Earth First! Winter Moot 24-26 February 2017, Manchester – plot and plan for ecological direct action.
Earth First! Winter Moot 24-26 February 2017, Manchester – plot and plan for ecological direct action.
A weekend of campaign updates, networking, planning, solidarity and socialising in the North West – the fracking frontline. Involved or want to get involved in ecological resistance in the Britain & Ireland? Whether you are fighting fracking, opencast coal, fracking, GM, nuclear power, new road building or quarries. The Winter Moot is for you.
Full details here
THE BIG BURN!
24 hours after significant construction activity begins at Javelin Park we will be converging for The Big Burn! Come along and shield Haresfield at a community-led carnival of anti-incineration revelry. All are warmly invited to join Gloucestershire in a show of front-line protection against those that threaten us and our environment. Sign up here to ensure you receive an invitation to this most poignant of parties!
All those signed-up will, when the time beckons, receive a text message with a start time. You’ll be wanting to pack a party-bag in advance so you’ll be ready when the time comes. Imagine being the only one at the party without a costume. Only joking, you won’t be allowed in if you’re not in fancy dress. No that’s not true either. This is a community-led event and is open to all. Children most-definitely included!
Javelin Park is easily accessible from Stroud and Gloucester by car.
There will most likely be free transport running to the Big Burn. Please contact honeybuzzard@riseup.net to request or offer a lift!
Take Note!:
The Big Burn! will be a show of community protection against the threat of harm to our health and environment posed by the Haresfield Incinerator. This industry is supported by the state and therefore there will almost certainly be a police-presence. Know your rights, read this pamphlet (opens in new tab) and don’t be intimidated. The Big Burn! will be a inclusive, friendly space and we won’t be bullied.
See you at the party, it’ll be cookin’…!
Directions, more details including what to bring and not to bring and TO SIGN UP, here
A weekend gathering for people involved or wanting to know more about ecological direct action around the UK including fighting opencast coal, fracking, GM, nuclear power, new road building and quarries with discussions and campaign planning – emphasis on the tactics and strategies, community solidarity and sustainable activism.
Sharing stories, skills, tactics, updates & analyses of the radical ecological movement
Cost scale £20 to £30 . This includes full vegan meals and accommodation. Arrive Friday evening (programme starts at 7pm), leave Sunday (ends by 4pm). It will be an indoor floor sleeping space so bring a warm sleeping bag and mat to…
Kebele Community Centre 14 Robertson Road Easton Bristol BS5 6JY
Train—To Stapleton rd , two stops from Bristol TM then 7min walk —
Earth First! is a network of people and campaigns who fight ecological destruction and the forces driving it. We believe in non-hierarchical organising of Direct Action, to confront, stop and eventually reverse the forces that are responsible for the destruction of the Earth and its inhabitants. EF! is not a cohesive group or campaign, but a convenient banner for people who share similar philosophies to work under and doing it ourselves rather than relying on governments or industry.
For info or offers southwest.earthfirst@riseup.net www.earthfirst.org.uk
Download the (ready-to-print) flyer
Programme subject to change:
Starts 7pm Friday with dinner, followed by films & an intro to EF!
On Saturday, breakfast is before the 9:30am start with campaigns round-ups and legal & security workshops. After lunch we'll be looking at strategic thinking (see below) and at 5 exploring the relationship between Reclaim the Power and EF!
On Sunday we'll continue those explorations from 10am. After lunch, there'll be a workshop on sustainable activism, and a chance to get involved in organising the EF! Summer Gathering. Please stay for that if you can and get involved.
Workshops include:
“Intelligent Resistance: strategy and its implementation in the modern world”
Summary: Strong strategy has always been a key element of successful resistance movements. Whether it be the anarchist movements of revolutionary Spain, or the contemporary fight against fracking, a solid strategy is proven to be indispensable.‘Intelligent Resistance’ is a basic introduction to strategic thought and action and looks to provide those in attendance with a practical set of theoretical tools to take away and apply to their own movements and practice.
“Sustaining Resistance: avoiding ‘Burn out”
This is a taster workshop from a much longer ten day workshop and offers a range of tools, collective and personal, which can make our activism more effective and help us avoid burn out staying in for the long haul.
