Part 1

Part 2

Part III

The Struggle is Global, The Struggle is Local

The PGA International Day of Action and the Global
Street Party catalysed a wave of actions across the globe, unprecedented in
recent times in terms of both scale and interconnection.

Hundreds of Indian farmers from PGA affiliated organisations travelled across
Europe holding meetings and demos and carrying out anti-GM actions. Strange
occasions proliferated. A squatted ex-test site in Essex hosted a visit from
the farmers, one of which (to much applause) sang an old Indian song about
killing the English. The farmers' organisations had destroyed test sites and
a laboratory in India, so despite the huge cultural differences, this was a
meeting of comrades. As one Indian put it: "Together we, the peasants, and
you, the poor of Europe, will fight the multinationals with our sweat and together
we will succeed in defeating them." That month nine test sites were destroyed
in one night and a major research organisation pulled out of GM due to being
constantly attacked by direct action.[61] The year would see over 50 experiments
trashed.

Next came J18, bringing actions in 27 countries by over a hundred groups.
Thousands closing down the centre of the capital in Nigeria, besieging Shell,
and 12,000 storming the City of London - one of the hearts of the global financial
system - were just two of the highlights. J18 in London was more successful
than anyone could have imagined. Many offices were closed for the day in fear
of the action. Many of those that weren't probably wished they had been. As
the soundsytems played, a festive masked crowd (9,000 had been handed out)
took advantage of their control of a slice of the city to dance and destroy.

"I ran into the LIFFE building [the Futures Exchange], smashing a few mirrors
in the foyer and then looked round to see this masked up figure light a distress
flare and hurl it up the escalators towards the offices. Fuck I thought, this
is really full on."

"I was nicked... so I was in the police station... one cop came in drenched
from head to toe in white paint. I really had to control myself to stop laughing
- it looked like he'd been shat on by a huge bird."[62]

The HQ of the GM food giant Cargill had its foyer trashed as were the fronts
of countless other banks, posh car showrooms and the like. The police were
solidly defeated on the day. Above the crowd glittered beautiful banners, one
proclaiming 'Resist, Refuse, Reclaim, Revolt'; and to back up the statement,
hidden inside the banner were half a dozen broom handles - seen the next day
on front covers being used against the cops to great effect. Another banner
high above the street declared - 'Our Resistance is as Global as Capital',
with a huge list of places where actions were happening across the planet.
June 18th, more than any event before it, saw the coming together of generations
of radical opposition in a celebration of our power to create another world
- unified around the planet by action.

The success of the first two days of action had now created a global cycle
of inspiration. In November 1999, N30 saw more action. Timed once again to
coincide with the meeting of the WTO, actions happened in Britain but undoubtedly
the main event was in the US - Seattle. Tens of thousands brought the city
to a standstill and in three incredible days forced the meeting to close. This
was understandably seen as an amazing victory, especially considering the paucity
and assimilated nature of much of American opposition. The victory in America
was mirrored in Britain by what many saw as a defeat. RTS London were now in
a pickle. People expected them to organise big mass events, but apart from
being very busy many were worried about the (violent) genie they had let out
of the bottle on J18. N30 in London was a static rally, masks were not handed
out. Despite the burning cop van (always a pretty sight) N30 London remained
contained by the police, and to a certain extent by the organisers. For good
or bad you can't turn the clock back - from now on any RTS style event in the
capital would see massive policing and people coming expecting a major ruck.

Of course, resistance was not only centred around GM and the International
Days of Action, or for that matter around internationalism; the local was still
at the forefront for many. While the big days got the column inches, everywhere
activists were fighting small local land struggles and increasingly getting
stuck into community organising. In fact, in the twelve months following the
Global Street Party, there were 34 direct action camps across the country.[63]
Most of these were now a combination of tree-houses, benders and tunnels and
set up against a diverse set of developments. While most were populated by
what The Sun described as the 'tribe of treepeople', some were almost entirely
done by locals - the type of people who before the 'road wars' might have simply
written to their MP. Direct action was so big in the '90s that it was/is seen
as a normal tactic for fighting projects.

