Scotland (Central & Southern) – Page 11

The Outdoor Skillshare a success

23rd June 2010
Over a hundred people came together last weekend for the Outdoor Skillshare. Held at Talamh Housing Coop in South Lanarkshire, the weekend aimed to bring people together to share the skills needed to occupy land and defend it from eviction. Workshops covered varied topics including cooking for the masses, digging tunnels, radio communication and climbing trees.

The weekend also had sessions on skill-sharing and running workshops to share the skills to facilitate participatory workshops. It is hopped that more skill-sharing and events of this type will happen across the UK in the future.

Lewis from Leeds who travelled up for the weekend said: “It was a really amazing event and I really learned a lot. I’d never put on a harness or cooked on a giant gas burner before so it was a great opportunity to practise these things. I really feel like all of us who came to this weekend will be able to go to a protest camp and actually chip in.”

Laura, part of the group that organised the event said: “We were surprised at the number of people who came and the atmosphere and peoples attitude was amazing. People organised spontaneous sessions and those of us giving workshops learned new ways of doing things. It was such a great weekend and I hope we get a chance to do it again.”

The temporary camp over looked the former site of the Mainshill Solidarity Camp, now a functioning open cast mine, and was surrounded by Broken Cross and Poniel open cast coal mines. South Lanarkshire has been blighted by open cast coal mines for decades and has also been a hive of resistance by the community and environmentalists. Over the weekend people from the local communities visited the event, including some local young people who took part in the kids climbing workshop.

outdoorskillshare [at] riseup.net
http://outdoorskillshare.noflag.org.uk

Camp for Climate Action 2010 – Break the Bank!

Saturday 21 August – Tuesday 24 August 2010
Edinburgh, Scotland

* Occupy and set up the basecamp: 19–20 August
* Four days of training and direct action: 21–24 August
* Day of action against RBS: 23 August
* Return basecamp to nature: 25 August

The Camp for Climate Action is a grassroots movement taking direct

Saturday 21 August – Tuesday 24 August 2010
Edinburgh, Scotland

* Occupy and set up the basecamp: 19–20 August
* Four days of training and direct action: 21–24 August
* Day of action against RBS: 23 August
* Return basecamp to nature: 25 August

The Camp for Climate Action is a grassroots movement taking direct
action against the root causes of climate change. After mobilising and
helping stop the proposed third runway at Heathrow and a new coal fired
power station at Kingsnorth, we’re growing into a mass movement to
reclaim our future from government and profit-hungry corporations.

This year we’re targeting the Royal Bank of Scotland, and their global
headquarters in Edinburgh.

Last year RBS were bailed out with £50 billion of public money. This
bank is one of the world’s largest investors in oil, gas and coal. From
tar sands extraction in Canada to coal infrastructure here in the UK,
we’re paying to trash our future. These projects are not just causing
catastrophic climate change, but destroying the lives and livelihoods of
people across the globe. Meanwhile, we’re told there is no money left
and we should be braced for decades of public sectors cuts.

Ecological destruction is built into the mechanics of the financial
system, with communities disenfranchised from their own futures. This is
why, in August, people from across the UK will be converging to take
back the power and Break the Bank!

Our sustainable and collectively-organised basecamp will give you the
chance to learn, train up, and meet like minded individuals. Exciting
action plans are currently in the plotting stages, so watch this space.

The Camp for Climate Action is made up of people like you – check out
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk to find out how to get involved.

———————————————————————

SPREAD THE WORD
– Please forward this email!
– Invite your friends to the facebook event:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=134368843242381
– All-new flyers and stickers for the camp are here:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/actions/edinburgh-2010/rbs-flyers-and-stickers
– The just-out ‘Never Mind the Bankers’ RBS newspaper is here:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/actions/edinburgh-2010/never-mind-the-bankers

COME TO THE NEXT UK GATHERING
– The next planning gathering for this summer’s camp will be in
Edinburgh from 3-4 July. Gatherings are a chance to make decisions about
the camp and get involved in the working groups that make the camp
happen. Everyone’s welcome – full info here:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/get-involved/national-gatherings/next

COME TO THE RBS TEACH-IN
– Tool up on RBS at our teach-in in Leeds on 17 July:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/actions/edinburgh-2010/rbs-teach-in-17-july

GET INVOLVED IN YOUR LOCAL GROUP
– We’ve got groups and neighbourhoods around the country. Details here:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/get-involved/local-groups

GET IN TOUCH WITH WORKING GROUPS
– Working groups are the way we organise things, and they need you.
Details here: http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/get-involved/working-groups

QUESTIONS?
– Try info@climatecamp.org.uk or process@climatecamp.org.uk

The new Action Update – full of of action news and analysis

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.

