Latest news with #GaieDelap
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
We should all grieve about the state of the world. It can be an integral part of activism
Time, it seems, is moving in strange ways for many of us. A colleague recently said, 'mourning, reckoning and activism all seem to require different speeds,' and I'm grateful to her for that. I've often thought that the 'gear-shift' between my paid work and the unpaid beautiful work of mothering feels like a rusty old manual car that I don't quite understand how to drive. Lurch. Clunk. Add to that combination of work and parenting the immanent collapse of the world one was raised in, and there is a lot more grit than just clunky gears. The thing is, the world isn't changing: our illusions about 'the west' are finally being pulled down, and with it, our perceptions of time. When I was last able to visit the UK, where I lived for nearly 18 years, and which I consider (in confusing and complex ways) my home, one of my oldest and dearest poetry friends was in the midst of a family difficulty outside the scope of their usual experience. When Mick was 80, his sister, Quaker activist Gaie Delap, had been imprisoned for action against climate change. At the time of my visit, Mick and the rest of the family was in the midst of getting her case into the media as much as possible, because Gaie was supposed to have a tag fitted that allowed her to be in home detention, but for months, a tag could allegedly not be found. The point is, the UK government spent time and money imprisoning a 78-year-old woman trying to protest against governmental failures around climate change, because her heart is breaking for her grandchildren. And the government would rather put her in prison than do a damn thing to curtail climate change. Sitting across from Mick and crying with him about his sister who was in prison, who was suffering ill effects to her mental and physical health due to the conditions there, was humbling for many reasons. Here were the elders I was longing for, the intergenerational grieving and fighting for justice that I'd been wondering about. I love that many people in their generation are fighting, and moreover – psychologically and perhaps spiritually more important – I appreciate their acknowledgment of the pain and suffering that is impacting us all. They are suffering it, too, and they are also fighting. They are grieving, openly. There is solidarity in that. I, and many of us from inherited Puritanical backgrounds, are not taught to express grief. Stoicism was upheld as much more laudable, but we've learned, often the hard way, that damming the river only causes it to burst the banks somewhere further downstream. Think of this generationally. As writer-activist adrienne maree brown writes: 'This palpable, active, ongoing grief is a non-negotiable part of this period of immense change. Grief is one of the most beautiful and difficult ways we love. As we grieve we feel our humanity and connection to each other.' Solidarity in grief creates connection, community and spirit, that keeps us going. There are many cultures and communities that have been doing this long before I began to realise it, but I'm grateful to come to it, finally. Importantly, acknowledging the interconnected collapse and brutality of western settler-colonialism, capitalism, the military-industrial complex, genocide and climate change does not mean an individual has to feel like it is their fault. Yes, we can do better. We can always 'fail better', as Beckett writes. But the tricky bit here is that if one feels it is their fault, they often react antagonistically – they pull back. They shut down; don't want to talk about it: 'it's not my fault'. Instead, I suggest we all grieve. Find others with whom it is safe to grieve. As Joshua Schrei says in The Emerald podcast, sit with your neighbour and breathe, together. Feelings of reactivity create severance. But, looking at Joanna Macy's writing, grief is an integral part of activism. So is gratitude. Think of a set of scales, perhaps: grief on one side, gratitude on the other. Activism sits in the middle. And what is activism, we might ask? It's taken me a while to understand that it comes in many forms. I hope, in some small way, this writing is activism. The millions of people out on the streets, across the world, civilians marching, together, waving flags and protecting their neighbours, or speaking out in support of people across the world whom they've never met: this is also activism. And grief. Sitting with your friend, or your mother, or your neighbour, and grieving. The time it takes will ebb and flow in unfamiliar ways: allow it. Feeling the pain and complexity, together – that is activism, too. Kelley Swain works in the field of medical and health humanities. She is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania, working on a project about poetry and motherhood
The Guardian
23-03-2025
- The Guardian
Just Stop Oil protester, 78, returned to jail as no tag fitted her, on her life inside
'I was behind bars for Christmas, new year and my birthday on 10 January,' said 78-year-old Gaie Delap, who was sent back to prison in December when the right-sized tag for her wrist could not be found. The Just Stop Oil protester who had been released under Home Office detention curfew said she was 'furious and frustrated' over her treatment and return to prison. In her first interview since being released Delap said she is delighted to be reunited with her beloved garden but remains frustrated about the tagging failure. 'Who could believe they didn't have a tag to fit me when that's their job. The whole thing is extraordinarily inefficient and badly run.' Delap, a Quaker and artist, took part in a protest climbing on to a gantry above the M25 in November 2022 to highlight the government's decision to green light more than a hundred oil and gas licences. When she took part in the climate protest she had hoped that she would not be sent to prison and said that she was new to climbing apart from an occasional apple tree. She said that her return to prison despite having been deemed suitable for monitoring in the community with an electronic tag made her feel so low and isolated that she considered going on hunger strike. She was sentenced to 20 months and after serving three and a half months at Peterborough prison was released under curfew last November. However, when Ministry of Justice contractors came to fit her with an electronic wrist tag so she could be monitored in the community, she was told there was none available that fitted her wrist so she would have to return to prison. 