Blackheath 2009
The camp at Blackheath (51°28′17″N 0°0′14″E / 51.47139°N 0.00389°E / 51.47139; 0.00389) was set up on 26 August on Blackheath Common, which was the site of the 1381 Peasants' Revolt and was due to run until 2 September. The organisers kept the location of the camp secret from the police until the first day of the camp. About 1000 people arrived on the first day with the police adopting a low-key 'community policing' approach and using Twitter for the first time to communicate with protesters and senior officers held five meetings with protesters to prepare for the event. 3000 people were expected to attend the camp. Some 200 workshops were scheduled over the five days on a wide range of environmental, social and climate change issues:
- Activist photography
- Alternatives to money: timebanks and local currencies
- Art not oil: using creativity to resist oil industry sponsorship of the arts
- Butterfly & bee-making with felt
- Citizen journalism
- Carbon trading, Heathrow & Kingsnorth: an intro
- Essential know how: stops, searches and arrests
- Indigenous peoples resistance to our high carbon economy
- Legal observer training
- What students can do about the United Nations Climate Change Conference 2009 in Copenhagen
- Women and the miners' strike
A number of protests at locations around London took place during the camp.
Shops and local pubs reported good business and police presence was keep very low profile and unobtrusive. The Telegraph described it as "the cheapest – and chic-est – date in the summer festival calendar". Climate Camp TV provided a view of the camp and the associated actions.
Read more about this topic: Camp For Climate Action