A report from the UK's biggest direct action gathering.
This years EF summer gathering took place over 5 days from 13th August on an idyllic nature reserve near Ripon in North Yorkshire. These gatherings have been taking place annually now for almost a decade and continue attract around 4 - 500 people each year. There is no hype, no big name speakers to tell you how it is, and no mass marketing campaign advertising the event in cities all over the UK: all very different from say, the SWP's annual 'Marxism' event in London.
The EF logo
Yet despite all this these diminutive get-togethers, unknown to most of the British public, have had a major impact on national and even global politics. It was at these where the resistance to genetically modified food, if not invented, was developed into a major force. Britain became the leader in the worldwide campaign against genetic engineering.
At the '98 gathering another idea was circulated and gained support: a global day of action against financial centres all across the world. Less than 12 months later that idea became a reality that stamped its way into public consciousness in headline news across the world. On June 18th 1999 over forty countries took part in a global day of action, perhaps most notably in the City of London. After months of police planning to foil any 'trouble' a relatively simple but secret plan ensured that the 10,000 strong crowd succeeded in shutting down the world's largest (??) financial centre in a spectacular fashion.
The day after J18, as it was known, the media-invented term 'anti-capitalism' was broadcast to the world. The so called 'end of history', a term used after the fall of the Berlin Wall to insinuate that we're all capitalists now, was shown to be bollocks. Despite the media frenzy against J18, the day inspired resistance across the globe, not least in Seattle were they were preparing for their historic actions against the WTO in November. They even copied the name calling their main action day N30. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery as they say.
But whilst the few know of the existence of these gatherings the state and the police are certainly aware of their significance. A police car watched and photographed everyone entering this year's gathering from a nearby approach road - a repressive action which was recently challenged by the European Court of Human Rights. I doubt they go to such lengths at the Marxism event.
But despite the seriousness suggested by state spying these gatherings have always been a lot of fun. This year kicked off entertainment with the brilliant comedian Rob Newman who's performance was as fascinating and factual as it was funny. Starting the whole thing with a laugh was a great idea that seemed put the gathering on a positive vibe for whole 5 days.
Other entertainment included the pub cinema which showed an inspiring selection activist video shorts. On Friday there was the usual 'open mike' night where anyone could get on stage and perform. This has often been brilliant but was dampened slightly this year coz the crowd couldn't applaud loudly after 11pm. For Saturday's soiree there was the Ceilidh dance where everyone danced holding hands in the field in the dark. This was 'anarchy' in the perverted sense of the word: chaos, but still a lot of fun.
Breakfast, lunch, dinner and hot drinks was provided, as usual, by Brighton's Anarchist Teapot for the bargain price of £14 for the whole 5 days. All the food was vegan and most of it was organic too. This made a nice change from the overpriced commercial festivals where for £14 you're lucky to get enough to eat and drink for one day.
But not everyone was happy with the food. The kids on site got together and decided the food was unsuitable for them. They wanted bangers and mash. And when the Teapot failed to comply with their wishes they took action. One day the dinner queue was blockaded for half an hour. On another the Teapot flag was stolen, later seen proudly hanging from the creche marquee.
So what came out of this years gathering? What's next on the horizon? Well it's not that easy to say. There is no formal hierarchy handing down decrees from on high. It's just a lot people sharing ideas and experiences and gaining information and inspiration from each other. Some of the talk is in organised workshops, sometimes it might just be idle chit chat over lunch. Many of the talks will come to nothing, perhaps like the discussions about whether to change the name and other aspects of future gatherings. These took place over several days but there seemed to be no agreement on this so it'll probably stay the same.
But the GM workshop did reach a consensus in targeting one particular company to stop the spread of GM foods. They're calling for a series of actions against Bayer (previously known as Aventis) who are leading push for the commercialization of GM crops in the UK and Europe. Report any actions, large or small, all to the website http://www.bayerhazard.com/
Rising tide held a workshop about the Baku-Ceyhan oil and gas pipeline. A short film showed that not only is this huge project disastrous for the environment both locally and globally. It will also mean repression for all those living on the route of the pipeline. BP, the main company behind the project, have already got agreements from the countries the pipeline crosses to suspend domestic laws around the route of the pipeline.
