My First Taste Of Non Violent Direct Action

I was seventeen years old in 1984. For three or four years, I had been thinking intensely about the world & politics, & trying to work out what I "believed". I had been very involved with CND (Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament) for about three years - helping set up & run the local Youth CND, going on marches, going to public meetings & conferences etc. CND were a very big organisation at that time, & used the legitimate avenues of protest & lobbying. Their demonstrations & marches were always well-behaved. My political thinking had progressed a lot in those three years. I was ready for a new direction, & very soon I would leave behind that world of polite, moderate, well-ordered protest for something far more "revolutionary".

At that time there was a small national network of  "Peace Activists", whose aims & methods were very different to those of CND. This movement began with the setting up of the Women's Peace Camp at Greenham Common Air Base in 1981, where American cruise missiles were soon to be installed. Hundreds of women set up a permanent protest camp outside, living in tents & "benders" (frameworks of long branches tied together, with tarpaulin stretched over). They used tactics of non-violent direct action & civil disobedience - cutting the fence, breaking into the base, blockading nuclear convoys at the gates etc. Large scale actions were organised, to which  thousands of women from all over the country would come. Many women were prepared to get arrested, & many were. Actions at Greenham were always given a lot of media coverage. (1)

Inspired by this, peace camps were set up at eight other military bases across Britain. These other camps were not women-only like Greenham was. Other than that, they operated on the same principles, & used the same methods of large break-ins & blockades. Many people who couldn't commit full-time would travel to these camps when large scale actions happened, as would people from other camps. A network began to build up of people for whom protest was becoming a way of life.

Where CND seemed to be only opposed to nuclear weapons, the Peace Activists were pacifists, opposed to all war & violence. They also believed in enacting your principles in all areas of your life. Many started to experiment with alternative lifestyles ( building squatting communities or taking to the road in converted old buses etc) & more radical political beliefs (such as anarchism). People didn't want just to get rid of nuclear weapons or "the government". They wanted a different society altogether, based on a different set of principles. People dropped out of society & banded together with those of like minds, to try to create new societies by creating new communities. The idea wasn't to placate the government or ask for "permission" - the idea was to directly take our lives back for ourselves.

Different countercultures, old & new, started to come together at this point, & there was a lot of crossover. People learned from each other, & there was a sense of a growing "movement", that was progressing very quickly in its ideas. People took the methods & lessons from the peace camps & started to apply them elsewhere. A network of people built up who would blockade nuclear convoys as they moved across Britain, & within the cities themselves people would occupy or blockade "institutions of oppression" such as arms dealers.

Protest would get more daring & more imaginative in this era. In 1983 & 1984, there were two "Stop The City" protests in London  at which The Stock Exchange & other financial institutions were blockaded by thousands of activists. People were encouraged to create their own form of protest (from street-theatre to spray-painting to mass sit-ins) in order to catch the police off-guard. The police were used to dealing with an "organised" protest where everyone was in the same place at the same time doing the same thing. "Stop The City" was something completely different - a spontaneous carnival of anarchy & action, erupting in many different places (2). This protest counterculture would continue to grow & reinvent itself for the next few years, until a series of crackdowns & new public order legislation made a lot of these actions impossible.

That was the world into which I was just about to step. I would very soon leave home, become part of that counterculture, & immerse myself  in it for the next  3 or 4 years. It was a very significant part of my life, & taught me valuable life lessons that have remained with me ever since.

However, we all have to start somewhere, & back in early 1984, I was a virgin to that world, awaiting my initiation. I'd become disillusioned with CND.  I felt their goals were too limited, & their methods were ineffectual - "marching round in circles" as critics said. I'd been reading a lot about anarchism, anti-militarism & non violent direct action. I'd read up on the principles & philosophies of civil disobedience, & knew that I agreed with it morally as a method of action. I was just awaiting a chance to put it into practice.

