Environmental direct action in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
The environmental direct action movement in the United Kingdom started in 1991 with the forming of the first UK
Earth First!
group. The movement rapidly grew to include road protest
camps, airport
camps, anti-GMO
actions, electricity generators, and quarry
actions.
Earth First! were committed to direct action techniques from the group's inception, with support for nonviolent ecotage
manifesting itself in the Earth Liberation Front
(ELF).
.
The first Earth First! actions focused around the importation of tropical hardwood
s. The first major action happened at Tilbury Docks in London
and the second major action the Merseyside
Dock Action attracted over 200 people who blockaded Liverpool docks. This action coincided with the Earth First! roadshow, in which a group of UK and US Earth First!ers toured the country.
where a permanent protest camp was set up. The Dongas
tribe arose from this camp. The first tree-sits happened at Jesmond Dene
in Newcastle
in 1993, organised by the Flowerpot Tribe http://www.eco-action.org/dt/jesmond.html.
Other early protests included Pollok Park in Glasgow, in the Stanworth Valley near Preston River Roddlesworth and Stanworth Valley
, and at Solsbury Hill
near Bath.http://www.monbiot.com/archives/1997/02/21/multi-issue-politics/ and the M11 link road protest
in London, where whole streets were "squatted." After the eviction of Claremont road in 1994 protesters from the Flowerpot and Dongas tribes joined the protest at Stanworth valley to build an "Ewok village" of the tree houses.
There were many subsequent road protests including Newbury bypass
, the A30
, Swampy
became well known during the eviction at the A30 camp, although there were many other smaller road protest camps. Some camps did actually result in roads being cancelled, the first such cancellation occurring in London. The government slashed the roads programme 3 times, each by a third, in response to direct action techniques and associated public opinion.
s. A notable protest has been at the Nine Ladies
stone circle, where a camp successfully helped prevent quarry
ing near the stone circle.
The movement can be said to have given rise to a number of other groups, notably Reclaim the Streets
and Rising Tide.
Land rights campaigns started with The Land is Ours
who set up the Pure Genius!! camp on 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) of derelict land belonging to the Guinness
company. George Monbiot
was a key figure in this campaign.
Direct action techniques have also been applied to climate-related issues. On 31 August 2006, 600 people attended a protest against the Drax power station called Reclaim Power. Thirty eight people were arrested during a protest at the plant against carbon emissions. There was a notable police presence before the protest. The protests were coordinated by the Camp for Climate Action
, a ten day camp held near the power station, which has also included a protest against a nuclear power station in Hartlepool
, Teesside
. BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/5300560.stm, Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1862662,00.html,http://environment.guardian.co.uk/energy/story/0,,1861035,00.html,http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1862625,00.html
Plane Stupid
is one of the direct action climate groups that has emerged from the new wave of radical green activism that Britain has witnessed in 2006. Actions carried out by the Plane Stupid
group include the grounding of planes through the establishment of a "climate camp" on an airport taxiway; and occupations of offices belonging to airport operator, BAA, and short-haul airline, EasyJet
. On 8 December 2008 the group breached the perimeter on London Stansted Airport
causing a runway to be closed for three hours and the cancellation of 56 Ryanair
flights.
(ELF) and were often attributed to elves and pixie
s, giving a distinctly British feel to the movement. 'Pixeing' is defined as minor criminal damage, which would sometimes be part of public actions. In the mid-90s, people also coined the terms 'fluffy' and 'spiky' to differentiate between less & more confrontational tactics.
Lock-ons were a particularly common technique, where a protester chained themselves to a solid object. Initially Kryptonite lock
bike locks were used, and this developed into a range of more ingenious techniques, such as drain pipes in blocks of concrete. Camps were often in treetops or had tunnels, making arrest
particularly difficult.
The movement continues today and there is a yearly gathering as well as a place to share your or others' ecological direct action stories, EF! Action Reports.
, which created a series of new offences which criminalised many forms of protest. There have been many other laws specifically drafted to deal with, or used against, direct action tactics.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Earth First!
Earth First!
