Eco-revolutionary festival versus the Police State?

The Big Green Gathering was billed as 'The world's premier and award winning Green Festival', and after some troubles in 2007 and a respite in 2008 it was all systems go this year, or so it seemed. Over 15,000 people were expected on 29th July at Fernhill Farm near Cheddar, Somerset, but something suddenly happened to this stalwart of the UK festival calendar. Founded in 1994 as a flowering offshoot of the Glastonbury Green Fields, it provided a space to learn about and practice off-grid sustainable lifestyles, and was a joyous glimpse of how we could be living our lives. The raw effect of the events leading up to and after the cancellation is telling, and reminds us that we are not as free as we like to think, but also that resistance continues to grow...this is the story of how the BGG got cancelled. Words & pics: Kate J(B)ones

On Sunday 26th July, with site infrastructure in place, hundreds of workers on site, and no doubt hundreds of thousands of pounds outlaid and only three days before the gates were to open, the organisers suddenly surrendered their license, which had been granted on 30th June, to Mendip Council. The reason being a last-minute injunction application, citing the potential for 'crime and disorder', and listing apparent breaches of the licensing requirements, notably the absence of a required road closure order, and dissatisfaction with security and fire provision. Fully supported by Avon and Somerset Police, the injunction was sent to the BGG in the early evening of Friday 24th July and was due to be heard on Monday 27th July at the High Court in London. The shock of the cancellation sent waves of disbelief throughout the green movement. How could an event that has taken place peacefully for years end up in this situation?

This situation evolved as a result of an act by central government. Complying with new Licensing Act requirements in 2007 resulted in substantial losses for BGG, to the tune of nearly £300,000, so facing bankruptcy the Board of Directors appealed for more shareholders; benefits were held, and generous offers of help were made. One of these offers was what some may call a dubious corporate investment, somewhat at odds with the very purpose and politics of the festival itself, and not least the anti-capitalist groups that seek refuge there. The investor was Kilimanjaro Live Ltd, a company with links to AEG, the largest sports and entertainment corporation in the US, proprietor of arenas, cinemas, newspapers and sports teams. Owned by a Texan oil billionaire, it counts a powerful media magnate among its shareholders and is funded, according to Steve, an ex-Director of BGG (one of the "original seven", and founder of the Healing Fields) by the "American fundamentalist Christian right". There was a lot of "disquiet" within the ranks about the deal, and that it was not as "transparent as I would have liked...the people who did this deal have no financial experience...no financial competence...they are all politicians, they are only talk," he said. KKL promised £150,000, but due to the small matter of global financial collapse, BGG received only £50,000.

From a business perspective, this figure is hardly worth relinquishing the post of Financial Director to the man responsible for the politically repressive and advertisement-heavy Live 8 and Live Earth concerts, Stuart Galbraith. One of the current Directors on the Board, Penny Kemp, said that "a lot of people and shareholders were very cross... there were a lot of hard questions... don't like this corporate connection, but when faced with conditions, you look for alternative sources...they were not permitted to interfere with the content or primary purpose of the festival." At the time Corporate Watch reported that the opposite pull of ethical-political and economic considerations split the Board of Directors and the Steering Group. Starved of income, 'party politics' became the predominant consideration, and the ability of the festival to maintain the ethical integrity of its radical autonomous spaces was ultimately compromised. What would you choose? An ethical abortion or try and keep a unique and exceptional gathering alive? Recall that this company has links to the organisation that reportedly employed the allegedly dubious doctor tasked with supposedly keeping Michael Jackson healthy for those fifty gigs at the aforementioned promoter's flagship venue, unless the whole weird situation is of course part of an even bigger scam... Where was I...?

KKL are apparently no longer a part of the BGG, proving to be Galbraith's first UK embarrassment, but damage may already be done with regard to the integrity of the BGG and its duty to the movement. The organisers, having not given up even at the risk of selling out everything the BGG has ever stood for, were on track to return in 2009, or so they thought. As Penny said to me, "with hindsight...I should have seen something was up...at the Multi-Agency meeting (on 23^rd July) there was no licensing officer, two firemen who had no objections before, the police were out in force, including the Inspector, I didn't think it at the time...you are just trying to meet all the demands, but it was bizarre." In this is a terrifying precedent; BGG, and all of us, have submitted to ever increasing demands and the interference of authorities. The police have been given so many powers and we systematically attempt, usually in vain, to comply. "They can do what they like," Penny said.