This generalisation of direct action is one of the many hidden but hugely
important victories the movement has had.

While there were no major technical innovations in camps over this period
(Nine Ladies in 2002 looked pretty like Manchester Airport in 1997 - but smaller)
there were many victories. Simply the threat of a site stopped many developments
and many camps had to 'tat down' after victories, usually against local authorities
or developers. Even evicted camps sometimes resulted in victory. In London
a camp ran for a year against a major leisure complex in Crystal Palace Park.
The eviction came at the cost of over £1 million.

"Bailiffs, accompanied by around 350 police, moved on to the site and began
removing the fifty people present from the various tree and bunker defences.
The eviction was completed a record breaking 19 days later when the last two
occupants came out of the bunker they had been in since the beginning of the
eviction."[64]

This campaign won. The eviction cost, and the prospect of more trouble, freaked
out the council no end. Though this period saw far less victories than the
fight against the national roads programme, it saw many more victories where
camps themselves actually won there and then. Despite this, without the unifying
nature of the previous period (and with many activists both 'looking to the
global' and not willing to go to sites), camps decreased in number.

Other factors also included increased police harassment (especially following
J18) and of course 'defeat through victory'. In the South Downs during this
time, two major developments, the Hastings Bypass and a house building project
in Peacehaven[65] were both halted (for now) after direct action pledges were
launched. Many other groups have been in this situation, which, while a cause
for jubilation, has meant that 'the culture of camps' has suffered set-backs
while its spectre wins victories. The year and a half between July '99 and
January '01 saw only 10 camps operate, a quarter of the number that had been
active in the previous year and a half. Since January '02 there have never
been more than four ecological direct action camps at any given time.

Other local struggles such as those against casualised workplaces or for access
to the land have continued, never though really become period-setting events.[66]
One major area that many have moved into - often at the same time as night-time
sabotage and irregular 'big days out' - has been community organising. From
helping run women's refuges and self defence, to doing ecological education
with kids and sorting out local food projects, this work has been an important
extension of direct action.[67] While these actions don't directly defend ecologies
they (hopefully) work to grow libertarian and ecological tendencies in society,
an integral part of the revolutionary process.[68]

IMAGE: A cherry picker hoists an activist out of the trees at Crystal Palace.
The development was shelved - just one of many of the victories on the land
in this period.
Guerrilla Gardening

The next PGA International Day of Action was Mayday
2000. Once again there were actions all over the globe. Across Britain events
happened in quite a few established 'activist towns', many very successfully;
unfortunately overshadowing them was the mess that was the London 'Guerrilla
Gardening' event.

The idea of doing another big national action was mooted at an EF! gathering
in Oxford the previous winter - nearly everyone thought it a terrible concept.
The state would massively prepare, the number of imprisoned activists would
no doubt increase. As has been argued elsewhere,[69] Mayday 2000 - and most
of its follow ups - were essentially attempts to copy J18 minus the street
violence and sound-systems.

J18 had come from a momentum built up by street parties and anti-road protests,
and it worked in part because it involved groups all over the country and had
the element of surprise. As with national EF! actions after Whatley, the police
were once bitten, twice shy. Containment of the crowd by both the cops, and
in part by the organisers, created what most saw as both a rubbish party and
a rubbish riot. Up until this event there had always been quite a strong 'working
relationship' between radical eco groups nationwide and activists in London.
Following Mayday this would, sadly decrease.

Ironically, the symbolic 'guerrilla gardening' at Parliament Square only succeeded
in reminding activists across the country why they liked actual guerrilla action,
like covert GM sabotage; and actual gardening, on their allotments. The next
year's London Mayday was hardly better. The double whammy of N30 followed by
Mayday resulted in RTS London losing its 'great party' reputation, at the same
time as street parties were happening less and less regularly across the country.

