[Cc-webedit] [Fwd: Blog Article from Wales]

[website at climatecamp.org.uk]

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Subject: Blog Article from Wales
From:    "Lewis" <l3wis85 at gmail.com>
Date:    Fri, September 18, 2009 11:13 am
To:      website at climatecamp.org.uk
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Hi there, I have written this for our website and wondered if you would like
to use it for the blog?
Lewis - Climate Camp Cymru

*Climate Camp in London – A view from the Wales Neighbourhood*

*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. *

*Join the movement against climate change!*

www.climatecampcymru.org

www.climatecamp.org.uk
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