[LAF] (en) Britain, AS CLIMATE CAMP FOR ACTION GETS STOKED UP AT KINGSNORTH... - Excerpt of the anarchist newsletter Schnews #641

[Echo of Freedom]

-------- Original Message --------
HOO U GONNA COAL? ---- AS CLIMATE CAMP FOR ACTION GETS STOKED UP AT
KINGSNORTH... ----  It's another mediocre summer and we're back at the Camp for
Climate Action. First there was Drax, then Heathrow and now the sequel...
Climate Camp III has been set on the east coast of Kent three miles or so from
Kingsnorth - already home to a power station that pumps out as much carbon
dioxide as the 30 least-polluting countries in the world combined - and proposed
site of first new UK coal-fired power station for 30 years.
So SchNEWS reporters have joined the great unwashed throng of around a thousand
and a half others, made up of yer usual rabble-rousing regulars - including,
according to cops, 150 extremists (only 150? Come on black bloc let's be aving
yer!), plus up-for-it students, ageing hippies and Guardian-carrying liberals
(the paper did their own bijoux guide to the camp - getting the day of the mass
action wrong. Oops).

Having taken the site - a mile outside Hoo St Weburgh on Wednesday last
week (July 30), initially there were not enough people to defend it
and riot police carried out a number of heavy-handed raids, beating
up campaigners and nicking important infrastructure gear like plumbing
etc. Whilst some of this is still impounded, ever-resourceful
campers have found ways round it and the actual organisation is once again
clockwork. One hard-bitten, over-60 was heard to comment: "How come
it's always the anarchists who provide the best organised, most
efficient kitchens". Couldn't agree more mate - the SchNEWS chef de
resistance has given the vegan food a rating of 8/10 this year!

Police tactics have been the main talking point at the camp so far. A
rumoured wholly-proportionate 1,400 cops are involved at a cost of
£5m, with forces from Wales, Kent itself and the trusty 'boot 'em first
pay compensation later' Met. Unlike the hotels which were laid on for
cops last year, it looks like they're slumming it in their very own
super tent (a kind of close encounters white dome structure) up on
the hill back down past Hoo. Clearly unhappy at being so completely
out-manoeuvred once again by camp organisers - setting up camp under
their noses - they are venting their frustrations in a number of ways.

For starters everyone on the main route into the camp (on Dux Court Rd)
gets searched, coming in as well as out (one to bear in mind for
Saturday's mass action when green/orange/blue/silver blocks will aim to
shut Kingsnorth down for the day). Things which have been so far been
confiscated include, er, some glue and a bar of soap. As well as
wheeling out a War on Terror board game for Murdoch journo types to
slaver over, police claim they found a stash of weapons in the woods
nearby including a 'replica' ninja throwing star (a plastic toy maybe?)
and an assortment of knives including a three bladed affair which
could allegedley be used against a police horse (lots of vegan horse
killers at the camp this year then?)

Other bullshit to come protesters way include the constant buzzing of
police helicopters during the day and night - including low flying for
the purposes of thermal imaging or intimidation presumably. It looks
like top brass are looking to cause as much discomfort to campers as
possible, despite paying lip-service with the softly softly police
liaison teams. These have tried to get a police caravan on site -
which was turned down - and last year's arrangements of an escorted
police beat every couple of hours is not happening. With the stand-off
hardening, each night the camp has been awoken two or three times to
deal with the threat of a raid with increased numbers pigging out the
front and rear access points.

Vehicles have been impounded - included the camp shuttle bus running
from Strood to site on one occasion - and most of the supplies have as
a result had to be carried in on bikes/wheelbarrows and Shanks pony.


Still, not to be put off, the camp is proving popular with locals
around the Medway area, despite the welcoming local paper A-boards
('Medway invaded by eco-warriors' and the like). More families, pensioners,
and terrible teens have been turning up than did last year at
Heathrow.

With Saturday's shenanighans to come it's looking like Kingsnorth could
be a timely reminder to Brown and co. that we won't be taking their
greenwash lying down. For more info on the mass action and the
reasons behind the No New Coal message go to www.climatecamp.org.uk




DAY OF MASS ACTION AGAINST KINGSNORTH POWER STATION

SATURDAY 9TH AUGUST - BE THERE




======================================================================



...AND WILL THE REAL CLIMATE CAMP PLEASE STAND UP?