That chance came in early 1984, when I heard on the anarchist grapevine that there was to be a big action at Faslane Peace Camp. The camp had about 30 residents living in old caravans, & had been there since 1982. It was outside a huge nuclear submarine base on the River Clyde,  in the scottish countryside. I had been to Faslane a few months before. At that time, there had been a big CND demo, where we all stood outside the base & waved a few banners. Two friends & I had gone on a coach with our local CND. Being uptight lefties, none of the CND mob wanted anything to do with "those crazy anarchists" at the Peace Camp. We however, were intrigued by the rainbow painted caravans, & wandered away from the demo to go meet the "crazy anarchists". We found a lovely group of open & welcoming people, & spent the rest of the afternoon chatting to them. All three of us fell in love with the place, the people & the life, & within a year all of us would become full time residents.

This forthcoming action sounded very "full-on" - people were going to cut the security fence with bolt-cutters, or climb over it (twelve feet high, metal mesh, with rolls of barbed wire on top). Once inside, you would be chased by police with big dogs, who would inevitably catch you & arrest you. This was scary stuff & I would be really throwing myself in at the deep end. However, I knew I had to do it - overcome that fear, & take that leap.

The action was being organised secretly, by word of mouth only. It was thought that if the police saw everyone arriving at the camp the night before, they would know that something was about to happen, & would be prepared. The idea was to catch them unawares, & so a  plan was worked out. People would arrive in Glasgow (about 30 miles from Faslane) the night before, & meet at an arranged meeting point. Friends of the camp who lived in Glasgow would take us to their houses to stay overnight. The next morning we would all get on a train out of Glasgow. One of the main lines ran along a route that would take us right past the base. The line was at the top of a hill only a few hundred yards from the base perimeter fence. At that point we would stop the train, jump off, run down the hill, & get straight into cutting the fence before the police had a chance to respond. So now, not only was I conspiring to break into a military base, but we were going to stop a train to do so ! (Back in those days, the idea that we could be shot for being "terrorists" never crossed our minds).

My two friends & I turned up in Glasgow, were assigned to a hippy called Craig, & stayed overnight at his house. We were so excited about what was to come, we could hardly sleep. The next morning we all arrived at Glasgow station. There were about 40 activists there. We got on the train, & it set off. I had butterflies in my stomach. I didn't know what was going to happen, but it was very exciting.

Just as we were approaching Faslane, a big London punk called Nick stood up in the middle of the aisle. "Ladies & Gentlemen. Please don't be alarmed " - he announced in a very charming & polite manner - "We are about to stop this train. We will be getting off, & then you will be on your way again." Somebody pulled the communications cord, & the train braked to a halt. People opened the doors & jumped down onto the line, then started running down the hill. We could see the peace camp at the bottom, & on the other side of the road from that was the perimeter fence. We ran into the peace camp, threw down any rucksacks & sleeping bags we were carrying, & then accompanied by members of the peace camp, we all ran over the road to the  fence.

A line of people were shaking the fence & I joined in. We were all whooping & yelling. I could see people start to climb the fence, & other people pulling & cutting sections of the fence off. I stepped back for a second to get a better look at what was happening, so as to decide what to do next. Suddenly I felt my arms being grabbed, & there was a policeman on either side of me holding them - "You're under arrest!". I hadn't seen any policemen up until then, & I certainly hadn't seen those two coming.

They marched me off to a police van, & opened the door. Inside I saw three or four activists. They smiled at me, & that made me feel safe. The police put handcuffs on me. They were so tight that they were pushing on my wrist bones & causing me pain. They were designed so that the more you moved your hand, the tighter they got. The journey to the police station was agony because of this, but we all kept in good spirits.

