Two weeks till Camp for Climate Action takes on RBS

It’s now just two weeks before the Camp for Climate Action hits Edinburgh for a week long frenzy of action against RBS and the banking system. The Royal Bank of Scotland has its fingers in as many disgusting pies as you’d expect from an organisation that used to style itself as the ‘oil and gas bank’ (until it realised that wasn’t doing much for it in terms of good publicity) – it funds companies involved in oil exploration in the Arctic circle, the militarily traumatised border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the Alberta tar sands; it funds coal mining in Yorkshire and south Wales, mountain top removal in the US, and aluminum mining in India, as well as helping E.On in their attempts to get the Kingsnorth coal power plant up and running; it even gives money to BAE Systems. And we own it. Eighty-four per cent of it, anyway.

There will be a ‘swoop’ to take and set-up the site on the 19th August, and then four days of training, workshops, meetings and, most importantly, direct action, with the 23rd August marked down as a day of mass action against RBS. For those who’ve never been to one before, the camp is run on the basis of everyone participating and being equal, so everyone gets a say in the decisions the camp makes, and everyone helps to keep it running in whatever way they feel comfortable. This could involve helping to cook, attending meetings on behalf of your neighbourhoods, helping out with the medics, media or outreach teams, or, if you turn up during the first few days, even helping to put up marquees and set up grey water systems and compost toilets.

The West Midlands neighbourhood has been a bit quiet this year, but we’ll be at the camp, and we’d love as many people as possible to make it up to Edinburgh to help us make an impact on RBS. There isn’t any centrally organised transport running to the camp from Birmingham, but you can get National Express coach tickets for as little as £10 if you book online. So come along, and help us show RBS that we don’t intend to let them keep attacking our planet and the people that live on it.

More info on the camp can be found here:
http://www.climatecamp.org.uk/actions/edinburgh-2010