Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Camps and criminals - Peace News camp report

Repost | 03.08.2009 11:31 | Analysis | Anti-militarism | Other Press | Oxford

Journalist Bibi van der Zee reports in the New Statesman on the recent Peace News Summer Camp in Oxfordshire.

Camps and criminals

Bibi van der Zee

Published 30 July 2009 in New Statesman

 http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2009/08/iraq-another-movement-camp

There were no police at the Peace News Summer Camp, held in a field in Oxfordshire from 23-27 July: no stop-and-search, no barricade, no line of frowning coppers. "One policeman did drop by," said an organiser, "but we were in the middle of a workshop so he said he'd come back later, and I don't think he did."

But police intelligence is, as ever, faulty. Two of the organisers were breaking court dates to be there, and another camper, Susan Clarkson (in her sixties), had come straight from prison, where she spent 21 days for causing criminal damage to the Northwood airbase. "I painted a sign red and cut a wire fence. And then I wouldn't pay the fine." She had exacted a gentle vengeance by "spending some of the money they gave me on my release on my fare here".

Of the hundred or so people at the camp, many have done jail time, or at least been arrested. There were veterans from Greenham, and younger activists who have been at Faslane or Aldermaston, where arrest is all in a day's work. "It's not a badge of honour," they say, but more something they take for granted as part of the work of campaigning against war. It's true that they are not hardened criminals, but they do not shy away from confrontation. Workshops - on subjects ranging from Chomsky and protest camps to Iraq and non-violence - were energetically argued, and the discussion of non-violence reportedly got a little fraught.

There are plenty who wonder what, really, is the point. After I was ejected from one meeting because there were objections to having journalists present, several people approached me to register their dismay: "We spend all our time moaning about not getting any support or coverage, and
then we go and do this!" Another long-time campaigner described the peace movement as a series of peaks and troughs. "Is the movement on a peak or in a trough at the moment?" I asked. "Um. A bit of a trough, I suppose."

The general consensus was that the failure to prevent the Iraq war had been a huge blow, and that the wind had gone out of the sails of attempts to shut down US and UK military bases around the country. It hasn't helped that a lot of young campaigners are gravitating towards the environmental movement: Jamie, who lived outside Faslane for a couple of years, has relocated to Mainshill, an anti-opencast coal mine campaign in Scotland where, he says, the protesters are welcomed by local people, rather than disliked because they are perceived as campaigning against much-needed jobs.

But the result of the peace camp was a visible renewal of confidence and energy (plus a talent show which, apparently, nearly brought down the marquee). "Our aim," said Milan Rai, one of the organisers, "was community-building, getting people together. I've had people coming up to me with suggestions for another event all week. I think it will go forward both as a national network, and as a renewed focus on events such as the Aldermaston blockade in February and the DSEi arms fair in September. We'll definitely do it again next year."


This article was originally published on 30 July 2009 in the New Stateman ("Obama's Empire" issue)

© New Statesman 1913 – 2009

Repost

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech