Reclaim the Fields Spring Gathering 2012 – details & updates

@ The Wilderness Centre, Mitcheldean, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, GL17 0HA

The first Reclaim the Fields Gathering of the year will be taking place this March at the Wilderness Centre in the Forest of Dean.

Pre-Gathering Help needed:

@ The Wilderness Centre, Mitcheldean, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, GL17 0HA

The first Reclaim the Fields Gathering of the year will be taking place this March at the Wilderness Centre in the Forest of Dean.

Pre-Gathering Help needed:

Anyone interested in helping out with the running/ setting up of the event, should come to the Wilderness asap. If you're interested in giving a talk, or demonstrating a skill – get in contact, or just show up and arrange to use one of the "spaces" available with one of the Protect The Wilderness Crew.

The provisional timetable includes:

Thursday 8th:

*Introduction to Reclaim the Fields – where we've come from and recent action, including feedback from the European Gathering.
* Wilderness Centre introduction & housekeeping
*Open Introductions; introduce your self & your projects & continue networking with our noticeboard

The remainder of the day is designed around open spaces, giving people a chance to work & communicate around these suggestions so far:

*WWOLF (woofing with teeth) and Reclaim the Field Trips
*Seed Sovereignty & grower-to-grower seed distribution networks
*Carrots session e.g. RTF internal structure/sharing workloads
*Using the food sovereignty principles as a strategic framework – (in a UK context)
*How to organise & maintain effective land occupations
*Composting gender
*Planning for International Peasants Day of Struggle on April 17th
*Legal options for accessing land
*Protecting bee populations

Friday 9th:

*Session on general Reclaim the Fields strategy and focuses for 2012
Workshops and talks:
*An introduction to land rights
*History of Land rights struggles in the Forest of Dean

Followed by a consensus based guerilla gardening action… remains open to suggestions!
(ideas so far…)
*Food forest, in an abandoned quarry
*Care home for the elderly
* Clear-felled Forestry land
* Victorian walled garden

Saturday 10th:

Protect The Wilderness open skill-share day!
Seed swap, Community bring and share.
Gardening the organic community garden, and walled garden.
Music and feasting!

Not forgetting gardening, charcoal burning, baking in the cob oven, seedbomb making, cobbing the round-house, and chopping wood through-out!

£5 suggested donation per day, no one will be turned away for lack of funds.

Items to bring:
Warm clothes, two sets (if you mind being muddy)
bedding, camping mats
tools for g-gardening [spades, forks, mattocks, billhooks]
Instruments, dancing shoes,
seeds for seedbombs,
home-grown veg, pickles, jams, whole foods

More info about the Wilderness Centre: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Protect-the-Wilderness-Centre-Forest-of-Dean/321890141176064
Who to contact for more information: use the RTF UK email list or email frankynecklace@yahoo.co.uk

Gourds work be done,

Protect The Wilderness,
Reclaim the Fields!

Monsanto takes double hit in January – who’s next?

Monsanto Admits Defeat in France, Biotech Corn Contaminates

26/1/12

Monsanto Admits Defeat in France, Biotech Corn Contaminates

26/1/12

France has held firm in its opposition to Monsanto’s genetically modified MON 810 maize – and the agri-chemical multinational has admitted defeat.

Monsanto had been putting legal pressure on the French government to lift its 2008 cultivation ban on MON 810, firstly with a successful appeal to the European Court of Justice, then with a follow-up case heard in France’s own highest court, the Council of State.

But despite both these institutions ruling that the ban was “insufficiently justified in law”, the French Government, backed by President Sarkozy, has insisted that it will still not allow cultivation of the biotech maize.

Now Monsanto has announced that it would not be selling seeds for MON810 in France this year.

France’s stand – and Monsanto’s capitulation – has been warmly welcomed by anti-GM lobbyists GM Freeze, whose campaign director Pete Riley said: “The decision by Monsanto not to market MON810 seeds in France in 2012 is yet another sign that Monsanto has failed to convince the public or policy makers that there is any benefit to growing to growing GM crops.

“This needs to be acknowledged by industry and politicians and there should be a big shift to agricultural research and development which addresses the future sustainability of farming in Europe. EU policy needs to forget about the bottom line of biotech corporations and focus on developing agro-ecological farming which provides for the needs of farmers, consumers, the environment and future generations.”

Five other EU countries – Germany, Greece, Austria, Luxembourg and Hungary – have current bans on MON810 cultivation in place, and the issue has recently been complicated by another European Court of Justice ruling requiring honey contaminated with GM pollen to be fully authorised as a novel product and labelled as such before it can be sold.