Earth First! is a radical environmental advocacy group that emerged in the Southwestern United States in 1979. It was co-founded on April 4th, 1980 by Dave Foreman, Mike Roselle, Howie Wolke, and less directly, Bart Koehler and Ron Kezar....
group. The movement rapidly grew to include road protest
Road protest (UK)
Road protest in the United Kingdom usually occurs as a reaction to a stated intention by the empowered authorities to build a new road, or to modify an existing road. Protests may also be made by those wishing to see new roads built or improvements made to existing roads. Motivations for protests...
camps, airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
camps, anti-GMO
GMO
A GMO is a genetically modified organism.GMO may also refer to:* Gell-Mann–Okubo mass formula in particle physics* General Medical Officer, a designation for United States Army soldiers* Generalised molecular orbital theory, in chemistry...
actions, electricity generators, and quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
actions.
History
The Earth First! movement in the United Kingdom started around 1990/1991.Earth First! were committed to direct action techniques from the group's inception, with support for nonviolent ecotage
Ecotage
Ecotage is a portmanteau of the "eco-" prefix and "sabotage". Ecotage is often used as a descriptive term for the direct actions of environmental groups such as Earth First! and similar groups throughout the Western world. The term is only applied for actions of sabotage committed within the...
manifesting itself in the Earth Liberation Front
Earth Liberation Front
The Earth Liberation Front , also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".The ELF was founded...
(ELF).
Organisation
Earth First! consisted of a loose collection of groups and activists with no central organisation. Most actions were organised by individual groups and attended by people from other groups in the movement. Co-ordination happened through various publications including Do or Die the Earth First! Action Update and later SchNEWSSchNEWS
SchNEWS is a free weekly publication from Brighton, England, which has been running since November 1994. The main focus is environmental and social issues/struggles in the UK – but also internationally – with an emphasis on direct action protest, and autonomous political struggles...
.
The first Earth First! actions focused around the importation of tropical hardwood
Hardwood
Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...
s. The first major action happened at Tilbury Docks in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and the second major action the Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
Dock Action attracted over 200 people who blockaded Liverpool docks. This action coincided with the Earth First! roadshow, in which a group of UK and US Earth First!ers toured the country.
Road protest camps
Earth First! groups, together with many other groups, then became involved in the road protest, as an attempt to reverse the government's road-building programme. The first road protest happened at Twyford DownTwyford Down
Twyford Down is a small area of ancient chalk downland lying directly to the southeast of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The down's summit, known as Deacon Hill, is towards the north-eastern edge of the area which is renowned for its dramatic rolling scenery, ecologically rich grassland and as a...
where a permanent protest camp was set up. The Dongas
Dongas road protest group
The Dongas Tribe was a collection of UK road protesters and travellers in England originally noted for their occupation of Twyford Down outside Winchester, Hampshire...
tribe arose from this camp. The first tree-sits happened at Jesmond Dene
Jesmond Dene
Jesmond Dene is a public park in the east end of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It occupies the narrow steep-sided valley of a small stream known as the Ouseburn: in North-east England, such valleys are commonly known as denes....
in Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
in 1993, organised by the Flowerpot Tribe http://www.eco-action.org/dt/jesmond.html.
Other early protests included Pollok Park in Glasgow, in the Stanworth Valley near Preston River Roddlesworth and Stanworth Valley
River Roddlesworth
-Course:The source of the river is on the slopes of Great Hill, just above the ruins known as Pimm's, where the infant river is known as Calf Hey Brook...
, and at Solsbury Hill
Solsbury Hill
Little Solsbury Hill is a small flat-topped hill and the site of an Iron Age hill fort. It is located above the village of Batheaston in Somerset, England. The hill rises to above the River Avon which is just over to the south. It is within the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
near Bath.http://www.monbiot.com/archives/1997/02/21/multi-issue-politics/ and the M11 link road protest
M11 link road protest
The M11 link road protest was a major anti-road protest in east London, United Kingdom, in the early 1990s opposing the construction of the "A12 Hackney to M11 link road", also known as the M11 Link Road...
in London, where whole streets were "squatted." After the eviction of Claremont road in 1994 protesters from the Flowerpot and Dongas tribes joined the protest at Stanworth valley to build an "Ewok village" of the tree houses.