Reclaim the Power meets Earth First!”
How can Earth First! and Reclaim the power coexist in the future struggles and is there a need for collaboration between other camps or a consolidation of resources?
Legal Defence Monitoring:
A taster session in how to be an effective LDM on actions and demos.
Campaigns go-round:
Dates for your diary and what resistance is going on around the world and your back yard..
2nd – 5th May 2014
Unstone Grange, Derbyshire
YOU NEED TO BOOK -SEE BELOW
Organised by Luddites 200, Corporate Watch, and Scientists for Global Responsibility
2nd – 5th May 2014
Unstone Grange, Derbyshire
YOU NEED TO BOOK -SEE BELOW
Organised by Luddites 200, Corporate Watch, and Scientists for Global Responsibility
Technology can bring some benefits for ordinary people, but its development is almost entirely conmtrolled by corporate, military and technocratic elites, so it usually serves their interests and reinforces their power.
The politics of food, energy, work, gender, peace, economics, health, etc are all shaped by choices about technology made by those elites. The whole way our society develops is massively influenced by technology, yet ordinary people never have a proper say in it. We're always left reacting to the technocrats' latest plan, whether it's drones, internet surveillance, GM food, fracking, designer babies or nuclear power.
We think all these issues are linked. So it's time for a more joined up and more proactive approach, one which addresses the root causes of problems and is not limited by the dogma that technology equals progress.
An world facing environmental meltdown and massive inequality -both caused byb 200 years ofn industrial capitalism- needs better solutions than more dangerous techno-fixes such as climate engineering.
Whether you're a technology politics campaigner, trade unionist, environmentalist. altech developer, artist or just plain concerned, BREAKING THE FRAME IS NOT TO BE MISSED.
www.breakingtheframe.org.uk
email: luddites200@yahoo.co.uk
(020) 7426 0005
Accommodation is either in the conference centre OR camping (which is cheaper). The concessionary rate for camping is £36, which includes all meals for 4 days (it's a bank holiday weekend).
BUT if £36 is more than you can manage, we're committed to making sure nobody is left out for lack of money. So get in touch now. Rich people can make extra donations, of course!
Earth First! Direct Action Manual. To support this publication, preorder your copy or donate today.
After several years in development, the Earth First! Direct Action Manual is ready to go to press. A group of frontline activists has assembled over 300 pages of diagrams, descriptions of techniques and a comprehensive overview of the role direct action plays in our campaigns in defense of the Earth.
We are now in a three-week fundraising campaign to ensure that this critical book gets out to people who can use it. You can preorder your copy and get some extra thank you gifts for your early endorsement by donating today. More importantly, though, we have offered a chance for you to help us spread this knowledge. Every donation over $50 gives you the chance to send a free copy of the manual to a campaign of your choice. The more you give, the more manuals we can put in the mail.
The manual will be printed in the coming month with longtime Earth First! partner, The Gloo Factory. This community-minded, union print shop has supplied Earth First! and its affiliates with stickers and merchandise for decades and remains committed to using a high standard for recycled and reclaimed material, as well as supportive worker conditions.
The manual was first printed nearly two decades ago and has been out of print since its initial dissemination. Though many of the considerations for civil disobedience and intervention have remained tried and true, new elements have altered the ways we put these tactics into action. The Earth First! Direct Action Manual will continue the role of safe and effective actions in stopping the destruction of the planet.
This year's the Summer Gathering will be in the Hastings area near the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road campaign. It will run from the evening of Wednesday 7th August and finish on Sunday 11th August.
This year's the Summer Gathering will be in the Hastings area near the Bexhill-Hastings Link Road campaign. It will run from the evening of Wednesday 7th August and finish on Sunday 11th August.
The Earth First! Summer Gathering takes place each year to provide a space in which the radical ecology movement can share skills and plan for future campaigns and actions. Anyone who is interested in ecological direct action will have a valuable part to play and is welcome to come to this family friendly gathering. If you've not been to an Earth First! Gathering before and are thinking about it, please do come, we are a very friendly, welcoming bunch and would love to have you get involved
Programme: Workshops, skill sharing and planning action, plus low-impact living without leaders. Meet people, learn skills.
