2013 Will be Remembered as The Year The People Fought Back

Now that you can all stop worrying about the end of the world, let’s focus our attentions on the year ahead – there are real things that are a threat to the planet and the people and other life-forms that dwell upon it, and the momentum is already mounting behind the various campaigns and initiatives dedicated to solving the social, political, economic and environmental issues that we’re all concerned about right now. Here’s a summary of what’s in store, with the odd prediction thrown in here and there…

The Big Fight Back Against Austerity

The warning shots have already been fired by a diverse range of groups opposed to the coalition’s austerity measures. Over the last couple of years we've seen actions and debates inspired by UK Uncut, Occupy, 38 Degrees and many other groups. This summer will see delegates from many of these groups, as well as opposition politicians, public figures and members of the public, gather in London for the People’s Assembly Against Austerity. And this is already looking like it will be BIG. No longer will these groups be working in isolation, if all goes well there will be one huge concerted effort to stop the government in its’ tracks. June 22^nd 2013 will be a significant date in British history – the moment the fight back gets serious. For more information, see the letter in The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2013/feb/05/people-assembly-against-austerity and if you want to attend see The Coalition of Resistance’s page: http://www.coalitionofresistance.org.uk/2013/02/peoples-assembly-against-austerity-saturday-22-june/. There is a small booking fee.

The Bedroom Tax is likely to become a big issue this year – and it will probably affect you. See here for more info: http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/squaring-up-to-the-bedroom-tax-resistance-grows-around-the-uk/

The Badger Cull

The battles fought so far have been won by opponents to the cull on every level. Almost all of the environmental and animal rights groups are on board, the rock stars and TV naturalists have been talking about this at every opportunity, the House of Commons voted against it and even the government’s own scientists have found through previous trials that it will not work. But the Tories and NFU are winning the war and still plan to go ahead with the massacre this summer. In whom do you trust more? Natural History legend David Attenborough or (anti-) Environment Secretary Owen Paterson? The RSPCA or Defra? Top scientist Lord Krebs or rich farmer (who will profit from the cull) Jan Rowe? The war is far from over, and already activists, campaigners, celebrities and the general public are preparing to put a stop to this unethical, undemocratic and unscientific slaughter. Once the first of Britain’s Most Loved Wild Animal gets a bullet in the head, all hell is going to break loose. Owen Paterson, you won’t get away with this…

Sign the 38 Degrees petition here: http://www.38degrees.org.uk/page/s/badgers-petition

Standing Stone's Blog is working on a huge article on the badger cull for Head Heritage… watch this space for it!

The Re-Occupation of Britain

The Occupy Movement has been out of the limelight of late, but although the tents are gone it hasn’t gone away… In November last year, Occupy Bath returned with a camp to once again highlight the issues and picket Starbucks, and the Bath People’s Assembly they set up has gone from strength to strength, engaging with other campaigns and coming up with new ideas – one of which, a “Tax Kite Mark” that companies who pay their taxes properly can display in their windows, was recently mentioned in parliament. But that’s not all. Occupy London have been in the headlines of late, having squatted the recently closed Friern Barnet library and started lending out books again – the library has now been given back to the people due to overwhelming public support. In Bristol, people from Occupy Bristol squatted the disused All Hallows Hall with the aim of turning it into a community centre. They have now been given a lease on the building by the owner, who was impressed with their work. People’s Assemblies are being formed by ex-occupiers, providing their communities with real democracy and the chance to have their say and take action. Occupy may be finally finding its' feet and going places, and actions are inspiring other actions. Don’t write the movement off just yet…

Standing Stone's Blog will be covering the Bath People's Assembly's Visions for Change on 27th April - see here for the details released on 5th Feb: http://standingstonesblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/visions-for-change-2013-announced.html and here for the Facebook event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/158627290953876/

