No Dash for Gas spent months planning an action camp called ‘Reclaim the Power’ at the new West Burton gas power station near Nottingham, the power station we occupied for a week last autumn.
Then, just two weeks before the event, we made a momentous decision to change the venue and indeed the focus of our camp.
We realised that now is a crucial time for climate and fuel poverty campaigners to show solidarity with the people of Balcombe in West Sussex, and others around the…
While sitting on a train bound for Manchester, I read over an article I’d drafted for Radical Rumours, a housing and workers co-operative zine. The piece encouraged the Radical Routes network to break out of guilt-based activism which permeated our communities. As I read the piece I had a lightbulb moment: I’d written the article for myself.
A few months earlier, I had been involved in the No Dash for Gas occupation of West Burton gas-fired power station. It was a very successful…
I get a kick out of finding ways out of tricky situations, and usually small odds don’t discourage me. But there always comes a point where the odds are so tiny that it seems ridiculous to believe that a way out is possible.
As with climate change.
Except with climate change there aren’t any odds. I think it’s pretty damn certain that we are starting to experience what will become a massive amount of suffering and loss of life on this planet.
How do I feel…
The workshop focussed on naming and exploring many of the dynamics that so often go unspoken and unprocessed in groups.
I was part of the mainstream of the group – I come from a grassroots ‘activist’ culture, I’ve been to university, I’m from the UK, I’m white. Being part of the group’s mainstream meant I was one of the people who had the power to make the subtle decision of what behaviours and attitudes were acceptable in the space; essentially, I helped define…
It’s 2am on a starry October night. Crows are cawing overhead. I am face down in the mud while two security guards with a torch scan the footpath. They’ve just spotted a group of 21 people with large rucksacks and a quantity of rope that might raise suspicion considering we’re within walking distance of several power stations. Oh dear.
After a couple of seconds wondering where our own security measures have gone wrong, I turn my thoughts to escape and survival. We…