Transport/location: exact location will be announced 2 weeks before gathering on website.
Cost: £20-£30 from each person to cover all costs except food. (If you really can't afford this, please come anyway and give what you can).
Food: Delicious vegan food will be available, and meal tickets will be on sale at the gathering.
What to bring: Everyone will be camping so bring a tent, sleeping bag etc.
If you have any particular accommodation, access or dietary needs please tell us asap but at least two weeks in advance so we can plan suitable facilities. There will be a small amount of living vehicular space if booked in advance, on a first come first served basis.
Contact: summergathering-at-earthfirst.org.uk
As part of the ongoing anarchist war for total liberation, we carried out a hit on the Bathampton radio and TV relay station. Fires were set at four points of the structures, and we left undisturbed. As a result of the sabotage, on top of causing hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage, we regionally shut down all TV channels on Freeview as well as all national analogue and digital radio stations. Additionally it took down Vodaphone and other mobile networks, damaging police communications and other digital services. 80,000 homes and businesses in the area were affected.
The entertainment industry is an important tool to manipulate human behaviour. Without a steady supply of distractions it would be much harder to persuade people that their lives are satisfactory, to convince them to keep going to work or in whatever way to reproduce the system. So to deprive the network of the ability to offer this essential means of escape from chronic modern stress, anxiety, frustration and dissatisfaction is to undermine the smooth running of society, however temporarily.
There are many soft targets and many lo-tech methods available for us malcontents who gladly choose conflict over dispair. This gives rise to the prospect of rebellion with thousands of faces, with infinite reasons to blockade and destroy whatever stands between us and our goals. We want to experience harmony as a living planet, face to face encounter as intimate circles of proud and free-thinking individuals, and a chance to mould an existence filled with wild play and fierce joy. Our first response when faced with today's crushing domination and a subservient society will always be outbreaks of disorder, refusal and beauty.
Our comrades from far and wide who also carry this fight share our thoughts so closely that often their words could be ours. So when they are kidnapped and held far away from us our determination is only further fuelled. Following many actions in Italy the state has unleashed a wave of repression against anarchists and their projects (Operations Ardire, Mangiafuoco, Ixodidae, Thor…), some across borders, accusing some of attacks of the FAI (Informal Anarchist Federation) and raising a trophy for the media-judicial circus: Nicola Gai and Alfredo Cospito, who they claim are FAI / Olga Cell. But if the prosecutors thought for one minute that they had dismantled the group even in Italy with their operations, another cell soon proved them wrong with an attack on the banking system in the capital, followed by grid sabotage in Indonesia, gunshots in Mexico, liberations in Russia, bombing in Greece, mass arson in Argentina, to name but a few. The new anarchist guerrillas laugh in the faces of the powerful because the repression is only throwing petrol on the fires of the open leaderless resistance.
We are on the side of everyone who has burnt stuffy textbooks and taken the offensive to reanimate an anarchy that had turned to dust in so many throats. Any rebel's capture becomes yet another motive to strike, as we have before and will again, as a reminder of the social cost of their imprisonment.
This action carried out eight years to the day since Xosé Tarrio (a dignified prisoner of Spain's FIES isolation units, against which a series of attacks last decade were later claimed by the first generation of the FAI) died in the cells, leaving his blood on the hands of the jailers, courts and cops.
FAI / ELF,
New Horizons of Burning Rage
report in mainstream media:
A weekend get-together for people involved in ecological direct action, from fighting opencast coal, fracking, GM, nuclear power to road building. There’ll be discussions and campaign planning – with the emphasis on the tactics and strategies we use, community solidarity and sustainable activism.
A weekend get-together for people involved in ecological direct action, from fighting opencast coal, fracking, GM, nuclear power to road building. There’ll be discussions and campaign planning – with the emphasis on the tactics and strategies we use, community solidarity and sustainable activism. This year we’ll be in Lancashire…
Update: full transport details and programme at link below.
