Alumni programme 2009-10
Campaigning past, present and future
SMK alumni lunchtime briefings
Heathrow Campaign
Date: Thursday 22nd April 2010
Time:12.30 – 1.30
Venue: CAN Mezzanine, 32 – 36 Loman Street, London, SE1 0EH
In the third and final of our current series of alumni lunchtime briefings John Stewart discussed his involvement in the campaign to stop expansion at Heathrow Airport. This high profile campaign has opposed the building of a third runway on several fronts and used a wide variety of innovative and successful campaign tactics to do so. See below for a brief outline of the campaign and John Stewart.
For more information contact: Clare Parry/020 7700 8189
Heathrow Campaign
The campaign to stop expansion at Heathrow, including the building of a third runway, has become one of the most high-profile in the UK. Campaigners have argued against expansion on grounds of noise, emissions, community destruction and air pollution. They believe that three factors have been key to their success: one, they acted as a broad-based coalition, including working together with campaigners fighting expansion at other airports; they successfully countered the economic arguments that expansion was essential for the health of the economy; and they proposed viable alternatives such as high-speed rail and video-conferencing.
John Stewart
John Stewart, the chair of the residents’ campaign group HACAN, (Heathrow Association for the Control of Aircraft Noise) was the prime mover in getting the coalition together. He also chairs AirportWatch, the national network of campaign groups opposed to airport expansion. In the 1990s, he was centrally involved in the ‘anti-roads’ movement which was opposed to the Government’s £23 billion road building plan. In 2008 the Independent on Sunday nominated him as the UK’s most effective environmentalist
Save Rosia Montana Campaign
Date: Wednesday 24th February 2010
Time: 12.30 – 1.30
Venue: Which?, 2 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 4DF
In the second of our series of alumni lunchtime briefings Dr Stephanie Roth discussed her involvement in the ‘Save Rosia Montana’ campaign. The campaign opposes a Canadian mining company’s plan to develop what would be Europe’s largest open-cast gold mine in the historic village of Rosia Montana. See below for a brief outline of the campaign and Stephanie Roth’s biography.
For more information contact: Clare Parry/ 020 7700 8189
Our next alumni event in this series will focus on a future campaign.
Save Rosia Montana
Rosia Montana is a small town in the most western outlet of the Carpathian Mountain chain in Transylvania, Romania – where a Canadian mining company wants to develop what would be Europe's largest open cast gold/silver mine. This would require the relocation of the community, mountain-top removal, the destruction of globally significant archaeological sites, and the use of cyanide to separate the gold from the ore. The 'Save Rosia Montana' campaign is a national NGO movement against the mine. It is centred on 'Alburnus Maior' a residents’ association based in Rosia Montana. As a result of the campaign the mine project has made no real progress in the last five years.
Dr. Stephanie Roth
Stephanie is a Swiss and French environmental activist working on mining and agricultural issues in the EC region and Romania in particular. In 2002 she moved to Rosia Montana, Romania to develop and coordinate the 'Save Rosia Montana' campaign on behalf of 'Alburnus Maior', a community group based in Rosia Montana, and for which she was awarded the 'Goldman Environmental Prize' in 2005. Based between the UK and Romania, Stephanie is currently working with several NGOs towards a ban of cyanide-based gold mining in the EC region with Hungary being the first state to formally adopt this in December 2009.
Shot at Dawn Campaign
Date: Wednesday 11th November 2009
Time: 12.30 – 1.30
Venue: LGA, Local Government House, Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HZ
In the first of our series of three alumni lunchtime briefings Julian Putkowski discussed his involvement in the ‘Shot at Dawn’ campaign which demanded the enactment of posthumous pardons for 306 British soldiers who were unfairly executed for desertion or cowardice during the Great War. See below for a brief outline of the campaign and Julian Putkowski.
For more information comtact: Clare Parry/ 020 7700 8189
Shot at Dawn
During the Great War the British Army executed 306 British soldiers, mostly for desertion or cowardice and concealed details about their fates. After their identities were revealed in 1989, and their courts-martial dossiers were declassified, it became clear many had been unfairly treated. The dead men’s relatives were outraged and in 1990 John Hipkin founded the ‘Shot at Dawn’ campaign, demanding the enactment of posthumous pardons. After sixteen years campaigning, via an amendment to the 2006 Army Act, HM Government finally conceded that the men had not deserved execution.
Julian Putkowski
Julian Putkowski is a military historian who co-authored with Julian Sykes, ‘Shot at Dawn’, the book that first identified all the soldiers executed by the British Army during the First World War. Julian subsequently conducted research and advice for the pardons campaign, participating in most of SAD’s numerous networking and lobbying initiatives.
* The alumni programme is prioritised for past and present SMK award winners and finalists, as well as participants of Influencing Change 2008/09 and previous campaign workshop attendees.
