Speaker.

Profile:

Works full-time for Greenpeace, active with Plane Stupid and Climate camp activities. Also a Baptist Minister.

Was a Minister at a Baptist church in Sheffield, where he was also a Chaplain at the University of Sheffield.Then worked in an inner-city church in Nottingham which he combined with a Hospital Chaplaincy post. In 1990, he began work as a Sector Minister, employed by the Church of England. His work included child protection issues, rural poverty, HIV / AIDS, housing and homelessness.

He became active on environmental issues about 15 years ago when he was asked to draw up an environmental policy for the Church of England in the Midlands. Recognising the urgency of climate change and the need for drastic action, he joined his local Greenpeace group.

His first activity, as a Greenpeace volunteer, was in the mid-1990s putting up spoof road signs “Danger Climate Change Ahead”. He has now participated in 45 peaceful direct actions (protests) on 3 continents. He only undertakes such protest if he thinks his actions are reasonable and proportionate. The Courts have only disagreed with him on 3 occasions. The first was a sit-down protest with the Peace group Trident Ploughshares at Faslane, home to the UK nuclear weapons system, where he was fined for Breach of the Peace. The second was with Greenpeace at a nuclear power station where he was fined for damage to a door. The third was the Plane Stupid action at East Midlands airport (2006). Community punishment.. making bird tables. The fourth is likely to follow on from the occupation of a coal train at Drax earlier this summer.

He thinks that climate change is the only game in town. Scientists, economists, politicians agree with green groups on the need for urgent action to cut CO2 emissions, yet Government policy in the UK is to drastically increase emissions through the building of new coal-burning power stations and the expansion of aviation. It is time for citizens to define their own citizenship and that includes taking nonviolent direct action. He believes this generation will take on government/big business and force change. It’s the last generation which possibly can.

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What I'm talking about:

This will be a workshop for Non Violent Direct Action training

• What is nonviolent direct action (and how to organise an action)?
• Spotting violence / Defusing violence in yourself, in others, in the opposition
• Legal implications
• Hands-on training
• How do I get involved?

Parts I and 3 include practical stuff, so be prepared for noise, activity and some role play of confrontational situations. The workshop finishes with a ‘trust’ exercise. Open to all people but please let us know of any impairments or conditions.

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