Category: Scotland (Central & Southern)

Scot­land (cen­tral & south­ern)

Pre-Eviction Gathering! Sat 23rd to Tues 26th January

*A long week­end of action, work­shops and defence-build­ing in prepa­ra­tion for the evic­tion of the Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp*

Pre-eviction gathering*A long week­end of action, work­shops and defence-build­ing in prepa­ra­tion for the evic­tion of the Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp*

With the long-await­ed and high­ly-antic­i­pat­ed evic­tion of the camp sure­ly draw­ing clos­er, join us for the week­end (and as much time after that as you can spare!) to add the fin­ish­ing touch­es to defences, build new ones and for­ti­fy bar­ri­cades. Ever want­ed to build your­self a tree­house? Dig your­self a tun­nel? Make your­self a lock-on? Now is your chance!

We’re ask­ing any­one who wants to be a part of stop­ping this open cast coal mine, any­one who wants to fight cor­po­rate greed, cor­rupt gov­ern­ment and the feu­dal land own­er­ship, and any­one who wants to defend a com­mu­ni­ty from the self-inter­est of the few, to come to the camp and help us build a viable alter­na­tive to the destruc­tion that will oth­er­wise ensue.

Ask­ing nice­ly has failed. Its time to fight back!

What to bring:

* Warm clothes and water­proofs
* Sleep­ing bag

Tasty veg­an food will be pro­vid­ed, but bring any sup­plies you can. Any build­ing mate­ri­als, tools, climb­ing equip­ment, bed­ding or any­thing on our wish list you can spare please bring it along.

Direc­tions – http://coalactionscotland.noflag.org.uk/?page_id=415#How%20to%20Get%20There

http://mainshill.noflag.org.uk/

Coal Machinery Sabotaged in South Lanarkshire, Scotland

Late one night in ear­ly Jan­u­ary Pen­nile open cast coal mine was vis­it­ed by a num­ber of peo­ple who sab­o­taged machines. A total of 13 pieces of machin­ery were dam­aged, includ­ing one giant earth mover, six giant dumper trucks, four stan­dard sized earth movers and two flood light gen­er­a­tors.

Late one night in ear­ly Jan­u­ary Pen­nile open cast coal mine was vis­it­ed by a num­ber of peo­ple who sab­o­taged machines. A total of 13 pieces of machin­ery were dam­aged, includ­ing one giant earth mover, six giant dumper trucks, four stan­dard sized earth movers and two flood light gen­er­a­tors.

Recent­ly Pen­nile open cast fin­ished min­ing, but the machines Scot­tish Coal had work­ing there were sup­posed to be mov­ing to Main­shill Wood. How­ev­er as we all know Scot­tish Coal’s plans have been sub­stan­tial­ly dis­rupt­ed by the occu­pa­tion of the wood by the Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp.

This action was tak­en by autonomous peo­ple in sol­i­dar­i­ty with every­one who oppos­es the destruc­tion of Main­shill Wood and it’s devel­op­ment into anoth­er coal mine.

videos from Mainshill and German treesit against a proposed pipeline

The Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp presents:

*Off With Their Heads!*

Hold­ing the politi­cians behind Main­shill Open Cast Coal Mine to account

Fea­tur­ing: Jim Hood MP, Karen Gillon MSP, Coun­cil­lor Dan­ny Meik­le and Lord Home

Snow and Anarchy at MainshillThe Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp presents:

*Off With Their Heads!*

Hold­ing the politi­cians behind Main­shill Open Cast Coal Mine to account

Fea­tur­ing: Jim Hood MP, Karen Gillon MSP, Coun­cil­lor Dan­ny Meik­le and Lord Home

This short film doc­u­ments the cor­rup­tion, con­flict of inter­est and hypocrisy dom­i­nat­ing the pol­i­tics of South Lanark­shire, that result in Scot­tish Coal receiv­ing approval for coal mine after coal mine in the Dou­glas Val­ley. With no regard for com­mu­ni­ty health, local democ­ra­cy, the envi­ron­ment or cli­mate change, Scot­tish Coal are allowed to run roughshod over the peo­ple of the Dou­glas Val­ley. The Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp occu­pied the site of Main­shill Wood over six months ago to help local com­mu­ni­ties fight off Scot­tish Coal and the landown­er Lord Home.

The strug­gle con­tin­ues!