The Return of the Road Protests

Road protesting was huge in the 90s, when the last Conservative administration embarked on a road building scheme greater than the Romans, and through the actions of protesters and campaigners at Twyford Down, Solsbury Hill, Fairmile, Newbury and other places, many of their road schemes were scrapped. Many of these roads were completely unnecessary and were sold to the public under false pretences – that they would keep traffic away from towns and villages – but the sinister reality was that they were all part of a massive Euro-route, and in many cases made the traffic problems that they were supposed to solve even worse, at the price of losing irreplaceable parts of the countryside. Although there have been road protests since then, none were quite on the scale of the Newbury Bypass. Now George Osborne has announced 191 new road schemes, including some of those scrapped at the end of the 90s. The first has begun already, and the Combe Haven Defenders along the route of the Bexhill-Hastings road have set up camps. Some camps have been evicted already, and media attention has yet to make a huge deal out of this, but when the road building scheme gets properly underway, it’s likely that the tree pixies and tunnel diggers will return en-mass to the countryside.

Frack Off

Rather than embark on a large-scale renewables programme, the government have opted for the cheap, nasty and environmentally destructive method of fracking. Now that the anti-nuclear lobby appear to have held back new nuclear power stations – for now – the government need to find other ways to exploit natural resources and mess up our planet in order to meet the energy demand AND make a tidy profit for the super-rich. Fracking (or shale gas extraction) has been known to pollute water systems, including drinking water, and cause earth tremors. You don’t want to live nearby. Already there are campaigns against this and the signs are that they are growing in numbers and activity.

Save the NHS

The NHS is NOT for sale. But the government are doing their best with attempting to privatise it. If the recent demonstrations and petitions are anything to go by, this is at the top of the agenda for an awful lot of people. The Tories will be committing political suicide for sure if they get their way, but that's not stopping them...

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Of course, no-one wants to be out protesting and campaigning against these issues – we’ve got other things we’d like to do. But the people, our planet and the creatures we share it with are under threat. We can’t let them get away with it. 2013 needs to be the year that we fight back. Or the things we take for granted today will be gone tomorrow. We need to not just put a stop to the things that threaten us, we also need to ensure that they don't happen again. Our society needs a complete overhaul - perhaps even a complete revolution. It's time to start thinking about how much better the world could be, and doing something about it. The fate of the this country and this world is in all of our hands.

 

See you on the picket line.

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The Ongoing War Against the Corrupt Financial Elite

Occupy LSX, outside St Paul's cathedral, has been evicted. With most of the camps gone, it might appear to some that the Occupy Movement has lost. Nonsense. Occupy is an idea, and the people involved haven't gone away. We're all still talking, and Phase 2 is taking off quite nicely. That's not to say that the loss of the St Paul's isn't a tragedy - as a friend of mine put it "why do things always have to end with a fence and bastards in hi-vis?".

Occupy LSX

Back in the mid-90s, occupying physical spaces was an almost as widespread form of direct action as in the last 6 months. Back then, the target was the government road schemes. Some occupations of the land made the national headlines - in particular the protests at Solsbury Hill, Twyford, the A30 and, of course, the Newbury Bypass. Their dedication to holding onto those physical spaces was much more than those trying to hold onto Occupy camps, for good reason - the woodlands and other important habitats were under threat. The pavement outside St Paul's and the land at Queen Square and College Green are not under threat, and not home to rare wildlife. It didn't matter so much where the camps were. The Newbury Bypass protest, and many of the other road protests, failed to achieve their primary objectives - protect the natural habitats faced with imminent destruction. But although those battles were lost, the protests scored some big wins in the long-term. The road protests caught the attention of the media in a big way, and turned a large proportion of the public onto the issues. By the end of the Newbury Bypass protest, scores of camps were set up along the route and many thousands of people had participated in some way in opposing the bypass. It's one of the biggest regrets I have, that I wasn't one of them. It was one of the most important battles fought in my lifetime. I visited Snelsmore Common (the site of several of the encampments) recently and was horrified by what I saw. The legacy of the road protests is that hundreds of proposed road schemes never happened, and that environment and wildlife laws are now enforced much more strictly at the planning and development stages. Another scheme like the Newbury Bypass would have a lot more difficulty getting off the ground today with the current planning laws and demonstrated the importance and effectiveness of direct action. As Swampy put it when evicted from his tunnel at Fairmile:

"I think it's the only way to get a voice these days. I mean if I had written a letter to my MP, would I have achieved all this? Would you lot be here now? I think not!"

