Rossport Solidarity Camp
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Rossport Solidarity Camp was established in the middle of June 2005, at the request of residents of Rossport, in north-west Mayo, Ireland, opposing the construction of a high pressure gas pipeline and inland gas refinery in their area. It was born out of a solidarity gathering held in Rossport on the first weekend in June that year. Newspaper reports in Irish media suggest that protesters in Rossport are a minority and that the majority are in favour of the development of the gas pipeline in the area but have been intimidated into silence.
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[edit] History
After the jailing of the Rossport Five (James Brendan Philbin, brothers Philip and Vincent McGrath, Willie Corduff and Micheál Ó Seighin) it was feared that Shell may attempt to lay the pipeline to the Corrib Gas Field in their absence. Campers and residents began to picket the Shell compound site in Rossport. During this time campers moved out of the house in which they had been staying and began to set up a camp. In a short space of time, and in a fairly ad-hoc, spontaneous and improvised manner, the camp was assembled. Cooking equipment and experience came from the Bitchin’ Kitchen Collective, a marquee was donated by Dissent!, one of the groups organising the G8 protests in Scotland, some tents were borrowed from here and there, some bodies came from NUI Galway Ecology Society, some from environmentalist group Gluaiseacht. All this was put together early in July, on Philip McGrath’s small farm and right on the supposed pipeline route. A further camp, or more of an off-host from the main camp, was set up on the other side of the estuary from Rossport, in Glengad, where the supposed land fall for the off-shore pipeline is to be.
From the end of June 2005 the main activity of the camp was picketing the construction compound in Rossport in conjunction with Rossport residents. This was done from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, with two people on three-hour shifts keeping watch. For two months there was also a constant Gárda presence at the compound sites. In early July Shell, unable to continue work due to the constant pickets, announced a suspension of work on the pretext of calling for a ‘period of calm’
The camp disbanded at the end of the construction season in October both because Shell had ceased work and because conditions on the campsite became too wet as autumn advanced. People involved in the camp did not want to leave the area and so a house was rented not far from Rossport where we set up an office with Internet and phone access. Throughout the winter months members prepared for the coming summer’s camp which they wanted to be bigger and better than summer ’05.
Rossport Solidarity Camp re-opened on the 25th of February 2006. Whereas in 2005 the camp was located on the route of the pipeline in Rossport, it was decided that this year’s camp would be located on the landfall of the pipeline, on the beach at Glengad. On the weekend of the 25th over thirty Shell to Sea supporters from across the country assisted campers and Rossport residents in the construction of the camp. A marquee and several benders (structures made from bent hazel poles) were constructed that weekend and in the subsequent weeks more benders, compost toilets, food composting facilities, a grey water system, pathways, and a kitchen have been built.
[edit] Camp Activities
From the end of June 2005 the main activity of the camp was picketing the construction compound in Rossport in conjunction with Rossport residents. This was done from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day, with two people on three-hour shifts keeping watch. For two months there was also a constant Gárda presence at the compound sites. In early July Shell, unable to continue work due to the constant pickets, announced a suspension of work on the pretext of calling for a ‘period of calm’
At the end of August Rossport Solidarity Camp organised the solidarity week culminating in the Tenth Grassroots Gathering. A lot of people from England travelled over to join the camp at this time. The solidarity week featured a social night for campers and residents, workshops, a Rossport Five street theatre in Castlebar, and a blockade of a Statoil depot in Ballina. At the Tenth Grassroots Gathering there were speakers from, or speaking about, Derrybrien Development Society, the Woodland League, Galway for a Safe Environment, Gorleben anti-nuclear protest camp, anti-pylon groups from Roscommon and Donegal and the campaign against Merrill Dow in Cork in the late 80’s. There were also skills share workshops. Over one hundred people attended the Gathering that weekend, with Rossport Solidarity Camp briefly blossoming into three camps on the pipeline route.
Camp participants spoke at meetings around Ireland and we organised specific ‘building the camp’ meetings in Dublin and Galway to get more people involved. Two participants in the camp went on speaking tour of England before Christmas, speaking at social centres and various other venues in London, Brighton, Nottingham, Manchester, Bristol, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Lancaster, and Oxford. A further speaking tour of Scotland and England happened in February and camp members spoke in locations in Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as visiting several protest camps; Faslane near Glasgow, Bilston near Edinburgh, Nine Ladies near Sheffield and Camp Bling in Southend-on-Sea. In January a camper attended the World Social Forum in Venezuela on behalf of the Shell to Sea campaign.
[edit] Future
The Solidarity Camp are talking to their international networks about organising an international action against Shell for Spring 2007.
