London Indymedia

Plane Stupid Activist Glued To PM Inside Downing Street

Plane Stupid | 22.07.2008 19:39 | Climate Chaos | Ecology | London

A campaigner from the climate action group, Plane Stupid, is currently super-glued to Prime Minister Gordon Brown in the State Dining Room of 10 Downing Street.

Dan Glass, a 24 year old MSc student based in Scotland, gained access to the PM’s official residence at 5pm this evening. He greeted Mr Brown and asked the Prime Minister why he and his ministers have refused to meet West London residents opposed to the construction of a third runway at Heathrow. He simultaneously put his super-glue covered hand onto Brown’s polyester suit. When Brown went to turn away he found he had been super-glued by his clothing to Plane Stupid, and had no option but to listen to Dan.

Dan read messages to the PM from people whose villages will be bulldozed if Brown agrees to BAA’s expansion plans. He also read out testimony from communities across the world threatened by climate change while Downing Street aides attempt to extract the Labour leader from the green campaigner. Dan hoped to stay glued to the PM long enough to begin quoting from confidential documents secured through the Freedom of Information Act, which reveal the government’s public consultation on Heathrow expansion was fixed. The papers reveal Ministers have engaged in an extraordinary level of collusion with airport operator, BAA, fiddling pollution figures and developing a joint strategy to beat opposition groups.

The government consultation received 80,000 responses from the public, almost all of which opposed the government’s plans, despite the fact that people were not even asked whether they wanted a third runway and no consideration of the climate impacts appeared in the consultation documents.

Dan took today’s extraordinary step because Brown and his Transport Secretary, Ruth Kelly, have refused to meet residents from Sipson – the west London village, which would be wiped off the map if new Labour gives into BAA’s demands for a third runway. Some of the messages Dan is reading out to the Prime Minister are quotes from newspaper interviews with Sipson residents.

Plane Stupid activist, Graham Thompson who is currently facing prosecution for scaling Parliament in February and branding the Palace of Westminster “BAA HQ,” today said:

“Gordon Brown’s only got two possible legacies, the first Prime Minister to really get climate change or the last one not to. Brown needs to realise we can beat climate change, but not by doubling the size of the world’s biggest international airport. That’s why we took our peaceful campaign from the roof of Parliament to 10 Downing Street.”

When BAA first sought permission to build Terminal 5, the company wrote to nearby residents promising never to seek further Heathrow expansion. Now they have colluded with the government to get a third runway and a sixth terminal by manipulating the consultation process which has been widely condemned as unfair, undemocratic and fundamentally dishonest.

Graham Thompson continued:

“Brown’s consultation was a fix, pure and simple. It was the single most anti-democratic thing this wretched government has done since the Iraq war, and that’s saying something. Dan thought that if super-gluing himself to the Prime Minister was the only way to cut through the power of giant corporations like BAA and ensure he hears what people from West London really think, then so be it.”

- ENDS -

MORE INFORMATION AND AUDIO OF THE ACTION:

www.planestupid.com
 press@planestupid.com

NOTES:

Dan Glass biog:

Dan Glass is a 24 year old student from Barnet, north London. He is currently studying an MSc in human ecology and climate change at Strathclyde University in Scotland where he is researching the impacts of airport expansion on community cohesion. Dan joined Plane Stupid about 18 months ago after he was inspired by reading George Monbiot’s books. Dan is a graduate of Sussex University where he studied Geography and Development Studies and where he was elected to be president of the university student union. His father is a lawyer and his mother works for a Jewish Music Institute. Dan says he draws his motivation to stand up for what he believes in from his grandparents who are holocaust survivors.

Details of the FoI documents detailing the fixed consultation:

Sunday Times revelations:  http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article3512042.ece

FoI documents: www.greenpeace.org.uk/baa

Plane Stupid
- e-mail: info@planestupid.com
- Homepage: http://www.planestupid.com

Additions

Additional audio and a still photo

22.07.2008 22:05


Download: Audio of Dan and the PM - mp3 1.3M


Here's an audio clip from the event, as well as a photo.

Plane Stupid
- Homepage: http://www.planestupid.com


Comments

Hide the following 17 comments

sweeet!

22.07.2008 20:32

I'll buy you a pint when yer out of guantanamo, dan!

dodgy


Somebody needed to do it!

22.07.2008 20:36

Somebody needed to, for a million and one reasons.
I'm glad that a plane stupid activist finally got round to it!

No Third Runway & Smash Kingsnorth!

Power back to the people.

eco-action


Wow!

22.07.2008 20:58

Wow, just wow! Great action!

ARA


a govt award for protesting? Ive heard it all...

22.07.2008 22:16





BBC reports

'After the incident Mr Glass was allowed to stay in Downing Street for 40 minutes.

When he left the building he tried to glue himself to the gates of Downing Street but had his hand detached by a police officer.

