Pix-&-Vidz of E.ON F.OFF, Pall Mall, London – 28 Nov 08
Greenwash Guerillas London Brigade, Detection Platoon #1, pay a protest-oriented visit to the London Office of filthy climate criminal corporation E.ON UK to confront a Short-Sighted Fat Cat and PR Pushers plugging ‘Clean Coal’ bullplop.
Climate Camp: How to make an E.ON F.OFF placard
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jbqngfkMZmU
Very useful and generally applicable method for placard & banner production using a projected image
Telling E.ON to Take its ‘Clean Coal’ Greenwash & F.OFF
At a time when the global climate crisis demands clean, renewable, energy generation solutions, a German energy transnational corporation called E.ON want to build a new filthy big coal powered electricity generating station [1] at Kingsnorth in north Kent [2]. All indications are that the UK ‘New’ Labour government will give them the go ahead, despite the fact that their own Environmental Audit Committee has recently called coal a ‘last resort, even with CCS’; where CCS = Carbon Capture & Storage, an unproven pipedream technology that won’t be available for 20 years at the earliest (or so says Alistair Darling, the industry itself and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change).
So building on the recent Mass Action Victory which scuppered E.ON’s UK graduate recruitment plan [3], a bevy of climate crisis protesters targeted E.ON UK’s London office at 100 Pall Mall [4] from 8:00 this morning. This is one of a number of decentralised protest actions arising from a call to ‘Take Back the Power’ through ’48 Hours of Action against E.ON and New Coal’ over Fri 28 and Sat 29 Nov 08 by:
▪ E.ON F.OFF – http://www.e-onf-off.org.uk
▪ Camp for Climate Action – http://climatecamp.org.uk
▪ Rising Tide – http://risingtide.org.uk
▪ Plane Stupid – http://www.planestupid.com
▪ Campaign against Climate Change – http://www.campaigncc.org
Footnotes
[1] E.ON’s proposed new filthy big coal powered electricity generating station – it will emit between 6 and 8 million tons of CO2 every year (equivalent to the annual emissions of Malawi’s 13 million people or more CO2 than Heathrow’s third runway would burn) source – http://www.e-onf-off.org.uk/why.html
[2] Kingsnorth in north Kent – http://tinyurl.com/KingsnorthCoal-map
[3] See ‘Mass Action Victory Scuppers E.ON’s UK Recruitment Plan’ – http://tinyurl.com/MAV-13-Nov-08
[4] E.ON UK’s London office at 100 Pall Mall – http://tinyurl.com/EON-LDN-map
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On Friday 28th November London Rising Tide visited the FA Headquarters to protest about E-on’s strive for new coal in the UK.
The FA cup is sponsored by E.on and a full team of Rising Tiders turned out to play football in T shirts bearing the names of the government’s proposed new coal fired powerstations.
Yellow and Red cards explaining the facts about dirty coal were handed out to staff leaving the headquarters and passing public.
london@risingtide.org.uk
http://www.londonrisingtide.org.uk/
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Students spoof natwest ads – 48hrs action on coal
In the 48 hours of action against e.on and new coal, South London students affliated with People and Planet use their photoshops skills and sense of fun to target Natwest’s investment in climate change.
Natwest, part of RBS, were given shiney new posters boasting their investment habbits to customers. We had a smashin time putting them up so print some out and have fun to. Also lots of stickering and fun with the space hijackers topshop swap shop – good day!
see www.oyalbankofscotland.com
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Bristol Rising Tide and activists from in and around Bristol had a day of shenanigans directed at the Royal Bank of Scotland, E-on and new coal.
The day started with a banner drop on one of the flyovers crossing the M32 motorway running into the city centre. Over lunchtime the main RBS branch in the city centre was picketed, with activists handing out forged £20 banknotes (see below) to passers-by and customers only to have an ‘RBS bank robber’ steal them back to give to E-on and the coal industry (see photo). A mock bank statemate was also distributed showing RBS’s investment in coal around the world set against the taxpayer funded bail out of the bank. The picket moved on to an E-on ‘Family Football’ event in the Broadmead shopping centre (see photo). Mid afternoon saw over 50 activists gathering in the city centre for a reclaim the streets party. The party, with mobile sound system roamed the city centre forcing the city centre branch of NatWest to close early and leaving the RBS branch unusable after a very messy cake fight!
http://risingtide.org.uk/bristol
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Norwich RT Spoof E.on Stall
29.11.2008
Today six activists from Norwich Rising Tide set up a spoof E.on stall on the Royal Bank of Scotland’s doorstep (RBS is one of E.on’s core sources of funding).
