Arriving at Podemos

I do not know what they called us first. When I arrived in London there were many different groups of what some formal people came to call the ‘extraparliamentary left’. Each with their name, the group commanded and the media watched, and part of society watched too, through them. We called them “mainstream media” (we now call them corporate media when we mind our manners).
Continue reading

Llegando a Podemos

No sé qué nos llamaron primero. Cuando llegué a Londres había muchos y diferentes grupos de lo que alguna gente formal llegó a llamar la ‘izquierda extraparlamentaria’. Cada uno con su nombre, el grupo mandaba y los medios miraban, y parte de la sociedad a través de ellos. A ellos nosotros los llamábamos “medios de masas convencionales” (ahora los llamamos corporativos cuando guardamos las formas).
Continue reading

[:en]FolkUs preparations[:]

Trying to replicate some of the wonderful compost toilets seen in Climate Camps and similar projects, I got involved in the FolkUs festival in Sanford Housing Coop.

I planned to build fully functioning compost toilets for the event but, after some mild objections expressed in private (not every one manages to see urine as liquid gold), I decided to have just straw-bale urinals and latrines.

Continue reading

Return to the Camp

#34 phoned me to tell me a story of a lost contact lens and the need for me to go to his house to pick up a replacement. When I arrived again at the camp, he was eagerly waiting for me at the top of the gate. Many people had climbed there to witness the stops and searches taking place right outside and to make the newcomers a bit more welcome.

Continue reading

Camp Building

The next three days were similar in structure to one another, although the mood in ourselves, and around us, changed gradually until it was completely different on the Sunday than it had been the first day.

The day routine started with breakfast and a neighbourhood meeting almost at the same time. Then the camp would re-organise itself in working teams until lunch, and then whatever had been left unfinished in the morning, would continue to be done in the afternoon.

Food for some thousand people had to arrive on foot from the nearest roundabout, about half a mile away, because vehicles were no longer allowed down the local road that led to the camp.

Continue reading

Stop and search

We looked to our right and we could see some lights in the distance. We figured out that they were torches inside tents. It was about one in the morning after all, so it was fair enough that most people would be asleep by now.

Then, ahead of us, on the road, two human figures waved their hands to indicate that we should stop. Police.

Continue reading

Preparations

Just realised I can go to “Camp for Climate Action”, otherwise known just as just “Climate Camp”, at least four days at a time. I could go by bike with D. who is also free. Called him, arranged to meet on Thursday afternoon.

They keep saying it is only five of six hours, so, even if we go slower and take seven or eight hours, we can get there at about nine or ten, setting off at about 2pm.

It is all arranged then.