We were taken out one by one, to give our details to the desk sergeant before being put in a cell. I stood in front of the desk with a policeman holding me on either side. After I'd given my details, the sergeant behind the desk stood up. "We're the Strathclyde Police. Have you heard of us ?" he growled. "No I haven't" I said with a grin on my face. One of the policemen punched me in the stomach, & the other one kicked me in the bollocks. I doubled over. "Stand up straight!" the sergeant shouted. I stood up straight. "Right ! You have now !" he said (referring to the question of had I heard of the Strathclyde police). The casualness of the violence seemed odd - it was as if  that was just their "routine" way of dealing with people. I imagined them shouting "Next Please", then going through exactly the same routine with the next person.

I was put in a cell, in which there were two or three other people. As this was Saturday afternoon, we had to be held till Monday morning till we could be bailed from court, which meant a day and a half in a police cell. I was interviewed & denied the charge of criminal damage (they were charging me with cutting the fence). I also spoke briefly to a good solicitor, who always defended the peace campers. We were supposed to be given "three meals a day" while we were in the cells, but we were only given one "meal" in all the time we were there - a plastic plate with half a bag of crisps & half a tomato on it.

We kept our spirits up. There were three cells, each with 3 or 4 people in them, & we banged on the walls to each other, & all engaged in communal singsongs. I made a great friend of a London punk squatter called Hooley. He had huge paratroop boots (which the police took off him), black eye liner, a permanent cheeky grin & gleam in  his eye, & a very big mohican, which stood up all by itself, because of his unnaturally thick & wiry hair. He entertained us all by doing a juggling act with the plastic plates. My cell mates  knew this was my first time being arrested, & were very supportive about that. I didn't feel worried about anything anyway - I'd read up, & I'd seen interviews with the Greenham women talking about the experience of being arrested at protest actions. I knew what to expect, & how the law worked, & I was very calm about the whole thing.

On Monday morning we were taken to Dumbarton court, then bailed (when I returned for trial a few months later, I got found not guilty). Outside the court, all the peace camp people were waiting, & cheered us & hugged us. We went back to camp, & had a big communal meal & some bottles of wine. Everyone was in such great spirits, & we sang & danced round the campfire. I felt very good inside.

It didn't matter that I'd not had the chance to do much before I got arrested (though don't blame me for that - blame the police). What I had done was to overcome my fear. Direct action can have a spiritual quality - it gives people a sense of empowerment. I would take part in a lot more direct action over the next few years, & always with that same sense of empowerment.

As I sat by that campfire, I  felt that I belonged - that I was now part of this community. I had passed my initiation & I was now one of the tribe.

NOTES

(1) This website, run by "The Guardian" newspaper, contains a fantastic series of  short films detailing various aspects of the Greenham Women's Peace Camp. The films of protest actions are incredible - grannies climbing over razor wire fences, women circle dancing on top of the nuclear silos, women dressed as teddy bears breaking into the base, hundreds of women pulling down a mile's worth of fence, & most spectacular of all - thirty thousand women, hands joined, encircling the entire perimeter. These are the most inspiring  acts of Direct Action I have ever seen.
http://www.theguardian.com/yourgreenham/video/0,,2070865,00.html

(2) The "Stop The City" actions of 1983 / 84 can legitimately claim to be the forerunner of  Occupy Wall Street & the Anti-Globalisation movement. However, they have been almost forgotten & written out of our history. The link below is to one of the very few proper articles, & also contains over an hour of video footage. Highly recommended.
http://dangerousminds.net/comments/the_original_occupy_wall_street_stop_the_city_1984










 

Acid Mothers Temple - Nottingham 2001. Gig Review

(This gig review was written in 2001, & originally published on the FREQ website)


Acid Mothers Temple/Southall Riot/Floach (live)

The Social, Nottingham
30 May 2001

The first act were Floach, an electronics duo from ScoobyDooLand. With a table full of electronic contraptions that would have made Throbbing Gristle drool (and a hairstyle that would have frightened Dave Hill from Slade), they cooked up a glorious electronic rumpus. If Pierre Henry had been commissioned to compose the incidental music for a Carry On film, it would have probably sounded like this. Sometimes they hit a groove, other times they just turned up the heat and let their pots boil over. Watching lab technicians at work is usually a boring experience, but Floach were smart enough to suss this out and took the piss out of themselves in such a charming way that you couldn’t help but like them. They made you like them.

