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
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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
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).”
‘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
In the new summer edition of the EF! Action Update, read about coal trains blockaded, peat bogs defended, and gas terminals shut down. Find out about the dangers of nanotech, current state of nuclear GM trials in the UK, Tesco uprisings, golf course trashing, tar sands action and much more. 
Ecological Direct Action without Compromise
EARTH FIRST! WINTER MOOT
Rebellion, a spark in search of a powder keg – the new Action Update is out, the quarterly round-up of ecological direct action from the UK and beyond.