Friday, July 8, 2005
by Sabo

Update from Scotland

We're still alive and well. Sorry we haven't been able to write for a couple days. A lot has happened. I'm sure Starhawk will write many beautiful essays, but here is some info in the mean time.

When I last wrote, it was Wednesday morning and I was here at the house in Sterling while the others were participating in road blockades on the A9 around Gleneagles. Basically they were one of a few cars that would drive slow enough that other groups who wanted to do a blockade could get out in the street and set up without being hit by a car going 70 kph. When the car was stopped by a blockade they got out of the car and had some fun until police told them to move along. Shortly before noon Starhawk called and said that they were having fun and missed me, so I should try to get to Achterarder - the site of the big permitted march to Gleneagles - so we could all meet up.

I hiked to the train station, picked up the shuttle bus back to the eco camp, and hopped in a minivan. The minivan left us in Blackford in the custody of a bunch of police, on the mistaken premise that that was as close as the minivan would be able to get. After giving our info to the police they let us out of the traffic island, and we began hiking to Achterarder in the rain. About 3 miles later we came to a gas station where I met some friends with the kids' block. They had just successfully blockaded a bridge with a picnic and bubble machine, even getting part of the black bloc away from the police! They were going to the march in Achterarder, so I got a ride the rest of the way (which ended up being several more miles).

I met up with the others in Achterarder, though we were all too late for the march. We had dinner together, then heard ambiguous reports of problems at the camp and headed back.

In the evening meeting there was a spirited discussion about how to handle various scenarios of police possibly coming on site. In the end, it was agreed that a small group of people who were committed to maintaining peaceful relations with the police would sleep near enough the gate that they could be awakened if the police threatened the site. These people would have a chance to negotiate with the police before the people who advocated more active site defense had a chance to meet the police.

The car action had been so successful that our group decided to do that again Thursday morning in support of blockades of the American delegation, which was staying in Crief. Geneva was sick and everyone was tired, so Starhawk and I stayed at camp and the others spent the night at the house.

About 2 am the police surrounded the camp. Of course the cop alarm went through the camp, but there had been false alarms the previous two evenings, so I stayed in my tent. Starhawk spent the night trying to keep drunks from threatening the police, who have been about as threatening as furniture. I got up at 5:30 for our action and ran into Star about 6. She said we blockaded in so wouldn't be going and to wake her at 8:30 for a site meeting.

The meeting started with a discussion of ways to deal with the police blockade, which became more porous through the day. After coming up with a bunch of proposals we heard the news of the bombings in London. The proposals went back to the barrios for more discussion. Lisa and Delyla came back to camp, while Juniper stayed in Sterling to care for Geneva.

A large group tried to head in to Sterling to do jail support, but was stopped by the police. Once the group dispersed, the police again let people pass through the barrier.

Last night was very festive in camp, with lots of music. There was a wonderful group of drummers and singers from Africa, an Irish fiddler and piper, along with amplified recorded music. Of course the drinking continued, and Starhawk once again had to spend most of the night keeping the drunks from harassing the police.

This morning we had a site meeting to deal with the shit crisis. There is an epidemic of the 24-hour virus Geneva had and it has been attributed to unsanitary toilet conditions. Fortunately we have deployed a diversity of toilets (see one of Starhawk's earlier messages), but do depend on the 20 or so chemical toilets in the portfolio. We have had problems getting the toilets serviced - mainly as a result of actions of people in the camp. The last straw came yesterday when the truck servicing the toilets was trying to leave through the police blockade. Some drunks started dancing on the truck while another threatened the driver's life to get the keys so they could ram the truck through the police line. The driver called his supervisor, who called the camp, and the person answering the phone issued profanities. At that point all of the drivers refused to service the site. If the toilets aren't serviced, the site will have to be shut down.

I left the meeting before it was over, but at that time the toilet service truck was scheduled to come back and a group of people volunteered to escort it to ensure that no one threatened the driver. The group was also considering proposals to deal with the drunks.

Lisa, Juniper and Geneva are off to a climate action in Glasgow with Starhawk and Delyla. I start my journey home tomorrow - taking a train to Glasgow, spending the night there and then flying home Sunday. In the mean time I'm figuring out what other video and photos I need to take so I'll have them to use in a couple of videos about the camp.