Be inspired by our protest camp feature and the recent Titnore victory. And from across the seas, read about our brothers and sisters struggling against whaling ship sabotage, coal port pirates, riots in Zagreb, mining firm occupations in Bolivia, dam resistance in Brazil and much more.

“We are going to inherit the earth . There is not the slightest doubt about that. We Are not afraid of ruins. We carry a new world, here in our hearts. That world is growing this minute.” – Durruti

To download the latest EF!AU for printing, go to http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/efau/actionupdate_summer10print.pdf

To read the latest EF!AU online, go to http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/efau/actionupdate_summer10.pdf

Coal Action Network website relaunched!

Check out http://coalaction.org.uk/ for the updated and re-vamped Coal Action Network website and detailed coal maps of the UK. It is hoped that this website will be a useful resource to anyone taking action – or thinking of taking action – to protect communities, environments and the climate system from coal projects.

The CAN website will be kept up-to-date with recent news from campaigns and the industry. Have a look at The Coal Maps – mapping coal across the UK, contacts page for campaigns and groups active on coal, useful resources for campaign groups, arguments against new coal, upcoming events and links to information and other issues. You can get in touch to contribute updates and information and sign up to the CAN email list.

Through this website we aim to help link community struggles and arm ourselves with the information we need to resist new open cast coal mines and coal-fired power stations.

Upcoming action dates & activist gatherings, 2010 – updated

scroll down for latest dates…

8-10 October 2010
Earth First! tree planting weekend – Treesponsibility

10 October 2010
Glasgow airport shut-down action

12 October 2010

scroll down for latest dates…

8-10 October 2010
Earth First! tree planting weekend – Treesponsibility

10 October 2010
Glasgow airport shut-down action

12 October 2010
Global Minga for Mother Earth

12-16 October 2010
Direct Action for Climate Justice, CJA call-out

13 October 2010
It’s Hammertime! – Smash EDO

16 October 2010
Crude Awakening – big oil day of action in London City

23-24 October 2010
Stop Nuclear Power Network UK Gathering, Bristol

10-12 December 2010
Earth First! tree planting weekend – Treesponsibility

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Old dates from this calendar:

2010

15-17 January 2010
Peace News Winter Gathering, Nottingham

23-26 January 2010
Mainshill Pre-Eviction Gathering

5-7 February 2010
EF! Winter Moot, North East England

12-14 February 2010
UK Rossport Solidarity Gathering, Nottingham

19-21 February 2010
Camp for Climate Action national ‘where next?’ gathering, Bristol – regional ones happening over January & February (details here)

26-28 February 2010
No Borders Winter Gathering, Nottingham

14 March 2010
UK Tar Sands Campaign Gathering, York

11am till 6pm (Vegan lunch by donation)
With BP’s AGM just 1 month away, and 2 weeks of actions planned for 1st to 15th April, come and connect with other UK-based Tar Sands campaigners, share ideas and create actions. We’ll be looking at strategies and actions for targeting Shell, BP and the Royal Bank of Scotland – Britain’s Dirty Threesome on Tar Sands investment.

We’re meeting in Derwent College, York University, room D/056 – from the station or city centre, take bus number 4 to the very last stop, walk back about 50 meters, and the road entrance to the college is signed on the left. D/056 is accessed from the outside, beyond the dining hall and ponds.

1 April 2010
Fossil Fools Day

1-4 April 2010
The Huntington Lane Fossil Fools weekend convergence

1-15 April 2010
BP Fortnight of Shame
including London Mass Action

17-18 April 2010
Social Centres in a Time of Crisis, Leeds
A weekend of workshops, discussions and socialising for everyone with an interest in radical autonomous social centres

22-23 April 2010
anti-aviation 48 hours of sticker-whacking, subvertising, adbusting pandemonium

23-26 April 2010
Anti-nuclear Camp, Suffolk – see latest EF!AU for details

6-10 May 2010
Activist Tat training week: putting up marquees, erecting and mending flat pack toilets, as well as technical and theoretical (power, plumbing etc) skillsharing

15 May 2010
Party at the Pumps 2

21 May-5 June 2010
Merthyr to Rossport solidarity bike ride – Climate Chains

5-8 June 2010
Rossport Solidarity Camp Gathering, Ireland

11-19 June 2010
World Naked Bike Ride – 11 June: Manchester, Southampton; 12 June, Cardiff, Edinburgh, London; 13 June: Brighton, Bristol; 19 June, Sheffield, York

18-21 June 2010
Outdoor Skillshare, Scotland

19 June 2010
National Gathering of the Stop Nuclear Power Network, London

25 June-31 August 2010
Ecotopia Biketour, from Critical Mass, Towards Car Free Cities Conference, to the French & German climate camps and much in between.