For more see:
- http://www.baku.org.uk/
- http://www.risingtide.org.uk/
- http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/manchester/baku/
- http://www.bpamoco.org.uk/
- http://indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/sheffield/2003/07/274054.html
A new visitor at this years gathering was Sheffield anarchist Mark Barnsley. He had now finally been released from a long jail sentence for when HE was beaten up by students in Sheffield. He was campaigning against the slavery that exists in UK prisons. Companies like the shop Wilkinsons, or vacuum-cleaner company Dysons, reap the benefits of forced, very low paid labour. Workers get as little as £5 per week, have no holidays, no chance to join union, and may be thrown into solitary confinement for refusing to work. Despite this grim campaign it was good to see Mark Barnsley as real person contributing to the debates rather than a campaign we were trying to win. More info from: againstprisonslavery@mail.com.
There were many other workshops on all kinds of subjects, not just environmental. These included grassroots perspectives on Palestine, nanotechnology, self-defence for women, security culture, tree climbing, community organising and mental health. There was also a workshop on the upcoming anti-arms fair action Disarm DSEi in London from the 6th - 12th September. (http://www.dsei.org.uk/)
Overall the whole thing was a very positive experience which was about far more than just the discussions. The fact the Summer Gathering is not a venture for profit really highlights the capitalist element in the other festivals around the country. The entry fee was just £10 (plus a donation for those who could afford it) and there was no extra for cars, camping or the program. And once inside there was no throng of businesses trying sell you shite at grossly inflated prices. The whole thing was put on in very ecological way from the vegan organic food and the compost toilets to the recycling points for rubbish.
The emphasis is very much on Do It Yourself, and everyone is expected to contribute in some way or other. Having said that a few people worked very hard to make this event happen so much thanks to all of them and see you all next year.
See also:
Comments
Hide the following 22 comments
One thing you forgot
21.08.2003 07:38
many people there, including Mark Barnsley, felt that the EF! gathering is seen as too exclusive and that many people choose not to come because of this.
In addition, many of this year's organisers felt that EF! is in a state of crisis, with few local groups still functioning. The EF! summer gathering is an inspiring meeting place to talk about direct action, but those who come are no longer just concerned with ecological issues.
Another thing that the article above missed out was the fact that the G8 is coming to the UK in 2005. We talked about setting up an anarchist/direct action mobilisation and preparing for the next two years.
anarchist
Do or Die - published in July 2003
21.08.2003 12:37
Do or Die volume 10
from the back cover:
"Do or Die is a journal crammed with reports and analysis from the worldwide ecological front lines. In these times of concrete alienation here are voices that shine hope from people and movemnets taking action to defend nature, create revolution an re-wild humanity..."
Do or Die contains around 40 articles in nearly 400 pages and is filled with pictures, photographs and cartoons. A wide range of topics is covered including feminist health, Baku-Ceyhan pipeline, Solidarity in Palestine, Zapatista education, Plan Columbia, living with anarchic hunter-gathers in the Congo, insurrectionary anarchy, and resistance struggles in Chile, Guatemala, Algeria, the Western Sahara, Bolivia, the South Pacific and Ecuador.
Closer to home there are articles on direct action to save the Peat bogs, camp based resistance (inc. 9 Ladies), social centres and autonomous spaces and a look back at the last ten years of radical ecological resistance in Britain.
The articles are grassroots based, well written, easy to read, and avoid pompous intellectual jargon.
Do or Die is available in the following shops in Sheffield.
Rare and Racy, 166 Devonshire St (opp. Devonshire Green), S3 (270-1916).
In a Nutshell, 31 Chesterfield Road, S8 (250-8555).
PRICE AROUND £5.00 (nb. if you can't find a copy email sheffieldmayday@ukf.net)
For previous Do or Die's: http://www.eco-action.org/dod/
email: doordtp@yahoo.co.uk
Do or Die
c/o Prior House
6 Tilbury Place
Brighton BN2 2GY
sheffield mayday
e-mail: sheffieldmayday@ukf.net
Homepage: http://www.sheffieldmayday.ukf.net
and what YOU forgot is...
21.08.2003 14:16
That 'many people' felt that EF! already acts as a broad general direct action network.
That 'many people' thought the name and history of EF! leads to misperceptions about the reality of the gatherings and 'the network'.
