We were greeted by tired and unwashed but enthusiastic volunteers wearing reflective sleeveless vests as soon as we stepped off the train in Strood, a town an hour southeast of London, England. The words ‘Legal Observer’ were emblazoned across the back of their jackets and they handed all of us a ‘bust card’ stating the legal rights we are each entitled to should we be arrested. “If they ask for identification, do we have to give it?” someone asked. “No” was the answer, followed by an explanation that police might want to look through wallets for a weapon of some kind, maybe a blade. Crikey. This hardly seemed an auspicious start, I thought.

The Camp for Climate Action 2008 is the third climate camp in Britain – last year’s protest near Heathrow airport saw 2,000 people protest the building of a third runway and planned airport expansion across the UK. This year campaigners, activists and ordinary people concerned about climate change converged at Kingsnorth in Kent, from August 3-11. Their aim? To try and halt the building of a new coal-fired power station alongside an existing one owned by German energy group E.ON. This new coal plant would be the UK's first in nearly 30 years and environmentalists are worried that companies could build a further six coal plants if Kingsnorth gets a green light. This would make it almost impossible for the UK to meet its much touted carbon emissions targets.

Given that the police really didn’t want the protesters there at all, the infrastructure at the camp was formidable. On my visit I was impressed to see a welcome tent bulging with magazines and information leaflets, a media tent, a solar-powered live TV studio, washing stations, cooking areas, compost toilets (separate ones so as to facilitate composting!), a medical tent and plenty of meeting areas. And that’s not even mentioning the tents people slept in, arranged by neighbourhoods named after British regions and countries. I met people who had ‘lived, eaten and slept’ in South Coast & Medway, Wales and the North West.

The days at the camp were filled with talking, debating, attending workshops, cooking, cleaning and learning I was told, activities that some of the media seems keen to down play. Innovative eco-friendly solutions were everywhere to behold, too. Pedal power was used to operate sound systems, there were wind-powered laptops and solar-heated showers available, and used cooking-oil cans were converted into makeshift but reliable stoves.

Camp participants were unanimous in agreeing that the local, organic and vegan delicacies being prepared by willing (and often talented) volunteers were incredibly tasty and prepared at minimal cost to the environment (vegan diets are said to hold the lowest carbon footprint) and wallets (daily contributions of £4 or £5 were the norm). Media volunteer James Holland said that on the ‘camp diet’ of vegan, local and organic food he was losing weight and felt healthier than he had ever done before.

By the middle of the week volunteers were cooking for 1,200 people and several hundred more arrived in the days leading up to the weekend. Forecasts of 3,000 people taking part in the day of mass or direct action on Saturday August 9th were overly optimistic, but about 1,500 took part in it in the end according to climate camp organisers, while a few hundred stayed on site waiting for the others to return.

The plan on Saturday was to try and shut down the power station by land, sea and air in four main colour-coded "blocks." The Blue Group (made up of a flotilla of boats and rafts) attempted to approach Kingsnorth power station by water along the River Medway, the Green Group focused on making its way through the undergrowth, while the Orange Group was a children-friendly march to the main gates of the power station. Strong winds, among other things, put a spanner in the works for the Silver group, who had hoped to reach the station via the skies.

The plant’s perimeter fence was crossed by some protesters, and the electrified security fence (thankfully turned off before the protesters arrived) by a handful of others. Four ‘rebel rafters’ were arrested and charged with aggravated trespass according to organisers, their charge sheets stating they had caused ‘the water inlet cooling system to be shut down’. According to the BBC, a total of 100 protestors were arrested, “46 were charged, mostly with public order offences or obstructing the police”. Though the plant wasn’t shut down completely, the delivery of coal to the station was disrupted organisers claimed with pride. As Jo, an English volunteer currently working at an Amsterdam-based environmental NGO, said: “We are not the fringes, this is the mainstream now.”

And though some people may have been put off coming to the camp by the heavy-handed police searches and arrests, many parents with kids made it. Roma was one such mother who came to the camp for the week with her two-year-old son. She said she felt changing her own habits and lifestyle was not enough and that during the camp she “learnt things which I can communicate to people when I’m back home”. One particularly memorable seminar she attended was dedicated to talking to skeptics about climate change without alienating them. “The important thing is not to batter them with guilt and fear,” she said.

Climate Camp 2008 was about a lot more than police searches and raids (which lead to the confiscation of items such as children’s toys, bike locks, and crayons) as most media reports might have you believe. It was about something that will affect us all, policeman, anarchist, or father of two with a mortgage. 

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Posted on Aug 13, 2008 at 10:00 AM
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