'The police arrived to arrest me on December 20 (2024) and I had just 10 minutes to pack. I was behind bars for Christmas, new year and my birthday on 10 January. For my second period in prison I spent 41 days and 41 nights at Eastwood Park.' She found some of her experiences to border on the absurd. When she first arrived at Peterborough, aged 77, she was asked to do a pregnancy test. 'I burst out laughing, I said I'm not going to do it, it's an insult. They didn't make me do it.' She said that very little worked in prison as a result of chronic staff shortages, healthcare was poor, and education classes and exercise sessions were often cancelled. 'At the pharmacy at Peterborough one day a woman who had a colostomy asked for a new bag. She was told they didn't have any and was given one of those little black plastic dog poo bags instead. Another woman was a wheelchair user who used incontinence pads. They didn't have the right size for her so she was turned away without any.' Delap had suffered a TIA – transient ischemic attack or mini-stroke – before going to prison but had to wait for more than two months for medication she needed. 'When I was a complete novice in prison the other women were very kind and showed me how things work. They were shocked and horrified when they found out I had been imprisoned for a climate protest. I think around 80% of the women I met should not have been in prison. Help with problems such as mental health, addiction and housing would have been more useful.' She raised concerns about the practice of recall for the smallest misdemeanours such as being unavoidably a few minutes late for a probation appointment. 'There was one woman with mental health problems who was released but had such serious issues that she was unable to sort herself out after she left prison so spent two nights sleeping in a bus shelter before being recalled.' She said the friendships she forged helped her get through both spells behind bars. 'There was a lot of: 'You alright babe? Yeah, you alright,' even though none of us were really all right.' She helped a young prisoner learn to read using Michael Rosen's Sad Book. 'Michael facilitated the learning of reading in absentia,' she said. Along with volunteering to help prisoners with literacy she did gardening, including litter picking, and brought leaves and plants she found outside back into her cell to draw. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: 'The prisons this government inherited are not working for most women. Many female prisoners are victims and over half are mothers. That's why the lord chancellor has launched a new Women's Justice Board to reduce the number of women in prison, and better support those who must still be imprisoned.' In response to Delap's concerns about issues with healthcare at Peterborough an NHS spokesperson said: 'All patients, regardless of location, deserve a good standard of care – however we know more needs to be done to expand access, which is why we've increased HMP Peterborough's healthcare budget by over 20% over the year, while we also roll out better staff training to ensure women receive the same quality of care as they would in the community.'
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Mystified by Serco's mission statement
Your report about the extension of Gaie Delap's prison term because she was 'unlawfully at large' while waiting for Serco to find a tag for her (Just Stop Oil protester, 78, has jail term extended after no suitable tag found, 25 January) led me to Serco's website. Here it claims: 'We bring together the right people, the right technology and the right partners to create innovative solutions'. It's terrifying to think what it looks like when it gets things DaviesIlminster, Somerset • A school report when I was 14 read: 'He still adopts the childish pose that the supreme art of the schoolboy is to outwit the master and do as little work as possible.' Having retained this pose for well over 50 years, I am glad to see that it still persists in so many contributors to the letters page (23 January). What satisfaction is greater than outwitting the master, whatever the context?Adrian WardSeaford, East Sussex • Everything your correspondents say about writing with a pen is valid (Letters, 24 January). But everything negative they say is about using a keyboard is swamped by the pleasure of being able to revise and improve one's text so easily. Plus seeing it as your readers will see Charles RoweLondon • Congratulations to Benjamina Ebuehi, a beautiful marmalade breadcrumb cake (The sweet spot, 24 January) and no mention of Paddington CarrLondon • I don't believe that God saved Donald Trump (Trump embraces role of demagogue on divine mission to reshape America, 20 January). I think it was the other WilliamsSwindon • Make America Great Again, or Meta Amazon Google Apple. Indicate your answer with an WagnerBeidweiler, Luxembourg • Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our section.
The Guardian
26-01-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Mystified by Serco's mission statement
Your report about the extension of Gaie Delap's prison term because she was 'unlawfully at large' while waiting for Serco to find a tag for her (Just Stop Oil protester, 78, has jail term extended after no suitable tag found, 25 January) led me to Serco's website. Here it claims: 'We bring together the right people, the right technology and the right partners to create innovative solutions'. It's terrifying to think what it looks like when it gets things DaviesIlminster, Somerset A school report when I was 14 read: 'He still adopts the childish pose that the supreme art of the schoolboy is to outwit the master and do as little work as possible.' Having retained this pose for well over 50 years, I am glad to see that it still persists in so many contributors to the letters page (23 January). What satisfaction is greater than outwitting the master, whatever the context?Adrian WardSeaford, East Sussex Everything your correspondents say about writing with a pen is valid (Letters, 24 January). But everything negative they say is about using a keyboard is swamped by the pleasure of being able to revise and improve one's text so easily. Plus seeing it as your readers will see Charles RoweLondon Congratulations to Benjamina Ebuehi, a beautiful marmalade breadcrumb cake (The sweet spot, 24 January) and no mention of Paddington CarrLondon I don't believe that God saved Donald Trump (Trump embraces role of demagogue on divine mission to reshape America, 20 January). I think it was the other WilliamsSwindon Make America Great Again, or Meta Amazon Google Apple. Indicate your answer with an WagnerBeidweiler, Luxembourg Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
