Επέστρεψα μόλις από μια παραμονή ημέρας 2-3 στο στρατόπεδο κλίματος σε Kingsnorth - περιοχή ενός προτεινόμενου νέου με κάρβουνο σταθμού παραγωγής ηλεκτρικού ρεύματος - που είναι τώρα πολλαπλασιασμός στροφών προς το αποκορύφωμά του. As usual the headlines focus upon policing and the inevitable ‘discovery’ of a weapons cache, more on which below. Αλλά μόλις καταβάλετε προσπάθεια - μια λέξη Ι χρήση advisedly - να περάσετε τις γραμμές αστυνομίας και το ίδιο στο στρατόπεδο η συντριπτική εντύπωση είναι ενός D.I.Y. ουρανός: οι ηλιακές επιτροπές και ένας ανεμοστρόβιλος που δημιουργείται, υδροσωλήνες σύνδεσαν, συστήματα υγιεινής που κατασκευάστηκαν, μέσα και σκηνές κινηματογράφων που τέθηκαν επάνω, αυτοσχέδιες κουζίνες, που καθαρίζουν τις ζώνες… μια νωπογραφία Al και ένα μη εμπορικό soukh που εξυπηρετούν με την ευχαρίστηση και τις ανάγκες της καθημερινής ζωής.

Η μεγάλη δύναμη του στρατόπεδου είναι εκείνο το μερίδιο θεωρίας και πρακτικής ένα διάστημα για μια εβδομάδα. Αρχίζοντας με τις πορείες και οφειλόμενος να τελειώσουν το Σάββατο με την άμεση δράση, στις ημέρες μεταξύ υπάρχουν εργαστήρια εν αφθονία - ένα εκατό ή περισσότεροι - καλύπτοντας τα συνηθισμένα θέματα καθώς επίσης και όχι μερικά που προσαρμόζονται στις ειδικές προτιμήσεις: «τα πρωταθλήματα τανγκό παγκόσμιων χορτοταπήτων,» «κατάρτιση δράσης πέντε-δάχτυλων άμεση,» και - κάποια δεν μπορεί αλλά να αναρωτηθεί εάν η πρακτική και η θεωρία ήταν ενωμένες εδώ - «ασφαλές φύλο για τα ενεργά στελέχη.» Εκείνος ο αρθούρος Scargill έκανε μια εμφάνιση ήταν ευπρόσδεκτος, αν και ήταν απογοητευτικό για να δει ότι δεν την έχει πάρει ακόμα. (Στις ΗΠΑ στην έναρξη του παγκόσμιου πολέμου δύο αυτό ήταν ηγέτες ένωσης που, ενάντια στην πικρή αντίσταση από τη μεγάλη επιχείρηση, υπερασπίστηκαν τη μετατροπή των αυτόματων εγκαταστάσεων για να κάνουν τα αεροπλάνα. Στον πόλεμο επάνω στην αλλαγή κλίματος, σκεφτείτε ακριβώς: οι δεξιότητες των μηχανικών σταθμών παραγωγής ηλεκτρικού ρεύματος ηλιακός, κύμα και αέρας σίγουρα ένα κανένας-brainer-αριθ.) που η κορυφή ήταν μια σύνοδος (που απεικονίζεται κατωτέρω) στην οποία George Monbiot μίλησε στο ρόλο του κράτους να μετριάσει το χάος κλίματος - αν και το χάλασαν όταν απείλησε να εισαγάγει εκείνο το όργανο το ίδιο, με μορφή της αστυνομίας ταραχής, το στρατόπεδο, προτρέποντας το μεγαλύτερο μέρος του ισχυρού ακροατηρίου 250 για να βγεί τη θεωρία σε μια απερίσκεπτη βιασύνη στην πρακτική.

Ένας βαθμός τμήματος προέκυψε όσον αφορά την κατάλληλη τακτική για την αντιμετώπιση της αστυνομίας, αλλά ήταν μια αδύνατη κατάσταση. Agreement to allow the police onto site – with their batons and video cameras, their bullying, snooping, sniffing and otherwise canine ways – would have necessitated constant surveillance of the surveillers, a continuous and enervating tug-of-war. The other option, the one taken, was to concentrate forces at the gates, to keep them at bay. With this, the boys in blue-and-dayglow-yellow needed only to build up forces at one gate, deploy riot police to the fore, or engage in any minor feint, in order to panic and disrupt the Camp. Which of course they did. In afternoons, during workshops. At two a.m. — waking all with a cacophony of sirens that sparked a mass exit from tents, followed by the thuds of sleepy running bodies tripping over guy ropes. And then again, after adrenaline levels had subsided and campers had returned to sleep, at the break of dawn.