Festival Chair Brig Oubridge wrote in November 2007 that the licensing process that year had been particularly difficult and the costs astronomical, "We had set the ticket price the previous November on the assumption costs would be no more than £100,000 - a figure considered adequate because of our good record on health and safety and the recommendation by the previous police inspector that the Big Green Gathering did not needed policing. Sadly, this year we have a new police inspector with a completely different attitude. He seems to have absorbed the anti-terrorist vocabulary, with an often-repeated insistence on the need for us to "target-harden" our event." Penny also confirmed this, adding that "policing costs escalated from £60,000 to £90,000 and, after many more conditions, increased to £200,000." And this is not an isolated incidence.

The Licensing Act 2005, designed for pubs and clubs, now applies to anywhere music is played or entertainment performed after 11pm, and under its terms police authorities can insist on certain security firms being used by organisers of events. This has had a detrimental effect on many outdoor events in particular, but there is no sign that the government will amend it. Stuart Leisure Security is the firm at the centre of the row, alleged to have a close relationship with the force, and after a situation in 2007 when they were paid late for their services - "due to our financial trouble all suppliers and creditors were paid late," Penny admitted - they wanted their whole fee of over £70,000 paid in advance. While taking out a bank loan to honour this, the police, according to organisers, announced to BGG that SLS were withdrawing their services, after the company had aired their concerns about not being paid on time and BGG therefore being in breach of contractual obligations. In a bid to meet the licensing requirements, which stipulated they have an external security team on-site, the BGG "engaged another perfectly legitimate contractor," Coast 2 Coast Security, which was (according to Carrie, a BGG staff member) to the apparent displeasure of the police. Accusations that SLS rely on police approval for lucrative contracts at Glastonbury Festival, WOMAD, Reading/Leeds Festival, and Sunrise Celebration and employs ex-Police officers are currently unsubstantiated, but one thing is clear: outsourced security men are visible, menacing and unnecessary. What may be an appropriate security level for loo-burn-a-thon Leeds Festival has cost the BGG dearly.

Despite assurances from C2C and Midland Fire Rescue that they would carry out their contractual obligations on-site at a Multi-Agency meeting on Thursday July 23^rd, the papers for the injunction were served on Friday 24^th July, at 6.54pm. According to organisers, Mendip Council maintained that the decision to proceed with an injunction was taken at a meeting between council officials, police and emergency services at 6.30pm. Included in the paper work were a number of witness statements collated from police, the licensing officer, fire service and so on, but the statement from the Highways Authority was conspicuous in its absence. "Isn't it peculiar," Penny asks, "that no witness statement was received from the Highways Authority in support of the assertion that there was no road closure order?" Carrie also said that "The council was misleading in their injunction - suggesting that there was no security for the event."

Let's for a moment consider the basic laws of time and space. How was Mendip Council physically and bureaucratically able to gather all those witness statements from the respective agencies, and obtain the relevant solicitors' letters, in just 24 minutes? Penny told me of her conversation with Jason, the licensing officer, and her shock at his slip of the tongue when he said, "I spent a long time on it as I wanted to be fair to you." How long, she pondered, had this really been planned for? Answers to Freedom Of Information requests may shed light on this, as would any forthcoming legal action by BGG against Mendip Council, action they have vowed to take. "We are in the process of writing to Mendip Council, without prejudice, that reserves us the right to take action...we want answers to our questions...the decision to stop the event was taken two weeks before..."

