Reflections on three decades of environmental activism
~ Helen Baczkowska ~
The first thing to do was to re-arrange the furniture—what was set out for a speaker and audience quickly became a rough circle. After all, a discussion means listening to many stories, not just one.
We were at Caracol Books in Norwich, for a discussion of the last three decades of environmental activism in the UK. I started the evening with readings from book, Twyford Rising—the story of the first of the UK anti-road protests of the 1990s. The book is an oral history, with the voices of those who took part narrating the direct action campaign against the building for the M3 motorway. These include local residents of Twyford Down, the ‘Dongas Tribe’ who camped on the threatened land, and activists from Earth First!, then in its infancy in the UK. As always, I had printed out key quotes from the book and passed them around for people to read out during the evening. Twyford Rising is not just my story, but one that many people were part of, and the chaos, occasional disagreements, music, myths and smell of goat piss in the communal bender are all part of the tale.
Before the meeting, a local Just Stop Oil member asked whether I was a “retired’ activist”—I guess that assumption was made because I am not part of JSO. Responding to this goes to the heart of the conversations we had—activism takes many forms and works on many fronts. Perhaps the best answer I could give was that I had spent much of the day standing with others in solidarity with the People’s Marches in America, taking place ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration. A small gesture, not radical I’ll admit, but all I felt I could do at this distance, and one gratefully received by our contacts in the States. The message coming from many groups in the US right now is that mutual aid will be one of the most important ways of resisting the worst excesses of Trump’s presidency. In the evening meeting, we discussed how crucial mutual aid and local organising could be in the next few years.
Caracol Books ran the event as part of a series of intergenerational learning between anarchists and activist groups. As a result, one question asked was what those of us of older years have learned; the resounding reply to this was caring more for ourselves and others. By this we meant that in the early years of the road protests we did not take time to look after ourselves or those around us. Too many of us burned out and we treated this as normal. For me, the need for self-care and mutual support is something I have learned from working alongside people of colour and queer activists.

I said that organising without hierarchies and leaders has long been crucial to my environmental activism. Practically, it ensures inclusivity, a diversity of ideas and often greater safety on actions. It is also part of creating the future that we long for in the here and now—and putting the natural world at the heart of all decision-making. I am always clear at my talks that social class is another part of this—so often, environmental concerns are seen as middle-class ones, but increasingly we see access to green and wild spaces as crucial to human health. There is nothing new in this, my great-grandfather, who went to work in a coal mine at seven years old, was a supporter of the 1930’s right to roam campaign and an advocate for protecting common land in Wales. My lifetime as an activist is part of a generations-long legacy, and learning the history of many struggles in Britain was something we discussed in our evening.
People also asked me about the spycops infiltrations, and how undercover policing impacted on my generation of activists (a lot and it is still ongoing). Another question was how we continue direct action in an age of increasingly draconian legislation. This was answered by several people pointing out that many nations and previous generations faced a similar challenge. These observations are true, but the increasing penalties for political protest are proving a deterrent for those who, for many and valid reasons, cannot risk prison.
The question of where next, however, remains an important one and one that needs to be addressed collectively, through discussion and the inclusion of many voices. As one of the people interviewed for Twyford Rising said, in a quote I always like to include: ‘the best way to understand it all is to go out and DIY…being part of the resistance is more meaningful than reading ‘and we resisted’”.