Rossport Solidarity Camp visit to the Earth First! Summer Gathering

mayo | environment | news report Saturday September 02, 2006 21:42 by Terry - Rossport Solidarity Camp

Report on this years' Earth First! Summer Gathering, an annual radical ecology get-together in Britain.

This year’s Earth First! Summer Gathering took place in Glaneirw Housing Co-operative in West Wales, beside Cardigan Bay.
The Earth First! Summer Gathering has been a yearly event since 1992.
Numbers were significantly down at this one, most likely due to it close proximity in timing to the camp for climate action.
However, on the positive, something like 80% of attendees had never been to an EF! Gathering before.

The Gatherings are an important networking and learning hub for radical libertarian environmentalism in Britain. The event took place over four fields, two for camping, one for car parking, and the final one where most events were held. This field held a circle of marquees, geodomes and other large tents, including five or six for meetings and social events, one very large kids space, a cinema, a Veggies stall for snacks, and an Anarchist Teapot marquee which was the kitchen for lunch and dinner.

Workshops and meetings ran over five days from the 16th to 20th of August. Every morning there was an introduction to the EF! Summer Gathering workshop for people who had not been at one before. There were a whole bunch of meetings on different issues such as ID cards, road and airport expansion, nuclear power, and climate change, as well as practical workshops on things like squat electrics and blockade techniques.

The age range was more diverse than similar events in Ireland, and there were many more people there with their children. The social side of things was also better, with a folk singer one night, and a very good open mic night. All of which happened spontaneously due to new licensing laws in Britain. Stuff got started every morning at around 9 so there also seemed to be less drinking till dawn as sometimes happens at gatherings here.

Meetings:

I attended a couple of meetings of particular interest.

Firstly there was one on the ‘Welsh gas pipeline’, a pipeline which actually goes through England as well.
This is a development where a liquefied natural gas refinery is to be built in Milford Haven, a port city in Wales, and a pipeline to be constructed to bring the processed gas from there to south east England and the continent. There is some community based opposition along the route in Wales. This development is being carried out by Transco, who are the owners of Advantica, which carried out the government’s ‘safety review’ into the Rossport pipeline. I exchanged contacts with these folk with a view to linking up in the future.
As well as this there is a campaign against oil exploration in Cardigan bay.

There was also a meeting about a proposal for a ‘nuclear alert tour’, which roughly means a project to travel around the country raising awareness about nuclear power and nuclear weapons. The British government currently plan an expansion of nuclear power, building many more new plants, as well as the replacement of Trident, their nuclear missile system.
The tour seems to be a project to build up support in order to get ready to challenge the building of such developments in the future (this will be some years away). I felt there would likely be support for this tour here, given previous campaigning around Sellafield, if anyone is interested in linking with the nuclear alert tour, whom I’m sure could do with practical support, you can contact me at [email protected]

Haringey Solidarity Group led an excellent workshop on doorstep politics, looking at community action carried out by the libertarian left. There were particularly inspiring stories at this meeting from Haringey and Hull, and some debate about how ‘political’ such action should have to be, e.g. a social centre whose main role is recreational, and also how working in residents associations and the like to improve an area can open up the threat of gentrification.

Rossport Meetings:

Participants in Rossport Solidarity Camp held 3 workshops and 2 film showings.
The first was an introductory talk where we gave a potted history of the campaign, talked about the environmental damage which would be caused by the refinery, and outlined what the camp does.

Myself and Niall spoke at a meeting on ‘popular resistance in Ireland’, where I spoke about the Irish Ferries strike, the Dublin riot, and the Justice for Terence Wheelock campaign, and Niall spoke about Bantry and Pallaskenry.

We also held an open meeting about what people in Britain could do to contribute to the struggle against Shell. We got a lot of offers of practical support through this and through informal networking.

The next gathering:

The gathering changes location and organising collective each year. I was so impressed by this year’s one (I hadn’t been at one previously) that I undertook to promote the event in Ireland. I’m interested in hearing from people who would like to participate in next year’s EF! Gathering, particularly people wishing to offer workshops, practical support, etc…, and interested in helping to advertise it here. You can contact me at [email protected]

Earth First!:

Earth First! isn’t a cohesive organisation. Two entities carry the name Earth First!, the gathering, and the Earth First! Action Update website. From time to time there is also a ‘winter moot’, which is the winter version of the gathering, which appears to be more like a plenary to discuss big strategic issues.
Participants at the gathering seemed to come from a fairly wide range of the libertarian left in Britain. There no longer appear to be Earth First! local groups as there was in previous years, and the journal Do or Die! is no longer published.
Apart from the far greater number of people into ‘animal rights’ and a bookstall selling primitivist tracts the gathering was much like a bigger and longer version of a Grassroots Gathering, in a field rather than a hall.
Some folk who identify with the Earth First! banner have been a great support for Rossport Solidarity Camp.