Camio Story Part 6 Last night I Was Arrested.

This year 2019  marks the 60th year of life showing up in my body suit. To acknowledge the extraordinary probability of me existing at all, (about a 1 in 102,685,000 chance !) I am busy  participating  in sixty new experiences.

 So far  I have taken up crochet, rowed to  Skellig Michael in an open rowing boat. Enjoyed a Shabbat that was hosted  by some Jewish friends of mine, was the celebrant at a hand fasting ceremony, hosted a yoga festival . On the side, am learning to wolf-whistle, play the spoons and practice the art of levitation with varying degrees of success,  mind you not all at the same time !! Let's say most of these  opportunities rose organically . What I definitely  wasn't planning was the possibility of being arrested.

Hanging out in the lobby 

On Tuesday, 1st of October  CAMIO (Cooperation against mining in Omagh ) attended a  peaceful protest at FODC Council office. This peaceful demonstration was in response to the Council’s reluctance to make a decision on a motion which has been on their agenda for four meetings. The submission was about taking legal action against DfE for granting prospecting licences in the Council area. Similar motions have already been passed by Derry City & Strabane Council and Mid-Ulster Council.

A long stand for patient conscientious objectors 

I got there late as I was coming from teaching a yoga class . There was already a sizeable number of conscientious protectors from interested  organisations. Save our Sperrins, The Greencastle Peoples Office,  CAMIO,  Greencastle Community Voices. When I arrived there was a bit of a stand off at the bottom of the stairs where two of our young people were seeking to gain access to the chamber to read out a statement they had prepared. Eventually six people were admitted at a time . Our young person Orlaith read out the following statement below .

More objectors outside the Grange

Our young folk patiently explaining why they should
 be allowed into the FODC chamber 

Lets start with a quote 

‘If you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil’ 
Greta Thunberg’s speech to the United Nations on the world leader’s total incompentancy/complacey on battling climate change.

So, members of Omagh District Council, are you evil?  The buck starts and stops with you. We have one of the most polluting industries in the world knocking on ALL our doors.  They want our gold, our silver, our diamonds, our oil, our flint.  They want whatever we have – at whatever cost.  They do not care what destruction they leave behind. And you are the ones who potentially can allow it or stop it. They should never have been issued prospecting licenses.  They should definitely not be allowed to purchase any more prospecting licenses.  This council should be working as hard as it can to stop these foreign companies from coming over here and destroying our environment.  This council needs to realize it is their job to do their utmost to achieve this aim.  This council and all its members need to come together unanimously, they need to ignore the so called (short –term) economic benefits, they need to put the health of their constituents and the environment before any mythical ‘gold’ that is flashed before their eyes.  If you do not, and in full knowledge of the facts which have been explained to you over and over again, by us, the locals fighting for their land and health, by other people in other lands who have personally witnessed mining and all the destruction it brings, and finally by the world’s scientists who have produced more than enough evidence….. then, if you do not act, with all this knowledge… then you are evil.

The world has woken up to the fact that climate change is happening, and if we do not act we are on course for mass extinction.  This is the opinion of environmental scientists worldwide.  This is not scaremongering.  With this knowledge, why would we then even consider letting these mining companies in to our land, into any land? It is an absoutely ludicrous suggestion!

We are demanding of you councilors, your promise that you will do your utmost to protect the health and wellbeing of the people you are paid to represent.  We are demanding of you, that you put the environment at the top of your agenda… not as is currently obvious – at the bottom.

If you do not, you are failing us, yourselves and all future generations. 


Whilst the vice chair woman of FODC did her best to quiet the chamber and give Orlaith the attention and respect she deserved, a young person genuinely worried about what the future  holds for her generation. What was clear and obvious was that neither of the main political parties thought it worthwhile to offer either their attention or respect. She was actively spoken over by some  and ignored by the rest.

The evening dragged on as the council worked through the minutae of a multitude of issues
It's interesting to note that languishing at  23.3 after four months, was the motion and reason for us to be there in the first place;

   To consider call-in of the decision taken at the Reconvened Council Meeting on 5 August 2019 regarding Judicial Review of the decisions of the Department for the Economy to issue Mineral Prospecting Licences to Dalradian Gold Ltd and Flintridge Resources Ltd. 

I am  supposing,  reports on artwork displays, alien species and Christmas parking arrangements take precedence over a multimillion extractive industry and mining camp which plans to destroy and desecrate our sacred uplands and turn them into an industrial zone. Needless to say the meeting never got to 23.3 !