The spoof (despite all materials reading E.on F.off – including a table cloth, banner, t-shirts, leaflets, badges and stickers) fooled many of the public. Passers-by said things like “we don’t want to hear anything about E.on” and “I’m not a fan of E.on” (it really was amazing how hostile people were to E.on). Once they were informed that we were revealing the truth about E.on and Coal most then took a leaflet and badge.
In total we gave out 400 leaflets and undertook a questionnaire on behalf of E.on.
Results showed that …
50% of people didn’t know that E.on plans to build a new coal fired power station – they do now.
90% of people didn’t know that RBS will part funding it – again we made sure to inform them of this fact.
Lastly, 100% of people said they thought that coal fired power stations should be shut down and replaced with renewable energy sources.
We’ll pass on our findings to E.on as soon as possible!
norwich@risingtide.org.uk
http://www.risingtide.org.uk/norwich
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On Friday morning, Warwick University People and Planet held a demonstration at the UK headquarters of E-ON in Coventry. This was part of the national 48 hours against E-ON. The demonstration was attended by around 30 people, including a number from Coventry university and Leamington Rising Tide. The group left central campus at around midday and marched to E-ON HQ, chanting and drumming. The action was colourful and lively; entertainment included some carbon capture theatre and singing (see below). We also leafleted employees walking past. Spirits were high and strengthened by the knowledge of the other actions to come in the national 48 hours of actions.
Grace Kelly, EON
E.ON: I want to talk to you!
Protestor: The last time we talk, Mr E.ON, I reduced you to tears! I promise you, it might well happen again!
**Verse 1**
E.ON: Do I attract you?
Do I pollute you with my CO2?
Am I too dirty?
Am I too mirky?
Don’t I like what you like?
Protestor: You could be wholesome
But you’re still loathsome
I should stop being so shy
E.ON: Why don’t you like me?
Why don’t you like me?
Why are you making me cry?
**Pre-chorus**
Protestor: We tried to keep it all pretty,
Just a little banner or two,
But when your plans are so shitty,
There’s nothing else I could do!
**Chorus**
E.ON: I can be Brown
I can be blue
I can pollu-ute the sky
I can be hurtful
I can burn people!
I can burn anything I like!
Protestor: You gotta be green
Gotta be clean
Gotta be everything more!
E.ON: Why don’t you like me?
Why don’t you like me?
Protestor: Why don’t you walk out the door!
**Verse 2**
E.ON: How can I help it
How can I help it
How could I stop burning coal?
Coal is my baby
My little lady
I like to get in it’s hole.
Why don’t you buy me
Why don’t you buy me
Why don’t you buy CCS?
When old coal over
I’ll been much bolder
And still pollute nothing less.
**Pre-Chorus**
Protestor: We tried to keep it all pretty,
Just a little banner or two,
But when your plans are so shitty,
There’s nothing else I could do!
**Chorus**
E.ON: I can be Brown
I can be blue
I can pollu-ute the sky
I can be hurtful
I can burn people!
I can burn anything I like!
Protestor: You gotta be green
Gotta be clean
Gotta be everything more!
E.ON: Why don’t you like me?
Why don’t you like me?
Protestor: Why don’t you walk out the door!
**Bridge**
Protestor: Say what you want to satisfy yourself
But you only want what rich investors say that you should want
(should want)
**Chorus**
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1 December 2008
E-ON HQ occupied
Shortly after 9am two mini buses packed with Santas arrived outside their headquarters and a score of festive protesters armed with sacks of coal poured in to the building.
For a good half hour they toured the offices, really scoring a bullseye when they inadvertently crashed the boardroom where a full scale meeting was in progress. Even after security managed to clear the upper floors the huge reception area was occupied until well into the afternoon.
Outside security goons and police created a cordon and refused entry to dozens of visitors. Clearly a good number of meetings were postponed as a result.
The mood soured slightly towards the end and extra grumpy police were summoned to kill the festive spirit. After some jostling the spectre of Scrooge emerged and four were arrested, charges not known.
