DAILY DRAGON SLAYING, DANCING & WITNESSING

Call out from residents in Lancashire:

PLEASE come be with us:
"Cuadrilla the frackers have a new plan and it's to frack again - so not really new except for a a lot of relaxing by the regulators of previous conditions; that will make it every bit as damaging to the environment; intrusive, toxic and even, a bit more dangerous to nearby residents."

This community has been present and opposing fracking DAILY since 5th Jan 2017 (over 900 days!!) and is urgently seeking support. We would not incite anything but would ask instead that you come - be with us, witness what happens (the police are less 'hands-on' when enough are witnessing) and individually make clear your insistence on a safe future.

We need all the help we can get. Could you come alone? With friends and family? For an hour? For a day? For a unique holiday

We're roadside at the gates to the fracking site 24 hours of every day: from 7:30am till 6:30pm the frackers run works vehicles in and out and the police prohibit meaningful protest of any duration beyond a few minutes - making exercising Articles 10 & 11 impossible. But we try to do our best to raise awareness, let drivers of works vehicles know how the community feels and act in ways that have actual impact.

Our PNR (Gates) Community Protection Camp monitors all that happens at the site - not only during working hours but ALL hours; Gates Camp has shifts that need filling too if you can spare a few hours to sit with great people, enjoy decent coffee and a genuine purpose.

There are days in the week where guest speakers or events are held and these are pretty regular:
MONDAYS: 'Green Mondays' with speakers from environmental groups come.
WEDNESDAYS: when a 'Call for Calm' is held by the Nanas & Wednesday Women
FRIDAYS: 'Band Practice' - or more honestly, 'bring an instrument, make any noise'
FRIDAYS: (last one of every month) 'No Faith in Fracking' - a gathering of faiths in silence

Where do you fit in? Some come with a chair, a flask and reading material and sit opposite the site, others stand with banners, some stand, some dance, some knit and some engage with drivers and really... anything you feel is YOUR activism against fracking.

We can't promise comfortable days because they can be awful but there are safe places to be and incredible people in solidarity... and the kettle's always on.

*If you're in a group like Extinction Rebellion, Reclaim The Power, Rising Up, Campaign against Climate Change, Global Women's Strike, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace UK, Anonymous, Occupy London, Occupy Democracy, Climate Siren, Frack Off London, Frack Free United, Fracking Hell (UK) or ANY Frack Free, environmental or campaign group... please pass this invitation (plea?) from the community of weary but unstoppable Protectors at Preston New Road (between Blackpool & Preston on the A583)

#XRtoPNR
#RtPtoPNR
#YS4CtoPNR
#FoEtoPNR
etc

*NOTE: Dates on EVENT are EVERY Mon-Sat until it's done (but Facebook limits duration)
EVENT PAGE: https://www.facebook.com/events/866749137019224/

FURTHER DETAILS ON PLANNING & NEXT STAGES: https://drillordrop.com/2019/07/11/cuadrilla-to-frack-second-well-at-preston-new-road/

#FrontLineVoices - Tina Rothery - Verdicts, Injustice & Silence...

Following a landmark court case and a week of wondering about where
justice lies, an interview including details of upcoming 'Women'sCall
for Calm100' event: #100CallsforCalm

100 Calls for Calm...

There are women in Lancashire who every week on Wednesdays, take part in a 'Call for Calm' outside a fracking site near Blackpool. The action that started nearly 2 years ago, still takes place every week and we're in urgent need of you :) Please come or share and invite or all of that... our invitation:
...
"Dear You,

In the summer of 2017, after months of daily protest against the development of a fracking site on Preston New Road (nr. Blackpool), a group of women gathered together to hold a 15-minute silence. There had been so much anger, tension and anguish on this road that we simply wanted it to stop long enough, to 're-set' ourselves from an otherwise continuing escalation of tension.

It was intended as a one-off but was so impactful for those of us who took part... lined up silently against a row of police between us and the site - that we continue to do this weekly.

We held our silence and then... we danced and sang and shared food, good humour and kindness. In the context of all that happened and continues to happen daily (for nearly 1000 days!!) at the PNR site, the 'Call for Calm' is an oasis in the week and a 'welcome mat' for newcomers to protest.
A safer place to be and a chance to 'enjoy' what we're fighting to protect (community well-being and life itself) - instead of feeling our rage grow and grow at the daily witness of ever more aggressive destruction, pollution and toxins clouding our horizon.