— And from earlier in the month: Monsanto attacked by Anonymous hackers! In a thread of hack events from the Anonymous group, the most recent target has been Monsanto.com. Anonymous, which briefly knocked the FBI and Justice Department websites offline as well as Music Industry websites in retaliation for the US shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload, is a shadowy group of amazing international hackers. Anonymous Message To Monsanto: We fight for farmers! – Video Transcript (Cross-Posted from Organic Common Sense): “To the free-thinking citizens of the world: Anonymous stands with the farmers and food organizations denouncing the practices of Monsanto We applaud the bravery of the organizations and citizens who are standing up to Monsanto, and we stand united with you against this oppressive corporate abuse. Monsanto is contaminating the world with chemicals and genetically modified food crops for profit while claiming to feed the hungry and protect the environment. Anonymous is everyone, Anyone who can not stand for injustice and decides to do something about it, We are all over the Earth and here to stay. To Monsanto, we demand you STOP the following: * Contaminating the global food chain with GMO’s. * Intimidating small farmers with bullying and lawsuits. * Propagating the use of destructive pesticides and herbicides across the globe. * Using “Terminator Technology”, which renders plants sterile. * Attempting to hijack UN climate change negotiations for your own fiscal benefit. * Reducing farmland to desert through monoculture and the use of synthetic fertilizers. * Inspiring suicides of hundreds of thousands of Indian farmers. * Causing birth defects by continuing to produce the pesticide “Round-up” * Attempting to bribe foriegn officials * Infiltrating anti-GMO groups Monsanto, these crimes will not go unpunished. Anonymous will not spare you nor anyone in support of your oppressive illegal business practices. AGRA, a great example: In 2006, AGRA, Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, was established with funding from Bill Gates and The Rockefeller Foundation. Among the other founding members of, AGRA, we find: Monsanto, Novartis, Sanofi-Aventis, GlaxoSmithKline, Procter and Gamble, Merck, Mosaic, Pfizer, Sumitomo Chemical and Yara. The fact that these corporations are either chemical or pharmaceutical manufacturers is no coincidence. The people of the world see you, Monsanto. Anonymous sees you. Seeds of Opportunism, Climate change offers these businesses a perfect excuse to prey on the poorest countries by swooping in to “rescue” the farmers and people with their GMO crops and chemical pesticides. These corporations eradicate the traditional ways of the country’s agriculture for the sake of enormous profits. The introduction of GMOs drastically affects a local farmers income, as the price of chemicals required for GMOs and seeds from Monsanto cripples the farmer’s meager profit margins. There are even many cases of Monsanto suing small farmers after pollen from their GMO crops accidentally cross with the farmer’s crops. Because Monsanto has a patent on theri brand of seed, they claim the farmer is in violation of patent laws. These disgusting and inhumane practices will not be tolerated. Anonymous urges all concerned citizens to stand up for these farmers, stand up for the future of your own food. Protest, organize, spread info to your friends! SAY NO TO POISONOUS CHEMICALS IN YOUR FOOD! SAY NO TO GMO! SAY NO TO MONSANTO! We are Anonymous We are legion We do not forgive We do not forget Expect us” Global Justice Ecology Project, an anti-biotech group founded by Earth First! activists, also noted in a post on the attack that Monsanto was also one of the original founders of the GE tree company ArborGen. The President and CEO of ArborGen, Barbara Wells, led Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready soy division in Brazil. GMO soy in Brazil and other parts of Latin America has taken over vast swaths of Amazon and other forest land, and has displaced or poisoned many communities there. Find out more about their campaign against ArborGen here. We fight for farmers video – http://youtu.be/Q1A-DYK4M4Q DOS attack on Monsanto – http://youtu.be/3XutsnEe4VY

Earth First! Winter Moot, what to expect

This years Earth First! Winter Moot takes place in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. In a months time environmentalists from across the UK and beyond will converge to discuss and debate. Below is an update from the organising collective who are working on the program.

The Moot 2012 collective has felt that at previous EF! Gatherings groups have primarily attended to recruit for their respective campaigns. Yet those who attend EF! Gatherings are predominantly already active, making them good places for networking, but not necessarily for outright recruitment. We recognise the effort gathering organisers put into planning agendas but often the more discursive aspects of the gatherings focus on larger, abstract questions and debates have often been framed by self-appointed experts. We feel that these discussions ineffectively attempt to find answers or reach consensus where this is inappropriate.

For example at the first EF! Gathering 20 years ago the question was asked: 'What is EF!?' 20 years later in 2011 at the last Moot the same question was still being asked . . .

The answer is EF! is what we make it, and this year we are going to make it a space in which we can approach our campaigns both critically and analytically by asking more specific and practical questions. Our activism should be constantly evolving not stuck in a rut asking the same questions again and again.

The agenda will be designed to ask questions around four key issues: the tactics we use; the strategies that we employ in our campaigns; community solidarity; and sustainable activism. There will be no attempt to reach conclusions or consensus especially about what EF! is. Instead we want to have discussions that lead to new ideas that could evolve ongoing campaigns or give creative inspiration to ones that are just getting started.

A free space will be provided in which campaigns will be able to hold meetings and have further discussions if they wish, and there will also be some space given for campaign updates with an emphasis on honest analysis rather than promotion.

For updates and more info check the website or email us.

EF!WM Crew
e-mail: efwintermoot@noflag.org.uk
Homepage: http://earthfirstgathering.org.uk

More nails in the GM coffin – bye bye BASF / amaranth fights back against GM menace / Take the Flour Back

18 January 2012

BASF, the last firm still developing genetically modified crops in Germany is stopping its work, admitting defeat in the face of widespread European opposition to to the idea.

18 January 2012

BASF, the last firm still developing genetically modified crops in Germany is stopping its work, admitting defeat in the face of widespread European opposition to to the idea.