I looked up the term filibustering and this is what it says: late 18th century: from French flibustier, first applied to pirates who pillaged the Spanish colonies in the West Indies. The verb was  also used to describe tactics intended to sabotage US congressional proceedings.

And I smiled  widely to myself . The following things occurred to me as I observed the evenings charade.

With a few honourable exceptions the councillors elected  to represent us the people (particularly from the two main main political parties ) without a shadow of a doubt fulfil the lowest common denominator required to fill this appointment i.e. warm and breathing.

The convenient absence of a sitting government in Stormount  gives free rein to blatant corruption and a lack of moral principle. We do not have the calibre of political leadership required  that will enable us to progress as a community, society or country .The complete and gaping  absence of integrity and intelligence makes me uneasy for our our council and for our  democracy. It is obvious that highly skilled people with good judgement are choosing not to participate in our political systems.

As the evening comes  to an end the frustration is palpable . Councillors pack up to leave, some scurrying quickly away, unable to look directly at any of us . More and more conscientious objectors come quietly into the chamber, as do about eight or ten police. Alison McCullagh announces that the meeting is over and we must leave the building. A heated argument breaks out between some  objectors and Sinn Fein representatives . I am sitting on a seat at the wall at the back observing everything. The police announce we must leave the building. I decide I am going to stay . Some folk leave, those that stay are arrested one at a time. I was near enough the last or maybe second last to be arrested . A policeman puts his hand on my arm and escorts me out of the chamber after taking my details. It all seems a little dreamlike.

Taking an unpopular stand for something when it counts can be a lonely and uncomfortable experience. Having thoughtfully committed myself to making a stand to protect our environment some years ago, made my  choice very clear,  on Tuesday  evening  that same declaration called me out. Even though it was not a threatening or violent situation  it took all the courage I could muster up to see my intention through by continuing to occupy the building, after we were told to leave which would lead  to certain arrest. If I don't stand, who will?

Downstairs the lobby has been more or less cleared and we emerge out into the cool  night air. Immediately I am de-arrested which I understand means that I am innocent. With a certain amount of relief we disperse into the night. Driving home alone I feel the tension in my body beginning to dissipate and ruefully chuckle to myself. Definitely not on my 60th wish list !

Camio Story 5 Notes from a conscientious protector

Nature at its most glorious 

I have lived in Glenhordial for thirty one years, the attraction was a small hill farm for sale. When I got there to view it,  there were three hares running about in grounds of the derelict farm, it seemed somehow auspicious. The peacefulness and serenity of the place was striking. I knew I had come home.

Over the years I have walked, run, camped and cycled in the Sperrins . With my children I have walked up the Killyclogher burn looking for damsel flies and otters. We have camped by the stream, built dams, made mud pies, lit fires, toasted marshmallows and at the end of the day, sat and watched the moon rise up over the top of Mullaghcarn. These mountains are really our holy/home lands.

 

Killyclogher Burn Feeds The Glenhordial Reservoir 

So you might well understand when I discovered mineral drilling rigs less than a mile from our home I was utterly shocked . I could not believe this would happen here and I knew I had to speak out. NIMBYISM I hear the voices cry and thank goodness for the power of it! Because if we as local people don’t speak out when our health, homes and livelihoods are at risk, who then takes up the mantle of stewardship?

I am the first to acknowledge the pressing need for jobs and the importance of creating employment for our young folk .When I ask folk why would they support extractive industries .There is really only one answer job creation.

Imagine this, if the money spent facilitating the mining industry was used instead in the Sperrins augmenting and creating sustainable livelihoods in the Agri/ Tourism/Health and Arts sectors

Money that is/will be used for 

 

• PSNI explosives escort- totalling almost £440,000 - 
• Inward investment agencies such as Invest NI for extractive industries promotion 
• Future public enquiries re: inevitable environmental catastrophes 
• NHS for associated extractive mining illnesses amongst local population 
• Roads, Water and Electricity infrastructure . 

We would be future proofing our wonderful Sperrins area for generations going forward. Building and strengthening our communities by supporting our entrepreneurs, ushering in a time of creativity innovation and change. Nurturing an existing way of life without repleting our natural resources.

I am a stand for the possibility of a community of stewardship for the Sperrins to remain and prosper as a sanctuary of peace and tranquility in an increasingly crazy world.