The victories scored by those brave people who put their lives at risk deserve never to be forgotten, and their achievements need to be upheld and protected. The coalition government are now branding our wildlife laws as "red tape", are trying to make developments easier to get through planning and attempted to sell off our forests. They are eroding our right to occupy, with the squatting laws and enforced evictions. We need to stop them at all costs.

It's easy to overlook a one-day protest, but long-term high-profile protests get the media interested and, despite some media sources painting negative pictures, a chance to get the word out to the public. Occupy has started an international conversation. When we had the camps in Bristol and Bath, we were constantly on the TV, radio and newspapers. We were given the opportunity to get our message across to the general public and the people in charge, and they were listening, even if only to dismiss us. The camps were in central locations. We had so many people walk past, shouting at us to have a bath and, then go to the pub, start talking about why we were doing it and come back with questions. Already the politicians are speaking about "fairer capitalism". I'm not convinced they completely mean it, but there have been some positive outcomes - the government are now cracking down on tax avoidance by the banks, and the Move Your Money campaign has seen many people move to more responsible ethical banks and credit unions. People are now more aware than ever, thanks to the months of Occupiers using whatever means they can - from social media to newspapers, TV, leaflets, talks and tent city universities - to get the messages across.

But even though we're onto the next phase and few are still camping, I don't think it's the end of direct action. If things get worse, the protest side of things will heat up again. The UNITE union leader is calling for protests during the Olympics, and the 15th of May is a significant date for Occupiers (the Spanish Indignados - the pre-cursor to Occupy - started on this date last year). Both of these are opportunities to expand on showing the fat cats, the government and the rest of the world that we're not happy.

I see the Occupy Movement as the latest manifestation of an ongoing war against the corrupt wealthy elite of this world who are hell-bent on wrecking societies and the environment for the sake of profit. Newbury was part of this fight - some of the dialogue from the protestors in videos from the evictions could just have easily come from an Occupier - as were the war march, the G20 protests, the CND movement and countless other protests and movements. From my perspective, the way forward involves "joined-up thinking". We need to connect poverty, environmental degradation, wars, loss of public services, political oppression and human rights violations with corrupt corporations, bankers and governments. There are many organisations and individuals out there fighting different battles of the same war. We need to come together as one, and attack them on all fronts.

In other news, the Move Your Money campaign is gathering momentum - more info here: http://www.moveyourmoney.org.uk/. March is Move Your Money month - if you don't want the big banks to hold the power and want to support better alternatives, now is the time to do so. If you haven't signed it yet, the petition to get Bath and North East Somerset Council to move from NatWest to an ethical bank like the Co-operative is here.

Further Reading:

Occupy LSX eviction:
Guardian article - http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/feb/28/police-evict-st-pauls-occupy-protesters

Surprisingly neutral Sun article - http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4159319/Occupy-London-evicted-from-St-Pauls.html

Where next for Occupy?:
Guardian opinion piece on the next step - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/29/occupy-london-represent

Road Protest Movement
Lots of resources on the Newbury Bypass here - http://www.ukrivers.net/newburybypass/factfile.html

Videos of the Newbury camps and some of the evictions here (not always comfortable viewing, but highlight how insanely vicious police and bailiffs can be when they want to) - http://www.kinokast.net/index.php/protest-videos/transport/the-newbury-bypass/raw-hi8-tapes/

Swampy's speech after leaving the tunnel at Fairmile (A30 road protest) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvSwc9ryKAY&feature=related

For an account of Newbury by one of the protestors, see Merrick (1996) "Battle for the Trees"

Also worth checking out the songs "Battle for the Trees" by Julian Cope and "Snelsmore Wood" by New Model Army.

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