This follows decisions by Bayer and Syngenta to stop their genetically modified (GM) crop work in Germany over the last few years.

German chemical giant BASF has announced that it will halt the development or commercialisation of genetically modified (GM) crops in Europe, and move its biotech R&D operations to the US. The firm cited consumer and political resistance to transgenic plants in Europe for its decision.

BASF will now concentrate its plant biotechnology activities in North and South America, and the headquarters of BASF Plant Science will be moved from Limburgerhof, Germany, to Raleigh, North Carolina, US. BASF expects that this will result in the loss of 140 jobs in Europe.

'We are convinced that plant biotechnology is a key technology for the 21st century,' said Stefan Marcinowski, a member of BASF's executive board. 'However, there is still a lack of acceptance for this technology in many parts of Europe – from the majority of consumers, farmers and politicians. Therefore, it does not make business sense to continue investing in products exclusively for cultivation in this market.'

BASF's decision was met with warnings from industry representatives and lobbyists, but celebration by others, including environmental advocates and at least one former industry insider.

Presently, only two GM crops are authorised for cultivation in the EU: MON810 maize, made by US-based Monsanto, and BASF's Amflora potato. MON810 is only approved for sale as an animal feed and starch from Amflora is used in industrial processes.

Maurice Moloney, the chief executive of Rothamsted Research in the UK, which has been engaged in GM work, said that moving the focus of crop science even further away from Europe is 'deeply regrettable'. Such a move will 'make innovative new technologies, including but not limited to GM, less available to European producers and consumers and carries the risk of denying them access to crops and foods with health and environmental benefits,' he added.

BASF's decision is likely to adversely affect Europe's economic growth and food supply, Moloney warned. 'It is ironic that much of the science that created modern biotechnology came from Europe and yet Europeans have been deprived of the environmental benefits such as the reduction of the use of pesticides and improved soil quality as well as the more obvious economic benefits of cheaper food and agricultural products,' he said.

In addition, Alan Dewar, an independent entomologist who directs Dewar Crop Protection and used to be head of entomology at a division of Rothamsted Research, called BASF's decision to quit Europe 'indicative of the ever increasing isolation that European scientists find themselves in'. Dewar highlighted 'inadequate sentences' handed down by judges in several European countries to protestors who have been 'caught red-handed' destroying GM field trials, saying it is not surprising that biotech crop research has stalled in Europe.

But Ignacio Chapela, a microbial ecology professor at the University of California, Berkeley and senior researcher with the Centre for Biosafety in Norway, says that genetically modified organisms have been overhyped and that the industry needs to be significantly trimmed down.

'The size of the GMO market should be much smaller, but it is being promoted very strongly with the full force of the US government,' Chapela says, who formerly worked for Swiss firm Sandoz, Sygenta's predecessor, developing new agrichemicals. He says much publicised claims that GM crops would cut levels of herbicides and insecticides in the food chain have failed to materialise and, in fact, many of these products have led to more of both.

The environmental group Friends of the Earth (FoE) Europe also celebrated BASF's announcement. 'This is another nail in the coffin for genetically modified foods in Europe,' said Adrian Bebb, agrofuels campaign coordinator for FoE Europe. 'This is a good day for consumers and farmers and opens the door for the European Union to shift Europe to greener and more publicly acceptable farming.'

However, is this a real victory or a sleight of hand? Read more

——

Amaranth, the Inca sacred plant, attacks GM soya crop

5,000 hectares trashed, 50,000 threatened!

It first happened in 2004, when a farmer in Atlanta in the US found amaranth that had spread to his fields was resistant to Roundup – the herbicide much GM was bred to resist. But since then, the 'weed' has spread widely, and according to the UK's Centre for Ecology and Hydrology there has been gene transfer.

[note: this is an old article, excerpt taken from here. There have been a rash recently of articles about GM reposted from the last years, that purport to be from 2012; this article about amaranth was not previously covered on this site, hence it's brief reposting]

——

Past action against BASF's UK HQ

Future action this May against GM wheat trial

Earth First! Winter Moot 2012 – 24-26th February 2012. Updated: location & what to expect

A weekend of discussion and networking for those taking direct action against ecological destruction.

Please note date & location change (due to date clash & venue problems):

24-26th February 2012, near Glasgow

Nearest train station: Lanark.

A weekend of discussion and networking for those taking direct action against ecological destruction.

Please note date & location change (due to date clash & venue problems):

24-26th February 2012, near Glasgow

Nearest train station: Lanark.

See earthfirstgathering.org.uk for further information about location, programme and contact details

Update:

Where – this years Earth First Winter Moot will take place in Glespin Village Hall, South Lanarkshire. Glespin is a small village about 14 miles south of Lanark, and 35 miles south of Glasgow. South Lanarkshire also has many beautiful areas with rivers, hills, forests and peat bogs. Full directions

What to expect – this years Earth First! Winter Moot takes place in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. In a months time environmentalists from across the UK and beyond will converge to discuss and debate. Below is an update from the organising collective who are working on the program.

For example at the first EF! Gathering 20 years ago the question was asked: 'What is EF!?' 20 years later in 2011 at the last Moot the same question was still being asked . . .