6-12 July 2010
Anti-Industrial Land Defence Action Camp, Catalonia
Go only if you can speak Catalan or Spanish – http://acampadaderesistencies.blogspot.com

14-22 July 2010
Nordic climate action camp, Southern Sweden

22 July-1 August 2010
French Camp Action Climat, near Le Havre

22 July-2 August 2010
Swiss climate camp Fr / De

23-27 July 2010
Peace News Summer Camp, Oxfordshire

29 July-4 August 2010
Belgian Climate Camp, near Liege

4-9 August 2010
EF! Summer Gathering, Derbyshire

12-16 August 2010
Irish Climate Camp, County Tyrone

13-17 August 2010
Climate Camp Cymru

21-24 August 2010
Climate Camp targets RBS in Edinburgh: Action Days

21-29 August 2010
German Klimacamp, near Erkelenz

27-30 August 2010
National Animal Rights Gathering, near Northampton

27-29 August 2010
Dutch Earth First! Gathering and CJA meeting – Groen Front!

Mainshill Coal Site sabotaged!

12.04.2010
In the early hours of this morning machinery at Mainshill open cast site was sabotaged. Two Caterpillar D9T’s and a 170 tonne face scrapping earth mover, an O&K RH90, were targeted, both will be inoperable today, and will cost Scottish Coal greatly.

A sustained campaign of sabotage has been waged at Mainshill and it was vowed to continue even when work on the mine started. The only thing that has changed since the eviction of the Mainshill Solidarity Camp is that the machines on the site are bigger and more expensive. The machinery at the Mainshill site, and any other coal site in Scotland, are extremely vulnerable. Sabotage against the coal industry will continue until its expansion is halted.

This action was done by autonomous environmentalists in solidarity with the people of South Lanarkshire who are fighting to save their community and their health from the coal industry. This is also in solidarity with people around the world, including Columbia and India, who are fighting for their lives against the coal industry.

Mainshill vive – la lucha sigue!

Activist Tat training week

There will be a free AT Co-op training week in Nottingham, from Thursday 6th of May to Monday 10th of May 2010.

This will include putting up marquees, erecting and mending the flat pack toilets and painting them for beauty and durability, as well as all the technical and theoretical (power, plumbing etc) skillsharing that launched the site crews of the No Borders Camp in Calais, and the Camp for Climate Action in Blackheath in 2009.

We would like to see 50 new people there. We can cope with 70 if they are
considerate and co-operative.

You can come for the whole week or just a couple of days. We’ll share the cost of excellent vegan food, and bring sleeping bags for the friendliest floors in Forest Fields, Nottingham. E-mail jed2f4[at]yahoo.co.uk if you’re coming.

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Do you have equipment? Spaces activist groups can use? Skills you would like to share with others? ATC are currently doing an audit of grassroots movements to see what materials we have and what we have to offer each other. Please take part in our questionnaire, and help us create a strong network where we share skills and materials.

The AT Cooperative (commonly known as ‘activist tat collective’) is a group of people who have come together to provide equipment, transport and training for grassroots movements. The aims of the group are as follows:

1. To source and provide equipment for events to grassroots campaigns at below commercial rates, by using existing resources and purchasing new materials.

2. To train people up in essential skills for putting on outdoor events.

3. To be a point of contact for individuals and groups seeking who are happy for others to use their equipment or who want to pass on their skills.

In all this, ATC aims to be as professional as possible, maintaining and storing equipment responsibly and ensuring that it is returned or replaced. This will reduce waste and free up valuable time for actual campaigning!

There is a lot more information on our website, so please read on.

http://www.atcoop.org.uk

Faslane Free Cafe -Zombies at the base!!

Zombies at the base!!
Still living die in, naming the dead.
Workshops “What you really should know about depleted uranium ”
Paint a stone…make a cairn

Meet at peace camp Saturday, 01 May 2010 at 17:00

On the Sunday following the free cafe will be film showings.
Those wishing to stay overnight are more than welcome. Caravan spaces are available.

Zombies at the base!!
Still living die in, naming the dead.
Workshops “What you really should know about depleted uranium ”
Paint a stone…make a cairn

Meet at peace camp Saturday, 01 May 2010 at 17:00

On the Sunday following the free cafe will be film showings.
Those wishing to stay overnight are more than welcome. Caravan spaces are available.
For more info or to book yer bed call us..

Directions –

The camp is situated 6 miles North of Helensburgh. Helensburgh can be reached from Glasgow by train, for £5 return, trains leave every half hour from Glasgow Queens Street (Low level station).Or the 216 from Jamaica St – Helensburgh.
You can catch the 316 bus from Helensburgh Central train station (for Coulport or Garelochead, stops outside the camp) it only costs £1:50, and you can ask to be dropped off at the peace camp.

