Tina Louise: Where do we go from here?

We can’t stop this industry by just locking-on or jumping on trucks – BUT we don't stand a chance at all, if we don’t take direct action. Since fracking companies started threatening our communities over 6 years ago… we have fought in courts, council chambers, in MP’s surgeries, at supplier premises, through community groups, at public meetings the length and breadth of the country, in the press, through our planning procedures and always with just one weapon – a little bucket of truth. And we’ve succeeded in halting the progress to fracked gas production – there is still no fracking in the UK. Right now though, the situation has become critical as fracking companies seek to use both brutal force and legal process to keep our honourable Protectors from their absolute duty to the children of our communities… NOW it matters more than ever before, that each of us do all we can in our own way, to increase the power of our movement.

Every one of us is an autonomous volunteer and that’s important – no-one should do anything they’re not ready to do and all have something to contribute. The volunteers who cook the meals, welcome the visitors, provide a cuppa and a blanket, clean the toilets, provide happy places for the children, help with media interviews, create banners, play music, perform a ritual etc. are every bit as vital to our movement as those doing the direct actions. If you’re not able to stand on a truck or put bits of your body in a tube… no worries – come cut a courgette, stir a stew, tell the children a story, make a banner, wave a banner or simply (yet crucially) bear witness to all this and contribute by sharing our little bucket of truth.

Where do we go from here…
...reading across the networks there is a beautiful sense of urgency that is needed and it matters that this urgency touches all of us and not solely the communities under immediate threat… whether you’re from the Outer Hebrides or the Isle of Wight, this is your fight too because air and water is everyone’s business.

I’m reading groups that are talking about ‘adopting a day’ either each week regularly or on set dates, brilliant news – although actions by autonomous individuals and groups can occur at any time on any day, having a regularity and certainty of numbers on as many days as possible WILL make the difference. Posts and emails are being made and sent to get people to Preston New Road so that eventually, every day has a ‘certain something’ about it no matter what else is going on. Already, environmental groups, NGOs, the Green Party and Unions are making plans about which days they can support and so too are the visitors from our wiser neighbours (already with moratoriums and bans on fracking) from Ireland, Wales & Scotland. If your group wants to ‘adopt a day’ or then please just do it. Create an event and share it, email your friends, bring your gran... maybe have a theme if you're a group or maybe just be yourself..

Central organising doesn’t happen in a horizontal movement comprised of determined individuals who self-elect to volunteer to do this… it helps to have the PNR Community Hub and camps for points of information collection and sharing but really – just come, do your thing and when it’s done… come back and do it again whenever you can.

There is no agency or official body fighting for us – we’re all we have and we need each other very much