BGG's response to the reasons for the injunction as laid out by Mendip Council states that the licence was surrendered for the following reasons:

(a) Because the Highways Authority was being intransigent and utterly unreasonable in not giving permission for the road closure.
(b) The Fire Authority were placing unnecessary hurdles in BGG's way - which were not deemed necessary at the last festival; nor at the time of the granting of the licence, nor was any objection made by the Fire Authority at the previous Licence Hearing. They made the objection on Thursday 23rd July at a multi-agency meeting held at the premises where the BGG was to be held.
(c) Valuable time was lost, which could have been spent trying to fulfil BGG's licence obligations, but instead was spent mounting an answer to a wholly misconceived application for an injunction.

Consultation with a QC had the BGG confident that they could challenge every argument, all them "utterly mendacious"...except for one. The final "sticking point," said Penny, was the road closure order, applicable to a small lane behind the site and a licensing requirement since 2007. Another organiser contacted the Highways Agency to process this request, albeit late (a possible oversight) but it was alleged that the junior official dealing with the decision "had clearly been got at," and the closure was not granted. Without a road closure, and the Highways office conveniently closed for the weekend, the council were able to claim that BGG was in breach of licence. In a twist that complicated the potential for fighting the injunction, both the Chair of the Board and the Premises Supervisor were also named personally, then "the council threatened to name the farmer on the high court injunction which could have lost him his farm," Carrie added.

As soon as the BGG organisers surrendered the festival licence on Sunday morning, Schnews, as one of the first with the news, reported that a police commander at the meeting was overheard conveying into his radio "Operation Fortress is go,". In the same release, they quoted an organiser as saying that Chief Inspector Paul Richards, the festival liaison, later confirmed the situation was "political", adding that the decision had been made "above my pay grade". BGG chair Brig Oubridge appeared in the media accusing the authorities of "a blatant act of political sabotage...they knew that we were going to be closed down and yet they carried on allowing us to spend money hand over fist on infrastructure". As the PR machines of both the police and council swung into overdrive, a lot of people were starting to detect a stink that was all too familiar.

I find it remarkable that my emails and FOI requests to the police justified personal and courteous responses from the Deputy Director of Communications (with the Chief Inspector copied in), who said this:

"The licence application for the Big Green Gathering was received on April 15 2009. This is in contravention of Mendip District Council's published policy that event organisers should submit applications at LEAST six months in advance of the intended start date. That notwithstanding...we still dedicated a team of three staff to work with the BGG organisers on their Event Management Plan. The time and effort put in by those staff far exceeded the requirements of the police force under the Licensing Act as a 'responsible authority'," before adding "Paul has assured me that he did not say that the decision to shut down the BGG was "political". And there were no "orders" from the highest level."

The Chief Constable at the force headquarters in Portishead also saw it as necessary to personally reply to my FOI requests, saying that, "The costs of policing such an event are chargeable to organisers, in line with national ACPO (Association of Chief Police Officers) guidelines. Despite previous delays in payment for our services, we agreed that we would only require half of the costs in advance of the event. We did this as we understood that the revenue from tickets would not be available until after the event. This again demonstrated our willingness to be flexible and accommodating thereby creating greater chance of the event taking place." All well and good, but why not a junior member of staff parroting an official line as from Mendip Council, supplemented by a firm "Mendip District Council will be making no further comment on the Big Green Gathering," hmm?

During the usual licensing procedure, (see www.mendip.gov.uk/CommitteeMeeting.asp?id=SX9452-A782D404 for the minutes of meetings held between organisers and the authorities) enormous efforts had been made by the organisers to accommodate entirely new demands of police and licensing authorities. These included fortress fencing, watchtowers and perimeter patrols, confining the horse-drawn field inside a 'secure compound' with a guard at the entrance, and providing wristbands for twelve undercover police. Penny was concerned that "singling out the horse-drawn as a matter for concern is the way to start an incident" in that if you treat people as criminals they could act accordingly. Carrie suggested that there was "evidence of harassment of our suppliers" as many of the businesses associated with the festival, as well as South West Ambulance, Midland Fire Services and the fencing contractors, were contacted by the licensing authorities enquiring as to whether they had been paid. At the on-site meeting on 23rd July, only the day before the delivered intention to apply for the injunction, of which their was no mention, police took the wristbands in a show of normality, but objections and demands were mounting, none of which were raised at the granting of the license on 30th June.

