I regret not going to the Camp for Climate Action at Sipson, near Heathrow in August. Partly because I was busy with other things – no real excuse when its our only planet at risk, but also because I found the anti-photographer rhetoric put out by some of the organisers upsetting. (And of course I was there in 2003.)
Fortunately others did go and make a fine record of what went on, which was on show at The Foundry in Shoreditch last week and closes today (Sunday Nov 3.).
You can see the exhibition online and as well as the pictures, there is also some thought-provoking text about the camp, and the police reaction to it. It is important to understand that those taking part were doing nothing illegal in holding a camp and enjoyed a great deal of support from local residents.
Almost all of the disruption in the area over the week was caused by the police activities, which seriously disrupted life for those living in the area as well as the campers, as well as resulting in some delays for those flying from Heathrow. The whole policing operation – and I wrote a little about my experience of it in August – was totally out of proportion to any likely threat from those at the camp.
The decision to go ahead and build a third runway at Heathrow will almost certainly be viewed by history as the most criminally irresponsible act of the Brown government. The industry is already taking it for granted that it will go ahead. I think it is also likely to lead to the largest direct action campaign ever seen in this country – and it may even end up being Brown’s ‘poll tax’. The police were perhaps just getting in a bit of doubtfully legal advance practice.
My congratulations go to Mike Russell, Kristian Buss, Gary Austin, Jerome Dutton, Adrian Arbib, Amy Scaife and Mike Langridge for their pictures, Jody Boehnert for the exhibition design and Mike Russell for the web site.
Still on show at the Foundry (Great Eastern St, London EC2A 3JL) until Sun Nov 11 are images from the G8 events in Rostock by Paul Mattsson and Guy Smallman.
Unfortunately the photographers mentioned above who covered the Climate Camp, didn’t ‘go and make a fine record’ – they were allowed to record the Camp because they chose to accept the Climate Camp media organisers terms and conditions, and submit to the camps ’embedding’ (their phrase, not mine) process.
All other photographers were for the most part forbidden from covering the Climate Camp…who had a resident ‘Tranquility Team’ on hand to hassle any journo or photographer who happened to try to wander in and report on what was by definition, a public event.
As a environmentalist, I’m sure you’d agree the supreme irony was one of the Climate Camps media organisers shoots photographic advertising campaigns for Volkswagen and HSBC Bank, while another organser works for Murdoch’s Sky News.
Now this is nobody’s business but theirs…but these people were responsible for ensuring that some photographers were More Equal than Others by granting them access, and colluding in the refusal of access for others.
I know several journalists and photographers who turned down the embedding ‘offer’ on the principle that it was censorship. Indeed, the NUJ officially complained to the Camp over this very issue.
The camps media policy was riddled with double standards and paranoia.
While the exhibition is no doubt strong, and concerns a cause I’d agree with, I feel the photographers ought to accept some criticism for accepting an embedding and censorship policy, which in another context (like Iraq for example), they would have no doubt condemned.
I agree 100% about the media policy, and didn’t go to the camp itself because of this. I wrote more about this at the time – and as you know linked to more detailed criticism and discussion elsewhere. http://re-photo.co.uk/?p=60
I certainly haven’t changed my mind on this, and still wouldn’t be prepared to work under the kind of censorship that was incorporated in the media policy. I don’t think there is any place for this sort of thing in any politics I want to be a part of.
But having said that, I think the photographers who did go did a pretty decent job there, and the exhibition deals with some vital issues.
Peter
Thinking about it more, I think there is an order of magnitude or two difference between the problems raised by the climate camp – and dealt with in the show – and those about media access to this and other events.
That doesn’t mean they are not important – they are – and I do think it important that photographers should take a stand, and wish we were more united in this and other cases. I remain appalled at the attitude taken by the climate camp, as well as other cases where my work and that of others has been censored or prevented by the left.
Indymedia, which presented the show is certainly not without problems in this respect – and others.
As for who people work for, we all have to live with the capitalist beast in various ways. As someone whose major income until very recently came from the New York Times group I don’t feel in any position to cast any stones from my new and rather penniless position.
Regards
Peter