I am a stand for all those who farm, fish and run small agri/tourism business to continue to flourish from generation to generation.

I am a stand for the health and well being of every generation coming behind us, that they too will flourish and thrive, confident of the quality of the very air they breath and the water they drink .

I am the kind of person who stands for such things in the world regardless of whether they are realised or not. I will be working, consistently, relentlessly and implacably towards making this possible and when tough times come as they surely will, I will focus on my commitment of creating a different narrative for the Sperrins and will handle the circumstances that come along with this.You can count on me for this.

Visualise This

Glenhordial Reservoir for Omagh's Water Supply

It is one hundred years into the future . You are a teenager, a grand mother in a car, a visitor, a farmer, a walker, a child. You are out and about enjoying the Sperrins. You are driving up the Glenelly Vally, you are chasing sheep on the hills above Glenhordial , You are cycling on the ladies view trail up the Gortin glens, You are an artist on the Green road capturing the beauty of the present moment . 

You stop for a moment admire the view and take a breath of air. You are struck by the profound serenity, beauty, peace and tranquility of the natural world that surrounds you . You have that aha moment as you feel a surge of gratefulness wash over you. For a moment, you pause and give thanks to your ancestors who had the foresight to make this happen .

My question to you is: Will we the ancestors be the architects of this future ? What will we choose?

The Camio Story Part 4 A World Turned Upside Down

One time even the cover !

As a child I turned upside down without thought, flipping through cartwheels, walking on my hands, rolling head over heels, launching into handstands, standing on my head . I brought the mind of a child to it . As an adult I am a bit more circumspect and realise that there are consequences if I turn my body/life upside down. To turn upside down you need the following.

1. You have to grow your courage. In my early days of practicing yoga I had to learn that courage comes in teaspoons . In a handstand once I fell off my hands and onto my face it made me afraid for years. Using the mantra fall down seven times get up eight I gradually got my courage back.
2. You have to be strong before you turn your life on its head, a weak body or mind and you will crumble and fall. 3.You have to want to do it because there will always be consequences if you fall . 4. You have to be patient and persistent.

Example of full page weekly advert

On the 4th October 2018 It was with a heavy heart that I decided that I could no longer write my yoga column for the Ulster Herald while it continues to publish Dalradian sponsored content (Dalradian are the mineral prospecting corporation who are endeavouring to open the biggest cyanide processing facility in Europe here in the Sperrin mountains ) To set the context . I have always had a good relationship with the paper and would be the first to say that by and large they do a good job. I had recently submitted my 200th article to them and looked forward to submitting as many again. However I am very well aware of the appalling cost of extractive industries as I have seen/experienced with my own eyes whist travelling in Australia . I witnessed the utter  devastation caused by the Mount Isa goldmine in Queensland and met people who had not only lost their livelihoods but developed many life threatening illnesses because of same. So you see if I continue to write for the Herald  I would be equally culpable of supporting and promoting gold mining here in our lovely Northern Ireland . Sure I could talk myself out of it with petty excuses and fob myself off but because of what I know about toxic mining I knew I had to speak out. On the 4th of October 2018 I turned my world upside down and resigned from the Ulster Herald . A small act of protest in a world that does not care.

About sums it up

#Don't Mine Us : The Camio Story Part 3

#Don't Mine Us : The Camio Story Part 3: So the stage is set . After our first public meeting in July 2018 . We formed a committee and constituted ourselves as a community o...

The Camio Story Part 3

So the stage is set . After our first public meeting in July 2018 . We formed a committee and constituted ourselves as a community organisation with elected chair person, secretary and treasurer. We set out our aims and objectives which are listed here on this page . And we went into action.

We were acutely aware that there was a huge need to raise awareness and educate locally . We also knew that Dalradian were taking out full page advertorial each week in the local papers which told only one side of the story. We contacted the local papers and invited them to stop accepting advertising from Dalradian .... in our naivety thinking that perhaps as they called themselves community papers that they would see what they were doing was not serving all parts of the community.

Laughable now when we look back at it. Their answer to us was, if you provide the news we will report it. We complained loudly about their inadequate coverage  of both sides of the story. They came back with all the evidence of how many pieces of editorial they had written, but not with the total amount of advertorial space that was given to Dalradian each week. To this day, it irks the hell out of us, how little good editorial comment is written about the whole contentious  issue of toxic mining in the Sperrins and indeed  the rest of Ireland.  Arthur Miller's quote  “A good newspaper is a nation talking to itself.” rings hollow in our ears. We suppose business comes first before news.