That periodically there have always been discussions about broadening 'the network'.
That the EF! summer gathering has for many many years attracted those who don't rescrict their concerns to soley 'ecological' issues.
That while few groups use the name EF!, they still function and do loads of good stuff
That there were lots of fresh faces from anti-war activity this year.
That 'many people' said that they felt there was no crisis.
b
EF! Confidentiality
21.08.2003 22:17
Ilyan
And a few more things
22.08.2003 09:48
Cruncher
festivals comparison
23.08.2003 11:56
The point is to say something about the way EF go about things compared to mainstream capitalist enterprises that put similarly organised events. This is a very important aspect to the gathering - a living demonstration of how things could be different, not for profit and with respect for the environment. Festivals seem like the closest thing to make this comparison.
There is no reason a festival couldn't be organised on along the same lines - or even for free as they once were.
And the Gathering is advertised in Festival Eye, so maybe it just depends on one's definition of 'festival'.
steve
well said b
23.08.2003 21:17
There were many workshops on many different subjects - these are 'chosen' by anyone saying to the organising collective "I want to do a workshop on..."
To see the range, check out the programme at http://www.earthfirstgathering.org.uk
If there wasn't the one you wanted, put it on for next year.
Much varied stuff, concrete and informal, came out of campaign workshops and the spaces between. Watch this newswire...
Earth First! gatherings have been going since 1992, sometimes twice a year, sometimes once.
Some issues and topics re-sprout each year at gatherings.
Gatherings and EF! are as broad and inclusive as YOU make them/it, in your locality.
The organising collectives for gatherings, the EF! Action Update etc are formed at each previous gathering, so they change and mutate, so that power doesn't build up in one place or group, and are open to new and old people alike. To evolve is to not stagnate and get stale.
If you want to get involved in organising next year's, contact 'em at the above web address.
If you want to send the EF! Action Update news, or subscribe, or distribute copies, or tell others you've set up an EF! group where you live, contact them at http://www.actionupdate.org.uk
If you want support, ideas, skills etc, check out the Blatant Incitement Project at http://www.eco-action.org/blinc
Oh yeah, and there's always the recent http://www.earthfirst.org.uk
j
summer gathering
24.08.2003 10:21
I most certainly hope not!!!!
http://www.global-elite.org/modules.php?set_albumName=album02&op=modload&name=gallery&file=index&include=view_album.php
Hope many people inspired each other to let there hair down (just for a few days).
iodhadh
reformist demands
24.08.2003 14:34
an @teapot cook
(we had bangers and mash with cider sauce planned for the next night anyway, so i guess they weren't too pissed off...)
x
it wasn't bangers and mash!
25.08.2003 22:14
and whoever wrote the original article: there's an ! in EF!
it's not the same without it...
c
c
one more thing
25.08.2003 23:41
o
Don't you mean..................
25.08.2003 23:54
oiyoi
Is this News / Relevant to the Class Strugle of The Working Class
26.08.2003 09:09
mozaz
Mozaz
e-mail: actfourpeace@yahoo.com
well the difference is
26.08.2003 11:41
ab
Earth First! is what you make it...
26.08.2003 13:26
> is earth first a cult?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Don't you mean..................
> EGO FIRST!!!! EARTH LATER?
only if you make it so...(and seeing as it's only the groups and individuals who make it up in varying ways in different places, and they tend to be people who don't like being told what to do, you'll find it kinda hard to make it either of the above)
Oh yeah, and...Mozaz, whatever...
EF!er
My favourite bit
27.08.2003 17:50
No compromise in defence of, eh, compromise!
xx
Commie infiltrator
EF! as a cult?
28.08.2003 15:11
EF! is not what "YOU" make it it is what all of us make it. Sometimes it is very hard for individuals to express viewpoints, let alone have them taken on-board, when there are years of entrenched dogma and attitude amongst a core group.
As someone else has raised this issue I will attempt to put my critique together speedily - watch out for it at an Indymedia site near you soon!
Fred
From an Earth First virgin who lost it at this summer's gathering
29.08.2003 07:16
Although, I had known a few people attached to the Earth First network since the ime of the Newbury road protests I stayed an first virgin until this summer.
