protest

Plane Stupid Gloucestershire vs Fairford Air Show

By Richard on 10/07/2008
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Fairford

There's nothing more family friendly than an afternoon fetishising guns, bombs and all things war-like. Combine it with lots of planes whizzing about and you've pretty much got my idea of the seventh ring of hell.

It seems I'm not the only one either: reports have reached Plane Stupid Towers that Plane Stupid Gloucestershire are standing up to the mighty war machine. Each night they've been sneaking out and grafitting the ubiquitious Fairford posters that have sprung up all over the region.

Not content with just tinkering with Fairford's marketting, PSG have laid down the gauntlet: they've written to the Air Show, the Police, the local paper and pretty much anyone with a freepost address, telling them who did the grafitti and where they can be found. "We will paint out as many of your signs as we can before the weekend to raise awareness of the environmental damage you will be causing," they said. "You try and stop us." Game on!

Plane Stupid vs the Government - Parliament protestors in court

By Richard on 24/06/2008
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Parliament roof 4

On Monday the five Plane Stupid protestors from the Parliament rooftop action plead not guilty to charges of being in a restricted area - section 128 of the Serious and Organised Crime and Police Act. We're back in court in late July, with a trial likely to take place in September.

There's no denying we were on the roof, but we think we had a lawful excuse - trying to stop the Government and BAA working together to sneak a third runway past the electorate. What's our evidence? Well, there's the Greenpeace 'BAA files' for starters, then a healthy chunk of paperwork exposed by the Sunday Times (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

When the nitrogen oxide data was getting too high, BAA and the DfT worked together to move the readers further away from the airport. When BAA didn't like some of the questions in the consultation, they got to re-write them. The DfT is a minute's walk from the court room - perhaps the officials would be gracious enough to appear and explain themselves?

Archbishop of Canterbury backs Make a NOise! demo

By Richard on 08/05/2008
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Rowan doll

At the end of this month thousands of people are gathering at Hatton Cross to oppose the third runway and airport expansion. We'll be there of course, but the marchers might have a very special guest: rumour has it that God will be joining them.

OK, so maybe that's an exaggeration: God may or may not be there (it is, admittedly, hard to tell), but the Archbishop of Canterbury has given his backing for the demonstration, sending a letter of support to be read out during the rally. The Archbishop's spokesman told the Evening Standard: "He acknowledges the strength of support (against a third runway). He is aware of the problems encountered by churches on the ground across London. He is trying not to fly if he can help it. He has not flown at all this year."

As Bob Dylan explained back in 1964, having God on your side does make things a bit easier. Flippancy aside, the coalition of the unlikely is growing stronger and broader every day. Even the Evening Standard, voice of conservative capitalism, has switched sides, with a recent editorial opposing expansion. Ruth Kelly, Secretary of State for Transport, is well known as to be deeply religious. Will the Archbishop's support for the campaign sway her?

The kids are revolting... and so are their mums

By Anonymous on 01/05/2008
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Beth's letter

We all want the best for our kids, right? But 'the best' is not what we're giving them. If business-as-usual goes on for much longer, we'll be handing them down a climate-changed world of hardships and horrors, with few of the opportunities for happiness and prosperity that we ourselves have enjoyed.

One group of high-powered mums has woken up to the true nature of what responsible parenting actually means in this time of climate crisis: whatever tender hopes and dreams we may have for our children's lives will become distant, hollow fantasies if we fail to prevent runaway global warming, and so part of the role of every responsible parent alive today must be to radically intervene to stop this from happening. These clear-eyed mums have also recognised that our political 'leaders' are still leading us in exactly the wrong direction, and if we continue to follow them we will soon find they have led us over the edge of a cliff.

Plane Stupid Scotland: oppose the National Planning Framework

By Richard on 14/04/2008
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PS Scotland Holyrood 4

Plane Stupid Scotland have taken to the roof of Holyrood to fight plans that will make it all but impossible to block new roads and runways. Under National Planning Framework (NPF) proposals, Ministers will designate a whole generation of dirty development as 'National Developments', which bypass public or parliamentary approval. The meager consultation exercise on the proposals ends tomorrow, with legislation expected in the autumn.