If you're reading this post, it would mean everything to us if you could come and be here to share our 100th Call for Calm. We've been accompanied by amazing women over the weeks including Emma Thompson, Natalie Bennett, Amelia Womack, Vivienne Westwood and soo many more... but you'd be the one we'd want to see the most :)

Please help us to make this matter more - the world is currently full of tension and turmoil; our communities torn by division and fear and our planet in urgent need of healing... The 'Wednesday Women's Call for Calm' may not solve any of this but it is a huge show of intent... a way of making clear that resolution cannot come with conflict but with calm."

*Although the Women 'call' this event, ALL are welcome

With love & thaks,
Nanas Julie & Tina <3 span="">

EVENT PAGE HERE: Women's Call 100!

Raging politely

In the Observer today, the headline: 

Ex-BP boss John Browne: ‘It’s going to take a long time to take oil and coal out of the energy system’ 

... leads to an interview with the once-upon-a-time boss of fracking firm Cuadrilla. He brought fracking to UK shores and flooded the halls of power and media outlets with his dream of fracking glory in the UK.

It was so important, so magnificent, so needed... yet today he vaguely mentions that it's probably no big deal afterall; just a bit of a 'test'. Pffft, no harm there then!!

Fuck you
Mr ‘Just a test’
Up yours
Lord “..fracking in the UK doesn’t make much sense.”

After eight bloody years of fighting what this man started in the UK, he flicks it away!! As if nothing much happened. I’ve seen hearts and families broken, lives irreversibly changed and a community under the most intense pressure; having to fight for the right to simply breathe…

YET… media focuses on how awful it is that activists lack manners and need to just calm down… do protest with a bit of dignity, unemotionally maybe? In order to be considerate of gentler sensibilities!

Hush that rage, quell the maternal fire in your belly as you seek to protect your young... just shut up, hold your banner and be polite.

Don't not be, normal.

Is it any wonder we’re seeing a rise in mental health issues? It’s not just the endocrine disrupting chemicals, austerity and illness – there’s a sort-of sense of the insanity around us and at the helm in our world; reflected too in a lacklustre media that peddles anything BUT the issue that trumps all others.

Is the future survivable?

There’s the realisation that those with any power to do anything about ensuring it is – aren’t. They’re squabbling over dates, tweaking at the edges, like a kid pushing unwanted peas round a plate…

And we’re still walking through our days.

Going slightly mad
justifiably crazy
about the inactivity
total stupidity
neutered ability
of systems of state
to operate
in any way fit to satiate the needs of a thirsting planet and its humanity

Today an 8-year plea, a desperate need to make a dream reality... crashed down to land lightly with a whimper...
and a Lord’s dainty slipper kicks it away.

......................

I can't find the words to really describe fully how this feels... the image barely touches the surface

Philosophy at Core of Greens

Do you agree with these statements?

-A system based on inequality and exploitation is threatening the future of the planet on which we depend, and encouraging reckless and environmentally damaging consumerism.

-A world based on cooperation and democracy would prioritise the many, not the few, and would not risk the planet’s future with environmental destruction and unsustainable consumption.

I did and still do.

It's the above that led me to get involved in the Green Party - where I sensed the spirit of activism in a political place.

Everyone I've stood beside from the Party, has made me even more sure; because activism plays many roles in many arenas and just because not every Green is holding a tree safe, blocking fracking trucks or linking arms to prevent harm... doesn't mean there isn't the same intent, drive and determination.

I've met people who so believe that we can get change, live better, be fairer and create the good stuff ...that they walk mile after mile, sticking leaflets in letter boxes (grazing knuckles, dreading dogs), attend countless meetings and outreach events to raise awareness and give every spare moment to pushing what they believe is the solution. That's activism too.

I think it matters not so much WHAT your activism involves... just that you ARE acting... not just accepting or bickering from the sidelines. There's a role for everyone in this emergency where we have to turn the environment safe, within 11 years!

I've witnessed a lot of politics and most of it lacks a moral core - not everything about ANY Party is perfect but when the Philosophical Basis is solid (so the Party is accountable) it's a fine start to doing politcs without the dirt and bluster.