Meanwhile actions against GM continued to increase in scale, some involving
up to 800 people. The vast majority, however, continued to be carried out covertly
at night. Globally, GM sabotage was now spreading even more. Across the world
shadows in the moonlight were razing GM crops trials to the ground. Spades,
sticks, scythes, sickles and fire brought in the harvest. Doors splintered
as labs were broken into. Pies were aimed at the arrogance of the powerful.
Harassment and disruption greeted the biotech industry wherever it gathered.
The deputy head of the American Treasury said in a statement to the Senate
that the campaign against genetic engineering in Europe "is the greatest block
to global economic liberalisation presently in existence."

The actions were hugely successful in frightening institutions into not extending
GM research and forcing many supermarkets to withdraw from pushing GM food.
Sadly though, 'pure research' was rarely attacked in Britain. Apart from the
major successes the campaign achieved/is achieving, GM sabotage schooled hundreds
in covert cell-structured sabotage - a capacity which will no doubt become
ever more useful.

IMAGE: Many more were jailed after the minor fracas on Mayday than on the
far more destructive and festive J18.

IMAGE: A doomed tree in a sterile wasteland.
Channel Hopping

Given the decrease in day-to-day struggle and the
failure of the London street actions, there was a sharp turn towards international
riot tourism. The biggest 'workshops' at the 2000 EF! Summer gathering were
for those preparing to go to the next meeting of the World Bank and the IMF
in Prague. Hundreds went from Britain, experiencing an exciting range of success
and failure.

Divisions over violence and symbolism that were always present in the British
scene were thrown into relief by the extremes of the situation. Some joined
the street-fighting international black block, others (both pro- and anti-
violent attacks on the summit), formed together in the Pink and Silver Block.
This 'Barmy Army' was a contradictory group of people with quite divergent
views, pulled together by a desire for 'national unity'. Diversity in this
case, was definitely NOT strength. Putting the problems aside (dealt with well
elsewhere[70]), Prague was immensely inspiring. Thousands from all over Europe
converged and forced the conferences to close early, creating a surreal, almost
civil war atmosphere. Though the crowds failed to break into the conference,
they shattered the desire of future cities to host these events. Previously,
a visit from one of these august ruling class bodies was the dream of any town
bureaucrat or politician - now it was their nightmare.

The following year, many more from the movement would go to Genoa in Italy
where an unparalleled number of people on the street would clash with the state
(and sometimes each other). Many also went to the anti-summit actions in Scandinavia,
Switzerland and France. Only three years after the Global Street Party and
the riot in Geneva started the wave of summit actions, the global elite was
having to organise massive defence operations to stay safe behind their barricades.
This wave of action not only inspired thousands, and spread the wildfire of
resistance worldwide, it also forced many of these meetings to cut down the
length of their events, move to ever less accessible fortresses and in some
cases cancel their roving showcases all together.[71]

Beyond the big street spectaculars many British activists were increasingly
spending time abroad, inspired by the often more up-for-it squatting scenes.
This acted as a further drain on the movement, but it also brought new experiences
into 'the collective mind', aided future action, made real human links across
borders and just as importantly gave some amazing moments to those involved.
The move to the territory of other nations, temporary for most, comes as no
surprise in a period defined by its internationalism.
International Solidarity

Back in Britain, the radical ecological scene was
increasingly involved in solidarity with (largely 'Third World') groups abroad.
As the Malaysia campaign showed, this had always been a major part of the movement.
Following the '95 EF! gathering, activists invaded a factory that built Hawk
aircraft and hoisted the East Timorese flag. Throughout the land struggle period,
office actions, AGM actions, embassy blockades, petrol station pickets and
home visits to corporate directors had all been used to support the Ogoni/Ijaw
struggle in Nigeria and the Bougainville Revolutionary Army in Papua New Guinea.
Yet in this period solidarity with struggling communities beyond the capitalist
core became a much bigger part of the movement. This was part and parcel of
the shift in emphasis towards people seeing the radical ecological movement
as part of a global revolutionary movement.

On the first business day of 1999, three groups barricaded themselves into
two senior management offices and the corporate library in Shell-Mex House
in London.