For updates and more info check the website or email us.

efwintermoot@noflag.org.uk

Spanish farmers sab GM maize

5.10.11

The following is a communique cross posted from Afilado Nuestras Vidas:

Translation by Lilac

5.10.11

The following is a communique cross posted from Afilado Nuestras Vidas:

Translation by Lilac

During the second week of August 2011 an unknown number of people have destroyed part of an experimental field of GM maize seeds owned by Pioneer. The area located between the towns of Valdivia and Zurbaran had been requested by the company to be opened to the following GMO maize varieties: 1057, 59122 maize, NK603. This field is one of the three requested this year by Monsanto and Pioneer companies to experiment with transgenic corn.

This action is a small response to the imposition of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) by biotechnology companies and the state. Since GM began to be experimented, approved and marketed heavily, its creators and promoters have stated that GM would be able to end hunger or to safeguard human health and the possibility of a cleaner and more efficient agriculture. Nothing is further from the truth.

These GMOs are imposed in a context of: large corporations fighting for monopoly control of seeds and chemicals, monocultures, genetic pollution, the disappearance of small and medium farmers, liquidation of local economies, the disappearance of indigenous varieties, large distribution networks, waste and water pollution, the expulsion of rural communities.

These GMOs are not compatible with other forms of production and social organization based on the recovery of traditional agriculture that meet the needs of the people, not markets, and do not overflow the boundaries of ecosystems, coupled with the will to escape the illusory link between happiness and consumption.

Models are clearly needed in a hungry and warming world due to the submission to the market and totalitarian states. Therefore these GMOs do not come to fulfill the benefits, but represent another twist to the agro-industrial model, which will, among other things, completely expropriate the people’s their ability to feed themselves. For the final decision of the approval and marketing of GMOs, the state created the National Biosafety Committee (NBC).

Inside there are seven representative NBC scientists, many of them linked to the biotech industry and pro-GM lobby. This body is for the industry, not biosecurity, as evidenced by the growing number of genetic contamination in wheat and corn crops. In whole regions of the state, genetic contamination in crops such as the above named is inevitable.

Outside our borders, these GMOs have been responsible for all types of disasters such as famine, deforestation, poisoning, allergies and other illnesses due to consumption as well as a myriad of constraints to rural communities and farmers by biotech companies, not to mention real massacres caused by the manufacture and use of chemicals needed for this agro-industrial model, of which GM is its ultimate expression. To say GM is not saying “no!” to the evils and injustices that we have cited; “no!” to imposing: “no!” to the artificiality of life; “no!” to the madness of progress.

The take action against GMOs is a legitimate struggle of all people, symptoms of common sense and the need for profound social change, the result of being aware of the danger to the Earth (and everything that gets penalized) in the hands of capitalism. Those who sow and reap transgenic promotes resistance.

Farmers (campesin@s*) in Extremadura in the struggle.
Extremadura, September 2011
Individual farmers (campesin@s) in Extremadurs

*Translator’s note: Campesin@ is an untranslatable word in Spanish, which usually connotes small, community based, sustainable and subsistence farmers, although it can also be used in reference to field workers under a giant corporation like Chiquita or Dole.

new EF! Action Update

In an end of the summer compact EF!AU, find news about kicking shell in the teeth in Rossport again and then some more, solidarity with the community at Dale Farm, and anti-GM resistance – Spuds you Don’t Like demo in England, sabotage in Germany, France and Scotland.

On top of the usual contacts and dates, read about solidarity with jailed Swiss nanotech activists, resistance against steel plants, mobile phone masts, mining and energy projects here & across the world – stay angry and don’t carry on as usual!

The quarterly EF!AU, August 2011

Genetically Modified Papaya Farm Sabotaged in Hawaii

8.9.11

According to Hawaii County police, thousands of GE papaya trees were sabotaged last month, apparently by machete on the Big Island.

8.9.11

According to Hawaii County police, thousands of GE papaya trees were sabotaged last month, apparently by machete on the Big Island.

“It’s hard to imagine anybody putting that much effort into doing something like that,” said Delan Perry, vice president of the Hawaii Papaya Industry Association to the Associated Press. “It means somebody has to have passionate reason.”

Delivering the answer to GM spuds in Norwich

Saturday 23rd July saw growers and supporters from all over the UK and beyond descend on Norwich to help deliver 40 boxes of organic blight-resistant potatoes to the Sainsbury Laboratory to highlight the re-emergence of open-air field testing, and the £1.7 million of public money being spent in the hunt for a GM blight-resistant spud. Folk came from Wales, France, London, Devon, Lancaster, Manchester, Dorset, Liverpool, Bristol, Yorkshire, Bungay and Norwich itself. You can see photos of the event by clicking on http://www.flickr.com/photos/chickenpea111/sets/72157627303039592/
Backing from celebrity foodie Antonio Carluccio, combined with grassroots organising and the sheer absurdity of the GM research, meant that the event got extensive press coverage (see the links below).

