Tunnel Vision

Daniel Hooper is one of those individuals who did something quite remarkable.

He has, to a certain extent been made to pay for his actions ever since.

His act of protest and defiance borne out of a real concern for environmental issues thrust him into the public perception and celebrity spotlight. That was back in 1996 when, at age 22 he entombed himself, with other activists in a woodland hole which at great additional cost briefly and temporarily thwarted the construction of the A34 bypass around his home town, Newbury in Berkshire.

The establishment and the contractors have however had the longest laugh with that stretch of road now carrying significantly higher volumes of traffic than it was ever anticipated to. It may even be a case of adding extra lanes to cope with the increasing demand.

After his defiant last man stand before being forcibly evicted from his burrow Daniel Hooper enjoyed a few moments as a darling of the media. His supporters on the front line may not have agreed with his new found role as reported by the Sunday Times as representing a "rediscovery of rebelliousness among Britain's Bourgeoisie" and many felt he sold himself out. 

A dip in his popularity was salvaged by the own goal remarks by a former Government Transport Minister that he would like to see the lad buried in concrete as punishment for embarrassing those in power. This comment helped restore Daniel Hooper's position in history, folklore and in the vanguard of environmentalism now very much a popular listing on a CV and in everyday conversation amongst the chattering classes in our society.

As recently as last week a mainstream TV News Programme sent off a reporter in search of Daniel Hooper.

A milestone has been reached, not so much on an arterial road this time, but down to the fact that the 22 year old is now a mature aged 42.

Rather than being a whimsical and retrospective piece along the well tried and trusted route of "Where are they now?", I found the tone of the news feature quite offensive, disparaging and disrespectful to someone who acted out of a real belief in an issue on his own doorstep. He was ahead of his peer group at the time who would otherwise be engrossed in video games or customising their hot hatchbacks and thumpy in car sound systems.

The angle of the feature was not so much to flush out Daniel Hooper implying that he was living off the back of society as a ne'er do well and a benefit parasite as to shame him by showing him as a quiet, unassuming family man with his kids attending a State School as though trying to firmly bury or deny his past. The worst insult in the opinion of the News programme would be to show him as normal.

The whole report backfired splendidly as, true, Danial Hooper is a fully grown adult with dependants and outgoings but critically he still has the brightest and best environmental credentials in that he lives under canvas under a wide open sky and leaves the barest of discernible carbon footprints that you could ever hope to attain.

The relentless pursuit of the man can be seen in the archives of the press and media. At his 30th birthday another intrepid team were despatched to dig up some dirt, perhaps hoping to find him driving a gas guzzler of a 4x4, voting for the Tories and buying shares in non-renewables.

They will have been disappointed in uncovering his lifestyle of dedicated self sustainability in a woodland commune with another negligible impact on the ozone layer and natural resources.

He has, even under tremendous pressure to conform, maintained his ethics and commitment as an Eco-Warrior and thereby been an inspiration to others, even if it only to make a gesture or to lend a signature to a petition against those entirely profit driven interests seeking to rape and pillage the planet of its treasures and in increasingly beautiful and vulnerable locations of forest, tundra and polar continents.

Ironically Daniel Hooper singularly failed to stop any of the schemes at which he protested but it must not be forgotten that he made a gallant effort and in a passive and peaceful manner.

Happy 42nd Birthday Swampy. You are a modern day hero.