PARTISAN!

Monique Hetherington and Emma Dorge report to Partisan on Blockade Australia’s recent protest actions at the Newcastle coal port.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Opinions expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Partisan.

Blockade Australia, a network which organises targeted disruption of destructive systems, successfully blockaded the worlds biggest coal port at Muloobinba (Newcastle) for well over 100 hours across 16 days. The mobilisation happened over the 24th of June to the 10th of July, and was made up of a series of actions by dedicated climate resistors. Nimbin activist Monique Heatherington recently had her first appearance at the Newcastle Court House for stopping a coal train dressed as a quoll on the 15^th day of actions with Blockade Australia.

Actions stopped coal, and freight activity into the worlds largest coal port, as well as activity within the port. Police were unable to stop the sustained actions, even after re-instating a Strike Force against Blockade Australia. Passenger trains were replaced with buses for weeks, as rail companies prioritized the movement of coal in the times they had control over the track. Transport websites said this was ‘due to police operation’ and the traditional media stayed unusually silent into the second week of blockading the world’s largest coal port, while the Facebook page experienced ‘shadow-banning’.

While many are awaiting sentencing or have been given fines or other good behaviour agreements with the court, two people are appealing one and three month prison sentences. Both were initially given prison sentences by a seemingly irrational right wing magistrate, (Barko), but have been released on bail during the appeal. Although these kind of repressive sentences have not been successful against climate activists with no criminal history in recent years, they are an indication of a system which protects the corporate and political elite and is ultimately afraid of ordinary people participating in the political arena.

LIBERATION IS ACTION.

We are currently in a time of total climate collapse and emergency. In less than 250 years Australia has destroyed a continent which had been cared for and managed sustainably for tens of thousands of years. Our collective liberation and the liberation of life on earth rely on all of us to do everything we can to prevent further calamity and create new systems that value and protect life. The climate crisis is already hitting hard, and being felt by millions of people. Those in the Northern Rivers have experienced it first hand with floods and fires beyond anything ever precedented.

Blockade Australia is dedicated to maintaining sustained direct action against ecocide and tyranny. The Australian system set up on this continent has always had total disregard for life – from the attempted genocide of First Nations people or the land pillaged and poisoned for profit. The destruction is deliberate and there is no space under a capitalist system to change the power structures that allow this to happen. This mobilisation is not about coal specifically, its about the economic and political pinch points that matter most to the destructive system imposed on this continent.

Monique climbed onto a coal train on its way to the Newcastle Port on Monday the 8th of July, on day 15 of the mobilisation. She was responsible for all coal and freight activity in the port being blocked for the early evening. Then, due to multiple people taking anonymous action to occupy the trains all night, the coal line was not reopened until the next day! Others climbed coal trains, locked onto the track and port machinery, climbed structures like monopoles and bipods and tree-sits to block the rail line.

WHAT NOW?

Monique cohosts ‘Unexplained’ with Louis Burdette on Thursday evening’s NimbinFM 102.3, and is involved in a lot of local community groups and events. If you want to get involved in direct action within your communities or with Blockade Australia, come have a chat at SOAR [Socialise, Organise, Art, Resist], which is a weekly potluck and meeting happening in Lismore – details found on Northern Rivers Activist Network facebook page.

Visit blockadeaustralia.com, YouTube, or the usual array of socials for more. You can also help by giving to or sharing our support or legal fundraiser, and work generally. Some merch can be found at the Nimbin Environment Centre.

Anyone can make a difference, it’s up to you to decide to step up and rise in the face of climate catastrophe. Collectively we have the ability to be the change we want to see in the world. Sustained, organised direct action resisting climate collapse is one of the many ways in which you can get involved.