Most of the speeches were conducted in the city centre, next to the farmers’ market, and featured the head of policy at the Soil Association, the Director of GM Freeze and a selection of farmers, who explained why GM is a risky, expensive and outdated technology, which is still failing to deliver commercial crops of any benefit to farmers or consumers. Peter Lundgren, a conventional farmer from Lincolnshire, described the ongoing research as “flogging a dead horse”. “Why are we throwing good money after bad when we already have six varieties of blight resistant potatoes in the marketplace available for growers? The GM industry makes a great effort to suggest that existing varieties don’t taste good.” “Look” he said, pointing to the children in the crowd tucking into hot blight-resistant potatoes being served by the local Greenhouse café. “That’s the real test.” The crowd of growers, councillors, senior citizens and kids then headed out to the John Innes Centre to deliver the organic spuds under the watchful gaze of several vans of riot cops and a police helicopter.

Prof. Jonathan Jones (or JJ to us…) Field notes from close quarters.

The most unusual aspect of the demo which followed was the intimate approach adopted by the Sainsbury’s lab researchers. Normally industry scientists are more than coy about engaging with critics. Stop GM attempted to organise a standard public debate in Bramham near Leeds University a couple of months ago. The village is next to the only other open-air trial site in the country at Leeds University, but Prof. Atkinson refused to attend, saying that he didn’t believe adversarial debates inform the public.

Up until 6 days before the Norwich rally Jones was issuing threats against anyone attempting to make a delivery to his door and refusing our offer of a modest platform. So it was curious that JJ brought not only a small army of security, but also what appeared to be a not insignificant part of his research team, his PA, and his wife to the party outside the Sainsbury Lab gates, who all mingled with the crowd and attempted to engage in a variety of ways. Jones gave us some useful insights into what to expect from the industry when cornered. The intro to his speech actually included a substantial ‘I used to subscribe to the Ecologist in the 70’s you know’ section. He also talked a lot about the support he had from local farmers, none of whom were actually in attendance, and he didn’t acknowledge viable alternatives to GM, other than to say that the potatoes that had been delivered were “not popular with consumers” (Unlike, say, GM foods – the only product ever to be universally banned by supermarkets from their own lines in response to mass consumer opposition). He attempted throughout to paint himself as a champion of impartial public science dedicated to reducing chemical use, reducing carbon emissions and feeding the world. This from a man who’s other day job is that of co-founder of Mendel Bio-technology. This is taken from their website: “Mendel is dedicated to being a premier biotechnology company serving large agricultural companies with new genetic and chemical solutions and to becoming the leading seed company serving the bioenergy industry.” Those chemical solutions and large agricultural companies he so carefully aligned himself against in Saturday’s speech? Mendel has three strategic partners: Monsanto (the largest), BP and Bayer Crop Science.

JJ defending his Monsanto links in the Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/jul/18/gm-scientist-defends-monsanto-links

For more on Jones and his commercial bio-tech and lobby group links see: http://www.powerbase.info/index.php/Jonathan_Jones

Jones is also on the board of directors of the ISAAA, a GM industry lobby group.
ISAAA’s annual review of GM crops is often used to promote the technology, as no one else is putting similar data out.

The rally was followed by some fine shapes being thrown around the campfire at the excellent after-party, and day of grassroots organising where we gathered inspiration from our amazing French friends and further evolved campaign ideas started at Gathering Momentum in January. Watch out for our stall and workshops at the Green Gathering in Chepstow this weekend. Drop in and say hello if you’re passing. For more information about non-GM blight-resistant potatoes see www.savari-trust.org

A summary of some of the news coverage-

TV –

ITN : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REZwCEZqoSU&feature=player_embedded
BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-14277147
Radio: BBC Norfolk:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00hxv3f

Press –

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/2011/07/25/127998/Campaigners-protest-against-GM-spuds.htm

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/health/anti_gm_protesters_descend_on_john_innes_centre_in_norwich_1_972864

http://www.newmarketjournal.co.uk/news/regional/protesters_meet_gm_crop_scientists_1_2896750http://www.southnorwichnews.co.uk/news/rally-heads-for-research-park/

http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/latest-news/norwich-protest-over-gm-potatoes/40434.article

JJ also got a pre-emptive piece in the on-line Guardian. For those who aren’t aware, the Guardian has started receiving Gates Foundation funding. The Microsoft billionaire’s fondness for biotech appears to have rendered several previously impartial organisations slightly blinkered in their engagement with GM issues. Whilst some of the media coverage is undoubtedly unbalanced, the Sainsbury laboratory do a lot of PR anyway, and this rally is the first time in many years that they have been forced to defend rather than just promote their work. At their site they seem to have expended a fair bit of energy in defence as well, with a convenient contamination containing ‘tent’ over the trial site, and earth barricades at every entrance.

The campaign continues – come and get involved. Contact info@stopgm.org.uk

Earth First! Summer Gathering Update 2011

Location announced, workshop schedule published, and how the kids space is going to work. All for the Earth First! Summer Gathering which begins on the 10th of August and runs until the 15th.

Get in touch if you need more information.

Location announced, workshop schedule published, and how the kids space is going to work. All for the Earth First! Summer Gathering which begins on the 10th of August and runs until the 15th.

Get in touch if you need more information.

The gathering this year will be held at Woolseybridge Farm – a lovely site in Norfolk with lots of trees and a little stream. It’s approximately 1.5 miles NNE of Diss. Diss has regular train services and a wholefood shop.

If you can come down to help set up please do, we start on August the 5th, if you can stay a few days after the gathering to help bring it all do that’d also be grand.