"January 4th was Ogoni Day, celebrated since Shell was forced out of Ogoni
through massive resistance. The concerned individuals seized three key locations
in the building, some of which had a pleasing view of Waterloo bridge and the
banner being hung across - by others - reading 'Shell: Filthy Thieving Murderers.'"[72]

In 1999 the keynote speech at the EF! Summer gathering was made by a visiting
Papuan tribesman from the OPM. His inspirational talk resulted in actions across
the country that Autumn against various corporations involved. Sporadic actions
would continue in solidarity with this South Pacific struggle, as well as financial
support for refugees and medical aid for prisoners, both actions which literally
kept people alive.

Less theory, it was more lived experience abroad that inspired solidarity
work back at home. By 2001, most towns listed with EF! groups had at least
one returnee from the jungles of the Mexican South West. In 2001 a steady stream
of activists going to Palestine started, many doing valuable on-the-ground
solidarity work in the heat of the second Intifada - and the Israeli crackdown.

Those returning from abroad wanted to 'bring the war home' with a range of
actions, speaking tours and fundraising pushes. Of course GM actions are also
in part solidarity actions with Third World peasants. From benefit gigs to
demos at the Argentinian embassy - solidarity work was increasingly filling
the gap a lack of land struggles left behind.
Then and Now

This decade-long retrospective ends at the end of
2001. I did think of extending it when this issue of Do or Die became
ever later and later but I thought better of it for a number of reasons. Firstly
it seemed a neat end point; secondly much of this issue of Do or Die covers
the next year and a half to Summer 2003; and thirdly Part Two of this article
was released in January 2002 and some of what the movement has engaged in since
then has been, at least partially, as a result of its suggestions. For good
or bad I'll leave it to others to use hindsight to judge whether some proposals
were blind alleys or blinding campaigns. To analyse them here would be definitely
to put the cart before the horse.

Nevertheless, I'll say a little about where we find ourselves. Looking at
the first EF! AU of 2002, it seems strange, slightly worrying, but also
inspiring that 10 years on there is an obvious continuity of action through
the decade: a new protest site, night-time sabotage actions, actions against
summits, anti-war demos. The centre spread is a briefing for the campaign to
defend Northern peat bogs, a struggle from right back in 1991 (and further)
that re-started in 2001 and is covered elsewhere in this issue.

In a way the last year or so has reminded me of the film Back to the Future (now
I'm showing my age); not only was the peat campaign back up and running, but
also there was an anti-road gathering in Nottingham, and actions were announced
to aid tribal groups in the Pacific.

There are now far fewer EF! groups listed than in the mid '90s, and the travelling
culture many site activists came from has been largely destroyed by state force
and drugs. Nevertheless, the radical ecological movement is in a surprisingly
healthy state and has succeeded in not being assimilated into the mainstream.
Ten years on and we're still more likely to be interviewed by the police than
a marketing consult or academic (remember to say "No Comment" to all three!).
The movement is still active and still raw. Many places continue to be saved
by ecological direct action, our threat potential still puts the willies up
developers, and people are still getting involved and inspired.

IMAGE: In the Peak District, the Nine Ladies camps have weathered three winters,
deterred new quarries, and kept camp culture alive.

Our gathering this year will probably be attended by around 350-400 in total
- the same kind of number it has been since 1996. While we don't want to build
up the movement like a Leninist party - 'more members, please more members'
- the fact that we have stayed at this number despite catalysing situations
of struggle involving thousands should give us some pause for thought.

Two prime contradictions have haunted the radical ecological resistance on
this island. British EF! was born as a wilderness defence movement with no
wilderness, and evolved into a network of revolutionaries in non-revolutionary
times. The process of consolidation that was started in 1997 enabled radical
ecological circles to survive the slowdown of domestic land struggles after
the victory against national roadbuilding. This process combined with the upsurge
in 'global resistance' enabled us in part to side-step the questions posed
by the above contradictions.

If we want to see the wildlands defended and any chance of libertarian, ecological
(r)evolution increase then practical action is needed. Much is already underway,
but more is needed and without a clear strategy we are bound to fail. 'Part
Two: The Four Tasks' aims to provide some pointers towards a unified strategy
and attempt to resolve, or at least overcome, some of the contradictions of
our movement.

