Rossport Solidarity Camp

Rossport Solidarity Camp () was established in the middle of June 2005, at the request of residents of Rossport, in north-west County Mayo, Ireland, opposing the construction of a high pressure raw gas pipeline and inland refinery plant in their area. It was born out of a solidarity gathering held in Rossport on the first weekend in June that year. The opposition to the Corrib gas project by Rossport Solidarity Camp and Shell to Sea has lead to the Corrib gas controversy.
History
After the jailing of the Rossport Five, it was feared that Shell would attempt to lay the pipeline to the Corrib Gas Field on their lands 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 the camp was assembled. Cooking equipment and experience came from the Bitchin’ Kitchen Collective, a marquee was donated by , one of the groups organising the G8 protests in Scotland, tents were acquired, protesters recruited from NUI Galway Ecology Society and environmentalist group Gluaiseacht. All this was put together early in July, on Philip McGrath’s small farm and on the intended 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 landfall for the pipeline was intended 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 Garda 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".
Solidarity Week & the Grassroots Gathering, August 2005
At the end of August Rossport Solidarity Camp organised a culminating in the 10th Grassroots Gathering . 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 10th 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 veterans of the campaign against Merrill Dow in Cork in the late 1980s. There were also skills share workshops. Over a hundred people attended the Gathering that weekend, with Rossport Solidarity Camp briefly forming three camps on the pipeline route.
Winter; preparing for Rossport Solidarity Camp ‘06
The camp disbanded at the end of the construction season in October both as Shell had ceased work and due to conditions on the campsite becoming 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 an office with Internet and phone access was set up. Throughout the winter months preparations were made for the coming summer’s camp which was intended to be bigger than the previous summer's.
Camp participants spoke at meetings around Ireland and 'building the camp'meetings in Dublin and Galway were held to get more people involved. Two participants in the camp went on a speaking tour of England before Christmas, speaking at social centres and various other venues. A further speaking tour of Scotland and England happened in February and talks were given in Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as visiting several other protest camps. In January a camper attended the World Social Forum in Venezuela on behalf of the Shell to Sea campaign.
As well as promoting the camp through talks and meetings decisions as to how to run the camp in regard to issues such as the approach to the media, decision making structures, dealing with sexual harassment etc. were discussed. A skill share weekend was held at Halloween with workshops on permaculture, alternative energy, campaign tactics, media and "safer spaces" (dealing with issues of sexual harassment within activist circles).
On the February 17 and 18 actions of solidarity were held across Ireland and Britain as well as in Holland and Sweden aimed at highlighting the reopening of the camp and marking the beginning of a new season of resistance against Shell and the Irish government.
February 2006; The Camp Reopens
Rossport Solidarity Camp re-opened on the February 25 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 February 25, over 30 Shell to Sea supporters 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, composting toilets, food composting facilities, a grey water system, pathways, and a kitchen were built.
The June Gathering 2006
On the June Bank Holiday weekend in 2006, Rossport Solidarity Camp celebrated one year's involvement in the Shell to Sea campaign. A gathering was held on the camp with talks, workshops, a tour of the area, movies, music and planning. The weekend included a "privatisation forum" focusing on the privatisation of natural resources with Jose Sagarnaga from the London based Bolivia Solidarity Campaign and Maura Harrington from the Shell to Sea campaign explained issues of ownership and control of Irish natural resources. The weekend also featured a report from the Global Women's Strike on how women in Venezuela were organising for the return of the oil wealth.
The August Gathering 2006
International Links
Iceland
In March 2006 Oli and Arne from the Saving Iceland campaign, where the government has embarked on a plan to dam the island’s glacial rivers to provide power for a series of aluminium smelters, came top to visit Erris. They showed a film and gave a talk in the local hall looking at the similarities in the campaigns.
South Africa
In May 2006 Des D’Sa from South Durban Community and Environmental Alliance and Siziwe Khanyile from Groundwork came to visit en route to the Shell AGM in Holland. They showed a film in the local hall and spoke about their campaign against Shell's pollution of their neighbourhood.
