Norwich Rising Tide — First Action

6.05.2007
NRT Spoof action — ‘Build the NDR: Con­crete is Free­dom!’ Pos­ing as mem­bers of the fic­tion­al Coali­tion for Roads And Progress (C.R.A.P), and bran­dish­ing plac­ards bear­ing slo­gans such as ‘Re-tar­mac the streets!’, ‘Oil is Good for the Plan­et’ and ‘The NDR – an indus­tri­al par­adise’ we held a series of mock press con­fer­ences out­side the Forum in Nor­wich city cen­tre.

On a fine Sat­ur­day morn­ing in May, 15 activists head­ed into Nor­wich city cen­tre to hold a rov­ing protest against the pro­posed North­ern Dis­trib­u­tor Road (NDR). Pos­ing as mem­bers of the fic­tion­al Coali­tion for Roads And Progress (C.R.A.P), we held a series of mock press con­fer­ences out­side the Forum, where the Coun­ty Coun­cil are hold­ing an exhi­bi­tion about plans for the NDR.

Stand­ing in front of a ban­ner read­ing ‘Build the NDR: Con­crete is Free­dom’, and sur­round­ed by a crowd of sup­port­ers wav­ing plac­ards bear­ing slo­gans such as ‘Spend More Time in Your Car!’ and ‘Who Needs Green Space or Peace and Qui­et?’, the press con­fer­ence heard from C.R.A.P mem­bers about their rea­sons for sup­port­ing the NDR.

Dr. Sey­mour Rhodes pre­sent­ed new med­ical research about the health ben­e­fits of air pol­lu­tion and the risks of exces­sive walk­ing or cycling. Mr. I. Sell­more, the devel­op­er on the pan­el, blew away the myth that the NDR will ease traf­fic con­ges­tion, instead insist­ing that it will replace the peace­ful vil­lages in North Nor­wich with a new indus­tri­al par­adise. Coun­cil­lor There­sa Gone reas­sured audi­ence mem­bers that the £100 mil­lion cost of the road would not go over bud­get, chal­leng­ing them to name any large infra­struc­ture projects around the coun­try that had not come in on time and on bud­get.

At the close of the press con­fer­ence, which came with much applause from the crowd that had assem­bled, the coali­tion mem­bers stepped out of char­ac­ter and began dis­trib­ut­ing leaflets to passers-by and talk­ing with them about the NDR project.

After an hour out­side the Forum, we moved loca­tions to the mar­ket square, where the press con­fer­ence was repeat­ed for the bustling Sat­ur­day morn­ing shop­ping crowd.

‘It was fun to watch, and real­ly inspir­ing to see peo­ple com­mu­ni­cat­ing such an impor­tant mes­sage in such a cre­ative way,’ said one of the audi­ence mem­bers.

Today’s protest was intend­ed to be a light-heart­ed way of point­ing out some major con­cerns we and many oth­ers have about the pro­posed NDR. The pit­falls of the project have become so great as to bor­der on the ridicu­lous, and we thought we could play on this as a fun and unusu­al way to engage passers by.

See below for the leaflet hand­ed out on the day, which explains both C.R.A.P.’s com­i­cal­ly pro-road posi­tion and our own con­cerns about the NDR.

It was a fun way to spend a Sat­ur­day morn­ing, and a suc­cess­ful and inspir­ing first out­ing for the new Nor­wich Ris­ing Tide group. Watch this space (and www.risingtide.org.uk/norwich) for more actions against the NDR and oth­er local cli­mate crim­i­nals!

norwich@risingtide.org.uk
http://www.risingtide.org.uk/norwich

Spoof Plac­ards

Here’s a full list of the spoof plac­ards that Coali­tion for Roads And Progress (C.R.A.P) mem­bers were bran­dish­ing yes­ter­day: -

NDR – an Urban Indus­tri­al Par­adise
Re-tar­mac the Streets
Oil is Good for the Plan­et!
Escape Flood­ing … by Car
Wim­pey say bring on the NDR
Urban is Joy!
Reward Fat Cats
Who needs Green Space or Peace and Qui­et?
Con­crete is Free­dom
More Con­crete, More Pol­lu­tion
Hoorah for the NDR – Spend more time in your Car
Tescos Loves the NDR
Car Fumes are Cheap­er than Cig­a­rettes
More Con­crete, Few­er Trees
The NDR – You know it Makes Sense!
More Con­crete, Less Green­ery
May Gur­ney has our Best Inter­ests at Heart
Growth is Hap­pi­ness
Sup­port Your Local Share­hold­er
Walk­ing is a Waste of Time!