There were many subsequent road protests including Newbury bypass
Newbury bypass
The Newbury bypass, officially known as The Winchester-Preston Trunk Road , is a stretch of dual carriageway road which bypasses the town of Newbury in Berkshire, England...
, the A30
A30 road
The 284 miles A30 road from London to Land's End, historically known as the Great South West Road used to provide the most direct route from London to the south west; more recently the M3 motorway and A303 road performs this function for much of the route and only parts of A30 now retain trunk...
, Swampy
Swampy
Daniel Hooper is an environmental activist, sometimes characterised as an environmental protester or eco-warrior, from the United Kingdom...
became well known during the eviction at the A30 camp, although there were many other smaller road protest camps. Some camps did actually result in roads being cancelled, the first such cancellation occurring in London. The government slashed the roads programme 3 times, each by a third, in response to direct action techniques and associated public opinion.
Wider actions
The focus of Earth First! then broadened, to include the Manchester International Airport Second Runway protest, and protests about genetically modified organismGenetically modified organism
A genetically modified organism or genetically engineered organism is an organism whose genetic material has been altered using genetic engineering techniques. These techniques, generally known as recombinant DNA technology, use DNA molecules from different sources, which are combined into one...
s. A notable protest has been at the Nine Ladies
Nine Ladies
Nine Ladies is a Bronze Age stone circle located on Stanton Moor, Derbyshire, England. Part of the Peak District National Park, the site is owned by English Heritage and is often visited by tourists and hill walkers...
stone circle, where a camp successfully helped prevent quarry
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
ing near the stone circle.
The movement can be said to have given rise to a number of other groups, notably Reclaim the Streets
Reclaim the Streets
Reclaim The Streets is a collective with a shared ideal of community ownership of public spaces. Participants characterize the collective as a resistance movement opposed to the dominance of corporate forces in globalization, and to the car as the dominant mode of transport.-Protests:Reclaim The...
and Rising Tide.
Land rights campaigns started with The Land is Ours
The Land is Ours
The Land is Ours is a British land rights campaign advocating access to the land, its resources, and the planning processes.The group was set up in the 1990s by George Monbiot and others....
who set up the Pure Genius!! camp on 13 acres (52,609.2 m²) of derelict land belonging to the Guinness
Guinness
Guinness is a popular Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin. Guinness is directly descended from the porter style that originated in London in the early 18th century and is one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, brewed in almost...
company. George Monbiot
George Monbiot
George Joshua Richard Monbiot is an English writer, known for his environmental and political activism. He lives in Machynlleth, Wales, writes a weekly column for The Guardian, and is the author of a number of books, including Captive State: The Corporate Takeover of Britain and Bring on the...
was a key figure in this campaign.
Direct action techniques have also been applied to climate-related issues. On 31 August 2006, 600 people attended a protest against the Drax power station called Reclaim Power. Thirty eight people were arrested during a protest at the plant against carbon emissions. There was a notable police presence before the protest. The protests were coordinated by the Camp for Climate Action
Camp for Climate Action
The Camps for Climate Action are campaign gatherings that take place to draw attention to, and act as a base for direct action against, major carbon emitters, as well as to develop ways to create a zero-carbon society...
, a ten day camp held near the power station, which has also included a protest against a nuclear power station in Hartlepool
Hartlepool
Hartlepool is a town and port in North East England.It was founded in the 7th century AD, around the Northumbrian monastery of Hartlepool Abbey. The village grew during the Middle Ages and developed a harbour which served as the official port of the County Palatine of Durham. A railway link from...
, Teesside
Teesside
Teesside is the name given to the conurbation in the north east of England made up of the towns of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Redcar, Billingham and surrounding settlements near the River Tees. It was also the name of a local government district between 1968 and 1974—the County Borough of...
. BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/5300560.stm, Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1862662,00.html,http://environment.guardian.co.uk/energy/story/0,,1861035,00.html,http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1862625,00.html
Plane Stupid
Plane Stupid
Plane Stupid is a UK-focused group of environmental protesters who state their aim as wanting to see an end to airport expansion for what it sees as "unnecessary and unsustainable" flights. The organisation has no formal hierarchy, leader, or media figurehead. It is a loose association of...
is one of the direct action climate groups that has emerged from the new wave of radical green activism that Britain has witnessed in 2006. Actions carried out by the Plane Stupid
Plane Stupid
Plane Stupid is a UK-focused group of environmental protesters who state their aim as wanting to see an end to airport expansion for what it sees as "unnecessary and unsustainable" flights. The organisation has no formal hierarchy, leader, or media figurehead. It is a loose association of...
group include the grounding of planes through the establishment of a "climate camp" on an airport taxiway; and occupations of offices belonging to airport operator, BAA, and short-haul airline, EasyJet
EasyJet
EasyJet Airline Company Limited is a British airline headquartered at London Luton Airport. It carries more passengers than any other United Kingdom-based airline, operating domestic and international scheduled services on 500 routes between 118 European, North African, and West Asian airports...
. On 8 December 2008 the group breached the perimeter on London Stansted Airport
London Stansted Airport
-Cargo:-Statistics:-Infrastructure:-Terminal and satellite buildings:Stansted is the newest passenger airport of all the main London airports. The terminal is an oblong glass building, and is separated in to three areas: Check-in concourse, arrivals and departures...
causing a runway to be closed for three hours and the cancellation of 56 Ryanair
Ryanair
Ryanair is an Irish low-cost airline. Its head office is at Dublin Airport and its primary operational bases at Dublin Airport and London Stansted Airport....
flights.
Tactics
An early debate in the movement was about the use of criminal damage as a protest technique. Earth First! as a whole did not condone or condemn 'criminal damage', instead focusing more on other resistance techniques. Actions involving criminal damage did happen, often under cover of night and under the name of Earth Liberation FrontEarth Liberation Front
The Earth Liberation Front , also known as "Elves" or "The Elves", is the collective name for autonomous individuals or covert cells who, according to the ELF Press Office, use "economic sabotage and guerrilla warfare to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment".The ELF was founded...
(ELF) and were often attributed to elves and pixie
Pixie
Pixies are mythical creatures of folklore, considered to be particularly concentrated in the areas around Devon and Cornwall, suggesting some Celtic origin for the belief and name.They are usually depicted with pointed ears, and often wearing a green outfit and pointed...
s, giving a distinctly British feel to the movement. 'Pixeing' is defined as minor criminal damage, which would sometimes be part of public actions. In the mid-90s, people also coined the terms 'fluffy' and 'spiky' to differentiate between less & more confrontational tactics.
Lock-ons were a particularly common technique, where a protester chained themselves to a solid object. Initially Kryptonite lock
Kryptonite lock
The Kryptonite lock is an Ingersoll Rand-owned brand of bicycle lock for securing a bicycle to a pole or other fixture, when the owner wants to leave the bicycle in a public place...
bike locks were used, and this developed into a range of more ingenious techniques, such as drain pipes in blocks of concrete. Camps were often in treetops or had tunnels, making arrest
Arrest
An arrest is the act of depriving a person of his or her liberty usually in relation to the purported investigation and prevention of crime and presenting into the criminal justice system or harm to oneself or others...
particularly difficult.
The movement continues today and there is a yearly gathering as well as a place to share your or others' ecological direct action stories, EF! Action Reports.
Government and corporate response
In 1994 the UK Conservative government passed the Criminal Justice ActCriminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It introduced a number of changes to the existing law, most notably in the restriction and reduction of existing rights and in greater penalties for certain "anti-social" behaviours...
, which created a series of new offences which criminalised many forms of protest. There have been many other laws specifically drafted to deal with, or used against, direct action tactics.
Further reading
- George Monbiot - Times Literary Supplement, 21 February 1997