Today saw a startling piece of direct action taken against a power company by organisers and participants of the Climate Camp. The private train line running to Drax power station was the centre of a precise and efficient operation to bring te power station to a halt.
Having studied the lines, train times and regulations. And having purchased the appropriate fancy dress for the occasion a gang of activists in hard hats and overalls stepped out in front of a train carrying coal and, waving red flags, brought it to a halt.
The train was then seized by the activists who tied themselves to its rigging and commenced the shovelling of coal, out of the train and onto the ground beneath. The activists have told the press they intend to remain in their places for as long as they can hold out, perhaps a couple of days but maybe more.
This action shows the dedication and audacity of the Climate Camp group and represents a potent threat to companies that are unpopular with them. The hijacking of a train is certainly no light matter. The police will no doubt be called upon to deal with the protest and will most probably end up pressing charges and prosecuting the protesters.
The question is whether this is appropriate action. Have the Climate Camp group taken their agenda into the realm of violent protest or is this to be considered yet another peacefull piece of civil-disobedience.
Many will see this move as a step too far from a group who are universally acknowledged to be supporting a worthwhile cause through non-violent means. The image that this kind of behaviour projects is a sinister one and may create fear amongst some of the groups supporters.
Fear however may be the group's most effected tool for dealing with the power companies and airline conglomerates. Along with the negative publicity that these events bring to these companies, the real nuisance which they cause can be extremely detrimental to the companies' financial affairs.
Drax Power will not want a repeat of this kind of protest not least because it will lose them money. The real monetary damge may be small but if such action is to persist the effect may be far more serious.
In a time when our biggest peacefull protests of the last twenty years have resulted in no change in governmental foreign policy or environmental policy perhaps it is time a group turned the heat up. The question is how will Britain respond?
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This post was written by Edward Harkness on June 16, 2008