And Brits aren't alone camping it up this summer... The Camp For
Climate Action in Australia went off well last month (July 10th-15th) as
protesters targeted their country's coal industry. The camp was in
Newcastle, north of Sydney, near the largest coal export port in the
world, in an area thick with huge coal deposits.

Oz is the fourth largest coal producer in the world and the government
plans to expand coal-fired power while still pretending to be doing
something about climate change (sound familiar UK readers?!) But while
that charade goes on, thousands from around the country converged on
the climate camp - proving that you can, at least, send coal
protesters to Newcastle...

On Sunday (13th) over a thousand held a mass demo to the Carrington
coal terminal - and from that direct action groups broke off to occupy
the rail tracks, stopping the port for the day and costing the company
over half a million quid. Good value for the 57 arrested. The next
day, four people returned to the railway to close it down again for
another few hours.

Kooragang, the largest coal port in the world, was shut down the next
day for several hours by just nine people. In the early hours they got
into the plant and four locked on to a coal conveyor belt, and five
chained themselves to other loading machinery, bringing processing to
a halt.

In the build up to the camp, several other actions took place. On June
27th the Muja coal power station in Collie, Western Australia was
closed down after a group locked onto a conveyor belt, upset that WA
plans to build four new coal stations and the re-open a decommissioned
plant.

And on July 3rd, Greenpeace closed Eraring Power Station near
Newcastle, one of the two biggest single carbon emitters in the country.

Finding coal-power targets for direct action in Australia is not hard,
given that 85% of its power comes from coal - in a country where
solar energy is not exactly scarce! In fact Australia is by far the
highest carbon emitter per capita in the world - more than double the
average for industrialised nations. While they claim to be on track to
meeting meagre Kyoto reduction targets, this really comes from
cessation of mass land clearing and burning - meanwhile emissions from power
and transport have risen by a third...

For more see www.climatecamp.org.au



And there are other Camps For Climate Action across the world this
summer...

USA

Eugene, Oregon - July 28th-Aug 4th,
High Falls, New York - July 30th-Aug 3rd, and
Louisa County, Virginia - August 5th-11th
www.climateconvergence.org

Germany

KlimaCamp, in Hamburg, August 15th-26th.
www.klimacamp.org (in German only)



======================================================================



COAL HAS ITS KNOCKERS

This Thursday morning, 150 police and bailiffs arrived to evict
protesters occupying an open cast coal mine in Derbyshire (See SchNEWS 638).
During the day the National Eviction Team removed three people, from
a treehouse, a net and one from the roof of the derelict
farmhouse-cum-fortress. After about 6 hours they got into the house, but found a
crazy labyrinth of bunkers, barricades and tunnels which stopped
them from removing any more people on the first day.

One protester outside the site told SchNEWS, "There's about 7 people
barricaded inside the house and the tunnel network. It'll probably take
at least a week to evict everyone."

At least they've got a little further than one cop last week. A (fully
clothed but excitable) tree hugger tells the story: "Due to the
incredible heat three girls had got their tops off when a UK coal digger
drove by, unforgettably causing the naked protestors to run across the
field to join the others.

"The finest local plod then turned up to find the nudists sat on the
roof of the fortified house along with many others. After his 'Come
down or you'll be arrested' was laughed off, he got a crowbar to try to
break in. after forcing a board off a window to be met with a
radiator and a mass of dirt behind the window, he continued to attempt to
kick in another window even though protesters were repeatedly telling
him that some one was d-locked onto the back of the board. With
nothing left to do but make a even bigger arse out of himself he left one
very unhappy piggy!"

The site was set up on 18th June to disrupt UK Coal, who are starting
an open cast mine at the site.

One nearby resident, Ben, said "Local people and the council didn't
want this mining. The government pays lip service to green issues but UK
Coal could not afford to mine here if it wasn't for government
subsidies they receive."

He continued " The eviction of this site is not the end of our fight
against UK Coal here or at other sites around the country."

The site is on Bell Lane, between Smalley and Heanor, six miles from
Derby. Phone 07503 335870. Get yer subtlety cloak on and get there!
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