Mainshill Solidarity Camp evicted – not an end, but a beginning

30th Jan­u­ary 2010
Yes­ter­day was the fifth and final day of the evic­tion of the Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp – the last two arrests as the final occu­piers were dragged out of the rapid­ly shrink­ing Wood. A total of 45 arrests were made over the course of the evic­tion with close to 70 peo­ple tak­ing part and sup­port­ing the camp.

All five days saw the vio­lence inflict­ed by the state on those who try to cre­ate pos­i­tive change, and the col­lu­sion between the courts, police and cor­po­ra­tions. But they also saw hero­ic acts of defi­ance, with peo­ple fight­ing off bailiffs until hav­ing their hands and feet cable-tied togeth­er and sup­port­ers main­tain­ing a 24-hour vig­il through­out the evic­tion.

This evic­tion is not an end, but the begin­ning of a cam­paign of com­mu­ni­ty-based rad­i­cal direct action sweep­ing Scotland’s cen­tral belt which can only grow in strength. From actions to stop work on open­cast sites and the shut­ting down of a major coal rail ter­mi­nal for a day (which hap­pened for a third time on Wednes­day), to com­mu­ni­ty engage­ment and sol­i­dar­i­ty result­ing in a sev­en-month occu­pa­tion and a pos­i­tive change in direc­tion for rad­i­cal envi­ron­men­tal­ism in Scot­land.

But where can we go next? We’ve hit these cap­i­tal­ists and mon­ey-grab­bers where it hurts most – in the pock­et – and we can’t wait to hear how much it has cost them in total. Over 30 direct actions have tak­en place over the past 12 months, and that’s not includ­ing the evic­tion. Machines have been trashed, health stud­ies pub­lished and bonds been made with those affect­ed by heavy indus­try and the caus­es of cli­mate change. We’ve dug tun­nels, defend­ed trees and climbed onto dig­gers.

The Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp has now been evict­ed, but the strug­gle con­tin­ues!

mainshill@riseup.net
http://mainshill.noflag.org.uk/