6.7.12
6.7.12
With the Olympics now only three weeks away, protests against Olympic sponsor BP are escalating. Today dozens of BP logos across London were sabotaged, including the UK’s most prestigious billboard site at Cromwell Road. Around the capital, protesters hit petrol stations, BP-sponsored cultural institutions and advertising hoardings, protesting against one of the world’s most environmentally destructive companies being a major sponsor of the London Olympics. Signs were splattered with oil and BP’s tagline ‘Fuelling the Future’ was subvertised with the URL ‘f-ingthefuture.org.uk’.
BP has continuously been slammed for its systematic disregard for the environment, human rights and worker safety, including its failure to clean up after the Gulf of Mexico disaster of 2010, its decision to enter the devastating Canadian tar sands, and its plans to drill for Arctic oil. This criticism has increased dramatically since BP was announced ‘Sustainability Partner’ of the London 2012 games, and today’s protests follow a series of recent actions targeting BP’s Olympic sponsorship:
* On the eve of BP’s AGM in April, protest group CAMSOL posed online as LOCOG and announced BP had been dropped as Sustainability Partner.
* In April, the UK Tar Sands Network nominated BP in the Greenwash Gold campaign as ‘worst Olympic sponsor’.
* Since April, the Reclaim Shakespeare Company has been invading Shakespearean performances across the country to protest against BP’s sponsorship of the Cultural Olympiad.
* Last week, acclaimed actor Mark Rylance spoke out against BP’s sponsorship of the Games, revealing he had questioned his own involvement in the Opening Ceremony.
One of those taking part in the action, Brendan Pierce, said, “BP is paying tens of millions of pounds to clean up its tarnished image, in what could well be the most expensive use of propaganda in history. But with even its own business projections preparing for a six degree temperature rise, BP knows it is damning us to a future of runaway climate change.”
Another activist, Deborah Dudley, said “Reports suggest that BP’s sponsorship of the Olympics has been highly effective at laundering its filthy image, so we’re revealing the dirt behind the glossy branding. I’m proud to be taking direct action as part of a worldwide movement for climate justice. I encourage others to get involved.”
A website, f-ingthefuture.org.uk, shows pictures of the action and outlines the problems with BP’s sponsorship of the Olympics.
For more information, interviews and high-resolution photos, email: f.ingthefuture@gmail.com
What the website says:
——————————————-
Why shouldn’t BP sponsor the Olympics?
BP’s green logo is plastered all over the Olympics. The company is ‘Official Fuel and Gas Provider’ and also sponsor of the Cultural Olympiad and London 2012 Festival.
Worst of all BP is ‘Sustainability Partner’. That’s right, the organisers of the Olympics have decided to allow BP, one of the dirtiest companies on earth, the opportunity to rebrand itself as socially responsible and take an active role in proposing how society should approach climate change.
Do you remember images of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico from BP’s deep-sea Macondo well back in 2010, coating the ocean and its inhabitants? Have you heard of BP’s plans in the tar sands, the world’s second largest oil deposits after Saudi Arabia, that can only be extracted by using four times as much greenhouse gas and have been labelled the most destructive project on earth? Have you heard about BP’s deals to extract oil from the depths of the pristine Arctic, despite the potential risk of a catastrophic spill even harder to clean up than the Gulf?
Do you think BP has earned the right to be ‘Sustainability Partner’ to the London 2012 Olympics?
Does BP have the right to have any association whatsoever with the Games, whose founding statement speaks of ‘universal fundamental ethical principles’, whose 2011 Charter declares that the Games should be ‘promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity’, and require ‘mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play’?
Do you think oil and sport shouldn’t mix?
Do you sometimes have the feeling that wherever you turn these days, advertising has intruded a little further, uninvited, into your personal space?
BP is a corporation that feeds off injustice and the destruction of the natural world that we and countless other species rely on. That destruction comes most threateningly from the current brutal destabilisation of the world’s climate.
BP is deeply embedded in British society – our energy, our pensions, our investments, our culture… It pumps serious money and effort into keeping things this way. Marketing works. Shiny advertisements around the capital do change the way people perceive a company. By sponsoring activities like the Cultural Olympiad, the London 2012 Festival, the World Shakespeare Festival and the Games themselves, BP is able to continue its catastrophic, though increasingly profitable, operations. That’s why we had to act.
