i)did you attend as part of an organised intervention by a group? which group?
The AF, motherfucker!
ii)what did you (or your organisation) hope to achieve in attending the climate camp?
To make the statement that climate change like all real issues, was a class issues, and similarly, like all class issues, would not be solved by state or market. We did this in what was a largely attended and widely acclaimed meeting and workshop.
As individuals, we wanted to check out the camp itself and take part in mobilisations that are positively replicable and straightforward - tactics which are not exclusive and can be used by nornal people in struggles every day. This is regradless that a lot of the activity was dominated by highly motivated activists.
iii)how far do you think you succeeded in those goals?
The meeting was good, 100 attended and several people wanted to get involved with the AF (that wasn't the point, but if you're asking what we got out of it, that is a factor). The point was put, and not from the sidelines. Oh no.
Secondly, as individuals we liked the camp and the activity overall. Some of us are from this area and have been involved in local concerns for a while, and we can say that there is NO DOUBT this had local support and a proper social base.
The activty - the mass actions were good, the last one especially so. lots of lessons seemed to be being learned. Everybody could see it was symbolic not world war three, so it didn't get too silly and i don't think any of the charges will stick. I don't think things were too risky, the police are the ones who decide how far to go - riot horses was fucking nasty.
iv)do you see a future for intervention in the modern green movement? what?
everything. the green question is one that reformism cannot answer in the face of irrefutable facts. All the offsetting and scaling down will never meet the needs of planet, and i think the camp was an excellent statement of this, despite some fannies claiming it was a green capitalist. It certainly had mixed politics and was inherently reformist (like Plane Stupid) but is a million miles from FoE or the greenwash capitalists that charge you to plant trees for car ownership (which is why they got invaded: http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/379130.html and http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/08/379130.html).
I'm bored of this now, we will be saying what we wanna say in Resistance, or webshite, and at the public forum in mid september at the Camberwell SC - see you there.
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