Other activist groups in Bristol want to take part in a city wide day of action against 4x4s. Please join us.
1) Launch Date/1st action: We will launch as a campaign on 28th and 29th of January. The Sunday (28th) is for people who work during the week and the Monday (29th) gives us the opportunity to do an action at a ‘School Run’ (maybe at one of the private schools in Bristol?). The theme of the actions will be: OIL ADDICTS (and the side effects of this addiction) and OIL ZOMBIES. This should give people lots of scope for creativity and fun in making 4x4s uncool and getting the 4×4 drivers to think about their (very unwise) vehicle choice. Are 4×4 drivers in fact zombies who are: a) killing pedestrians and cyclists 2) blocking the streets of Bristol 3) addicted to oil, with the deadly side effects of Global Warming and the crazy ‘Oil War’ in Iraq? You get the idea, dress up as a Zombie for the day as this will give the media lots of great pics and freak out the 4×4 drivers! If you don’t want to dress up, that’s no problem.
Other groups (such as the Bristol Cycling Campaign) have expressed an interest in taking part in a joint ‘Day of Action’, when they can also protest against 4x4s in Bristol in their own way. So how about declaring the 28th of January a ‘Day of Action Against 4x4s in Bristol’? If any other groups want to talk to us about what they would like to do on that day, that’s great but if you just want to do your own thing, then that is OK with us too.
2) We will hold a planning meeting on the 7th of January to co-ordinate the day of action on the 28th. Venue TBA. Please email in if you would like to attend so we have an idea of numbers. bristol4x4alliance at yahoo.co.uk
3) Lots of media interest. Below are two articles published in the Bristol Evening Post on the 20th of December. The hostility of the 4×4 drivers in their comments is quite funny. The logic of their ‘argument’ is that David Rose is a ‘mature student’ and that is some kind of criminal offence! The Day of Action on the 28th should generate allot in media coverage – print/radio/tv etc.
4) We support the ‘Transport Manifesto for Bristol’.
Hope you all have a great Christmas break and we look forward to seeing you in January.
Kind Regards
David Rose 07817 447 406
Harriet Williams
bristol4x4alliance at yahoo.co.uk
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Bristol Evening Post – 20th December 2006
Posted on: www.thisisbristol.co.uk
GUERRILLA WARFARE DECLARED ON 4X4 DRIVERS
BY TOM HODSON
thodson@bepp.co.uk
20 December 2006
Drivers of 4x4s in Bristol face having buckets of mud thrown over their cars as part of a campaign to force gas-guzzlers off the city’s streets. Environmental activist David Rose, of Clifton, and his friend Harriet Williams decided to form a new group after seeing the popularity of the four-wheel-drive cars increase in the city. They are starting a direct action campaign of throwing buckets of mud over parked 4x4s and putting fake parking tickets under their windscreen wipers. The 42-year-old mature student at Bristol University said: “We are linked with the Alliance Against Urban 4x4s in London, and they are supporting us, after they were successful in campaigning to get a proposed £25 daily congestion charge there. “Our plan is to make 4×4 drivers look stupid by giving their cars mud washes or placing the fake tickets on them.
“It is non-violent, direct action within the law. “These vehicles never seem to be used for what they were intended. “If you live in the country you obviously may need one for off-road driving, but not in Bristol.â€? Mr. Rose said the group’s aim was to make driving a 4×4 socially unacceptable and to get Bristol City Council to levy a congestion charge on them in the centre of Bristol. Their main arguments are that the vehicles are environmentally unfriendly and pose a risk to other road users and pedestrians. Mr. Rose said motorists and cyclists also found them difficult to see around. He said: “There are just so many things wrong with them, we’ve got volunteers coming forward to join the group for all kinds of reasons. “Some are just concerned with road safety, because roads in the city are narrow and they pose a danger. They emit higher amounts of carbon than normal cars as well “We are not anti-car, we are just anti-4×4.â€? Sports cars were also part of the campaign, he said, but were not as important as 4x4s. Mr. Rose said the vehicles represented a major part of the culture of conspicuous consumption. He said: “Part of the thing with them is showing off, I don’t know why. “There seems to be more and more of them in Bristol, and I think people are angry about it, and a lot want to do something about it.â€? The fake parking tickets featured safety and emissions data and the statement “Poor Vehicle Choiceâ€?, said Mr Rose, who is hoping to develop ones specific to Bristol. The group was also looking for volunteers to join its steering committee, he said. In September 2005, cyclists in Bristol launched a poster campaign targeting four-wheel-drive cars. Members of the Bristol Cycling Campaign sent out 900, A3-size posters to members and supporters bearing the words “No 4x4sâ€? with a road sign type of image “banningâ€? them. Bob Bull, of the South West branch of the Association of British Drivers, said: “We are totally against the campaign. “Our view is that these people, once they have finished with 4x4s, will move on to something else like sports cars. “They won’t be satisfied until there are no cars on the roads, it is ridiculous.
“Yes, certain 4x4s are excessive, if they are used in an inappropriate way. “But where is the cut-off point? I drive an Audi car with four-wheel- drive, my brother-in-law has a Nissan 4×4 which is diesel and more economical than most saloons. “It’s like the whole campaign against the expansion of the airport, I think people just want to have something to moan about.â€? Wayne Baker, a spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police, said throwing mud washes over cars could be considered as criminal damage. He said: “It would be regarded as an act of criminal damage, depending on the circumstances. “It could also be regarded as a public nuisance offence as well.â€?