On a personal note the 'Ten years of radical ecological action' documented
here have been immensely inspiring to me. It's been an honour to stand on the
frontlines (as well as lounge about in lounges) with some lovely, brave, insightful
and amazing people.

Thank you.

Notes

1) The Ecologist, Vol. 2, No. 12, December
1972

2) Eco-Warriors by Rik Scarce, (ISBN 0 9622683 3 X), p. 103

3) Green Rage, Christopher Manes, p. 65

4) Speech by Dave Foreman, Grand Canyon, 7/7/87

5) FoE Newsletter No. 1, Jan 1972

6) While FoE and GP remain centrist, both groups increasingly try to engage
their membership AS activists not just as supporters. This, as many of their
staff admit, is due to the influence of the '90s land struggles.

7) A ridiculous statement I admit - but true!

8) Direct Action Video, Oxford EF!

9) 'Militancy', FoE Newsletter, No. 10, Oct 1972

10) EF! Action Update, No. 3

11) Ibid.

12) Noticibly South Somerset EF! who organised the early Whatley Quarry actions.

13) This description is no joke - one described herself on more than one occasion
as 'the queen of the tribe'!

14) Dept of Transport Affidavit concerning May 1st 1993

15) Welcome Back Twyford Six, Do or Die No. 3, p. 45

16) 'Car Chases, Sabotage and Arthur Dent: Twyford Diary', Pt. 2, Do or
Die, No. 3, p. 21

17) Ibid., p. 22

18) 'Skye Campaign Soaked in Sea of Anger', Do or Die, No. 3, p. 11

19) EF! Action Update, No. 5

20) 'For Flapjack and Mother Earth: Earth Warriors At Jesmond Dene', www.eco-action.org/dt/jesmond.html

21) Ibid.

22) 'News From The Autonomous Zones', Do or Die No. 4, p. 21

23) Ibid., p. 22

24) Ibid., p. 23

25) These were not police smear stories. There was only a few sentences ever
mentioning them and no tabloid 'eco-terrorist' horror stories. If anything
the state probably enforced a 'quieting strategy' on the situation as they
did to the ALF at its height of support.

26) Copse: The Cartoon Book of Tree Protesting by Kate Evans, (ISBN
0 9532674 07), p. 32

27) EF! Action Update, No. 9

28) Copse, p. 20

29) 'Leadenham', Do or Die No. 4, p. 6

30) Fash threatened a number of sites through the '90s. At Jesmond they were
chased off, running for their lives (which is what they do best) - mostly they
didn't even turn up (with the one major exception of the M11). Far more dangerous
were random individual loonies. Arson attacks on camps happened right from
the beginning - both at Twyford and the M11. Of course the police paid little
notice. On one occasion when some posh student arsonists were nicked at Newbury
(after they had put a petrol bomb through a truck window and into a sleeping
child's bedroom) they got off - the magistrates viewed them as drunken pranksters.

31) Daily Post (North Wales), 9/1/94

32) Green Anarchist was undoubtedly a great influence on this period.
One big gripe though - again and again one would read GA reports of actions
which said the Earth Liberation Front had done this or that. Some may have
been true but most of these claimed actions were often simply done by crowds
or 'camp warparties'. In fact on a number of occasions people have been arrested
for criminal damage only to read later in GA that 'the ELF' had carried
out their action. This is both dishonest and dangerous.

33) Jonathan Dimbelby at Solsbury Hill for instance.

34) Construction News

35) 'The Battle For Hyde Park: Ruffians, Radicals and Ravers, 1855-1994',
(Practical History)

36) 'CJB: Business As Usual', EF! Action Update, No. 12

37) Schnews, No. 3

38) 'London Regional Report', Do or Die, No. 5, p. 23

39) Ibid., p. 25

40) 'Meanwhile Down in the West-Country', Do or Die, No. 5, p. 18

41) 'It's (Not Really That) Grim Up North!', Do or Die, No. 5, p. 12

42) EF! Action Update, No. 23

43) Thames Valley Police Press Release 11/11/96

44) Copse, p. 105

45) There's A Riot Going On by Merrick (Godhaven Press)

46) 'Direct Action, Six Years Down the Line', Do or Die, No. 7, p.
1

47) EF! Action Update, No. 40

48) Global Street Party - Birmingham and the G8, p. 3

49) EF! Summer Gathering 2003 leaflet.