Some best-bits from Green Party of England and Wales PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS:

PB101
"Only after the last tree has been cut down,
Only after the last river has been poisoned,
Only after the last fish has been caught,
Only then will you find that money cannot be eaten."

PB102 Like all creatures, humankind depends upon a healthy natural environment for its survival. Yet it is human activity, more than anything else, which is threatening the environment and, ultimately, threatening the future of life on Earth as we currently know it.

PB103 Conventional political and economic policies are destroying the very foundations of the wellbeing of humans and other animals. Our culture is in the grip of a value system and a way of understanding the world which is fundamentally flawed.

PB106 The pursuit of economic growth as a force driving over-exploitation of the Earth must cease to be an automatic aim of human societies. We should instead aim to develop sustainable economies, which improve well-being focused on human values rather than consumerism. Traditional measures of economic activity, such as GDP, should be replaced by new indicators that measure progress towards this aim.

PB108 As human beings, we all have the potential to live co-operatively and harmoniously with each other, and with reverence and respect for the complex web of life of which we are a part. Yet it has become increasingly obvious that this potential cannot be realised while basic human needs remain largely unmet.

PB109 By basic needs we mean not only the physiological needs of food, water, air, shelter and sleep, but also psychological needs. These include the need for love, respect, autonomy, security, and meaningful activity within our communities.

PB110 The fact that many people's basic needs are not met has far reaching consequences. This is expressed as anxiety, insecurity, and aggressive behaviour towards others, and exploitation of their environment. These personal factors give rise to and are then perpetuated by, social institutions which actively encourage oppression, pollution, resource depletion, poverty and military conflict.

PB111 The Green Party therefore places both personal and political change at the heart of its response to the ecological crisis and is committed to creating a society in which individuals, through their ability to satisfy their basic needs more fully, are then able better to contribute to future sustainability. This principle is reflected in the radical Green agenda both for changes in values and lifestyles, and for reformed social, economic and political structures.

PB411 We reject the view that wealth can be measured solely in monetary units, a view which allows its adherents to think it consists primarily of the results of human labour. This error has caused successive governments to pursue objectives which appear to increase the nation's wealth while in fact they reduce it. Symbols of wealth, like money, reinforce the error and dominate political decision making. Economic growth is a poor guide to human welfare.

PB412 New economic ideas, institutions and organisations are needed to reduce our dependence on such symbols. Economic policy should be directed not to maximising the forms of wealth that can be measured in monetary terms, but to ensuring that the needs of all are met.

PB442 The Green Party does not believe there is an automatic moral obligation on all people to obey their governments. It seeks to maximise the extent to which obedience to laws is based on consent and minimise the need for conformity through deterrence. We believe there are occasions when individuals and groups in society may openly, and peacefully, protest at an unjust law or practice through civil disobedience.

PB443 We seek a society in which people are empowered and involved in making the decisions which affect them. We advocate participatory and democratic politics. Leadership should always be accountable, consensus-driven and moral. We reject the hierarchical structure of leaders and followers.

PB501 We do not believe that there is only one way to change society, or that we have all the answers. We seek to be part of a wider green movement that works for these principles through a variety of means. We generally support those who use reasonable and non-violent forms of direct action to further just aims.

Surges, Purges & Mandates...

So where on earth are we now...

First I think it matters to remember how we ended up in this divisive mess... our country and its citizens laid low by austerity and the type of ugly politics that boos and bays across the Chamber and is rigged to pull in just two directions.

Failed and failing industries of the past, coming to the end of their usefulness (and our ability to survive their pollution, poisons and toxins)... but with inadequate investment and provision in technologies and jobs to replace them. Yet the fossilised power brokers of the past are clinging in a death grip to their empires and government has apparently been hijacked for their use.

Seems each Party and voter has different interpretations of every election recently; with talk of surges, purges and mandates... but no word, no hint about the climate.

Is 'in or out' really the most pressing issue we are facing? Or simply appears so because it's a side-show that's crazy and watchable and has only a few outcomes possible that are somewhat imaginable - whereas environmental issues are unwieldy, terrifying, time-sensitive and would force us to get up from our screens and actually ACT for the sake of our children.

Should we stay or go? With just 11 years of intensive work ahead of us to prevent dangerous tipping points for climate and continued ill-health and death from dangerous air-quality, further species extinctions and loss of nature that we depend on to survive... how much does it bloody matter?!

