'The Gathering Under the Flightpath; was a programme led by communities, and those in solidarity with, directly affected by the social and environmental impacts of carbon-intensive heavy industry and poverty perpetuated by pollution. Living with the daily reality of having your neighbour as one of the worlds worst polluters only contributes to the physical and psychological damage of fuel poverty, multiple deprivation, noise and air pollution and disruption to your community.
Using the rich tradition of political inquiry in radical and revolutionary movements people who live in areas of environmental injustice, inequality and poverty came together under the flightpath of Glasgow airport to name the problems, share their stories and organisations to challenge the issue. Any substantive and engaged political campaign, organizing drive, and community processes utilizes methods of this inquiry to understand the conditions of life, politics and to create initiatives.
In our media saturated society we must not rely on politicisation, mobilisation and organisation to always be provided by newspapers. The media usually has an agenda determined by its advertising and sponsorship. It is increasingly the role of affordable and accessible programmes to help marginalised communities living in precarious situations to rely on each other and not the media for emotional satisfaction.
"What is different now is it is difficult for me to focus on solely this communities impact because I am obsessed with what is going in the wider environment. The sense of desperation has exploded in my everyday life" Hannah, participant at Clydebank
Photo: Kristan Buus