-F.P.C. is on the east verge of the A814 road, which leads to HMNB Clyde and beyond. The Camp is therefore visible to all traffic coming towards the base from the direction of Helensburgh.

We are about 30 miles west of Glasgow, by the Gareloch, a river Clyde estuary sea loch. Faslane Naval Base is on the Gareloch.
CAMP PHONE 01436820901

faslaniapeacecamp@yahoo.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=346471983449&ref=ts

Earth First! Summer Gathering, 4th – 9th Aug 2010, Derbyshire – location & programme announced/set-up plans & call-out

Ecological Direct Action without Compromise

5 days of workshops, skill sharing and planning action, plus low-impact living without leaders.

Meet people, learn skills, take action.

For latest details, see http://www.earthfirstgathering.org.uk/
Set-up plans & call-out
Location
Programme

Ecological Direct Action without Compromise

5 days of workshops, skill sharing and planning action, plus low-impact living without leaders.

Meet people, learn skills, take action.

For latest details, see http://www.earthfirstgathering.org.uk/
Set-up plans & call-out
Location
Programme
Want to do something to stop our planet from getting trashed?

EF! is about direct action to halt the destruction of the Earth. It’s about doing it yourself rather than relying on leaders, governments or industry. Direct action is at the heart of it, whether you’re standing in front of a bulldozer, shutting down an open-cast mine or ripping up a field of GM crops.

We’re a loose network of people, groups and campaigns coming together for ecological direct action.

Join us for 5 days of workshops, networking and planning actions, run without leaders by everyone who comes along. The gathering is also a practical example of low-impact eco-living and non-hierarchical organising.

What’s happening?
Over 80 workshops, discussions, planning, strategy and ‘where next’ sessions:

*Share and learn skills for kick-ass actions on land and water.
Small boat handling and blockading using kayaks / Blockading – tripods, lock-ons/ Fences / Climbing skills / Action reconnaissance / Security for Activists / Strategy and tactics / How to research corporations /

*Network current campaigns against ecological destruction
Open-cast mining / Genetic engineering / Agrofuels / Saving Iceland / Climate actions / Pipeline resistance in Rossport / Anti-nuclear / Airport expansion/ Tar Sands

*Think about eco-centric ethics and alternative ways of organising
Deep green ethics / Anarchist economics / Anarchist history / Radical Politics / Working without leaders/ Consensus decision-making

*Practical skills for ecological restoration and sustainable living.
Introduction to Ecology / Restoration ecology / Flora and Fauna identification / Vegan Cake making / Power from solar and wind / wild food / Squatting / Bike maintenance

As well as international campaigns round-up, networking and planning for future actions.

Cost and practical things
£20-30 according to what you can afford.
The gathering is in Derbyshire, the exact location will be announced the week before. More info on our website.

Find out more and join in!

Email us if you can offer a workshop, want to help out with the gathering or if you would like posters and leaflets to distribute.

We have now a stack of freshly printed posters advertising the gathering. If you’d like to send you some to stick up in your area or to take to events, festivals and the like, please email us. Alternatively you can also download the files and print your own. They are fairly large files! EF! gathering poster (A4)

We are now looking for people to run workshops and discussions at the gathering. Please contact us if you can offer something. Have a look at our programme page to see the kind of thing we’re looking for.

http://www.earthfirst.org.uk, summergathering _ NOSPAM _ @ _ NOSPAM earthfirst.org.uk

Faslane blockaded twice in three days during Euro Days of Action to Ban Nukes

6 APRIL 2010

Following Saturday’s pan-European actions at nuclear weapons bases (see http://www.vredesactie.be/campaign.php?id=12 for details), more than a dozen Trident Ploughshares activists today revisited Faslane, home of the UK’s nuclear weapons. The protesters intend to ensure that high on the agenda of the election called by Gordon Brown today is the UK’s nuclear weapons and their threat to global security.

The protestors peacefully blockaded the base and ensured that activity at the base was disrupted.

A spokesperson said, ‘we enjoyed taking part in Saturday’s symbolic blockade at the North Gate, but we recognise the need to send a more serious message, and have returned today to exercise our civic responsibility under International Law, to do what we can to stop the work of preparing and maintaining these horrific weapons of mass destruction. At this time of year we reassert our message of Easter, that love is more powerful than hate, and life is more powerful than death’.

Up-date:

Janet Fenton was arrested for cutting down the sign ‘Faslane Nuclear depot’ as a symbol of the day that the base will close. Morag Balfour was helping with that but was only arrested after a spraying painting a message. Brian Larkin, Eurig Scandrett, Barbara Dowling and Jean Oliver were arrested for blocking the gateway locked together.

Follow Trident Ploughshares on Twitter: http://twitter.com/TridentPlough
media [at] tridentploughshares.org
http://www.tridentploughshares.org