We need to re-focus to stand a chance and we need to accept that being cut in two over borders and Party political manoevering... is the most dangerous use of our time right now.

We need allies more than we need walls and we need to work together as individuals, groups, Parties, governments, countries, nations... everyone

What next? More action or more petty yet volatile feuds... choice is down to each of us and we can show our intent by what we do - more than what we say.

Find a way to fight for clean air, safe water, fertile soil and a future our children can look forward to - not one they fear.

And as to the politics? It will play out this drama, twist, turn and contort us as a nation and all we can do is attempt to ride out the storm whilst maintaining a clear focus on what matters most.

And maybe ...add in a whole heap more tolerance and understanding that we each, all of us... have been subject to messages and media that confused and divided us, that it's NOT US, it's 'them' (those abusing power and seeking to keep tight hold of it) and that at our deepest core - we all just want our families to be safe, nourished, housed and able to thrive... we're just interpreting the threats differently.

Crying for Argentina...

A delegation of Argentinian officials and businesses came to London today to talk fracking investments. The energy sector is getting to frack Argentina and the risk falls to the UK tax payers to the tune of £1bn - 'our' government is backing the credit with OUR money! Naturally, a protest formed - this from the organisers, Reclaim the Power:

From Lancashire to Sussex communities in the UK are already fighting the menace of fracking. But Big Oil companies like BP and Shell prefer not to frack near home - “to avoid the wrong kind of attention”, in the words of BP’s CEO Bob Dudley. Instead, they’re trying to exploit one of the world’s biggest shale gas reserves, Vaca Muerta, in Argentinian Patagonia. Exploiting the gas and reaping the profits - while polluting farmland and taking over ancestral Indigenous lands.

The UK government has announced a taxpayer-backed credit line of £1bn for business in Argentina and invited BP and Shell among others to bid. This is what the Argentinian delegation will be discussing in London. 

We’re getting together in solidarity with Patagonian communities like Vista Alegre and the indigenous Mapuche community Campo Maripe, who are fighting fracking on their land.
We’re getting together to say NO to UK companies fracking in Patagonia and NO to UK government financing this exploitation.

~

We wanted to join the group but couldn't get to London - we sent our message of solidarity instead:

~

Thank you so much for being in London today to make a stand against the aggressive industries that threaten further extinctions and the very future for our children that we are striving to protect.

The damage being done by the fossil fuel industry in this country is already causing pollution levels that are harming our children and across the world, we're exporting this knack for harm to other countries; we need to stop.

Today this delegation of Argentinian officials and businesses is in London to talk fracking investments... at a time where the industry and its investments are failing and falling further into debt! And at a time where we are facing  the biggest emergency in history - an environmental crisis. Are they quite mad?

We Nanas and other Protectors across the UK have held this industry at bay for 8 years now but would be devastated if all that work was for nothing and the damage was inflicted on our friends in Argentina instead!

We note that the big players like BP and Shell have avoided conflict in the UK by letting the fracking be done by operators from other countries... sneaky and underhanded and a way of avoiding bad press in your homeland! We've met, admired and watched in awe as activists fight for Vaca Muerta, in Argentina - where both farmland and importantly...  Indigenous lands are facing ruin by this industry that brings with it pollutions, poisons and toxins for the air, land and water... as well as earthquakes and vast amounts of noise, light and traffic!.

The UK government as always is shaking the pom-poms as cheerleaders for this dying industry and using our money to do it! Big incentives including a taxpayer-backed credit line of £1bn is the subject that will be drooled over today - the danger from this isn't just environmental - we KNOW this industry is built on debt and going nowhere and yet our government sees it as a gamble worth taking!! Much like the game of Russian Roulette they're playing with our children's lives.

To the Patagonian community Vista Alegre and the Indigenous mapuche community Campo Maripe, the UK Nanas send you our thanks, our solidarity and our love for all that you are doing in the face of such a powerful and driven opponent that is the energy sector. We will do all we can to target our corrupted and inept government as well as the dangerous UK companies that are doing this to you - please know that this is not what we believe our country is about... we want international co-operation to ensure our shared air, water and oceans are safe for all earth inhabitants.

We are shoulder to shoulder with you... there's no distance between our hearts x

~