Ministers plan to lable Edinburgh and Glasgow airport expansions as National Developments, reinforcing existing plans to expand all Scottish airports by 2030. As a blank cheque for massive airport expansion with no scrutiny or accountability, the NPF is recipe for disasters like Heathrow in every major Scottish city.

Fossil Fools Day - international action round-up

By Richard on 02/04/2008
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Fossil Fools Day 1

Hats of the the Fossil Fools Day crowd - they sure know how to pull off a day of action. Across the UK, Australia and North America protestors took direct action against the root causes of climate change:our addiction to fossil fuels.

Protests shut down Citibank and the Bank of America for funding dirty energy, as well as a new coal plant in North Carolina. In the UK, direct action saw a gas terminal in Norfolk closed for business, E-on's HQ in Nottingham and an open-face coal mine in Wales. An Esso station in Plymouth got occupied, while Rising Tide occupied Land Rover's advertising agency.

On the South Bank, subvertisers launched a fake product from E-on: carbon capture and storage water (you have to watch their film!). There were also loads of marches and assorted fluffiness. All in all, too much to describe here: check out www.fossilfoolsday.org.uk for loads more stuff!

Plane Stupid Gloucestershire: Staverton airport expansion plans dropped

By Richard on 04/03/2008
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Staverton airport 1

Plane Stupid campaigners joined forces with the Green Party and South West Air Action at the Gloucestershire County Council Scrutiny Committee meeting, succesfully forcing Cheltenham Council to abandon their expansion plans for Staverton / Gloucestershire airport.

The Council had tried to keep its plans secret, declaring that their review of the expansion proposal for Gloucestershire Airport closed to the press and public. The airport expansion proposals had been accepted by the Cheltenham Council Scrutiny committee, who along with Gloucester Council own the airport. Campaigners expexted another rubber stamping excercise. Not to be daunted, 20 protesters turned up determined to hear the debate - and made their contributions during an unprecedented question time.

Thank you for flying

By Anonymous on 03/03/2008
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Thank you for flying

Amongst last week's astonishingly supportive media carnival, there could be heard a lonely voice denouncing our actions on the roof of the Commons. That voice belonged to Michelle Di Leo, of comedy aviation industry lobby group Flying Matters.

Flying Matters are the leading purveyors here in the UK of the kind of 'discourse' analysed by the boffins in my last blog; in some respects they are a bit like Plane Stupid's Evil Twins, regularly popping up in the papers and on telly saying outlandish things in support of their industry's expansion plans. Like the luminaries celebrated in the 2005 feature film Thank You For Smoking, Flying Matters' main purpose is to mislead policy-makers and the public about the harm caused by their client industry.

Climate Camp: flood victims blockade government office in Leeds

By Richard on 01/03/2008
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Leeds blockade

Taken from Indymedia: Residents from flood stricken areas of Yorkshire and Humberside today blockaded the Government Office in Leeds to protest at its continued promotion of airport expansion. Inspired by last year’s camp for climate action at Heathrow, the protestors from Hull, South Yorkshire and the Calder Valley used pop-up tents to set up camp and blockade the main entrance.

The timing of the protest coincided with the final stages in the adoption of the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) – the area’s fifteen year development plan which is currently on the desk of government minister Baroness Andrews, awaiting final approval. The plan allows for a threefold expansion of passenger flights from Yorkshire and Humberside.

House of Commons: Media round-up

By Joss on 29/02/2008
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Parliament roof 4

Wow. What a few days for Plane Stupid! Here’s a round-up of the some of my highlights of the coverage from the action at Parliament.

A personal favourite for me was the Sun expressing doubts about the third runway. The Sun said, "Beneath the antics on the Commons roof lies a serious issue that matters to millions. Airport noise and pollution blight many lives. Expanding Heathrow may benefit the economy — but at what price to the environment?"