Every blogger needs someone that questions assumptions. For this blog that person is apparently Fred Millar. He responded to my earlier blog today and questioned how I got from “mass action” to “attack”. Looking just at the article in the Independent it is an easy jump to make. I should have looked a little farther than that.
If you were to go to the home page for Climate Camp 08, the jump is not as clear cut. While the page does call for “taking direct action to tackle dangerous development” it also includes instructions to leave at home things “like pen knives and anything that looks remotely nasty”.
Their web site makes the ‘climate camp’ and the ‘mass action’ seem like a giant party; bring the kiddies (a children’s tent will be available). But, the goal of the camp is to close down the coal fired power plant (slated for closure in the near future, another fact omitted from the Independent article).
Anyway, look at both sides and make your own call, only the future will tell which way things will go. I would (and have) go back and change only one thing in my earlier article:
- Original - “The 2008 Camp for Climate Action group is the latest group that appears to be willing to drift from protest to violent action.”
- New – “The 2008 Camp for Climate Action” is the latest civil disobedience group that could drift from protest to violent action. We have to wait and see what the group dynamic actually is on the day of their protest.”
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