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Yesterday (1st December), activists from across the country staged the third demonstration against e.on’s headquarters in Coventry in eight days. Graham, e.on’s security boss for the day, bemoans the impact on the company…
Yesterday, activists from across the country staged the third demonstration against e.on’s headquarters in Coventry in eight days. Graham, e.on’s security boss for the day, bemoans the impact on the company.
We’d thought we had seen the end of the protests. The 48 hours of action that had been called was annoying enough, but that would be it. We’d taken down the Harris fencing around our headquarters and were waiting for just another days work running and planning to build coal-fired power stations. Before we knew it two van loads of people dressed in Santa Clause costumes with “e.on f.off” emblazoned on them, were unloading coal, scrambling on our building and generally running amok.
Just before 9am yesterday morning, about 15 managed to get inside the building bringing, they say, presents of coal, because apparently e.on has been very naughty this year – because we want to build a new coal fired power station in Kingsnorth and continuing to contribute to climate change. Outrageous. We are a decent, respectable company. Some managed to get to a boardroom meeting and dish out a lump of coal to all sitting there. Others got scarily close to the CEO’s office. Others engaged with staff on the large open plan office that made their voices heard by all. It took us a good hour to clear the pesky Santas from the building.
Meanwhile there was one unsuccessful attempt to scale part of the roof, but at the revolving doors at the main entrance, two were able to get up and hold up a banner. Several of those in the foyer glued onto side doors, while yet another Santa, found himself in the middle of the revolving doors, also glued on in the midst of a pile of coal bags with “Co2 al” printed on them. Later yet another Santa glued themselves to a barrier.
Some claimed to have be bringing the mystical solution of “carbon capture and storage” – coal left as it is.
We had to lock the entire building down, forbid staff from leaving, and turned away loads of visitors that were arriving, it being a busy day for us. This despite us having already introduced various security measures such as new turnstiles – maybe next time we’ll have them locked so the protestors cannot simply walk through them to the open office.
I can tell you that e.on are deeply unhappy at being made a fool of so comprehensively yet again. On the day that Lord Turner released his report that the government would fail dramatically to reach its CO2 reduction targets if e.on are allowed to build a new power station at Kingsnorth before controversial carbon capture and storage technologies have been developed. The protests made Radio 4 headline news at mid-day, much of the local media and other press. There were at least four cameras from mainstream media while a number of other independent photojournalists were also there to make sure it was properly covered. The bosses are not happy, and the protestors got some good images.
My staff, from Initial Rentokil, were not enthusiastic about how they had been made to look like bumbling idiots. They need to calm down a bit and stop kneeling on people’s necks because they have been defied. Some of them were not helping their bosses by being rude to the BBC cameraman and other media. They strutted up and down like lost penguins, trying to shove people around and shoving cameras in to the faces of the Santa Clauses – though they all got waves back. We had to seem important by telling staff in the canteen that they were not allowed to look at the protestors – the top brass were getting jumpy by then.
Some of my security need to think as well, it seems. Wasn’t the brightest thing to say that protestors were fine to stay at the main door. Nor was telling the protestors on the roof of the door that they could not attach the banner to the wall because e.on would not be able to get it down.
If all that was not enough bumbling, in a deft movement, the Santa Claus’s realised that the staff had not locked the revolving door and used the fact to get a half-dozen back in to the building were they ran around singing altered Christmas hymn about no new coal. Loads of more images for the waiting press, including them congo’ing through our main foyer.
Eventually they released themselves, and proceeded to leave. West Midlands police were there, and had kept a pretty useless, low profile throughout the day. Now, at the request of our boss they decided to do something. They were very low on numbers and clearly were not up for removing the actual protest, despite the fact the protestors were clearly peaceful and mostly singing their silly songs. The police tried to form a line to stop them leave but their public order training was woefully bad and kept letting them escape through despite the fact they were carrying sacks of coal.
A number were seized and arrested; though some were let go because the police were little better than our security guards in terms of knowing what they were doing. Four ended up going to the cells, of which two have been released. They rest sailed away.
All in all, quite a bad day for us here at e.on. We’re going to have to rethink our entire security plan, having been comprehensively embarrassed. The bosses are fuming at having e.on’s reputation yet again dragged through the mud, and it is clear that the campaign against us is not going to fade away.
