kingsnorth six

In this edition of our podcast we talk to award-winning film maker Nick Broomfield about his latest project. 'A Time Comes' is an 18 minute documentary about our very own Kingsnorth Six, who were arrested for shutting down a coal-fired power station but found 'not guilty' at the subsequent trial.

But first let's head down to the Airplot to meet veteran comedian and star of fabled 1970s tv series 'The Good Life', Richard Briers. Richard turned up at our plot of land on the site of the proposed new runway at Heathrow to help us dig for victory in the campaign by starting an allotment – Christian Hunt grabbed a spade and went along to meet him.

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Kingsnorth Six leaving Maidstone Crown Court after being found not guilty © Rezac / Greenpeace

Last time I looked we had a long and honourable tradition in this country of respect for justice and juries. And, though some might think it strange to say so, that respect lies at the heart of Greenpeace's direct action culture. Greenpeace volunteers take personal responsibility for their actions and leave it to 'the people', in the form of a 12-person randomly selected jury, to determine whether that action was appropriate and lawful or not.

The New York Times magazine isn't on my normal reading list but my attention has been pointed towards their annual Year In Ideas issue. This festive celebration of high-concept thinking (and the odd stocking filler, like never-ending bubble wrap) is their take on the year in review and there was great excitement in the office this morning when we heard that the Kingsnorth Six had made it into the August list.

In this special edition of our podcast, we take a behind the scenes look at the extraordinary events that have already gone down in legend here at the Greenpeace office. This month, six Greenpeace activists were acquitted of causing criminal damage to Kingsnorth coal-fired power station, because they were acting to prevent greater damage caused by climate change. The verdict has been hailed by some of the world's more hysterical media pundits as the official start of a state of anarchy in the UK.

I spent ten days with the defendants, finding out what was really happening, and how they were coping with the emotion, stress and drama of being at the centre of it all.

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Want to know more about the issues in this podcast?

The Kingsnorth trial »
Meet the defendants »
Witness statements in full »
The case against coal »
Closing the energy gap »
The real solution »

Zak Goldsmith outside Maidstone Crown Court © Greenpeace/Jiri Rezak

As promised, here are the full written statements from the defence witnesses at the Kingsnorth trial:

• Professor Jim Hansen (pdf)
• Dr Geoff Meaden (pdf) plus a supplementary statement (pdf)
• Zak Goldsmith (pdf)
• Aqqaluk Lynge (pdf)
• Jennifer Morgan (pdf)

Obviously, these don't include verbal answers the witnesses gave while they were on the stand - check out the daily blogs from the trial for some of those.

James Hansen in conversation outside Maidstone Crown Court © Rezac/Greenpeace

I blogged bits of Hansen's spoken testimony on the day he gave it, but here's his written witness statement in full (pdf).

If you don't want to read through the whole thing, here are the summary facts (known, as Hansen writes, "by the UK government, by the utility EON, by the fossil fuel industry, and by the defendants at the time of their actions in 2007"):

Hats off to the Kingsnorth Six for having the courage to risk prison to hold the government's misguided energy policy to account. The fact that Gordon Brown and co are planning to ramp up Britain's consumption of coal (the most climate damaging fossil fuel) had gone largely unnoticed by our mainstream media until yesterday's successful trial result. Not any more!