Welcome to the Turning Tides Blog
This is a space for longer posts about things happening in our city, things which are inspiring us and everything else ❤️
The events of the past week have been deeply troubling and we understand that many people are concerned with what is happening in this country and what may occur tonight across the UK, including in Portsmouth.
We stand in solidarity with all communities who are facing violence and persecution.
We are aware a location has been shared for a potential fascist protest in Portsmouth tonight. Please stay away from this location if you do not feel safe. If attending, please don’t go on your own, cover your face and identifying features and prioritise your safety.
Look out for your neighbours, local community and your own safety. Help with clean up operations and show that Portsmouth stands against fascism, racism and discrimination in all forms.
Love will always be stronger than hate.
(credit to Jon Neil for the graphic)
The Whole Truth Five
Taken from press release, read in full here
Read the story of the longest sentence handed to peaceful climate protestors in UK history…
On Thursday 18th July, at Southwark Crown Court, Judge Christopher Hehir jailed Roger Hallam (57, from Wales) for five years, whilst Daniel Shaw (38, from Northampton), Lucia Whittaker De Abreu (34, from Derby), Louise Lancaster (58, from Cambridge) and Cressida Gethin (22, from Hereford) were each sentenced to four years.
They were convicted last week of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance in relation to the M25 motorway disruption in November 2022.
The trial…
At last week’s trial, Judge Hehir ruled that climate issues were ‘irrelevant and inadmissible’, dismissing them as mere ‘political opinion and belief’. Although the legislation includes a defence of ‘reasonable excuse’ and despite the prosecution acknowledging the imminent catastrophic and irreversible harm from burning fossil fuels, the judge prevented the jury from considering whether the defendants had a reasonable excuse and directed them to ignore any evidence about the climate crisis.
On 24 June, the first day of the trial, the UN Special Rapporteur for Environmental Defenders, Michel Forst, issued an extraordinary public statement, relating to one of the defendants, Daniel Shaw, describing the threat of a 2 year prison sentence as ‘appalling’ and potentially unlawful under international law:
“I have now received new information regarding the imminent criminal trial of Mr. Shaw that I consider deeply concerning. With Mr. Shaw’s criminal trial set to start today, on 24 June 2024, I have been informed that Mr. Shaw may reasonably expect to face a prison sentence of up to two years (or more) for, in essence, his participation in a Zoom call to discuss a proposed peaceful environmental protest. The imposition of such sanction is not only appalling but may also violate the United Kingdom’s obligations under international law.”
When the defendants insisted on honouring their oaths to tell the jury the whole truth about their actions and refused to leave the witness box until they had done so, the judge repeatedly had them arrested and jailed throughout the trial.
The judge also refused the defence request to call Professor Bill McGuire as a witness, one of the world’s leading experts on climate impacts.
Figures of the climate movement and climate scientists give their support…
The naturalist and TV broadcaster, Chris Packham, issued a statement on X, referring to the court case as a ‘sham’, adding ‘we should not allow our courts to be corrupted by [the might of the fossil fuel industry].’
Sir David King, the government’s former Chief Scientific Adviser, said:
“This is so disgraceful. We are all hoping that the change in UK Govt will also change the situation in our courts.”
Referring to a previous ruling of Judge Silas Reid that the evidence of the climate crisis was irrelevant and inadmissible in a similar trial, Professor James E. Hansen of Columbia University, New York, said:
“The cruelty of such ‘know nothing’ judges is not so much to the defendant, as it is to our children and grandchildren.”
It is expected there will be an appeal, please donate to help that if you can.
PompeyB
(Campaign for Participatory Budgeting)
“To seriously tackle the issues related to climate breakdown, you need communities to be on board and have a meaningful say. Therefore, deliberative approaches, such as PB, are absolutely essential.”
A Brief History of PompeyB and its Aims…
Inspired by the original Participatory Budgeting (PB) in Porto Alegre, Brazil, PompeyB was founded in 2022 by David Simpson. Prior to 2022, Participatory Budgeting (PB) for Portsmouth started off as a project for Portsmouth Labour Party. The concept of PB was also discussed in Green Drinks, Greenpeace and Pompey Politics.
Since PompeyB’s founding, we have had some success. We managed to get support from 10% of candidates for the 2023 local elections, and we also have the backing of the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Portsmouth Tom and Nikki Coles.
The aims of PompeyB are to establish a PB process which can be developed into a regular yearlong event, which is rules based, and with principles based on equality, social justice, belonging, anti-poverty accountability and transparency.
We also believe that where surveys and consultations have their place within local democracy, this is not enough to engage genuinely and effectively local people and their communities.
So, we are relaunching in 2024 and we would like to set up events such as raising the public profile of PB through public meetings and exhibitions and stalls at major local events, e.g., Portsmouth Pride.
Anyone is welcome to be involved, any age, race, gender, sexuality etc. You don’t need to be an expert in how local government works, just a passion for local democracy and a skill that you would want to bring to the group.
“I want to encourage hope within the community and people can join me, I will be here every Friday from 12.30, so if they can support me for an hour then we can expand on hope.”- Paul Bleach, 56
Paul Bleach, 56, has been outside Portsmouth City Council Offices every Friday since ____ calling on local government to take more action on the climate crisis in Portsmouth, with introducing more green policies and tackling air pollution. You can join Paul every Friday from 12.30-1.30pm outside the council offices at guildhall square.
He said: “This is my Greta Thunberg style protest. What I find mostly is that people feel powerless and they are either incredibly afraid and anxious or they continue their life because they feel there is nothing they can do about it. I firmly believe our government, any government, local councils, their number one duty to their community is a duty of care. I live in hope, you have to have hope and doing something strengthens ones hope, so by being here I hope to cause a change within the system at some point.”
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