Good morning... many of us across the country are staring at the skies, hoping for blue or at least less grey, for a day of actions for local groups and residents to stand in solidarity to oppose fracking plans.Decent human beings from all walks of life, demanding to be heard in our 'democracy'.
Here at our No Fracking Way Lancashire Solidarity Gathering the BBC InsideOut Show are filming a piece and other press will be along too... thankfully as it is a day of opportunities to be seized.
We hashtag it #NoFrackingWay #NFWj31 and we paint our banners,make our messages, bake our cakes,create our actions and as this is a family day - aim simply to raise awareness and be amongst others who feel the same.
We are bloody lovely and I have watched the power of us grow, evolve and emerge to be a force to be reckoned with. We have stalled progress by industry, put ourselves between the trucks and the land... we have spent days, nights, weeks, months lost in research to get just the right bit to oppose planning applications... we endured harsh conditions on Protector camps... we have held countless public meetings to spread the word and delighted as groups formed round these events. WE have used every tool available to us in our 'democracy'.
THEY (shale industry & government) have accused us of scare-mongering, mocked us, had us brutally handled by police, sent undercover people to disrupt and divide us, tabled amendments and rule changes to thwart our attempts to object to planning successfully, caused us to require legal and professional help in our local stands that we cannot afford, drained our resources, ignored our truths and placed numerous obstacles on the path of this 'democracy'.
THEY though are NOT the representatives of any 'democracy'. THEY are liars, manipulators, corrupted, cruel, self-serving and criminal in their behaviour.
I say this with confidence after yet another revelation that is in today's Telegraph... in the form of a leaked letter that was written just a week after Lancashire County Council said it REJECTED Cuadrilla's fracking application. Cuadrilla starts their appeal on 9 February 2016 and this therefore is timely and shows PRE-determination attempts.
The letter is about fracking planning applications taking too long, being handled by local Councillors when it would be better in the hands of central government and how this industry WILL progress. We also know from other departments that THEY are looking to re-define what constitutes 'fracking' ie: if they say it is only at a depth of X or use X amount of liquid etc... then they can pretend it isn't 'fracking'.
Remember at this point that since 2011 since the first and only fracking took place in the UK (causing seismic activity) - NO FURTHER FRACKING has occurred because of PEOPLE all over the country making objections.
THEY are fracturing more than our land - they are fracturing democracy itself in order to do this.
YOU are what is needed to overcome... in whatever way you can contribute x
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At a time when clean, renewable engergies have had subsidies cut and local democratic decisions are being ignored and modified by central government, the question that needs to be asked is "Who will benefit from this hazardous, unhealthy and environmentally destructive method of fossil fuel extraction?" It certainly isn't the local populations who, if worldwide experiences are duplicated, will begin to suffer from all sorts of health problems triggered by the release of toxic gases and water pollution. It's high time the influence of big business was excised from the democratic process and the will of the electorate was reintroduced.
ReplyDeleteThe following item from RT perhaps identifies what the government thinks of the people who supposedly elected them! ‘Uphold international law’? Nope, it’s been cut from UK ministers’ rulebook https://www.rt.com/uk/332172-ministerial-code-international-law/
ReplyDeleteThe following item from RT perhaps identifies what the government thinks of the people who supposedly elected them! ‘Uphold international law’? Nope, it’s been cut from UK ministers’ rulebook https://www.rt.com/uk/332172-ministerial-code-international-law/
ReplyDelete