In another suspicious twist, on Tuesday, 28th July, after the festival had been cancelled, a staff member found a copy of the Road Closure Order by a hedge, and subsequently another was found still taped to a gatepost. Other signs appeared to have been taken down and evidence of the silver tape was still in place. Nothing in the notice says 'proposed' - it uses phrases such as "shall come into operation", "will continue in force" and that "restrictions and prohibitions are made". Were the required road closures very much in place? Apparently not, as this was not a road closure order; it was a road closure notice. Hmm. Where was the witness statement that would have confirmed the position of the Highways Authority in the situation?

So what's next for BGG? "It's too early to tell", said Penny. "Our bank accounts are frozen. Netbanx (internet clearing bank) wants to know how many refunds need to be made before they release the money...we spent 300,000 on infrastructure, all paid for by the income the festival generates, of which there now is none." Authorities may have large resources to draw from but all BGG, and the wider community, have are themselves, their hearts and hands. "We are exhausted with heartbreak" Penny said, "but we got brilliant publicity... the spirit will continue in some form".

So what do authorities have to fear from this particular gathering of like minded people? As the only large scale off-grid event and being largely peaceful, there is rarely trouble. Amplified music ceases at 12pm and being 12V solar-powered isn't as loud as most when it is on. Everyone is there because they believe in a better world, even if it means changing the status quo to the extent that we are required to rein the greatly damaging excesses of mass air travel and purchases of exotic plastic-wrapped fruits, and stay slaves to a 'hyperreality' that serves to deny us of ever reconnecting with nature. Is it because of this defiance that authorities now tar events like BGG with the extremist brush? The BGG raises funds for a diverse array of campaign groups, as well as serving as a forum for discussion, learning and providing a safe unmonitored space to plan for actions. The demise of BGG will not stop these truth-tellers exposing the likes of Vestas, Eon, BAe, EDO, McDonalds, Monsanto, BP, Exxon, Shell etc...Our authorities and our governments hope the activists will shut up and go shopping, but they won't.

As Carrie said to me, "The conspiracy theory line is that the "powers that be" did not like the idea of a few thousand activists in a field networking and sharing skills and ideas. Especially in the light of Climate Camp, Plane Stupid, Earth First, G8 and G20 protesters all being there. I don't usually like conspiracy theories, but I was around in the 80's for the Battle of the Beanfield, and that most certainly was a conspiracy. This thing smells similar." Steve also was quite clear in what he thought, "There is a concerted attempt by the Home Office, central government, police, councils...to discredit large scale green assemblies".

This is also a discussion of whether the authorities should have a right to deny the right to gather in the first place and it goes further than this particular closure. It can be said that it is too much of a coincidence that the festival failed to go ahead at a time when the police are under intense scrutiny over their handling of demonstrations and political events. The continuing attempt by law abiding people to work towards a progressive yet peaceful existence separate from mainstream society appears to have been suppressed once again, as at the now notorious Battle of the Beanfield in 1985 and more recently at the G20/Climate Camp demonstrations in London and Kingsnorth in Kent, but in this situation suffered by people a little down on their luck, authorities do not necessarily have to be so overt.

Is the goal of our government to create subservience and obedience? Aided by a financial system that must constantly expand, for it to expand we must constantly consume, and to constantly consume is to eventually destroy the very ecosystems that support us. But they don't want us to think about that. Events like the Big Green Gathering are now needed more than ever...

NB: I regret that space constraints did not allow for more detailed celebration of the extraordinary lives of some of the people who came forward to be interviewed for this feature, for the practicing advocates of truly green living are immensely important to our survival on this planet. Special mention should go to 'Compost John', whose "carbon footprint is 1/12 the national average", and who confirmed what we all know, that "the green movement is unstoppable". I might not want to spend my days shovelling out the "shit sandwich" created by my own compost toilet and dedicate my life to alternative sewage treatment, but I am grateful that he does. Watch out for their stories and updates when FOI requests are answered on my blog at www.hoorayproductions.com