Climate Camp 2007
Experiences of a Climate Camper - Rosie Bland
If I'm honest I decided to go to the climate camp because I thought it would be fun. I wasn't quite prepared for the hard-working atmosphere and solemn focus that I found. On arrival I was given an introductory talk on the camp in the welcome tent - a lot to take on board but essential information such as how to use the composting toilets. The infrastructure was simply gob-smacking; all plumbing, power, waste, food, marquees, and also meetings, legal briefings and more were organised by non-hierarchical teams using consensus decision making.
Everybody was encouraged to pitch in and take a turn at one of the following: gate duty, 'copwatch', cooking, neighbourhood spokesperson, washing up, recycling, and other jobs too numerous (and forgotten) to mention.
I had missed the main workshops - which were reported to have been amazing, 'mostly' - but there were still training sessions on things like being a legal observer, radio communication and methods for non-violent direct action.
Terrorist Hippies
The police were treating everybody like criminals - stopping and searching us any time we left the camp. I had to suppress a laugh as 8 officers radioed control and discussed among themselves what to do with me and a little old lady. I was glad to have been forewarned that giving them your details is not compulsory (they certainly don't tell you!). In the end they let us go because they couldn't find a female officer to search us, not before they made sure they had wasted at least 20 minutes of our time (and theirs).
Some campers wondered why they weren't using their precious resources to tackle knife crime instead. Perhaps because teenage gang's profits are not quite as large as BAA's.
Leafleting -just for a change
I decided to help out with leafleting local residents, inviting them to visit the camp for a cup of tea, information, entertainment and possibly a march or two. There are always going to be a few 'colourful characters' at any large event, and trust my luck to be teamed up with one of them, but that's another story.
In reality though, the majority of campers were professional and very polite (much to the disappointment of the right-wing press), united in a common concern for the future of the planet, not in the vague and old-fashioned sense, but in a very aware and urgent sense.
Low Impact Living
I had hoped to meet like-minded people, I just hadn't realised quite how like-minded they would be. For example, a site-wide power-down was planned daily to conserve power, and all food was vegan in order to have the lowest environmental impact. What struck me was that they weren't just paying lip service to the issues but then nipping off to Tesco as is so often the case - they actually meant it, right down to the porridge & cobnuts for breakfast.
The local residents were widely supportive and impressed with the campers. One old lady said to me "where else would you find over 1000 people and no litter? You're welcome as our neighbours any time". Of course many of their homes would be bulldozed to make way for a third runway, and any that are left standing are hardly likely to soar in value or quality of life.
Direct Action and Police Overreaction
The day of action finally came and to say everyone was raring to go would be an understatement. I took part in a march where everybody had pages of the Tyndall report stuck to their hands, and a banner saying "We are armed...only with peer-reviewed science". It was quite moving, especially the part where everybody stood in silence to remember the people already dying from climate chaos (represented by the faces that people were carrying).
When everybody set off to stage the protest at the headquarters of BAA, the police were apparently taken by surprise because we had gathered in the main marquee and were unspotted by the helicopter. There were hundreds of us, linked together in long lines, suddenly streaming out the back gate of the camp. None of us knew exactly what the police mood would be, but we had been warned not to expect too much affection. I wasn't expecting however to be threatened with truncheons for trying to access a public road, galloped around by mounted police and then surrounded and detained by a riot squad. Fortunately my group managed to just escape the latter but many were held there for hours.
Despite provocation from police, protesters were calm, self disciplined but resourceful and determined. Many of them displayed far more courage than I could ever hope to muster, as I had come for peaceful protest and did not enjoy the confrontation.
I was taken aback at the level of police aggression and did find myself thinking "are we still in the UK?"
The main clashes took place in a bean field so were not widely reported. (Indymedia had good coverage www.indymedia.org.uk).
So I never actually made it to BAA, but we were assured that we provided a useful diversion allowing others to do so. The irony was that people just went round the other side and caught buses to join the siege, so I don't know what all the fuss was about. What exactly did they think we were going to do with those pieces of paper anyway?!
On return to the camp we went in to the very efficient legal tent to give witness statements for the incidents of police brutality that we had seen, and were even offered counselling.
Unrequited Protest
Annoyingly I had to head home in the middle of the occupation of BAA Headquarters - I would have liked to join them. It was frustrating to abandon the team in the middle of all the excitement, but updates were available by SMS, which cheered me up on my journey, for example a cycling organisation called Bicycology had delivered hot food, drinks and tarpaulins to the group at BAA.
Rehabilitation into mainstream society
It did take me several days to readjust back to normality.
Having been fully immersed in the Climate Chaos issue for two days (what must it have been like for those that stayed a week or more!), I had temporarily forgotten the level of complacence and it was not a pleasant thing to rediscover.
It really hit me that here is this huge threat to the very earth that sustains us, and most people are just oblivious/in denial/don't care, and going about their daily lives and only getting enthusiastic about things like fashion or sport. I actually stared, open-mouthed, at a girl on the train talking on her phone because she didn't so much as mention CO2!
For once it wasn't just about the dreadlocks!
I was bracing myself for the usual depiction in the media of troublemakers and hippies which never fails to infuriate me, but as I sat glued to the coverage over the next few days I was much relieved to see that mostly the camp was spoken highly of.
That is not something I remember seeing after a protest before. The 'scuffles' with police were as accurate as could be expected, with the actions of the Police frequently described as excessive.
To see national newspapers' front pages laying down the facts about airport expansion and questioning government policy certainly exceeded my expectations. Apparently even the Daily Mail said something like "if travel broadens the mind then we must be very narrow minded to need to fly so much!"
All in all it was a frenetic weekend, exhausting but satisfying in a small way - I wouldn't have missed it for the world, and yes, I would even say it was fun.
www.climatecamp.org.uk
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