On empowerment and superglue

So now the action is over, the media furore has calmed down and the camp has been packed away - was it all worth it? George Monbiot called it “the most democratic and best organised protest I've witnessed” and it certainly was very well organised – so much for the old myth that the idea of anarchist organisation is oxymoronic. Yet although there was undoubtedly a strong anarchist tendency at the camp, and one which brought with it some of the camp’s defining features such as consensus-based decision making, the climate camp’s political make-up was both wider and more rooted in the politics of today than this.

For Plane Stupid’s Joss Garman, the camp represented both a resurgence of environmental activism of the kind which stopped Thatcher’s road-building programme, and an attempt to find ways of overcoming the fundamental sense of disempowerment which has affected the anti-war generation. Whilst still small in absolute terms (about 1500 at its highest point, though maybe more over the whole week) the camp may yet prove to be an inspiration for the future.

One disagreement I do have with George Monbiot is when he says that “the media strategy was hopeless.” Its true that “sympathetic journalists were excluded, while unsympathetic journalists went undercover and stayed in the camp for as long as they wanted” but given the media interest, to have had an open door policy would have has the camp crawling with journalists, at least at times of high interest. Lessons do need to be learned, and whilst some of the spokespeople were very good, others needed some more media training – but overall I thought the media were managed pretty well given the circumstances.

The direct action that happened during the week was also central to the camp. Activists targeted the Department for Transport, two private airports, a barge carrying an Airbus wing, BP and of course BAA, which was the camp’s mass direct action. The DfT and BP actions both embraced what is fast becoming the tool of choice of today’s direct action protester – superglue. Supergluing oneself to the entrance of a target building is, it seems, both easy and effective, though it does leave you open to charges of criminal damage…

In perhaps the most entertaining of actions, Leeds activists occupied the offices of Brigdepoint Capital, the private equity firm which owns Leeds-Bradford airport, wearing flat caps and giving out Yorkshire puddings to staff as they detailed their opposition to expansion plans. One of their banners read ‘Yorkshire’s floodin’, yer daft pudding.’

If I’d been involved in the planning of the camp, I’m sure I would have argued for doing some things differently, but overall I’d say being there was both inspiring and empowering, and that’s never a bad thing when you’re involved in the difficult task of trying to change the world.