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

[merlin hayward]

Um, not unless its heavily edited, I don't think we need a potted history of
the Welsh CC group, or indeed climate camp, but the first part under
something like 'Welsh reflections of the London Climate Camp' might work.

Cheers, Merlin

2009/9/24 <website at climatecamp.org.uk>

> Should this go up?
>
> ---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
> 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
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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