The question is, why have Her Majesty’s police force decided to subject a crew of campers to such astonishing levels of harassment? What tactics are involved, and at what level were they authorised?

On harassment and intimidation the litany is endless. We observed their tactics, aghast. They must’ve looked up and memorised every petty by-law they could find, in addition to compendia of recent legislation. (Thanks to the cop who dropped his copy of the ‘Pocket Legislation Guide on Policing Protest,’ which gives an overview of legislation that can be used to stifle any form of legitimate protest, we know a bit more about an organisation, the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit, that assisted them in this.) They terminated our shuttlebus service (for ferrying participants from rail station to campsite) and arrested the driver on the grounds that one copper, claiming to have witnessed a passenger give a driver a donation, deemed it to be an unlicensed taxi. They filmed everyone. There were interminable and repeated searches of anyone entering or exiting camp — and these were not the usual cursory pat down. In my case (not an extreme one): in addition to searching all bags and pockets they were uncommonly interested in the linings of my trousers; and they dismantled my mobile phone and took the battery out (”in case there’s a razor blade concealed inside”). From me they took nothing but others were less fortunate. The innumerable items confiscated included: plywood, wheelie bins, a track for wheelchair access, a puncture repair kit, carpet, a board game and part of a windmill. And, of course, childrens’ crayons. (They’re a graffiti hazard, don’t you know?)

Arguably the most visible and unarguably the most audible police presence is the helicopter. Upon arrival, I asked the copper who was searching me – time for such conversations was not rationed — why the chopper was in the air. “It’s because an incident is going on. Don’t worry, it costs a fortune to keep it up there, it’ll only be sent up when there’s something going on.” In fact, it was airborne about one minute in every three; deafening, menacing, watching. Even at night it hovered above us, and would sometimes swoop low – perhaps in case its clatter at normal altitude hadn’t yet woken a few of those below.

So we may return to the question: why apply these tactics? The resources involved, in terms of manpower, equipment and fuel, are colossal. In conversation with a senior police officer, I listened to his point of view. “Don’t get us wrong: we know very well that 99% of the people in the camp are completely non-violent. It’s the other 1% we’re concerned about.” A machete, he claimed, had been found in nearby undergrowth. During my days there, I saw nothing to suggest a potentially violent “1%” – and, unlike the officer, I was observing campers up close. The machete story is a smear. Chances are it is a fiction, or planted, or belonged to a nearby villager. Activists, being ecologically aware, know full well that to approach Kingsnorth does not require hacking paths through jungle. But let’s assume for a moment that he is right. There are around 1,000 people at the Camp. If that same officer were responsible for policing a village of 1,000 people, and was informed that 10 were potentially violent, would he call up a fleet of fully-manned vans from the North Wales Heddlu, alongside similar convoys from the West Mids, South Yorks, the Met, Essex, Kent and all? Rumour has it that 27 forces were involved! Would he call in a helicopter, and riot police? Or would he think “me oh my what an English idyll – a pity, perhaps, about one or two delinquents at closing time on a Friday night, but a token presence should deal with that”?

Perhaps there is a better reason: the police tactic is all about defending Kingsnorth. After all, the Camp’s clearly and openly stated aim is to shut it down. But this explanation has no more traction than does the “violent 1%.” Participants show no sign of going anywhere near Kingsnorth until Saturday, so why police the Camp, which is situated many miles away, all week long? To the possible rejoinder that an absence of police attention would encourage activists to approach the power station sooner than declared, there is an obvious reply. With the same police numbers deployed to harass the Camp, the power station could be thrice encircled: it could be sealed off by land, sea, air and any other conceivable avenue of approach, and with enough spare policepower to boot (no pun intended) that the Heddlu and the Brummies could be sent back home. Just think of all the trouble and tension that could be spared, not to mention police overspend.

The only possible reason for this level of intimidation – apart, perhaps, from an interest in giving riot cops some live training — is that the police force is hell bent on hounding and intimidating the movement against climate chaos. This does not represent a departure from recent trends in policing – as witnessed in London at the anti-Bush protest (with its use of agent provocateurs) and the ‘Circle Line Party.’ Yet it is an escalation.

The question that remains is: who authorised this strategy? Downing Street, one would suppose, but we should be told.