Heres some replys to my greenpeace mailing. I know they are scrappy, but you have your fancy programme dodah to clean them up.
I've just been forwarded a copy of an Earth First! e-mail which is currently doing the rounds. I'm somewhat surprised by its contents and sorry to hear that your local group feels it was slighted by Greenpeace last week. I was planning to write to you, along with the many other wonderful people who came down to show support for the activists in the chimney and in the pit. I had already sent a message to someone in Sheffield asking them to rustle up addresses for me.
I think we have our wires crossed, and perhaps that's down to the fact that things were rather chaotic, particularly on Wednesday. A lot of people came to the incinerator to thank us for what were doing, people from all walks of life, some activists, some not. Everyone asked what they could do to help and I told everyone they were already doing the most important thing -- coming down to show support. I welcomed each and every banner and sign I saw, from the bed sheets hanging from the flats up the road, to the banner Earth First! made and hung, to the hand printed signs held up for the chimney climbers to see when they came out.
Every banner, every sign, every show of support was appreciated by the volunteers inside and the support team outside -- even if there was not always time to fully articulate our gratitude. I personally thought you encapsulated the problem very well. The contract announced on May 5th to hand waste services over to Onyx on August 1st certainly won't stop pollution from the incinerator, the only answer to which is more recycling by more imaginative elected officials.
I do want to respond to a couple of points in your message. It was certainly never our intention to make anyone feel unwelcome, although, as you point out, it was important to be able to discuss action developments in privacy. And I'm not sure why you thought the kettle was constantly on the boil. Like me, most people were popping into the café down the road for cups of tea. We wanted to give them as much business as we could in appreciation of the fact that they were showing their support by staying open extra hours in order to provide us with access to a toilet.
I did intervene in a conversation you were having beside the truck with a woman who was concerned about the story in the Star, but that was only because I heard her say she wanted to talk to someone from Greenpeace. I definitely did not tell anyone to shut up nor did I think I had superior knowledge to inject into the debate. She wanted to voice her concerns to someone from Greenpeace. I was from Greenpeace. That's all.
I was very pleased by the turn out for the public meeting on Saturday. It was encouraging to see the wide cross section of people who were there. Particularly encouraging was the fact that there were a core group of people, yourself included, who are keen to maintain the momentum from last week's direct action. I truly believe that a concerted effort by the citizens of Sheffield (which Greenpeace will support in whatever way we're able) can lead to the closure of that antiquated pollution factory.
I thought I'd made it clear to everyone how valuable their support was. Obviously in this instance I failed. So, let me go on record now to thank you and ****** (i have taken a real name out - ed.) and all the others who came out to cheer us on. The folks up the chimney who saw your banner hanging appreciated it and so did everyone on the ground.
A quick note- please make sure that this letter is sent to the Exec Director of Greenpeace and whoever is in charge of the incinerator campaign. I have worked for GP (after years with EF!) and I assure you that there is a wide range of opinion inside GP about the methods for working with public and other groups ranging from full GP separatists through to people, like us, who would see enormous potential for real full participatory cooperation within the full spectrum of other groups.
But it's vital to raise these points with people in GP and ensure that you contribute to their internal debate- to challenge people who don't agree, and provide material for those who do.
I worked for Greenpeace (very briefly) as their local co-ordinator in Glasgow a few years ago - I found them to be total control freaks and addicted to a kind of 'hero worship' culture ie their 'action men' I organised a bunch of people to do an action on the French consulate roof in Edinburgh (all very experienced with direct action, climbing and high places etc)at the time of the french Nuclear tests. GP totally freaked out because we hadn't gone through their particular DA training.....I got hand slapped and resigned.
My reservations about their incinerator action concerns the fact they've parachuted into someone else's community and not consulted anyone. Some people are rather pissed off about it. perhaps we can discuss it all on saturday.