Bolivia and Ecuador
As part of Latin American solidarity week 2006, the Latin American Solidarity Centre Ireland brought two activists, Ricardo, an organiser with Accion Ecologica from Ecuador, and Tania, from Bolivia, to speak about the organising they are involved in with specific reference to natural resources. Tania spoke about the social movements in Bolivia and the “water wars” against privatisation of the country’s water. Roberto spoke about the politics of resources in Latin America, making particular reference to the struggle of indigenous communities in the Amazon region of Ecuador against oil companies such as Texaco.
Nigeria
The community in Erris has made links with people in Nigeria living with Shell, calling themselves ‘the Bogoni’ in reference to the Ogoni people whose campaign against the multinational attained publicity with the execution of its leader Ken Saro Wiwa in 1995. On Saro-Wiwa’s 10 year anniversary, on the 10th of November 2005, an “African monster party” was held in Glenamoy, near Rossport and a mural of Saro Wiwa by local artist John Monaghan was unveiled. Members of Ireland's Nigerian community were invited to Erris to share in remembering Saro Wiwa and people worldwide struggling against companies like Shell. Nine crosses were unveiled outside the gates of the proposed refinery site bearing the names of the ‘Ogoni eight’ and Ken Saro Wiwa.
Shell Recommence work at Bellanaboy
The picket was maintained at Shell's proposed refinery site at Bellanaboy, where the trailer (Shell to Sea HQ) was parked. Throughout the summer months visitors came to the area to talk to residents and see for themselves what was happening on the ground. In September Shell announced their intention to recommence work at Bellanaboy but were stopped by residents and campaigners who stood in front of the site gates.
On Tuesday September 26, over one hundred Erris Shell to Sea campaigners blocked a convoy of Shell vehicles accessing the site by again standing in front of the site gates. Shell were accompanied by members of the Gardaí, who ordered the protesters to move. They ignored Garda orders and when again ordered to move some of the campaigners began to recite the rosary. When it became apparent that the protesters would not move the Shell vehicles turned away.
The 3 October 2006
Having failed to gain access to their site in September as planned Shell were assisted in recommencing work in early October by the State. Early on the morning of October 3, almost 200 extra Gardaí were drafted into the area. They erected road blocks and crowd control barriers around Shell's work site. Residents engaged in a sit-down blockade in front of the site gates but were removed by Gardaí and Shell's vehicles entered the site.
In the days following October 3 attempts were made to blockade Shell’s work vehicles and to prevent them from accessing their proposed refinery site at Bellanaboy. Protesters gathered near the refinery each morning sometimes blocking Shell's vehicles by standing or sitting in front of them, sometimes just marching with placards and banners
National Days of Action
First Day of Action October 20
A ‘National Day of Action’ was called on October 20. Campaigners working in the National Shell to Sea network and supporters travelled to Erris with the aim of stopping Shell from gaining access to the site.
Second Day of Action November 10
A second day of Action was called for November 10 2006 , the anniversary of Ken Saro Wiwa and the Ogoni 8. Approximately 250 Shell to Sea activists and supporters travelled to Erris to participate in a blockade of Shell’s work convoy of workers and materials. Gardaí responded to the blockades strongly with several protesters sustaining injuries and three protesters hospitalised.
Day of Support February 16
A third national mobilisation was held at Bellanaboy on February 16 2007. Several hundred Shell to Sea organisers and supporters gathered to demonstrate. The day had two parts beginning with a march beginning two miles from the site to the refinery gates. The march began at the Rossport side, purposely avoiding construction traffic. The march had a carnival atmosphere with an improvised samba band, clowns and a sound system in a wheelbarrow.
After the main march approximately a hundred people proceeded down a side road and gained access to the refinery site staging a peaceful occupation and effectively shutting down the site for several hours.
Eviction
In July 2007, the camp was served with a notice to evict by Mayo County Council, which cited the unauthorised nature of the structures erected and the potential damage to a candidate Special Area of Conservation. Local people offered the campers different places to stay and raised funds to fight the eviction in court. Most are now squatting in a house overlooking both the original camp and the Bellinaboy site. In September 2007, the court rightly ordered the campers to remove the camp entirely by January 2008.

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