Next act, Southall Riot. Oh dear. The classic scenario; It’s all very well, and they’re probably nice people, and they’re “hard working” and it probably is “well played”, it probably even is “good”, but it is just Nothing Special. There are probably ten bands like this in every rehearsal studio in the UK, all beavering away, all working hard, all starting their own websites and printing their own T shirts (obligingly worn by their girlfriends and close mates) and taking themselves very “professionally” and thinking that they alone, out of 4,000 other bands who sound exactly the same, are somehow going to “make it” (through all the “hard work” they put in). Oh yeh, I almost forgot – the music? I dunno – The Eagles trying to be the Velvet Underground? Who cares? Good luck to them.

Finally, Acid Mothers Temple, billed as “The Japanese Gods of Freakout Mayhem.” As a complete antithesis of what had gone before, this was something so special, so unique, so “out there”. is a key word here: before they’d even played a note, I found myself totally transfixed by this exotic vision that had literally stepped from another world: Wizards from The Water Margin given a makeover by The Incredible String Band and hair courtesy of the Hair Bear Bunch. The most wildly beautiful band I’ve ever seen.

The music was spellbinding, stunning; shimmering washes of delicious sonic acupuncture, building to peaks of swirling intensity, but with that instinctive awareness of the point at which freeform Cosmic Bliss can become Horrible Noise and getting oh-so-close, but never once crossing it. The Captain may have lost his marbles, but he kept a firm hand on the wheel.

To call this psychedelic rock wouldn’t do it justice: this was something infinitely more inventive; taking elements of the psychedelic/Krautrock sound, but instead of going for any of the easy and obvious structural options (i.e. gumby rockisms, ambient, dub, the “funky drummer” routine or twee hippy codswallop) the sound took on forms and structures from influences completely outside the planet inhabited by guitar rockers and computerised bleep merchants alike.

Just when it couldn’t seem to get any more out there, the instruments (two guitars, drums, bass and keyboards) took a breather and the bass player launched into a spot of Tuvan throat-singing! This segued perfectly into an acapella version of some Russian (?) folk song with the full band doing harmonies; real finger-in-the-ear stuff. And if that weren’t enough, for the last number they were joined on stage by Julian Cope, who roared, whooped, pulled “face solos”, then disappeared, only to emerge a few seconds later between the keyboard player’s legs. Lifting her up on to his shoulders, they co-piloted the synth; the one with his hands and the other with her feet. Blissful, Majestic and Infinite, no-one can get further Out Of Sight than this!

-Stream Angel-

INTERNET POLITICS Versus REAL WORLD POLITICS

To clarify my terms -
"Internet Politics" refers to postings on internet sites such as YouTube, facebook, blogs etc dealing with social / political issues and the discussions & arguments that take place in the comments boxes.
"Real World" simply refers to the world outside of the internet - that whole wide world (& all the people that are in it) that's there as soon as you open your front door & go out.
"Real World Politics" - Political action in the Real World.

A very frequent criticism of Internet Politics is that it's "all talk & no action". In fairness, it can't really be anything else, & the fact that is "just talk" merely reflects the limitations of the medium. However, one shouldn't underplay the value of communication & discussion, as a lot of these discussions can result in personal growth & learning.
An element of Internet Politics that does have some similarity to Real World politics is the whole process of networking & creating "movements". Certain movements seem to exist almost entirely on the internet (& have next to no presence in the Real World) whilst others are internet equivalents of movements that  have Real World counterparts.
However, because these movements consist only of numbers of people acting individually, interacting with a computer in their own private space & running by their own schedule, they differ in very important ways from a Real World  movement (i.e -people in the same physical space interacting with each other & the wider world). Internet Politics is a different way of  doing politics, a way in which everyone can set their own agenda, & nobody need ever have to compromise with anybody else.


