Wibbling Thoughts

Shopping : 2 large sheets of MDF, 2 boxes of pannel pins, sand paper, wood glue, wine, coffee, peppers, tomatoes, cream, cheese, bread.

Time spent : 1pm – 10pm

Meals ate : Roasted red pepper and tomato soup with bread for lunch and cauliflower, brocoli, carrots and garlic, roasted new potatoes served with cheese sauce and sausages, veggie and normal followed by sherry trifle.

TV watched/Books read : Dogma, parts of the amber spy glass and bits of the Earthsea Quartet.

Dalek progress : 3 sides of the base are cut out, the wood has been cut into more managable sizes and my lounge floor needs a hoover.

Not bad to show for 9 hours work…

Miscallaneous notes : kitchen looks like a bomb site, I have some wine left on my desk, need to buy : 4 way, bread knife, whisk, bowls, metal spatchelar, big pan.

Present : Me, Graham, Rachel, Rick, Jonny.

Sorry about the delay in typing up my journal – I’m actually very large problems re typing out my journal entries as the whole time was very emotional, and in some ways I’m still feeling the effects of the week.

So, instead of typing up my entries here, I’m gonna try to get to the present, and how being in Stirling has affected me, my faith, my health and my friends.

I returned home from Glasgow having been searched twice, having seen rows and rows of police, having met with anarchists and shared bottles of wine around a fire early in the morning whilst doing gate duty and having been woken up in the early hours of the morning with the news that the police were about to raid the site, the first thing I saw when I returned was police on York Station. I’m not really ashamed to say that I paniced, and walked very quickly away from them. It’s humiliating being searched at the best of times, being asked questions, being treated as a criminal just for standing up for your beliefs – or worse – wearing a rucksac, looking slightly scruffy and crossing a square in glasgow at the wrong time. Above all, it was a terrifying week – I get intimidated by normal people very easily so row up on row of police, the threat of being searched every time I left the campsite really freaked me out.

The key moment for me was when I sat on a grass verge on wednesday, with 4 others, sitting and praying through the litany of resistance and singing taize chants. As a coach full of about 30 CIRCA clowns were searched by about 150 police officers, and we were videoed, photographed and questioned. We carried on singing and praying, the cameras kept rolling and we were surrounded by police.

I don’t know how wimpy it is to say that at many times during the week I was scared, but I was. Aside from anything, the fact that from 2am Thursday morning we were under a blockade, we were unable to leave the campsite. As news about London filtered through the police lines, and the few radios that were on site were relaying garbled messages of what had happened, and who was to blame, the londoners amongst us were trying to contact home.

In the end I can say with total conviction that it was worth it. The nights spent worrying about the police, the fear, the times I freaked out and hid in my tent, the sleepless nights, and the panic that I felt throught out the week was all worth it. I learnt so much during the week, about stepping out of my comfort zone, about standing up for who I was, and for my beliefs, and about how far I would go during protests.

And right now, I’m sat listening to David Rovics – a guy I last heard at Dungaval Refugee Center, singing in front of hundreds of peaceful protesters and hundreds of riot police standing in lines.

And the best bit of the week is that I made up with God, I worshipped for the first time in months – and it was the time when the police were shoving cameras in my face.

“Here’s to love and solidarity and a kiss behind the baricades”

The band is playing, the sound of another day
A day of protest and a action has gone
Yet there is still so much more to do.

As night falls we remember the dark times of today,
and the darkness within this world
Remembering the sick, the dying, the hungry and those lacking clean water
And as we remember, dip the herbs in the salt water, remember the tears and the sorrows of the world.
Lets spend some time remembering specific situations.

yet even in the dark of the night there is hope for the morning
the city on the hill that cannot be hidden
the promised land
there are dreams and hopes that bring each one of us here
promises that we believe should come true
lets spend some time praying for them now
as we dream of the future, dip your finger in the milk and honey.

Taste and see that the lord is good.

[luke 22 v 14 - 23]
sharing of the bread and wine.

