(Note: to receive e-mail updates on UK Earth First!'s anti-road campaigns, e-mail roadalert@gn.apc.org)
May 14, 1995
An old car drove up the street to one of the busiest intersections in London: High Street Camden. It entered the five-way intersection at a slow pace, to be smashed into by another car in similar condition coming the other way. Both drivers, obviously upset, got out and started to abuse each other, much to the annoyance of other drivers who were blockaded by the altercation. The two drivers got so irate at each other that they both removed sledge hammers from their boots and proceeded to smash each other's cars up, much to the disbelief of the drivers now in a traffic jam. But this was only the beginning, as this altercation was a theatrical move to block the road and to signify to hundreds of people--who then poured into the street from the tube station--that the street was reclaimed and the party could now begin. All cars entering the intersection got gridlocked. Shoppers and market goers joined the street party, which lasted five hours. The smashed cars become the focus for all to vent their car anger on, and were attacked throughout the party. The police directed traffic--what else could they do?
Anti-motorway actions that have been occurring in Britain over the last few years have now taken a new form. And the media are lapping it up with headlines such as, "Car rage is the new focus of rebellion-- and it's challenging the very way we live. Urban and rural guerrilla groups are trying to undermine car culture and defy a Government committed more to words than deed to changing it" (The Guardian) and "Car sickness or just sick of the car? As cities get clogged, radical protests attract unlikely supporters" (Sunday Times).
The group behind this anti-car hype and the street party is Reclaim the Streets, a "disorganization" that has grown out of the recent anti-roads movement in London and Britain. Its roots trace most notably to two direct action campaigns. The first is Twyford Down, the opposition to the construction of the M3 motorway link. Twyford Down included unique chalk escarpments called the Dongas, and it was the biggest direct action campaign ever seen in Britain. It inspired many to take direct action. The activists living on the site were known as the Donga Tribe, and a strong connection between these people and the local community developed that solidified unity in the anti-roads movement. Chris Gillham, who considers himself a concerned and respectable local of Twyford, talks about the Dongas, "I went along with them firstly from admiration and then because they taught me hope, and finally because they made me believe that I could, after all those years, do something to make a difference." Middle England took on the road lobby by putting themselves in front of bulldozers and supporting and defending itinerants like the Donga Tribe. But Twyford was a beautiful landscape of conservation and recreational value to middle England. The second campaign put a different dimension on the anti-roads movement.
The No M11 Link campaign was situated in a fairly obscure suburb of East London and included ongoing direct action resistance for 18 months, culminating in the Claremont Road evictions in December, 1994. This was a truly momentous campaign that disoriented the authorities. "The Government was taken aback that the protest against the M11, a motorway being built in an unfashionable part of East London, resulted in the longest campaign of direct action against a road in British history... Pictures were flashed around the world of masses of people old and young, conventional and alternative, taking on bulldozers in an awe inspiring defence of homes, urban spaces and communities." (Alarm UK, 1995) This was a working class community that was not only defending green spaces; people were defending their homes and their community and demanding their right to say "no road."
The campaign of direct action against the M11 kicked off when the Old Chestnut Tree of George Green, to the community's surprise, was to be removed. The residents, angry at being misled by the Government, pushed down fences built to keep them out and directly defended the tree. For the next year houses were squatted and work constantly disrupted. In the summer of '94 it became obvious that Claremont Road, a strip of houses in the path of the motorway, would be the main focus of the campaign. A community formed around these houses that included local residents, squatters and activists from around the country. The campaign strategy was to "dig in" and make it as difficult as possible for the authorities to remove demonstrators from Claremont Road.
It took four days in November, 1994 to evict all the demonstrators. Phil McLeish, the last demonstrator to be removed (from a 90-foot scaffold tower) describes Claremont Road: "The street was painted and filled with psychedelic sculptures, barricades, above them the nets, tree houses, aerial walkways and towers went up; inside the houses, bunkers, lock-ons and tunnels were hidden in tons of rubble." Phil described the eviction: "The situation was intrinsically funny. This was politics as provocation, winding up the state and then watching and laughing as the state makes a fool of itself. It's our game, we made the rules, and then invited along 2,000 police to play with us. Forcing the police to spend over two million pounds playing games... that is deeply funny."
After Claremont Road was gloriously lost, energy and sentiment invigorated Reclaim the Streets (RTS). Reclaim the Streets aims to move the debate beyond anti-road protest, to highlight the social as well as environmental costs of the "car system," and to demonstrate the possibilities of what can be done when you reclaim the streets and give them back to people. Del from RTS explains, "RTS acts as a catalyst for social transformation highlighting the absurdity of a system dedicated to the growth economy. Our method is direct action in the form of street parties, which is a reclamation of space enclosed by cars to show the possibilities of life without them."
Public opinion of roadbuilding and acceptance of direct action have changed in the UK. Del said that "statistics have shown recently that approximately 70 percent of the public are in favour of direct action." As RTS puts it in their literature, "Reclaim the Streets advocates direct action but not just as a tactic, it reflects our belief in a society where people take responsibility for their own actions, and don't just leave it to the politicians. It is about enabling people to unite as individuals with a common aim, to change things directly by our own actions."
The second Reclaim the Streets party was held on July 23 at the Angle intersection in Highbury Islington, London. It was a huge success, with over 2,000 demonstrators participating. Organizers led demonstrators to the party location on the tube, while other participants simultaneously blocked the road with tripods constructed from scaffolding. Two tons of sand was dropped for a children's play area, banners went up to stop more traffic, stalls were erected and a huge tank rolled in with the sound system pumping. Once again the party had begun before the police arrived. "There was nothing the police could do. The minute it happened everybody else showed up, and then people simply filled up the car free space provided," said Sheila, an RTS activist.
These RTS actions not only represent a development in the anti-roads movement but also in a broader movement brought together by the opposition to the Criminal Justice Act (CJA), a sweeping piece of legislation which severely curtails the rights of protesters. "RTS is pretty well politically networked, the CJA has politicised people and therefore we have a strong movement, squatters, ravers, hunt sabs [demonstrations which sabotage traditional hunts in Britain] have been politicised against roads. We've all been put in the same boat by the CJA." With actions like street parties there is the threat that the action will be void of politics, but in a way it is making something that is usually not political, like a party, very political. It is a creation of action that has come about through movements combining over CJA defiance. "If people came for a party they can't help but get the message-- change should be fun. Reclaim the Streets actions attract a wide spectrum of society and people come because they want to take action," said Del.
The location of the next RTS action was Greenwich, where parents and children with asthma are going to the High Court to force the Greenwhich Council to close its main through road at times of high pollution. Stuff the bureaucratic process: On August 4, RTS closed it for them. The action blocked the major arterial for two hours during morning rush hour with scaffolding tripods. Pedestrians joined in, and the local coffee shop delivered free coffee, tea and biscuits to the demonstrators. There is general pride and admiration of these actions by the community because, as Del says, "We are the only ones doing anything about this... [P]ublic perception is in support of the general need to reduce car use and dependency. But this is not interpreted by individuals that they should use their cars less."
These actions often arise out of sheer frustration. Once you've tried all the "democratic" avenues and nothing's changed you just have to take it into your own hands. The Pedestrian's Association, traditionally a conservative organization with somewhat of an elderly membership, gained the assistance of younger anti-roads activists and held an action in early '95. They "bounced" a number of cars off the pavement onto the road. When the police arrived with the intention to arrest the "Car Bouncers," the demonstrators said, "You can't arrest us. We are only doing your job for you, these cars are illegally parked on the pavement." The police thought about this and decided that the protesters were right, but were a bit confused when they had to defend the actions of the activists to irate car owners.
Anti-car, -road, -traffic actions, or whatever you want to call them, are taking many forms in London. An important and empowering form is Critical Mass, aptly described as a "monthly coincidence." It is a bike ride through London's streets on the last Friday of each month during the afternoon peak. The July Critical Mass attracted over one thousand people. It is, as a Critical Mass leaflet puts it, a "tumultuous procession of hundreds of cyclists reclaiming the streets for the transport mode of the future." One Critical Mass participant describes it thusly, "There were no speeches or politics being rammed down your throat, we were just doing it, the streets were ours, we were stopping cars in their tracks and disobeying road rules." The Mass is a true disorganisation; there are no leaders and nobody knows where it is going. Decisions on the route to be taken are made at each intersection. And thus, the police once again can do nothing about it. It's a hell of a lot of fun.
"A lot of people began trying to stop road construction and ended up defying authority," says RTS activist Roger. Critiques of road construction have deepened to an analysis of the car industry and an expression of this through direct action. The word "reclaim" is apt in that it implies direct action and defiance of authority. Reclaim The Streets' ultimate goal is to transform people's understanding of why roads don't need to be constructed into action; first by convincing people to take alternative forms of transport, and ultimately by empowering them to take creative and collective action to make change. Phil Pritchard from Road Alert, an anti-road group that networks road blockades across the country, comments, "People with a manifesto are basically people who want power. What we want to do is empower. The idea is to help everyone understand that they have the power within themselves to create a positive future." "Reclaim the Streets as such does not have any demands from someone else (i.e., the Government) we want direct action to be seen as the norm, the standard way to take action. It's more than just a transport campaign. The left, for what they are, continue to debate among themselves rather than taking action. Reclaim the Streets is not for armchair chats but for those that want real change. I'd like to see RTS broaden out and see people taking action to end the growth economy. Perhaps this is a personal perspective but it's about empowering people to take control. It's not reformist, it's essentially revolutionary," Del concluded.
Reclaim the Streets will be continuing a campaign of blocking main arterial routes, highlighting the Government's lack of response to air pollution. In the long term there will be bigger and better street parties, aimed at car manufacturers and motor shows, subvertising (the alteration of car images, billboards and advertisement to reflect their true role in society) and no doubt lots of other actions that creatively arise. Given that 1996 is the car industry's self-acclaimed year of the car (read excuse for an onslaught year of marketing), it should be interesting...
Natalie Moxham is an anti-road activist from Melbourne, Australia, who recently spent some time with the anti-roads movement in Britain.