I can't claim to be the world's greatest political activist, but I certainly was very "hardcore" in my youth. My political awakening (like so many others of my generation) was  back in the early 1980s, when the u.k was a hotbed of "alternative" political culture. We embraced anarchism, feminism, socialism, workers rights, campaigns against homophobia, racism, & all forms of bigotry & discrimination etc (Our politics were "intersectional" long before American academics coined that term). For our generation, "political action" consisted of very real things - demos, protests, lobbying, squatting, non violent direct action etc. Many of us got arrested for our actions. This was also an era in which the police were very brutal in dealing with protest & many of us experienced violence from the police. Many of us chose to live out our politics in the most "pure" & uncompromised ways possible - dropping out of society to experiment with "alternative lifestyles" such as the New Age Traveller movement, communes, peace protest camps etc. I lived for 3 months at  a peace camp in Scotland with about 30 other people. As much as we were "protesting" about the nuclear submarine base that we had camped next to, we were also experimenting with communal living & alternative personal politics & power structures. (1)
I don't say any of this to blow my own trumpet, but I want to show that very important lessons can be learned from having to work together with real people in real life situations.
I'm now 47 years old. I don't engage in as as many of these direct political actions as I did in my youth. However, I learned a lot from these experiences - the skills needed to work with other people in creating social change - and try to apply what I have learned to every aspect of my life & to the way I communicate with others. Many people who have been on a "political path" for a long period of time find that they move away from these more direct political actions. You slowly find that your politics become so much a part of who you are that they really become "built in", & are actively informing you whenever you engage in activity or are interacting with other people. This is a process that seems to happen to many people if they've been on the path for a long enough time.
It could even be argued that these small scale interactions with those in our immediate social circle have far more chance of "getting a message across" than anything aimed at strangers. I'll probably never stop a nazi being a nazi by typing "Fuck Off Nazis" in a YouTube comments box. However, without even trying to, I might convince a friend to become a vegetarian by making them a beautiful vegetable curry.

What got me thinking about a lot of these issues again was a posting on an anarchist facebook page. All it consisted of was a single typed sentence -  "If you aren't prepared to support feminism, then you can;t call yourself an anarchist, & you're not welcome on this page."
 All hell broke out in the comments boxes underneath - I couldn't really make sense of the thread & who exactly was insulting who, but there ended up being over 100 comments by various people all throwing insults at each other. Some people's objections to the premise were entirely legitimate from an anarchist perspective (some anarchists don't like to support movements that placate The State for tougher legislation - that's their choice & I respect it. I choose to support both anarchism & feminism, but that's my choice. I wouldn't tell a fellow anarchist that they're "wrong" because they think differently on this issue, & I certainly wouldn't be telling then that they were not allowed to call themselves anarchists). Regardless of the nature of the objections, anyone who objected was inevitably labelled a "misogynist". The page moderators were whizzing around the comments boxes, casting out the heretics with cries of  "You can't come to my anarchist page anymore", & it all ended up very People's Front Of Judea.
All over what ? Two words in a box. In the context of that facebook posting, all that "support feminism" could ever mean is typing "I support feminism" into a box. You might as well have a box that says "tick here for approval." In the Real World there are plenty of men who don't call themselves "feminists" but have very good attitudes towards women, & there are men who call themselves "feminists" who are horrible to women. The label itself is no guarantee of anything, & it is better to judge people by their actions. Ultimately, is it really necessary for an anarchist on an anarchist page to also be a feminist? Well it would be nice if they were, but its not really necessary. 
The "All Or Nothing" quality of the proposition unsettled me. It was so "Absolute". It seemed odd that being an anarchist wasn't good enough to be welcome on an anarchist page - you had to be something else as well, & where would it end ? Would next week they be adding another "clause" to their demand - surely by good "politically correct" standards, they would have to add the whole catalogue of "causes" & "isms" - anti racism, disabled rights, transgender rights etc.