Remember, if you see any ‘improved’ BP advertisements, please take a photo and email them to f.ingthefuture@gmail.com – and don’t worry, we won’t assume that you have any responsibility for them!
Here are a few more things you can do:
(NB. These links are not connected to us, we just like ‘em!)
It’s only weeks until the Earth First! Summer Gathering begins.
Five days of workshops, info sharing and learning new skills, 1-5 August.
It’s only weeks until the Earth First! Summer Gathering begins.
Five days of workshops, info sharing and learning new skills, 1-5 August.
The Earth First Summer Gathering takes place each year to provide a space in which the radical ecology movement can share skills and plan for future campaigns and actions.
Discussions around the importance of community building in inner cities, the state of the anarchist movement and patriarchy in activism.
Skill shares including women's self-defence, researching corporations and navigation.
Campaign round ups from Frack Off! Smash Edo and Luddites 2000 amongst others.
If you have workshops you like to run or discussions you'd like to facilitate then email us at earthfirstsummergathering@riseup.net
Camping is on a sliding scale of £30 to £15, pay what is genuinely appropriate.
Food will be from Anarchist Teapot and meal tickets will be £5 a day.
Kids can have separate meals if they want for £3 a day.
There will be a couple of kids spaces, and special workshops being ran for kids. If you’d like to run any kids workshops get in touch at earthfirstsummergathering@riseup.net.
If you want you dog to come along then you’re going to have to email us at earthfirstsummergathering@riseup.net
And of course there will be entertainment and a bar open in the evenings.
The camp is ½ mile from the Berrington village, and 1 mile from the larger village of Cross Houses.
We encourage non-cycling campers to use public transport if possible as Cross Houses is on a bus route.
BY TRAIN
The nearest train station is Shrewsbury. You can then get the bus to Cross Houses (see below). If coming from a long distance it can sometimes be cheaper to get a ticket to a large station such as Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Manchester or Crewe and then a separate ticket on to Shrewsbury. Check national rail for train times and prices. If coming from the London direction, it’s generally cheaper to buy a Super Offpeak Return, specifying “London Midland & Arriva only”.
BY BIKE
See here for directions and a map to the camp from Shrewsbury for cyclists and drivers.
BY BUS
When you arrive at Shrewsbury train station, ask someone to point you to the bus station. It’s only a few minutes walk from the train station. The bus service that runs from town to within a mile of Crabapple is the 436 towards Bridgnorth. It runs every hour from 7.40am to 5.40pm with a “late” one at 7.40pm. The journey to Cross Houses is approx 15 mins. You will need to press the stop button when you see the sign for Cross Houses. Some of the services on this route are low-floor accessible buses. Please note that the last bus leaves Shrewsbury at 7.40pm, Monday to Saturday and there are no Sunday bus services. For the bus timetable see here http://shropshire.gov.uk/bustimes/timetable.jsc?timetable=436mfi0412.
The camp itself is about 1 mile from the bus stop. From the bus stop at Cross Houses, walk back towards Shrewsbury past the petrol station (on your right) and take the first left turn signed “Berrington”. After about ½ mile, the road forks at the edge of the village. Take the right turn signposted “Betton Abbots” and we’re about ¼ mile up the road on the right.
If you intend to come by bus but need help getting to and from the bus stop, you can arrange a pick up with us: details will be available nearer the time.
BY TAXI
There is also a taxi rank just outside Shrewsbury train station. Accessible taxis can be got from here.- but it is MUCH cheaper to book a cab from a local company – Comet Cabs 01743 344444, or Vincent Cabs 01743 367777. Vincents also have a booking office just across the road from the station, which is handy if you don’t have a phone to book a cab in advance.
USEFUL LINKS
See here directions and a map to the camp from Shrewsbury for cyclists and drivers.
See a map of where the site is here
See the bus timetable
Directions from places other than Shrewsbury
Earth First! Summer Gathering Collective
earthfirstsummergathering@riseup.net
