While individual battles were lost—the Newbury detour continued despite the activism so damaging that more than 800 people were arrested—in the end, the protesters won.
The government slashed plans for road construction, with then Transport Minister Stephen Norris even admitting his own approval of the Newbury detour was a mistake.
At the book launch, there were discussions between then and current activists.
Strategy
Some are still involved in the environmental movement after the road protests, mingling with young protesters at climate camps a decade later and passing on experience and knowledge. In return, older generations have learned skills from younger generations that they never had, such as using social media, Fisk said.
It was a far cry from the protests of the 1990s, which were “almost a generational movement” by people in their teens and early 20s, recalls Roger Geffen, a prominent figure in the Reclaim the Streets movement, who was in Protests in central London are also featured in the book. He added: “We hardly recognize the protests before us, such as the peace movement in Greenham Commons.”
The technology that is widely used today does not exist. “No internet, phone calls or social media – we mobilize by stuffing envelopes!”
Dan Hooper, aka Swampy, who became nationally known in the 1990s for living in a tunnel in Fairmere, Devon, trying to stop the expansion of the A30, joined the Stop HS2 movement with his son in 2020 . Different, but the vibe is the same. The tactics are also similar – they worked then, and they work now. ”
interconnected
Josie Argyle, a Stop HS2 protester who was taught how to build treehouses by Swampy, said: “All these movements are interconnected. If you start a new campaign without looking back at the old one, then You’re going to lose so much richness, why are you doing these things…the core understanding of your campaign remains the same, and if you don’t master that, you’re spending a lot more time than you need to.”
Swan, who is also involved in the anti-HS2 movement, said the newer movement required elders to pass on their knowledge in a way similar to Aboriginal communities. “The more we can document, communicate and upskill the better. We are learning new things as well as strategies from old sports so that we can incorporate them into our strategies.”
Another HS2 protester, Rollie, agrees that intergenerational communication is important. “When I got to HS2, I didn’t know how to dig tunnels or climb trees, but people taught me.”
saturation
The internet, cell phones, and social media certainly didn’t exist in the 1990s. But Josie said the photos in Fisk’s book are made even more powerful by their rarity. She explained that she opposes livestreaming, which is now commonly used by activists at protests, because it can be used as evidence against activists in legal cases and to create injunctions.
“It’s gotten to the point where all we’re doing is sending ourselves to prison. We have to look out for each other, and part of that is not posting accusatory content that doesn’t necessarily even advance our cause because when it does When displayed in large numbers, it loses its power.”
Swan agrees that there is saturation and that people should be careful about what they post. However, she noted that the live broadcast could also be used to defend activists, citing the example of a video clip where she was protecting a 200-year-old tree that is home to legally protected bats. She was arrested and charged at the protest.
legal
“Through the video footage, it became clear that I was telling them there were protected species in the tree and asking to speak to their ecologist. I was trying to address the situation in a legal way,” she explained. In court, it was clear that HS2 had no license to disturb the bat. Swan added that livestreaming has a second benefit when the video directly leads to a surge in the movement’s numbers.
“Through the video footage, it became clear that I was telling them there were protected species in the tree and asking to speak to their ecologist. I was trying to address the situation in a legal way,” she said. She pointed out that in court it was clear that HS2 did not interfere with their licences. She added that there is a second benefit to livestreaming when the video directly leads to a surge in the movement’s numbers.
The group has various ideas on how to make climate activism more mainstream. Josie points to the pressures of the cost of living crisis. “It has to go beyond the concept of climate itself. It needs to be about capitalism,” she said.
magic
Roger said there was a need for both “high-profile national events” and very simple entry-level local action. “You just have to make sure that there is always room for people to get involved in what might be involved in their area and take low-risk direct action on a very local problem first – air pollution is a great solution because it’s a society A justice issue is also an environmental issue.”
Fisk said it was important not to blame those in power for being wrong. “You have to turn them on and motivate them — that’s when the magic happens,” he said.
Swampy believes the key is to have fun. “Any action can be fun, and we can do it with joy,” he said. “All meaningful change in history has been achieved through protest. Activists or not, it’s people saying no to something. Governments don’t do that. They are only accountable to multinational corporations. Only through people power, meaningful Change will happen.”
Additional exhibitions and lectures are being planned at climate centers across the country. Follow @adrianfisk for more info.
this author
Catherine Early is a freelance environmental journalist and ecologist’s lead reporter.she is on twitter@Cat_Early76.
