Trespass
Lead organizers speak of much deeper ambitions, to challenge the “martyrdom model” promoted by groups like Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.
The most striking form was the dress code: the distribution of white dust suits and face masks was a major symbolic move, clearly inspired by the German movement Ende Gelände. But this wasn’t just an aesthetic takeover.
The core of CCS’s philosophy is do not have This is in direct contradiction to the “mass arrest” strategy of XR and JSO, and the anonymity that wearing a uniform provides is a calculated means to achieve this goal.
However, whereas the Ende Gelände is famously known for using anonymity to enable daring trespassing and dramatic confrontations with police, in Aberdeen the aim was to further intensify an already risk-averse plan.
Participants were briefed and trained to prepare for all kinds of exotic resistance – previous camps had involved break-ins and occupations – but in the end the objective itself turned out to be quite modest – a blockade.
community
As the campers reached the incinerator gates under tense police guard, they gradually realized that no further escalation was planned, and felt at first disappointment, then relief, and a kind of joy at the realization that decent direct action doesn’t have to be traumatic.
For four hours people played games, sang and chatted, then returned to the campsite via footpath as factory deliveries were diverted – a small but meaningful gesture that minimised disruption to the local community.
This account may read as less inspiring than one might expect from mass direct action, and in some ways that’s the point: there were no arrests, no heroic moments, no planned provocation, no boundary pushing beyond any concrete purpose.
This calculated silence represents a conscious response to the JSO’s martyrdom model and the first phase of XR. This latest development is a response that feels a degree of urgency both from authoritarian crackdowns and the separate, but related, undeniable traces of activist burnout and legal consequences that these groups have left in their wake.
The martyrdom model has been criticized for making activism the exclusive domain of all-or-nothing heroes and for creating and exacerbating system-level difficulties in connecting with communities.
Demographics
One CCS organiser, speaking anonymously, said: Ecologist“We operate completely anonymously, practice autonomous and flat decision-making structures, and prioritize the safety and well-being of our group. All of this allows our movement to grow over time and empowers people to join our movement and develop their skills, learning, and commitment.”
“We need more people to take direct action. We will never reach the numbers we need if our only option is to take direct action and make arrests. The only way we will grow is if we protect each other and are able to take action and then return to it without conditions or retaliation.”
This philosophy of direct action, sometimes explicitly described as “unaccountable,” has an ambiguous relationship to another central aim of CCS: supporting community-level resistance.
In some ways, anonymity and traveling in groups makes it easier for people who fear encounters with police to take action, but it can also make it more difficult to engage with people who wear masks and introduce themselves under false names.
Moreover, from a broader organizational perspective, a security culture runs the ironic risk of excluding the very demographics excluded by the martyrdom model, and a deliberately vague process may combine with technical hurdles and a culture of withholding to create subtle access barriers; most action participants did not know what the plan was before it was implemented.
Definition
Another issue raised by Aberdeen’s actions is their relationship with the mainstream media. It is easy to criticise the ‘pro-media’ approach adopted by JSO and XR, but both groups had their reasons for choosing this path.
Minimizing the risk of arrest may be more sustainable, but a concept of impact that is less dependent on getting news coverage may be needed.
In any case, it may not be a matter of preference. how Rather if The direct action wing of the climate change movement goes underground.
That’s the conclusion drawn after a group of JSO “Whole Truth Five” activists received historic sentences totaling 21 years based on secretly recorded Zoom calls, and police made preventive arrests of 27 JSO supporters in their homes last month.
Intriguing
This group of activists, who want to remain anonymous despite the risk of arrest, will need to stay in contact with those who continue to operate publicly.
This duality was on full display in Torrey, where masked campers spent their time chatting to local dog walkers, running workshops and picking up litter before and after Saturday’s activities.
The camp has certainly had some outreach success, drawing warm thanks from local chapters such as the Friends of St Fittick’s and Aberdeen Social Centre, and widespread participation from interested residents, but it remains to be seen how far the masked activists will be able to spread their reach beyond their original base.
Climate Change Scotland is not alone in trying to bridge the widening gap between radical action and community friendliness.
Rooted
This is Rigged, also based in Scotland, has been doing some great work in this direction, while south of the border, XR graduates from Cooperation Hull are working on the other end.
Most notable has been the turnaround by none other than Roger Hallam, who would be working on the local democracy project Assemble if he weren’t currently serving a record-breaking prison sentence.
In this respect, Hallam and Climate Change Scotland are not so different: outside the camps, the latter group is active in supporting local organising efforts, the latest of which is the People’s Assembly, exactly the prescription of Assemble, Corporation Hull and XR.
During the blockade of the incinerator, a spokesman came forward to read out the official Tory council declaration: These words had a transformative effect on the scene, elevating it from the usual semi-abstract protest to something more persistent and powerful.
Damping
The community voice declared:
“We need to take control of our own lives so we can care for our community, welcome new people, cherish our traditions and look after each other just as much as any other community needs.”
“We need clean air, clean roads, good housing, affordable transportation, healthy and affordable food, local jobs, community ownership, safe places to play, good health, and a healthy environment…
“Nature should be valued above corporate profits. Communities should be valued above corporate profits. Our land and communities are ours and we belong to them.”
“What we need is community health, not land grabbing, dumping and pollution.”
justice
Then came the terse remark from a particular member of Congress that “energy transition zones should not start with pouring concrete over wetland ecosystems.”
The camp finished on Monday but organisers have promised it will happen again, and Climate Camp Scotland has already indicated it is considering holding its next annual camp in Torrey.
This could be brought about even sooner if Sir Ian Wood sends excavators to the park, which he has named “Shovel Lady” in 2021. This potential showdown hinges heavily on a judicial review that is due to be heard at the High Court in Edinburgh later this week.
Climate Camp Scotland won’t have all the answers when it returns to Tory power, but it will remain one of the UK’s leading movements fighting for climate justice in the face of deepening repression.
This author
Douglas Rogers is a writer, activist, and editor. Loveller magazine.