Site phone number 1 is 07551689365 or try number 2 on 07866797016.

Here’s a detailed map

——————–

And here’s the workshop schedule:

Wednesday

11:30-1

National Bargee Travellers Association

Information and discussion session on the current struggle of travelling boat dwellers to keep their homes in the face of harassment and unlawful enforcement by British Waterways. Come along if you live on a boat, or if you want to know how you can help the boating community fight back!

Frack-Off! An introduction to the threat of hydraulic fracturing.

Fracking is a nightmare! Toxic and radioactive water pollution. Tap water you can set on fire. Runaway climate change. To produce expensive gas that will soon run out. So why are we doing it? This will be a detailed practical, participatory workshop aimed at bringing people up to speed on the issue, the specifics of which areas of the UK are directly under threat and particularly, where to find organised resistance.

Squat Electrics

Dealing with our shit- Men against the Patriarchy. An open discussion on the ways in which men can unlearn the arsehole patriarchal behaviours they’ve picked up by being alive in this society, and reinforce within the radical environmental movement.

2-4

Popular Education & Training

Skill-share for Trainers! Interested in popular education & training? Come learn & share popular education exercises & games designed for group participation and horizontal learning. Find what collectives are working in the UK (& beyond!) and the work they are doing.

Oh Fuck it’s the Apocalypse

working on the basis that the collapse of industrial society is fairly imminent, and that we need to plan for it. To this end we’re looking at sustainable living, permaculture, etc, with a survivalist angle; at ways to survive a collapse and build a more sane society from the ruins; and discussing how this analysis affects our other activism and priorities. We’re a bit like Transition Towns with an Edge and a Clue.

Using Radios- A beginners guide to using radios during actions.

Setting up a Tripod- Never put up a tripod before, want a use one on an action. Here’s your chance to find out how.

4-6

Squatting,Direct Action and New Laws

Film: ‘Gasland’

When a documentary film-maker is asked to lease his land for drilling, he embarks on a cross-country odyssey uncovering a trail of secrets, lies and contamination. A recently drilled nearby Pennsylvania town reports that residents are able to light their drinking water on fire. This is a US documentary, however shale extraction or ‘fracking’ is now heading to the UK.

Tinkers Bubble

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Thursday

10-1130

Intro to Consensus

Consensus is widely regarded as one of the most empowering and creative ways of making decisions in a non-hierarchical group, but it isn’t always easy. This participatory workshop provides an introduction or refresher to what it’s all about and how to make it work.

Reccing

Structured and facilitated discussion to share skills and tips for successful reccies for action. Including a check-list of what to find out, internet and phone searches, site visits, tricks and disguises for getting info, security tips etc.

Intro to EF!

London Olympics

Resisting the London 2012 Olympics (Corporate Watch and the Counter Olympics Network)
What can we do to resist the Olympics in London next year? People are aware of the problems with the games – surveillance, gentrification, environmental destruction, privatisation, job insecurity etc and the benefits to corporations. Come and discuss these and how we can resist, taking inspiration from people who have resisted other Olympics.

How to plan a kick ass action:

You’ve taken action before and now you’re ready to start planning your own proactive and creative Kickass Actions…

1130-1300

Banking & finance

Locking on

Practical workshop for learning different lock-on techniques for blockades and other actions. Arm-tubes, d-locks, chains, handcuffs, superglue and more!

20 years of EF! Looking forward

Fight Fracking

Shale gas extraction or ‘fracking’ has been polluting drinking water and the climate in the US, where it has caused numerous health problems. It’s been blamed for mini-earthquakes in Blackpool and there are plans for projects across the UK, including in South Wales, Lancashire, Somerset, Kent, Surrey and Scotland. Join an open discussion & planning session on how we can resist these projects.

Infiltration- Activist Trauma

2.00pm-4.00pm

Dealing with Conflict

An introduction to understanding and dealing effectively with disagreement and conflict in our groups. www.seedsforchange.org.uk

Intro to Anarchy

Smash Edo

Anti-cuts and Against Austerity

An open discussion on how we’re currently working against the cuts, what are we learning about the situation, what is proving to be effective, do we need to unlearn certain behaviours that have dominated activist circles in order to broaden and connect the resistances currently occurring.

Mental Health

4pm- 6pm

Action Planning for a kick ass action

You’ve taken action before and now you’re ready to start planning your own proactive and creative Kickass Actions…

Self-Defence for Pacifists

Safe self-defence that doesn’t rely on strength and appropriate for any level of experience. Can be applied in direct-action or every day scenarios. Bring your (empty) plastic water-bottle and we’ll play with some ‘weapon/baton’ defence at the end. Numbers capped at 20, only appropriate15yrs and over (apologies for that arbitrariness).”

Shell to Sea

Trouble Shooting in meetings

A workshop on troubleshooting and improving your meetings.

Puppet show

Performance and discussion of a puppet show celebrating the history of environmental direct action in the UK.

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Friday

10.00am- 11.30am

Affinity groups

Participatory workshop exploring how and why work with others for action, including inspiring case studies of successful autonomous actions.

Basic bike maintenance.

An informal workshop on brakes and gears, can also cover truing wheels and look at other repairs with no or few tools, by Bicycology.

