Nordic Climate Action Camp

After this year’s success with the Nordic Climate Action Camp in Skåne, we want to continue building and strengthening our growing climate justice movement in the Nordic region.

This year’s camp brought together activists from Denmark, Sweden, Finland and many other countries, for a week of direct action against Shell gas drillings, DIY alternatives and skill sharing, while strengthening the connections between different local struggles and Nordic activists.

Following the enthusiasm of these experiences, we have already started thinking about our next campaigns and goals for the future.

The next organizing meeting will take place in Stockholm on the 18^th and 19^th of September. Here we will share ideas and start planning our next year of activities. Practical information will follow on the homepage www.nordiccamp.org

In order to have a productive meeting, we strongly encourage groups that intend to participate to meet, brainstorm and discuss a few questions (see below).

We recognize that many political struggles are connected, and explicitly linking them gives us strength. Therefore, we invite groups that are not traditionally focused on climate justice (such as no borders folks, workers, queers, anti-militarists, etc) to take part and help linking the dots, bringing different skills and ideas into the discussion.

If you haven’t been involved in this year’s camp, this is our political foundation:

Our goals for this camp

develop methods of action and share skills to confront opressive and destructive systems
build a movement of action and create a grassroot’s alternatives in a nordic context

Why are we having a climate camp?

established political leaders and systems can not and will not solve the climate crisis.
it is up to us to stop climate change and we must organize and take action
there is a need to create a space for resistance and self-organized alternatives
we want to stregnthen regional struggles against ressource exploitation

Points of Unity for the Nordic Action Climate Camp

capitalism is the cause of climate change, and it must be dismantled to fight the climate crisis
we can not leave action to parlimentary structures, but must take action ourselves!
we confront the causes of climate changes using direct action and a diversity of tactics.
solving the climate crisis is not just an environmental issue, it is a social fight connected to all other struggles for justice.
we encourage acts of active participatation, solidarity, equality, own initatives and thus we resist all forms of oppression and discrimiation
we embrace forms of non-hirarcical organisation
our struggle is part of a global struggle for climate justice

Questions to discuss:

What should be the focus of the camp? (Should it be nuclear? Fossil fuels? Deforestation? Anything else?).
Which other struggles exist in the Nordic region that could be relevant for us to link to?
How much do we involve other groups working on different issues? Do we invite them to participate and have workshops, or do we want them to organize with us?
Which targets do you find relevant for next year’s camp and for the campaign leading up to it? Discuss with your group and point out 2-3 possible targets, preparing a short presentation about who, what, why, where, pros and cons, etc.

What kind of campaign would you like leading up to the camp? How could we set it up? What should it include?
How big a part of the camp should be focused on direct action, and how much time should we use on action during the camp, compared to other activities? (discuss it compared to this year’s program, if you were there).
How many people do you think would be a good number for the camp?
How do you think the preparation of the camp should be organized? Do we need a central organizing group or can we hand out different responsibilities to local groups?
How broad should we mobilize for the camp? How do we reach a wider variety of age, nationality and ethnicity?
Which dates would be good? (Discuss with your group, trying to map already existing local events and their dates)
What resources could you bring? People, funds, ideas, materials, skills.

Bring ideas, get engaged and spread in your networks!

With love from the Nordic Climate Action Camp group.

August 11, 2010 – 8:51 am

A mood image from the first Nordic Climate Action Camp

artikel om klimalejren – dansk version

For a week, ”Swedish nature conservation associations” old farmhouse outside Tomelilla was transformed into a colorful display of DIY alternatives and a meeting place for over a hundred activists from Finland, Sweden, Denmark and several other European Countries.

The Camp’s stated goal was to stop Shell’s destructive drilling after fossil gas in

Skåne, and the camp was for the same reason, located just 5 miles from Shell’s recent test drilling’s. Shell chose to close the wells completely down and disappear from the area the same day as camp began. A victory for the camp? – Maybe, but unfortunately it doesn’t mean, that Shell wont return, and the battle is far from won. The results from the test drilling’s is not yet finished. If they show that there is enough gas in the underground in Skåne, for Shell’s exploitation to create profit for the company on the extraction of common resources, the company will return to drill. This will have disastrous consequences for the environment in Skåne and for the climate.

There is already a major local opposition to Shell’s drilling project, despite Shell’s
persistent attempts to divert attention from their activities. It will be disastrous for
Shell if people became aware of the real consequences of boreholes and learned that the authorities are currently NOT protecting people’s rights to clean water, pure nature and ownership over the common natural resources, but primarily protecting the interests of the multinational companies. The camp therefore chose to support the current struggle in the region through activities focused on the drillings. A large dinosaurs were placed at the abandoned drilling place and a placard reading “No to the gas drillings – Leave all fossil fuels in the ground.” The same day, a Shell gas station in the nearby town Simrishamn was blockaded and closed down for several hours.

After the camp, one can reflect on what effect the camp has had? Did we succeed in achieving what we had hoped to achieve?

The struggle against Shell has not been won, but we have taken an important step on the way. The camp has created a foundation on which to build. At the same time the camp managed to bring together people from across the Nordic countries and create the basis for stronger and more comprehensive climate justice movement in the Nordic region. By linking the local struggles in the Nordic region and increasing the common knowledge and understanding the first step is taken.

Preparations for next year’s climate camp is already underway. The struggle continues – until we win! Shell out of Skåne – leave the fossil fuels in the ground!

August 11, 2010 – 8:39 am

Help in case you get lost

If you get lost on the way to the camp, go ahead and call us! The phone number is 0046 737649448.

Furthermore, there are bikes on Tomelilla Station with code locks, so if you want to borrow a bike, write to same number as above, and get a code for unlocking one of the bikes.

July 13, 2010 – 1:39 pm

How to get to the camp at Hörjelgården

Below you will find directions for how to get to Tomelilla and Norrbo (close to Hörjelgården) from Malmö and Lund. If you come from somewhere else these starting points are a detour, look at the Skånetrafiken and SJ’s website to plan other routes.

July 12, 2010 – 2:26 pm

The camp is happening next week!

The Nordic Climate Action Camp starting is next week the 14th to the 20th of July 2010.

The camp will be located 5 km outside Tomelilla in Skåne. There’s trains going directly to Tomelilla from Malmø and there will be signs at the train station explaining how to get to the camp from there.

It will be a camp of direct actions targeting the oppressive and destructive system of capitalism and furthering grassroots alternatives.

Camp program can be find here

You’ll need to pack a tent, sleeping bag and pad, cutlery and service, practical clothes, suncream, gear for taking notes, your comrades, cool materials for building, making banners etc. and maybe a bike if you feel
like it.

With love from the Nordic Climate Action Camp group.

July 11, 2010 – 8:36 pm

Take part in creating a Nordic Climate Action Camp next summer!