By now we are beginning to understand exactly what we are facing. On one side we have big business coming uninvited into our local communities, creating utter devastation , to our nature, poisoning our water, contaminating the very air we breathe. In return they offer the  jobs, the wealth, the supposed spin offs for associated industries .

They never tell us about the uselessness of the land after toxic mining, the mine acidification that when turned on is virtually impossible to turn off . The lead poisoning that occurs with contaminated air. The tailing's pond collapses . The erosion of community and the loss of a whole way of life.

Two sides, with two absolutely opposing views and then, all the reluctant  players, no discernible referee, and a slope on the pitch in favour of  the toxic mining side. The wind blows against us, the less favoured, weaker side: US THE PEOPLE .  We may not have much money, we may not have many resources but we have solidarity, community support, time, energy, commitment and passion. We don't get paid for what we do; we do it because it is important to us, we do it because we care. Many's a company would wish for the workforce that is available to us,  wish for the ethos, drive and integrity of purpose  that shows up everywhere amongst us. We are part of something that is beginning to come awake, alive and take on a momentum of its own. It will probably be the game of our lives.

#Don't Mine Us : Life

#Don't Mine Us : Life: It was itching around in me all day long, nagging beneath the surface of my consciousness, like a barely noticeable shadow .Tro...

The Camio Story Part 2

Drill locations that we know about
 in the Glenhordial area 2018

The  night after finding out about the prospecting for gold that was happening in our local area I was restless and slept badly .  I had every right to be, for my mind kept dredging up memories from a different part of my life. Back in the 80's I spent some time in Australia and lived for a while near what was probably the biggest copper, lead, silver  and zinc mine in the world at that time  Mount Isa.  Taken over by  Glencore  in 2013.

Not withstanding the absolute and total devastation of the environment local to the city of Mount Isa, its diseased tentacles reached into every aspect of the lives of the folk who lived there.  Mount Isa had a history of contamination from emissions, the authorities were aware of lead emissions since the 1930's. However the mine always denied it and spent decades  rebutting  the  research that linked the contamination to its mining and smelting operations.

In Feb 2017 Mount Isa Mines released the official report into the lead contamination that has blighted the city for decades.The report, commissioned by the mine’s owner, Glencore, and produced by researchers at the University of Queensland, says that household dust contaminated by airborne lead from the mining and smelting operations is the dominant source of the city’s exposure.

Processing all of this over and over again  I decided as I lay tossing and turning  that I would make a stand against any mining in Northern Ireland.   Awareness had to be raised  and there was a need for our local communities to be educated  to all of the possible  consequences mining could bring to our local area. That is all the details that are brushed over in the glossy marketing brochures and the sexy online sales campaigns.

Mount Isa Smelting Stacks

Where to start ? Apart from my lived experience near the mining town of Mount Isa in North Queensland I knew virtually nothing about mining. So spent the next three months reading documents like:

•  Guidebook for Evaluating Mining Project EIA
•  Gold Production from beginning to end :What gold companies do to get the shiny metal into our hands by Mariusz Skonieczny and
• Gold Inside the Race for the world's most Seductive Metal Matthew Hart
• Scottish Gold Neil DL Clark

Whilst still feeling ill equipped for the job in hand at least I felt I had some back ground knowledge  to make a start and a stand  against toxic mining in the Sperrins in Northern Ireland. The next thing was to raise awareness, I started to write about it in as many ways as possible . Starting with a simple  email out to a few folk that I thought would be interested relating to them what I had discovered about the potential  mining camp being set up  all across the Sperrin mountains and beyond . We at once started a facebook page calling it CAMIO. Cooperation Against Mining in Omagh  followed almost immediately by an Instagram and Twitter account and we also called a public meeting . This was to be in the Bamboo Loft .

 Eighty people came to that meeting  Gordon Dunn from CAMIO  and Fidelma O Kane from Save Our Sperrins (SOS)  delivered the first CAMIO  presentation . Many parties with vested interests turned up , there were the folk from the Greencastle Peoples Office , there were folk from Dalradian, there were neighbours from Glenhordial, there were people there from Omagh town. We had the press and also local politicians .  There were other campaigners from across the Sperrins. It was an interesting meeting, one that produced  more questions than answers.  More about this in the next post.