"I didn't have much glue left by that point," he said.

Mr Glass was invited to Downing Street to receive an award from the Sheila McKechnie Foundation for his protesting work with Plane Stupid.


'''

Im beyond speechless...

Why didn't Dan deck the bastard?





+


anyone got the bbc link?

22.07.2008 22:41

i did a search on the website for 'plane stupid' and 'Sheila McKechnie' but this story didn't appear

anyone got a link

sounds marvellous - well done

link searcher


Laugh.....?

22.07.2008 22:52

Whilst reading about this i laughed so much it hurt!

Thankyou and well done.

watcher


You're a fucking champion

23.07.2008 00:09

That is absolutely amazing. Nice work.

It sounded so good I wasn't sure it was serious at first.

MonkeyBot 5000


Link to mainstream press

23.07.2008 00:42


Nice one!

Here's the link to BBC article -

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7520401.stm

Impressed...


To recieve an award for protesting??

23.07.2008 07:33

Do you have to be middle class to get protesting awards cos I never got one?

@narchist


That's some good glueing

23.07.2008 08:03

Not only powerful but so funny - Well done, Dan!

crank


Yes. But you didn't "gain access" did you?

23.07.2008 09:20

The point is that this is obviously a good protest, well executed, and with a great message. So you don't need to try and mislead people in your press release.. I am reposting this message because it has been deleted once. Is this how indymedia works now?

Dubious


fair enough, that took guts

23.07.2008 14:17

I personally couldn't stomach 'getting an award' for 'protesting' but i rate the way Plane Stupid has cannily walked the line between mainstream Amnesty International style campaigning and ecological direct action politics. Knowing P.S. is all you need to reassure yourself they'll accept reforms and look good for TV, but aren't sell-outs like Greenpeace and FOE, they just pick their tactics for what they are doing.

Just cos the PM was patronising and Number 10 has 'laughed it off' doesn't change the fact that Plane Stupid have grabbed the headlines once again.

Fair play dan.

Bill Stickers


Sarah Alcott is mistaken

23.07.2008 16:24

In reply to Sarah's bizarre and incorrect comments. Dan was at the award ceremony collecting an award for his work with Plane Stupid in Scotland. So agreeing not to talk about Plane Stupid would seem ridiculous. He was actually glued to Gordon's sleeve until Gordon ripped his hand away. Dan had the full backing of those Plane Stupid activists that knew about it in advance.

I'm not sure who you are Sarah but your information is incorrect.
Dan we salute you!

Plane Stupid
mail e-mail: info@planestupid.com
- Homepage: http://www.planestupid.com


lulzy

23.07.2008 23:50

This would be pretty lulzy if it was ironic, ie. a self-deprecating nod by a radical reformist group like plane stupid to the fact that they actually are wholly 'glued' to the power structures of capitalism (media, politicians, spectacle)..

How the fuck do these people get invited to Downing Street anyway? Every era seems to have it's quintessential recuperators, and its useful stooges. Some very influential people clearly consider plane stupid useful media commodities - because if they were really any threat they wouldn't be getting onto fucking newsnight would they?

Even the name plane stupid has a PR soundbite / branding professionalism written all over it. And the Toby whatsisname thing was an obvious decoy, a bit of titillating radical gossip/blog fodder for shoring up faux-radical Guardian types' complacent, smug attitude that "oh the young people are doing something about climate change so I as an aging lefty can keep buying the adverts, as long as I maintain my 'values' "

anonymous


it's in the Spanish state press.

24.07.2008 18:16

They didn't mention the Prime Minister of Her Majesty's government of the UK & Northern Rock wearing a polyester suit though. I suppose snobbery is a British thing ;-) I reckon the protester is lucky he wasn't facing a Thatcher who probably wouldn't have been wearing a suit and would just have ripped the skin of his hand. Which brings my wondering to how he is now. Will he go through life like one of those extras from adhesive adverts who are suspended by their dungarees over shark infested hamster tanks? forever reeking of glue? Or will the surgeons instead of removing epidermis from his hand just encourage him to carry the PM's sleeve for evermore?

io


That's cool "anonymous"...

25.07.2008 11:16

but what are YOU actually DOING. Besides dismissing everything? Besides the cynicism? Plane Stupid are playing the game, and they are playing it well... Do we envy their success? Possibly! Are we envious of the media coverage? Without doubt! I have attended many a protest where the main criticism is that it didn't receive any coverage, or that no-one is interested. Well, now the issue is getting coverage and we should be grateful for that, and - most importantly LEARN from it. I'm not sure that your "Newsnight" comment flies either, since they have hosted everyone from Mark E Smith to Noam Chomsky and John Pilger. And I'm not sure any of them could be described as "useful media commodities".

Dubious


How moronic

28.07.2008 07:12

Do you econuts really think stunts like this advance your cause? They only demonstrate how foolish and inconsequential you truly are!

Engineer


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