Watch it here: http://www.politube.org/show/23788

—

Since the 18.12.09 ROBIN WOOD-Activists squat sev­er­al trees in the Gäh­ler­park in Ham­burg Altona to impende the con­truc­tion of a heat­ing pipeline for the planned coal pow­er plant Ham­burg Moor­burg, which would mean the loss of the trees in the park. The com­pa­ny propos­ing the pipeline is Vat­ten­fall, a Swedish cor­po­ra­tion. With their protest they sup­port two res­i­dents who have squat­tet two trees already at 3rd of decem­ber.

(Ger­man with Eng­lish sub­ti­tles)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJeo631Pyv4

Sabotage at Broken Cross Open Cast Coal Mine (Mainshill Solidarity Action)

In the ear­ly hours of the 25th Decem­ber, a group of autonomous activists deliv­ered their Christ­mas present to Scot­tish Coal. Four machines were sab­o­taged at the Bro­ken Cross open cast site, the largest of its type in Europe, just 5 miles from Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp.

In the ear­ly hours of the 25th Decem­ber, a group of autonomous activists deliv­ered their Christ­mas present to Scot­tish Coal. Four machines were sab­o­taged at the Bro­ken Cross open cast site, the largest of its type in Europe, just 5 miles from Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp.
This is a mes­sage to Scot­tish Coal that regard­less of the time of year, we will resist. Not just at Main­shill, but at all of their sites across South Lanark­shire, which is one of the most heav­i­ly mined areas in Europe.
As the “fes­tive” sea­son comes to an end, the destruc­tive work will com­mence again at Main­shill. Evic­tion is loom­ing as their work pro­gress­es. Num­bers are need­ed as ever on site to help out and fill defences.

Mainshill Celebrates 6th Month of Resistance! Come celebrate with us over Christmas!

Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp will cel­e­brate its 6th month of resis­tance against Scot­tish Coal and fat cat inter­ests this Fri­day the 18th of Decem­ber!

Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp will cel­e­brate its 6th month of resis­tance against Scot­tish Coal and fat cat inter­ests this Fri­day the 18th of Decem­ber!

The win­ter is draw­ing in, but the tem­po­rary autonomous tree sit at Main­shill is warmer and cosier than ever! With a new log cab­in com­mu­nal and wood burn­ing stove there’s nowhere bet­ter to spend x‑mas than in the ice encrust­ed woods in the com­pa­ny of deer, robins, and oth­er wildlife whose habi­tat is slow­ly being defor­est­ed by Scot­tish Coal.

Join us this week­end to cel­e­brate 6 months of occu­pa­tion in resis­tance to a new open cast coal mine in an area already blight­ed by sev­er­al such devel­op­ments.

Direc­tions

Bus­es run to Dou­glas from Lanark and Hamil­ton. Both Lanark and Hamil­ton have train and bus sta­tions and are easy to get to from either Glas­gow Cen­tral Train Sta­tion or Buchan­non Street Bus Sta­tion. From South of the bor­der, going to Glas­gow is the eas­i­est way to get to Dou­glas. Bus­es from Lanark to Dou­glas are much more fre­quent!

Bus from Lanark:

The Ser­vice Num­ber 9 (William Stokes & Sons) runs from Lanark – Gle­spin, stop­ping in Dou­glas (ser­vice every 49mins past each hour). Ask to be dropped of out­side the camp – dri­vers are usu­al­ly hap­py to do this. Oth­er­wise, get off at the Egger­ton Bridge stop just before Dou­glas – you’ll see the camp on your left just after the M74 under­pass!

Bus from Hamil­ton:

The X50 (Hen­der­son Trav­el – http://www.henderson-travel.co.uk/) Hamil­ton-Gle­spin runs Hamil­ton, Inter­change – Les­ma­hagow, Church Hall – Rig­side – Dou­glas, leav­ing Hamil­ton at 17:05 (one ser­vice per day)

From Dou­glas:

The bus will stop before Dou­glas at Egger­ton Bridge and you will see the camp on your left after the M74 under­pass. If you miss this stop get off in Dou­glas and walk North East back up the A70 for 1km and the camp will be on your right just before the M74.

Hitch­ing:

If you hitch, the camp is right next to the M74 which runs from Glas­gow to Carlisle. Get dropped of at junc­tion 12 and walk South West down the A70 towards Dou­glas and the camp is a few hun­dred metres on your left. Hap­pen­don ser­vices are close to junc­tion 12 – if you end up there­walk South down the B7078, turn right onto the A70 towards Dou­glas, which takes you under the M74 and as above.