50) This reference to Mental Asylums is no joke - over a dozen people were
sectioned from Newbury alone, prompting the setting up of the 'Head State Support
Group'. Land Struggles had been immensely therapeutic for many, but for some
they became the catalyst for mental breakdown. On sites the intense connection
to other people and the land was amazing. Feeling the land being ripped all
around you and having your community broken up was unbearable for many. Some
would have been broken by Industry either way, but it was the movement's duty
to provide support for those who were asked to risk all. It mostly failed in
that duty.

51) It's worth pointing out that EF! is a network of autonomous groups and
individuals. Gatherings can be the place where people decide what they are
going to do, but they cannot decide what others should or shouldn't do. After
a number of bad experiences with people representing the movement in outside
publications and stating that 'EF! has said the...' it was decided that gatherings
would mostly not distribute written reports - too often the writer's own political
dogma misrepresented the consensus - or lack of one. Here, I am trying to sum
up some of the points the '97 gathering came up with in consensus. I have asked
around to check that my memory is correct, but I may too have clouded the reality
of the discussion with the fog of my own particular dogma. I apologise if this
is so.

52) 'Autonomous Spaces', Do or Die No. 8, p. 130

53) Ibid.

54) Fears that the giro checks would soon stop arriving, bringing an end to
the dole autonomy that, along with student grants and crime, had been the main
economic backbone of movements here for generations was also a major factor.
Resistance to the introduction of the Jobseekers Allowance and the New Deal
did occur - but with most claimants not joining in with collective efforts
to repel the squeeze, the campaign was doomed. By individualising their problem
people were collectively defeated.

55) Schnews, No. 156

56) Schnews, No. 167

57) Police Review, quoted in 'Surveillance Watch', Schnews Survival
Handbook

58) EF! Action Update, No. 50

59) Global Street Party: Birmingham and the G8 pamphlet.

60) The reference - me and a mate on a glorious day!

61) EF! Action Update, No. 59

62) 'Friday June 18th 1999: Confronting Capital and Smashing the State', Do
or Die No. 8, p. 20

63) 'Carry on Camping', Do or Die No. 8, p. 148

64) EF! Action Update, No. 57

65) EF! Action Update, No. 48

66) For a short while it looked like The Land Is Ours might successfully set
off a wave of action around the country. However the entrenched nature of the
problem and the spectacular, media-centric style of some of the main 'occupations'
cut that possibility short.

67) There is always a danger here of merely becoming unpaid social workers.
For too many in the past community organising has been a way back into the
mainstream. That this is a danger should not stop people doing these bread
and butter activities - but should remind us to be ever vigilant against assimilation.

68) One argument put forward for community organising over ecological defence,
is that only the working class can defeat capitalism so 'real work' needs to
be done 'in' the working class to strengthen 'it' and radicalise it. Apart
from the obvious patronising missionary attitude this view ignores the fact
that the Land Struggle Period saw large actions with and by working class communities
across the country; a level of joint action most traditional class struggle
anarchos could only dream of. While many of the places '90s land struggles
happened in were 'Tory shires' others were in the old 'barracks of the labour
movement' - the East End, South Wales, Glasgow, inner-city Manchester and the
Yorkshire mining areas!

69) For a good analysis of this debacle see - 'May Day: Guerrilla? Gardening?', Do
or Die No. 9, p. 69

70) 'Here Comes the Barmy Army!', Do or Die No. 9, p. 12

71) This year's EU summit in Greece is likely to be the last outside of the
EU Fortress in Brussels.

72) EF! Action Update, No. 55


Part 1

Part 2


Part 3 (Notes)