plane Stupid; creating new spaces in which to confront climate change. Powerful people know that ordinary people are not innately selfish or slaves to consumerism. Creating spaces to strategise resistance to forces promoting this inter-generational catastrophe is not just a campaign, or even a movement -it’s a whole culture not negotiated by governments, but enforced by people. By the public. A public who can link hands across national borders and acknowledge that we are all learners, and always continuing to learn to tackle climate change.

Brown’s brazen belief that we can run the world disjointed from natural phenomena with his imprudent riot squad of aviation industry techno-crats has exposed the fragile relationships this government upholds with the polluting industries. The sheer ignorance of deliberately ignoring the consultation results regarding Heathrow expansion has placed on full public view the trickery and collusion inside the government walls.

Now that the Government’s sinister relationship with the aviation industry has been put into mass circulation, it could be disabled quicker than the pundits predicted.

Bring on the spanners.

If we succeed no one will remember; if we fail no one will forget

Plane Stupid, and communities taking action on aviation expansion around the world, will not go without a fight.

Protest halts Drax coal train as summer of discontent against coal continues

Tim Holmes — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 17:41:05 +0000

From our friends over at The Coal Hole:

Media – Interviews are available with protestors: call 07944 367755

Photos from the protest at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sitefeed/

Protestors who halted a coal train carrying fuel for Drax power station in Yorkshire, the single biggest source of CO2 in the UK, are settling in to make sure supplies of coal to the power station remain cut off. The protest comes six weeks before the 2008 Camp for Climate Action at Kingsnorth power station – which will also highlight how using coal to supply energy will be a disaster for the planet.

Dressed in white overalls and canary outfits, they used safety signals to stop the train on a bridge overlooking the power station, before climbing on board and dumping coal off onto the tracks.

The train has been stopped on a branch line used exclusively for delivering coal to Drax. Protestors have used a network of climbing ropes to suspend themselves under the bridge from the train – meaning any movement while the protest continues is impossible.

Drax power station is the largest emitter in the UK – producing up to 36,000 tonnes of CO2 a day. That also makes it the third largest polluter in Europe – we are talking global scale climate disaster on this one folks.

Every year Drax burns between 7 and 11 million tonnes of coal – that’s about 23 million tonnes of CO2 released into the atmosphere a year… that’s more CO2 than the 103 countries in the world which emit less. Let’s just run that one past again – Drax emits more CO2 each year than 103 countries put together. Phew.

We Are Serious

“…it demonstrates that the Climate Camp bunch have got nerve and daring, and that their planning is absolutely meticulous. Secondly, it says very loudly We Are Serious.”

From The Guardian

The UK Government is considering giving the go-ahead to a new generation of coal-fired power plants, the first of which would be at Kingsnorth in Kent – an act which would directly contradict all of their fine words on cutting emissions, bringing in climate bills, and being a world leader on the climate issue. Meanwhile, the ice caps are melting, we’re at 387 ppmv carbon dioxide in the atmosphere (that’s very high – higher than we can sustainably stay at) and rising, and people are dying – now.

There is a problem, and there is a solution. Serious commitments to renewables, energy efficiency and a bit of global leadership from our Government could go a long way.

Yes, you’re quite right. As a movement, we are serious. Although we conduct ourselves cheerfully, we don’t think this is a game. Although we can joke, we know why we act. Although we feel anxious and nervous about the consequences, we do it anyway, because it’s important. We are serious – serious about the problem, and serious about solving it.

The protestors have told The Guardian they are intending to stay “until Gordon Brown decides to reverse his policy to expand coal-fired production in Britain.” For more information on the protest as it continues, check out The Coal Hole’s blog.

Anti-War Activists on Trial

The Staff — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 11:50:54 +0000

Vegan Chef and Catholic Priest on Trial for Anti War Protest at Party Conference

Peace activists Maya Anne Evans (27), convicted in 2005 for reading the names of British soldiers killed in the Iraq war opposite Downing Street and Fr Martin Newell (41) convicted of the Jubilee Ploughshares action are both standing trial this Thursday 2.30pm in Bournemouth Magistrates for ‘Obstruction of the Highway’ after protesting at the start of the Labour Party Conference on Sunday.

The two took part in civil disobedience with 30 others outside the Labour Party Conference, staging a sit-down protest to demand a U-turn in British foreign policy, six protestors wearing a specially made “U Turn for Peace” T Shirt were arrested in total.

Maya Anne Evans says: “We know from the polls that – contrary to Government policy – majorities of the British public are opposed to Trident renewal and the arming repressive regimes, and want to see all British troops withdrawn from Iraq and Afghanistan.

“In Gordon Browns speech at the conference he stated to continue the current line in foreign policy as regards Iraq and Afghanistan. This aggressive foreign policy will increase the threat of terrorism in this country and will be responsible for the further death toll of hundreds of thousands of individuals in these countries”.

Maya Anne Evans currently has a warrant out for her arrest for the unpaid fine resulting from the Cenotaph protest in 2005, on the grounds of free speech Evans refuses to pay the fine and as a consequence faces a possible two week prison sentence.

Fr Martin Newell says: “According to recent reports British war planes have dropped more bombs on Iraqi targets in the past month than in the whole of the previous three years, British troops in Afghanistan have called in US airstrikes hundreds of times in recent months. These are Brown’s bombs”.

www.U-TurnForPeace.org

Contact: Maya Anne Evans 07973 484 202/ Martin Newell 07931 221 965

Maya Anne Evans
07973 484 202

Justice not Vengeance
0845 458 9571