Intro to EF!

Facilitating Participatory Workshops

Have you got skills or information you’d like to share? Or maybe you want to support people to learn from each other, or share experiences? Develop skills, confidence& understanding to facilitate fun, participatory & dynamic workshops.

Solidarity is a Weapon

1130-1pm

Intro to Direct Action

Direct action is about taking things into our own hands instead of asking the rich and powerful to do the right thing. Empower yourself to go out and make change happen!

Intro to industrial Agriculture and GM

Anarcho-Feminist

Black Fish

The Black Fish is a newly founded European based conservation organisation that takes action on the issues of whaling, industrial fishing and marine animals in captivity. Using education, investigation and non-violent direct action, The Black Fish has set out on a mission to change attitudes towards our precious oceans and work to protect the unique life within them.

2-4pm

Sustaining Resistance- A workshop to explore how we can make our activism more sustainable and effective in the long term. Finding sources of personal support to help us stay inspired, nourished and creative for the long haul and identifying how we can challenge damaging cultures of overwork and burnout in our activist groups.*

Doing Actions without getting caught

Practical workshop covering various aspects of doing actions without getting caught, including getting to your target without detection both in the day and in the dark, forensics and dress sense, getting together materials, communications, getting away. Parts of the workshop will involve physical practise, please wear suitable clothes for crawling through bushes…

Women’s Self Defence

The luddites 200 year anniversary and technology politics today

Celebrating the 200 Anniversary of the Luddite Uprisings: Technology Politics Then and Now (Corporate Watch and the Luddites200 Organising Forum
In 1811-12 Artisan cloth workers in the Midlands and North of England rose up against factory owners who were imposing new machines and putting them out of work. Since the 1950s the Luddites have been painted as fools opposed to all technology and progress, but in fact the Luddites were very selective in their attacks, breaking only machines they thought were ‘hurtful to Commonality’. What can the Luddites teach us about the ongoing use of technology to replace workers’ jobs, as well as issues like GM food and nuclear power? Can we escape the myth that technology always brings progress?

Activist Trauma

4-6pm

Getting over Fences

Privilege and Oppression

Power and privilege play out continuously in our group dynamics. This workshop will explore the roles we each play as privileged and as oppressed in our movement and in wider society.

Dale Farm

this is the biggest unlawful Traveller site in the UK. Residents own their land but have been repeatedly refused planning
permission and Basildon Council have now gathered £18million in order to evict them. After years of fighting their eviction through the courts they have now been served their papers, and have until the 31st August to leave. this workshop will outline the history of the campaign, discuss plans for resisting the eviction and, if there is enough interest, organise a working party to visit Dale Farm to help them prepare for eviction.

Coal Action Network

Intro to what’s happened so far with CAN. Discussions about what people would like from the network/website and where people think coal campaiging is going. How to get involved in CAN.

Tripods

Doing Actions without Getting caught part 2

We’ll be practising how to move in the dark without being spotted. Please wear dark clothes suitable for crawling through the bushes and a torch if you can. Meet at 8.30 sharp at the gate tent. The practise will finish by 10pm.

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Saturday

10-1130

Facilitation

If you’ve never facilitated a meeting before, or want to brush up your skills and gain confidence, this workshop is for you.

Intro to EF!

Basic land navigation

An introduction to navigation with map and a compass for total beginners or improvers. Please bring a compass if you have one . Also, an overview of very simple route finding using the sun, stars and other natural signs.

Environmental and Autonomous Education for young people

A discussion about various alternative education projects for young people, a space to share ideas, experiences and rethink the ways in which we engage in these projects.

Coal Action Scotland- What’s going on in the Valleys at the moment and how can people get involved.

11.30am- 1.00pm

Building Strong Groups- Share ideas and learn from others for making your group more accessible, inclusive and sustainable.

Organising the next winter moot and summer gathering

Enjoyed this gathering? Thought this gathering was crap? Come along and start working out how next years gathering could turn out.

Nutrition 101

Mayday Indymedia

What is indymedia and how does it work? This workshop, run by members of the collective which looks after the indymedia.org.uk website, will attempt to answer your questions about indymedia and will give you the information you need to report your news effectively on the uk site [and the local sites Birmingham, Sheffield and Oxford?], including writing middle column features for the uk front page to give prominence to your campaigns and actions. Find out about the editorial guidelines and moderation, as well as how to raise queries and how to start up an indymedia collective in your local area.

Rewilding

Facilitated discussion.

2.00pm-4.00pm

Who Cares?

Open discussion based around recent article published on Ceasefire entitled “Who Cares?” which talked about the failures of the radical movement within the UK to engage with child care in a way which related to anarchist politics.

Know your rights: Legal and arrest workshop

Covers basic law for activists and the arrest process. If you’ve
never been nicked before or you want to brush up on your knowledge, this is for you. www.seedsforchange.org.uk

Anti-Nuclear- Campaign update and info session

Using Radios

Saving Iceland and Samarendra Das: The Global Crimes of the Aluminium Cartel

Behind the shining image of aluminium is a dark side of environmental catastrophes, the arms industry and cultural genocide. A joint presentation by Saving Iceland and Indian author/activist Samarendra Das. It will include current threats to the Icelandic highlands, one of Europe’s last great wildernesses, the history and future of the campaign and the fallacies of hydro and geothermal energy. Samarendra Das will speak about the present struggle of Adivasis against companies such as Vedanta and the real facts behind the aluminium industry.

