Scottish activists to link up with Heathrow residents

Residents of Sipson have started a tour of Scotland to make links with local residents around its four airports. The SNP is pushing ahead with expansion at Edinburgh, Glasgow, Glasgow Prestwick and Aberdeen airport and the affected communities are being completely ignored. Now fed up campaigners have promised an epic battle to save their homes and neighbourhoods from aircraft noise, pollution and climate change.

Maggie Thorburn, 54, a former IT manager from London and a spokeswoman for HACAN ClearSkies, will be one of the residents giving talks about the Heathrow campaign and direct action. "I would never advocate violence," she says, "but I would advocate being a bit of a nuisance. Anybody can do direct action and should do it if they feel frustrated enough.”

Eddie Gray, a 60-year-old retired resident of Clydebank, will be attending the public meeting in Glasgow. His flat is five miles from Glasgow airport, but planes fly audibly overhead on a regular basis. “People are so despondent, because you can e-mail and write letters, but they just seem to get thrown in the bin. Nobody pays attention to them,” he says. “Protests should go right to direct action now.”

Maggie and Geraldine know how it feels for residents to be affected and they know how to step past unjust bureaucracy and make their voices heard. During the tour the ladies will be meeting the press, attending public meetings and workshops, and sharing methods and techniques related to planning and carrying out effective direct action. In workshops in areas surrounding the airports as well as in central Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, they will meet with key activists and local community members. By telling their inspiring stories and sharing extensive experience the ladies from Sipson are set to energise an already building community led resistance movement.

Dates of the tour are as follows:

Monday 16th February:
Glasgow University Union Reading Room 1.00pm
Clydebank Town Hall Lecture room 7.00pm

Tuesday 17th February:
Cramond Davidsons Mains Parish Church 7.00pm

Wednesday 18th February:
Edinburgh Chaplaincy Centre Bristo Square 6.30pm

Thursday 19th February:
Aberdeen Arts Centre 7.00pm