Although Google says it should take 5 hours to get from Earthworm to Climate Camp, the journey took us about 24 hours. We left on Thursday about midday and we arrived at the camp on Friday about midday because the clutch cable on our minibus snapped. Now I can add "fix LDV minibus clutch cable" to the skills section of my resume. The breakdown happened in Oxford, so we settled there for the night and resumed the journey Friday morning.
Because we arrived on Friday before the official opening day which was Sunday, we were available to help with a lot of the setup which was challenging because on Thursday, the police had raided the site and confiscated plumbing, wood, and other materials we needed for basic necessities.
It was on these days that I first got involved with the security of the site. People were needed to watch the gates of the site to make sure that the police didn't come on mass like they had on Thursday. I figured that was an easy enough job to do and since I don't mind early mornings I volunteered for a 4-8am shift on Saturday. Amy-Jane got me involved with the security working group later that day and from then on, my mind was focused on security, trying to predict and prepare for police raids.
The most significant raid occurred Monday morning and again I was doing a 4-8 shift. I was lucky enough to be fully awake for the 5am raid where most everybody else was awaken to screams of "police on site!" Sadly, several of my friends were injured by police that day. Two of them had to visit the hospital. Amy-Jane had a great bruise on her jawline where she was punched by a cop. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of it.
Because of my involvement with security and infrequent sleeping, I was only able to attend one workshop, How to Organise Shit Hot Direct Action which was hosted by Earth First. Even though it was only an hour long, it was really informative and I'm looking forward now for the Earth First Gathering in two weeks where there will be similar, more indepth workshops.
Because I feared the hassle I might receive if I was arrested being a foreigner, I stayed onsite on Saturday when most of the camp headed over to Kingsnorth Power Station to shut it down. There's loads of coverage on the Internet of the day of action and nothing I can add to it, so I recommend checking out Indymedia, Youtube, or VisiononTV. I thought that this local newsclip was pretty good.
I started writing this blog with the intent of ranting about police oppression, harrassment, and brutality but realized how boring it was going to be, so I'll just say this: Fuck the Police!
- Kasza
Everything out of the van, all bags must be searched
This guy found a script in the minibus that he found quite interesting
Dig deeper, non-violent activists always hide their bombs at the bottom of their pockets
Seize the Day playing on Thursday night
Camera shy pigs
Heli-pig; seemed to only stop flying over us to refuel for a couple minutes
Always smile because there's always somebody taking your picture