2.00pm-4.00pm

Self-Defence

‘The True Cost of Coal’

The Beehive Design Collective (part of the Rising Tide North America Network) create portable murals of collaboratively produced illustrations with an amazingly engaging central narrative. ‘The True Cost of Coal’ will take you on an interactive visual tour of the connections between Coal Mining, Climate Change, the Ever Expanding Capitalist Economy, and the Struggle for Justice in Appalachia, North America and throughout the world.

GM Campaign- Campaign update and info share.

Community Defence: Building our own Exarchia’s

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Sunday

10.00am- 11.30am

Regional Meetings

Dsei

DSEi is the worlds largest Arms Fair, as many EFers know. This year it’s from September 13-18. It’s not simply about the arms trade. It’s about public services “cuts”: the environment: banking and investors: the conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa. Not to mention the borders that stop people fleeing conflict There’s a call for a mass blockade of the DLR on the Tuesday. Previous Days of Action- and other days in the week -have included street parties, Critical Mass bike rides, die-ins, mock sales of “arms”, legs and even a tank; splashing fake blood across the entrances, engaging with arms dealers on the trains and platforms, invading the car park and rail entrance, blocking the roads, locking on to the trains, even swimming in the dock! And visiting the investors offices of course. And in ther run-up- your local arms factory. Will be talking about all this – Not to mention that visit to your local arms factory!

11.30am- 1.00pm

Action Update

Gatherings Collective

Basic Plant I-d

Discussion about Veganism

Direct Action Training

Come and get active in this interactive and hopefully fun workshop where we’ll be looking at some fundamental building blocks for taking non-violent direct action to fight suffering, and practising different non-violent echniques to hold occupations, blockade, break out of kettles, de-arrest people, and to deal with other police tactics, like snatch squads, horses and dogs. We’ll also give lots of other tips for dealing with public order situations and for affinity group actions, including some key legal information which you should know when you’re taking action, and some tips about dealing with the media. And we’ll look at some of the values and attitudes which are key to taking NVDA, like non-hierarchical organising and consensus (and others). We’ll hopefully be able to adjust the workshop to cover what you want, and to answer all your questions.

2.00pm-4.00pm

Gathering Feedback Show

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Kids’ space and activities

If you do not have a kid, we might still need your help, so read
on…….

The kids’ space is designed as a place where children and those caring for them can relax, play and eat. The space contains books, toys and craft materials.

The kids’ space is NOT a creche and doesn’t have staff or facilities to care for children.

Parents and carers are respectfully reminded that they will need to collect children at meal times/breaks and that they much keep adults in the kids space informed of where they can be found; please also fill in the forms in the kids kitchen regarding food allergies etc.

If you do not have a child at the gathering, but would like to help in kids space, please talk to the collective. Help with reading stories, playing games, art and crafts always welcome.

Kid’s kitchen

This provides meals suitable for and at appropriate times for children. Kids meal tickets cost £2 or £3 a day for 2 meals (the lower rate is for toddlers); please buy these at the gate tent. This is the first time we have sold kids meal tickets and hopefully this will cover the cost of meals, but we may need to ask for help if this is not enough to cover our costs.

Even those without children can help by with cooking and washing up in the kids space, please volunteer if you can.

Games and activities

During the morning (approx 10 am -noon) there will be activities and workshops for kids in one of the workshop spaces.

In the afternoon (after lunch), there will be games in the top meadow for children and adults together. Again, any help with these very welcome – just ask the collective/kids space crew.

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Public Transport

The site is easily accessible by public transport, you can get the train either to Diss or Norwich and then catch the bus route no 1 (Simmonds) from Diss to Norwich. Or you could walk or cycle – it’s only 1.5miles away from Diss train station. Please come by public transport if at all possible! .

We will run pick-ups from the train station for anybody who can’t use the bus service or for larger groups of people. If you need a lift please let us know well in advance (and not in the middle of the night, when you’re at a train station somewhere!). !

Wheelchair users intending to use Diss station will need to book assistance with the train operator. There are no lifts so station staff have to assist mobility impaired customers across the track. Apparently the station is not manned 24 hours a day and the gate for the crossing is kept locked – so do phone and book to be sure .We have been told the bus service includes some low-floor buses with easy access for pushchairs, people with mobility impairments etc.

Hitch to Norwich or Diss; from Norwich hitch south on the A140 to Dickleburgh. It is then a 3 -4 mile walk or hitch to the site; on the Dickleburgh bypass (don’t go into Dickleburgh village) is a right turn to Shimpling and Burston; follow this road through Burston village, past the village green and out of the village. There is a sharp left turn, then down a hill to a sharp right turn. Site is on the right just over a little brick bridge.

From Diss either walk or bus, or carry on up the A140 to the turning on the Dickleburgh junction as above (only this time the junction is on the left).

[some even more detailed info including post-code, from previous year, at http://www.earthfirstgathering.org.uk/2008/where.html]

efsummergathering2011@riseup.net