In on the act: Rajan Naidu, recently released from prison, on the value of protest

‘Preparedness, in every sense, is essential.’

‘What do love and justice require of us?’ That simple, open-ended question at the end of the Yearly Meeting epistle presents us with a life-changing challenge. Our lives can be significantly enhanced, I believe, if we respond to it in every area of our lives. There can never be a guarantee we will arrive at the ‘right’ or best response, but the very exercise of searching our consciences, engaging in intense deliberation and feelings – perhaps sharing with others – can be a powerful agent of growth and development.

It is tempting, in these times of unprecedented crises, to give up hope of resolving the countless ills and injustices we discover. We have, along the way, absorbed and integrated them into ourselves, our lifestyles, traditions, cultures. Our tastes and habits sadly often run counter to our stated principles. We might tell ourselves and others that we care about human rights, authoritarianism, cruelty, waste, injustice, environmental degradation, or good community, yet our habits of consumption often nourish ruthlessly-exploitative institutions, corporations and regimes. Out of our sight and hearing, these inflict terrible damage and suffering on vulnerable communities, fellow creatures and fragile ecosystems.

Very early in life, we learn to keep to ourselves those personal views that might bring us into conflict with prevailing views and norms. There come times, though, when we can no longer remain silent on some matter of truth, justice, good community, or the defence and protection of those vulnerable and unable to speak for or defend themselves. Then we must speak our truth and mobilise for action as effectively as we can.

The US activist Mario Savio said, in 1964: that ‘there is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can’t take part! You can’t even passively take part! And you’ve got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels ... upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you’ve got to make it stop! And you’ve got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you’re free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!’

That, friends, is close to what I and others – maybe you too – are beginning to feel. Our situation, and prospects of worse to come, are a powerful stimulus to action.

Before each action, though, we need a candid and thorough process of clarifications, critical thinking and discernment.

By joining in mass movements, people of peace can exert a tempering influence, to make sure actions are rooted firmly in principles of nonviolence and love. They can bring values and principles of simplicity, peacemaking, good spirit, stillness, welcoming community and equity.

We are free to join actions in whatever capacity we feel most comfortable. Every action, including those of presence and giving moral support, is valued and appreciated. No one is required to enter into any situation or action in which they are not happy. The organisations I have campaigned with try to maintain a culture of no blame or shame.

12 May 2022 was the day I had been bailed to appear in court for breaking an injunction from North Warwickshire Borough Council to stay away from the Kingsbury Oil Terminal. Instead I returned there, with others, to continue our protest against the fact that the government has refused to give an assurance that they will not issue new licences for oil or gas exploration and extraction. If such an assurance had been given, no activism would have taken place at Kingsbury or any of the other sites around the country. We now have a government that seems deaf to all pleading, determined to expand fossil fuel extraction and usage, and that is terrifying.

Everyone who takes part in any action with Extinction Rebellion or in the Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil campaigns will have engaged in training sessions. Most important among those are the ones on nonviolence and de-escalation – cooling down heated, angry, potentially-dangerous situations. We also have ‘Know Your Rights’ workshops, very useful for learning what citizens’ rights you have with respect to the police and judiciary.

Preparedness, in every sense, is essential. It is vital that we go into every situation as well-informed as we can be, and with our eyes fully open. There is no pressure on anyone to do anything they do not feel ready or equipped to do. In the climate justice movement we are all crew. Through being together in training sessions and on actions, we develop strong bonds of trust and friendship. That has been a wonderful and, for me, very important aspect of our campaigning actions for climate justice.

During actions I got to speak with police officers, court ushers and security staff. In the course of conversations we often reached an understanding of mutual respect. My observation was that when we spoke honestly and quietly of the concerns that led to our actions, police and court officials often showed themselves to be in sympathy with our objectives, if not always our methods.

When the four of us arrived in Winson Green prison, HMP Birmingham, a group of prisoners approached us. One said, ‘You’re those protesters!’ When I asked how he knew, he said they’d all seen us on the news and that we were ‘famous’, which made us laugh. Fellow inmates were generally friendly and well-disposed toward us.

As remand prisoners we were allowed to wear our own clothes minus belts. We were issued with grey tracksuits. The food was not the finest, but vegan, sufficient and edible. We were put in pairs in small cells, minimally furnished, with a very solid, immovable bunk bed and graffiti – names, postcodes – on every available surface. I shared a cell, or ‘pad’, with my friend Peter. There was a small sink and a toilet with a portable wooden screen for a tiny bit of privacy. The windows had bars sandwiched between two sheets of plastic, giving a cloudy view of high fences and a building site. We spent most of our time locked in cells, with around an hour for ‘association’ – exercise, showering, speaking with other prisoners, making phone calls, and cleaning cells. We were allowed, one floor at a time, to collect our food, then take it back to our cells, where we’d be locked in to eat it. Being locked in small spaces for long periods is not likely to help people, many of whom are unhappy and with multiple disadvantages, to be rehabilitated before they return to wider society.

I have spent nights in police cells after arrests at campaigning actions, but this was my first experience of prison. My brief stay there brought home to me the vital need for much more of the work that Quakers and others do to reform and improve the judicial and prison systems.

Each time I have been in a police or prison cell I have experienced the powerfully-supportive feeling of knowing I was being held in the light by Friends who knew of my situation. For that I will always feel very grateful.

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Comments

Epistle of BYM 2022:
https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/epistle-britain-yearly-meeting-2022

Mario Savio’s “Operation of The Machine” speech:
https://youtu.be/lsO_SlA7E8k

Just Stop Oil:
https://juststopoil.org/

Insulate Britain:
https://www.insulatebritain.com/

Extinction Rebellion:
https://extinctionrebellion.uk/

Examples of activism I have been associated with:

“Quaker Values - Vegan Values” 
(Acknowledgements to Basia Forrest and Tim Heath for their valuable help and contributions to this article)
https://thefriend.org/article/a-more-vegan-lifestyle-has-the-potential-to-be-an-exciting-joyful-opening

Opposing and ending the corporate neocolonialism of palm oil corporations in the Global South, human rights violations, disruption of indigenous communities, land theft, habitat destruction, pollution, biodiversity loss, extinctions.

Dr Salvador Aznar Benitah on palmitic acid, palm oil, metastasis, cancers:
https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkxjj0-bowAfRXAHqOWI0xGi-doHyCZAMiD

Petition to get palm oil banned from foods in Britain:
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/601415

Palm Oil Detectives:
https://palmoildetectives.com

By Rajan on 16th June 2022 - 16:02

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