Prayer and Protesting

The major theme of the week ahead looks to be the union of prayer and protesting. Just being at such a major event, and being able to take part both in the protests and unobtrusive prayer support in the background is such an amazing experience. We have just had a VERY long barrio meeting which told us everything we ever wanted/needed to know about the week ahead – and several things that we didn’t need to know either. This included how the campsite is run, and organised prayer times, 8.30am and 11pm and the various meetings we are having tommorrow.

We all have to chip in to the running of the campsite, so tommorrow I will be doing some woodwork – making a couple of notice boards and attempting to carve a cross, but I’m not advertising the fact I’m gonna make the cross as it has been a long time since I did any whittling.

Other mentions today should be the toilets – they are the old style greenbelt loos – holes in the ground with a plank of wood over them. Or the compost loos which are wheelie bins with planks…but there are some portaloos dotted about.

Above all, the feeling of today was one of the most amazing community – and the food is absolutely fantastic…

a few notes about the way stuff worked (sunday 10th July)

The campsite in Stirling was home to both the dissent camp and a People and Planet camp. I was camping on the P&P side of the fence, but broke down the fence about half an hour after setting up camp as I got fed up of stepping over it. I spent most of my time with a barrio (neighbourhood) called I58, which were a bunch of christians from all over the country. The Dissent part of the campsite had a capacity of about 5000, and was run along consensus lines, everyone had a say in every desicion. There were main meetings twice daily, called spokescouncils, where one or two representatives from the barrio went to relay the barrio’s veiws. And meetings in the barrios were we discussed things, made proposals and either agreed, stood aside, or blocked the proposals made. Because every desicion had to be a consensus, the meetings sometimes lasted for hours…but in the end, I think it was worth it…

I wrote a paper journal during the G8, as I was camping in the anarchist campsite in Stirling with a barrio called I58, which stands for Isiah 58 (the whole loosing chains of injustice bit). It’s a bit long, but I’ll start posting it up tomorrow when I get home.

I’m at Flausa and Alan’s house at the moment, and enjoying the luxury of things like beds, showers, roofs and no police around!

on bus with circa clowns headed for demo. Just had a prayer service and picnic in front of 9 van loads of riot police. More details when i get home.

Well, I’m at Edinburgh – which is nice…We had great fun,meeting up with ship people, wibsite people and scm people. Spending several hours waiting to start off marching, then another couple of hours marching, and then some time sitting down and chatting – all great fun!

Highlights of the day – taking part in such an amazing experience, getting the train at 8 am and seeing this sea of white t-shirts coming from York and knowing that so many people on that train were campaigning for the same cause – so many different people, families, older people, students, young couples, tiny kids wearing white bands and “make poverty history” t-shirts – it was a fantastic experience.

The other (slightly silly) highlight of the day was collecting Bishops. After seeing one bloke in a purple top, I wondered where he was bishop off, and so I asked him I then saw another bishop who wrote “make poverty history” on his dog collar – which was brilliant.

I’m now at someone from SCM’s house, staying there tonight and then going off to “people and planet” for the rest of the week – should be great fun

I’m almost packed for Edinburgh – I have a very large bag, mostly filled with a tent, sleeping bag and rug, along with a jumper, coat and couple of pairs of warm trousers – which means it will be blazing hot for the whole week, particulally as I can’t wear short sleeves at the moment ( )

I also have gaffer tape, scissors, pen knife, permanant markers, fabric paint, string, a banner, a spare pair of glasses and a pencil case with me, so should be ready for anything. Oh, and 4 books, 9 hours of Doctor Who on cd and a digital camera – and several packs of batteries…and I must remember my phone charger. And my make poverty history top, and my insect repellant, and everything else I’ve forgotten…

I can’t wait until tommorrow morning – I’m gonna be going out to protest, and what’s more, I have the full backing of my family to do so – every single member of my immediate family (mum, S, H and E) is wearing a white band today – FANTASTIC!