Local campaigning

Last year myself and filmmaker Mayyasa Al-Malazi spent several weeks interviewing and filming people involved in the Shell to Sea campaign, including the Rossport Solidarity Camp, in the region of Erris, county Mayo, south-west Ireland. We got to know and love the area and had the privilege of being welcomed by a warm and open-hearted local community, who until recently led quite settled and tranquil lives. (“We used to be so boring...” they laugh,”Now the telephone hardly stops ringing…

Waste disposal and pipeline developments seem to be the bane of environmentalists the world over. Permanent damage and destruction of the land follow wherever dumps and terminals are sited.

So far, 2007 has seen the development of two relatively new campaigns: to save Radley Lakes in Oxfordshire from toxic ash, and the Brecon Beacons in south Wales from a high-pressure pipeline.

Save Radley Lakes Two lakes, Thrupp and Bullfield, in Radley near Abingdon in south Oxfordshire are…

On Saturday 7 October, a full sized replica Trident missile found its way onto the streets of Taunton. The event was part of an ongoing action staged by Somerset Campaign Against Trident Renewal (SCATR) and drew attention to the Faslane 365 Campaign. A number of activists from across the South West joined the protest in Scotland during the following week, overlapping with the Seize the Day group, many of whom also come from this area.

The banner was made by Taunton Peace Group, and…

Around 25 citizen weapons inspectors, recruited by the Yeovil, Sherborne and Area Stop the War Coalition, converged on RNAS Yeovilton, the Fleet Air Arm's principal base, on 1 July.

They were looking for evidence that depleted uranium shells and bullets or cluster shells were stored there. They also wanted to find out whether the navy is still carrying out training exercises using freefall nuclear bombs, and if so, why they would carry out these exercises unless there are plans to…

Campaigners against Brighton arms dealers EDO MBM gained two major court victories during February. Firstly in the magistrates' court - as a trial charging three activists with “illegal assembly” collapsed - and secondly in the High Court - as the injunction which created an exclusion zone outside the factory crumbled.

EDO MBM, who manufacture parts for the Paveway bomb system, the most-used guided munition in the air assault on Iraq, and unmanned combat air vehicles, much loved by…

The shiny image of Rolls Royce was been somewhat tarnished at the end of October, after a group of determined protesters from across the country spent three days getting under the skin of the company and exposing to the residents of Derby the dirty underbelly of the engine that powers Britain's illegal Trident submarines.

Over the course of the action, protesters leafleted the town, held a public meeting, a silent vigil and a blockade and demonstration to make sure that the good…

For several years a consortium consisting of Shell, Statoil, and Marathon have attempted to build an unprecedented high-pressure up-stream raw gas pipeline going 9 kilometres inland to a refinery in Erris, Mayo, in the north-west of Ireland.

Since the middle of June, mass pickets have halted all work on this development, and Shell, the main party in the consortium, have recently announced a suspension of all work until next year. Effectively, people power has prevented them from…