The issue here is that the higher you set your "qualifications for entry" the more you cut out  potential allies.
Learning when & how to compromise is very important. However, Internet Politics has no need to learn to compromise. Its not about getting people to work together in the same physical space, its not about meeting deadlines, its not about organising events, its not about filling vans up with people & driving off to take part in protests  - situations in which your interactions with people teach how to compromise in order to achieve a result. Internet Politics may demand "political change", but only through asking the government to sort it out on the people's behalf. It doesn't require anybody to even leave their house or interact with a single other person. It has the luxury of being able to be as exclusive as it likes, because it doesn't matter. No matter how many people it alienates & excludes, there are no consequences to that in the way that there would be in the Real World.
In The Real World, maybe you do have to be prepared to walk down the road with a capitalist or a non-feminist or even a "transphobe" in order to form a human chain to stop the bulldozers demolishing the children's hospital (& the act of doing so breaks barriers down between people -  linking arms with a transgender person may make someone someone start to quietly question their own prejudices, in a way that shouting at them them never can).
In The Real World, if you're trying to fill a van to go on an anarchist demo, chances are you won't be making a whole list of ideological demands that are "necessary" before being allowed into the van, otherwise you might end up with an empty van (In the days when I used to go on "anarchist demos", I don't remember even being asked if I was an anarchist, let alone what "denomination" I was. It was rightfully assumed that you probably were an anarchist, otherwise you wouldn't be going to an anarchist demo).
In the Real World you sometimes have to make alliances with people based solely on a single general premise (e.g -that you agree that you should campaign to keep the local library open) rather than choosing only to work with people who have reached some Gold Standard of politically correct excellence.

I'm not doing that old "I had it tough, so you should have it tough too" routine. I think its wonderful that the young people today have opportunities we never had, such as being able to smash the system or deconstruct the patriarchy without having to leave their front room. However, tough as things were for us oldies, we actually learned some very valuable life lessons that can't really be learned through the internet -
(A) To learn that often minor differences of opinion have to be set aside if we're all in agreement on general principles.
(B) How to get complex ideas across to people who may have had no previous knowledge of politics, without using "insider" jargon or complicated theories.
(C) How to get people behind a "cause" by introducing it slowly & gently to them in gradual stages
(D) That sometimes you do have to bite your tongue when people "offend" you with their language. There's a time & a place to have those conversations, & you have to build up good relationships with people before bringing these kind of issues up, otherwise you will be met only with hostility & anger. Making grandiose claims like "We should call out transphobia  (or whatever "phobia") every time we see it" shows no consideration of the Real World, where doing that could result in violence.
(E) .How to judge people by WHO they are, not by the "labels" they attach to themselves.
(F)  To realise when its necessary to compromise.
(G) How to compromise.

What concerns me is that there are a lot of  people today who have had no experience in engaging in any kind of political activity outside of what happens on a computer screen. The inherent nature of the medium means that people can just pick & choose their "allies" at will, & equally just get rid of them with one click of a button. People can set whatever "standards" they choose, & we can all be kings & queens of our own castles. We can alienate or exclude whoever we like - it doesn't matter. There's no consequences.
Is it any wonder that so many people (of every political persuasion) have turned into inflexible, uncompromising bigots who can't deal with the fact that someone may hold a different opinion with them.

NOTES

(1) For anyone who is interested  in the particular mix of 1980s British counter-culture movements, lifestyles & political actions that I am referring to here - from road protesters to anarcho punk to New Age Travellers - I highly recommend the book "Senseless Acts Of Beauty : Cultures Of Resistance Since The Sixties" by George McKay (Verso Press 1996).