The gathering was very enjoyable from the cultural/entertainment/festival side of things, however it chiefly foccused around workshops/forum that produce concrete ideas for direct actions and activities, including campaigning, to build not only environmental campaings and more important to develope the anti-capitalist movement mainly, but not exclusively, through direct action networks.
The best workshop for me was that on palastine. Having attended quite a few debates and meetings on this key struggle recently - this was the most infromed and the most informative; and produced a conconcrete strategy to fight for freedom in Palestine.
It was inspiring to be with so many who put there money where their mouths are, and dont just talk the talk, and thump the tub.
Is EF a cult? No! It's a funky Jazz swing thing that you can sing along, and dance too - more a beat than a rap, more a shag than a fuck for any nervous virgins out there who might want a taste of DA.
Does EF first ignore or exclude or not fight for the Working Class? (laughs). It is the working class!
The term 'anti-capitalist' was invented by the media, but it was before J18 (See main article). However, the 'media' was a paper called: 'Socialist News' - the organ of the Scialist Labour Party' in a short series of articles writen by some square beatniks called Dave Ayrton and Ed Campbell.
Onwards
Hamlet
Hamlet
e-mail: hamletbignose@yahoo.com
EF! Critique
29.08.2003 17:32
http://pub31.ezboard.com/bgreenanarchy
Where there is already a topic on EF!?
'Fred' you mention a critique - i would be really interested in reading it. Can you post it on the discussion board above (www.insurgentdesire.org.uk)?
EF! as a cult?
28.08.2003 16:11
After a number of years spent going to EF! gatherings and moots, and going to "network" parties, I do think that the "network" (but not necessarily EF!) does operate in a similar way to a cult - as soon as I get around to it I am going to produce an critique of this.
EF! is not what "YOU" make it it is what all of us make it. Sometimes it is very hard for individuals to express viewpoints, let alone have them taken on-board, when there are years of entrenched dogma and attitude amongst a core group.
As someone else has raised this issue I will attempt to put my critique together speedily - watch out for it at an Indymedia site near you soon!
Fred
LaLa
Slient Clapping
29.08.2003 23:41
> clapping during the famous open mike night. The sight of three hundred
> anarchists in a tent in a Yorkshire field making sheep noises instead of
> clapping so as not to annoy a local tory councillor had me speechless.
>
> No compromise in defence of, eh, compromise!
No, this was about caring. Anarchy for me doesn't mean I can do what I like without dealing with the consequences. I care for the results of my actions and want to take responsibility for them. Was I caring for the Tory councillor? Was I fuck. I was caring for the people who live on the nature reserve we were staying on, they have to live in that community, and we turn up use it for a time then disappear and don't have to deal day to day with any problems we cause for the people there. So If I can keep the noise down, which I don't think is a huge imposition on me, and also might help to not freak out the local wildlife for as long too, then I'm happy to do so.
x
I'm not bleating
Fred & other cultists
04.09.2003 03:11
For details of what a cult is, & why it's dangerous (& why EF! doesn't do enough of the techniques to classify as one), check out http://www.cultinformation.org.uk/faq.html#cult
Aside from that, Fred, good points about how difficult it can be for individuals to express views - I don't think this is truly because of dogma or core groups, but more of perceptions of these & other things. That is why we all have to try hard at big events (gatherings, actions) to watch not just how we behave and communicate, but how it could be seen by someone new.
As to what EF! is, well that hopefully remains diverse and fluid and up for grabs in people's localities.
Often the best thing with power is to ignore it, which kind of takes away the power, eh.
Sometimes though if people believe they do or should have power, that idea needs challenging - remember the anarcho!
the guru
an MC speaks
08.09.2003 22:24
i originaly asked people to hiss, but that just felt weird for all the acts. i then though of geting people to yell 'god save the queen', as the idea of us being done by a tory for breach of the peace for yelling it appealed, but in the end i decided an appeal to the 'post ironic' in us all and bleating was it.
i thought this was a possitive, consideration through humour, but then as am meber of the working class i have always found 'marxism' 'humour' and 'consideration' are all mutualy incompatable
The reason it was on so late was we in the @tea-pot were cooking for everyone flat out, as quality comes over speed,and dinner was over an hour late. thats why we dont get paid to do the catering, we do it out of political belife and love.
as tony blair once famously never said 'its the actions not images of the actions that count'
Brummy cook