If you need a ride…

…from some­where close by call the site phone and we’ll try to sort you out.
Con­tact Us

Call the site phone on: 07806926040

Email us on: mainshill@riseup.net

Contractor’s van sabotaged at Mainshill

On Wednes­day 16th, con­trac­tors parked in front of Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp returned to find their van sab­o­taged.

Mainshill van sabbedOn Wednes­day 16th, con­trac­tors parked in front of Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp returned to find their van sab­o­taged.

The Rae­burn work­ers turned up at 2.30 with the estate man­ag­er and left their vehi­cles unat­tend­ed while they took soil sam­ples with­in the camp. In less than ten min­utes, though the work van win­dows were smashed and ‘out of main­shill’ and ‘no more coal’ sprayed on the sides. A buck­et of com­post was tipped over the bon­net. Unfor­tu­nate­ly, the estate man­ager’s 4x4 only got a small scratch.

The occu­pa­tion of Main­shill con­tin­ues, and we wel­come oth­ers who wish to join us in resist­ing open cast coal min­ing and the envi­ron­men­tal tox­i­fi­ca­tion it caus­es.

Autonomous Pixie Action in Solidarity with Mainshill

In the ear­ly hours of Mon­day the 7th of Decem­ber a drilling rig and oth­er machin­ery was sab­o­taged at Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp. This action was tak­en by a group of autonomous peo­ple in sol­i­dar­i­ty with all those who oppose the devel­op­ment of Main­shill Wood into an open cast coal mine.

In the ear­ly hours of Mon­day the 7th of Decem­ber a drilling rig and oth­er machin­ery was sab­o­taged at Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp. This action was tak­en by a group of autonomous peo­ple in sol­i­dar­i­ty with all those who oppose the devel­op­ment of Main­shill Wood into an open cast coal mine.

Actions such as these are not mind­less acts of van­dal­ism, but valid respons­es to cor­po­ra­tions like Scot­tish Coal and their bla­tant dis­re­gard for life and com­mu­ni­ties of peo­ple every­where. Such acts dam­age the rich and wealthy in the only place that mat­ters to them – their wal­lets. As life on earth is threat­ened in every direct by the blind pur­suit of prof­it, we look not to politi­cians in Copen­hagen for inde­ci­sion, but take mat­ters into our own hands.

Burn­ing coal under­mines the very abil­i­ty of human beings to live on a healthy vibrant plan­et, a right our ances­tors enjoyed and our chil­dren should inher­it. Yet the cli­mate is chang­ing, the oceans are acid­i­fy­ing, and hun­dreds of species go extinct every sin­gle day because of the greed of a few. Let’s not stand idly by and watch while so much beau­ty is plun­dered and destroyed!

There is no time to act but now. Come to Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp and send your own mes­sage to Copen­hagen!

Glasgow Airport Terminal 2 branded unethical

2/12/2010
On the day the world’s lead­ers were to release their glob­al emis­sions tar­get, Plane Stu­pid Scot­land unveiled a new sign wel­com­ing peo­ple to Glas­gow Air­port. Giant let­ters read “T2 closed” and “Closed for Eth­i­cal Rethink”, point­ing to the increas­ing­ly air­port.

Glasgow Airport rebrand2/12/2010
On the day the world’s lead­ers were to release their glob­al emis­sions tar­get, Plane Stu­pid Scot­land unveiled a new sign wel­com­ing peo­ple to Glas­gow Air­port. Giant let­ters read “T2 closed” and “Closed for Eth­i­cal Rethink”, point­ing to the increas­ing­ly air­port.

The action is the first in a grow­ing cam­paign to keep Ter­mi­nal 2 shut for good. It was closed over the win­ter as a cost sav­ing mea­sure after pas­sen­ger num­bers fell by 11.3% to 7.2 mil­lion. Glas­gow air­port oper­ates a huge num­ber of short haul and domes­tic flights.

Local res­i­dents have had few­er sleep­less nights due to the decreased air traf­fic and the air­port’s emis­sions have also reduced from the 618,539 tonnes of Co2 it emit­ted in 2008 (although unsur­pris­ing­ly BAA won’t tell us by how much). This trend must con­tin­ue if we’re to meet our emis­sions tar­gets, or the “world’s great­est Cli­mate Change Bill” (copy­right Scot­tish Par­lia­ment) will become the world’s biggest embar­rass­ment.

Reg­gie Whit­tak­er, who lives by Glas­gow air­port explained: “T2 real­ly is plane stu­pid. It’s unsus­tain­able and unnec­es­sary.”

Lord Home’s mansion visited in solidarity with Mainshill

In the ear­ly hours of Sun­day 29th Novem­ber a group of autonomous activists caused embar­rass­ment to Lord Home, expos­ing his role in the pro­posed devel­op­ment of Main­shill Woods into and open cast coal mine. This action was tak­en by a group of autonomous peo­ple in sol­i­dar­i­ty with all those who oppose the devel­op­ment of Main­shill Wood into an open cast coal mine.

In the ear­ly hours of Sun­day 29th Novem­ber a group of autonomous activists caused embar­rass­ment to Lord Home, expos­ing his role in the pro­posed devel­op­ment of Main­shill Woods into and open cast coal mine. This action was tak­en by a group of autonomous peo­ple in sol­i­dar­i­ty with all those who oppose the devel­op­ment of Main­shill Wood into an open cast coal mine.

Lord Home was enter­tain­ing friends at his coun­try man­sion, almost cer­tain­ly before a day of grouse shoot­ing. In the dead of night, the activists deflat­ed tyres on all of the posh cars out­side the house, put super­glue on the wind­screens and left a sign on Home­’s lawn say­ing ‘No Open Cast’. The car pre­sumed to belong to Home­’s house­keep­er was left untouched.

Actions such as these are not mind­less acts of van­dal­ism but designed to embarass Lord Home into hav­ing to explain his blind pur­suit of prof­it and neglect of com­mu­ni­ty inter­est to his cronies. As well as draw­ing atten­tion to the fight to stop the open cast­ing of Main­shill, the action may con­ve­nient­ly also have put some of Home­’s mateys off going grouse shoot­ing again.

Another Successful Action-Packed Gathering at Mainshill Solidarity Camp

From Sat­ur­day 28th Nov – Tues 1st Dec there was anoth­er suc­cess­ful action-packed gath­er­ing at Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp. With activists trav­el­ing from all over the UK, around 55 peo­ple con­verged on the camp and spent the week­end solid­i­fy­ing old defences, work­ing on new ones and stop­ping the log­ging work on site.

From Sat­ur­day 28th Nov – Tues 1st Dec there was anoth­er suc­cess­ful action-packed gath­er­ing at Main­shill Sol­i­dar­i­ty Camp. With activists trav­el­ing from all over the UK, around 55 peo­ple con­verged on the camp and spent the week­end solid­i­fy­ing old defences, work­ing on new ones and stop­ping the log­ging work on site.

Har­vesters were stopped from chop­ping down trees and prepar­ing the ground for min­ing machin­ery on both Mon­day after­noon and Tues­day morn­ing. The har­vester dri­vers seemed hap­py to get a break and were friend­ly and chat­ty with the pro­tes­tors. There are now 3 har­vester machines work­ing on site rather than just the one which has been work­ing up until now, per­haps indi­cat­ing that the almost dai­ly actions to stop work have seri­ous­ly delayed the work of remov­ing trees at Main­shill in prepa­ra­tion for the mine.

Sat­ur­day night saw anoth­er leg­endary par­ty and gave every­one a chance to cel­e­brate some of the hard work done to solid­i­fy the defences in antic­i­pa­tion of an evic­tion. As well as all the work on defences, the com­mu­nal spaces were also improved with the instal­la­tion of a beau­ti­ful new burn­er in the com­mu­nal made espe­cial­ly for the camp and a lot of progress on the new kitchen exten­sion.

By Sun­day morn­ing there was news that an autonomous group of activists act­ing in sol­i­dar­i­ty with all those who oppose the open cast­ing of Main­shill Wood had paid Lord Home a vis­it. Appar­ent­ly Home was at home down the road from the camp, win­ing and din­ing a group of chums, prob­a­bly in antic­i­pa­tion of a Sun­day of grouse shoot­ing. Reports on Indy­media state that “activists deflat­ed tyres on all of the posh ccars out­side the house, put super­glue on the wind­screens and left a sign on Home’s lawn say­ing ‘No Open Cast’.”

Climb­ing and bunker build­ing work­shops kept every­one busy on Sun­day as well as col­lect­ing wood to keep the camp going dur­ing these cold­er weeks. There was snow on Mon­day but every­one was in high spir­its after a real­ly good week­end of work.