By the way, there is a load of email addresses for our various companies at http://www.eon.com/en/infoservice/3027.jsp
Hopefully we’ll not see more protestors soon.
Another report, photos of police cordoning Father Christmases, and videos
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As part of 48 hours of nationwide action against E.ON, called for by the Camp for Climate Action, Rising Tide, Plane Stupid and Campaign against Climate Change, Nottingham students called a demonstration outside E.ON’s city centre offices (Mount St, NG1 6PG)
They met at 11.45 in front of the the town hall in Market Square on Friday 27th Nov. Then moved over to the offices at 12pm to flyer and protest about E.ON’s plans to build a new coal fired power station at Kingsnorth in Kent, a venture that will wreck any serious plans to cut carbon emissions and protect the planet and its’ population from the most disastrous effects of climate change.
The policing and security arrangements seemed a little excessive to me, to manage 10 students and fluffy toy!
Why target EON and Kingsnorth?
The proposed power station will emit between 6 and 8 million tons of CO2 every year, and is just the first in a plan to build up to seven new coal fired power stations. This will wreck the UK’s chances of meeting its own target of an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050.
Climate change isn’t about warmer summers, here in the UK. It’s about serious changes that will cost millions of people (particularly those that are the worst off and living precariously) their livelihoods and lives. If we can stop E.ON, other companies will be discouraged from risking similar plans, and we will send the strong message that the energy crisis needs to be tackled positively, implementing the solutions that will get us off fossil fuels.
E.ON’s proposed new big coal powered electricity generating station – it will emit between 6 and 8 million tons of CO2 every year (equivalent to the annual emissions of Malawi’s 13 million people or more CO2 than Heathrow’s third runway would burn) source – http://www.e-onf-off.org.uk/why.html
Kingsnorth in north Kent – http://tinyurl.com/KingsnorthCoal-map
For photos of the FIT surveillance again in Nottingham, see also https://indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/11/413951.html
and ….. earlier Nottingham action on the subject:
Nottingham Spring into Action :: Ratcliffe-on-Soar Power Station
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/04/367714.html
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/04/367736.html
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2007/04/367757.html
‘Clean’ Coal On Trial [Feature] inc Ratcliffe case court reports
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/01/389386.html
Fossil Fools Blockade E.On Offices in Nottingham : Pictures 1
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/04/395382.html
Fossil Fools Blockade E.On Offices in Nottingham : Pictures 2
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/04/395403.html
Fossil Fools Blockade E.On Offices Surveillance and Specialist Equipment
http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/nottinghamshire/2008/04/395429.html
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Brighton – 28th
In Response the the 48 hours of action against Eon and new coal Brighton activists staged 2 actions over the 48 hours. The first action on Friday 28th Activists staged a demonstration outside the Royal Bank of Scotland with a large banner saying ‘RBS and EON fund Climate chaos’ With some subversive cleaning ladies attempting to Clean some coal but strangely to no avail – (Illustrating the unfeesability of ‘clean coal’). There was also alternative ‘banking advice’being offered to passers by, letting them know about RBS and its investments in EON and the building of a new coal-fired power station at Kingsnorth.
On the Saturday 29th
A stampede of endangered animals decended on Brighton Town centre handing out flyers to raise awareness about EON and its plans to build at Kingsnorth. In the middle of the large shopping centre forecourt the animals staged a dramatic ‘die-in’. With bewildered shoppers and security guards crowding round this tragic scene, Mother earth herself addressed the crowd and explained what might happen to the animal kingdom and the human one if EON and other Coal hungry companies were allowed to have their way and wreak climate havoc!
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Kingsnorth action coverage – “Intruder enters E.ON power station and switches off 2% of UK supplies”
The Justice not Crisis, Social Justice Centre is preparing a programe of activities for the New Year including a Bingo Night, a Freeshop, Coffee Morning, and drop in Advice service where people will be on hand to give advice on Housing Applications, benefits, and much more…. Come along and get involved…..
Against the imposition of ID cards on Non-EU students and marriage visa holders.
Remember to think about security when planning actions & campaigns, every month – there’s been a helpful reminder in a Sunday newspaper that our aims and the aims of the state are somewhat different!