Photos

Australia’s economic and political interests are incompatible with life. | Fri, 2 Jun 2023 | Latest Updates | Photos

Climate reality is intentionally obscured so that this system can continue to operate without our serious opposition.

Dominant news stations ignore the crisis entirely; outlets run misinformation campaigns; only conservative climate science is published, and even this is made inaccessible; token measures of progress are quoted out of context and flaunted loudly by politicians guaranteeing that we are taking climate change seriously.

Any urgency associated with climate action is constantly being curbed.

Attempts are made to distract and placate anyone alarmed with market led fantasies, carbon credit schemes, transition propositions that promise safety yet require us to change very little about how we live our lives.

Considering the actual reality of the crisis disrupts all conventional narratives about solutions.

It is not enough to stop new coal and gas.

It is not enough to demand a carbon zero economy by some constantly shifting date in the future.

Australia’s economic and political interests are incompatible with life.

These interests extend beyond the burning and exporting of fossil fuels.

Renewable energy sources cease to be renewable when they are used unsustainably by system chasing endless economic growth.

No iteration of new energy production has ever curbed the one before it.

Most versions of a more ‘carbon conscious’ future still project expansion. They still expect us to exploit and be exploited.

To save life on this planet the fundamental priority of this system, and others like it, must shift.

There can be no more infinite growth.

There is no pathway to change within any of Australia’s institutions: real action on climate contradicts its very founding principles.

The pathway to change lies in organised collective and direct action that forces this industrialised growth machine to stop destroying the planet.

Together we can resist climate destruction.

#ResistClimateDestruction#BlockadeAustralia

We can respond to Australia’s organised destruction with organised resistance. | Tue, 21 Mar 2023 | Latest Updates | Photos

Australia is organised to protect the economic interests of big business, of the corporate and political elite. These interests are actively destroying the climate, and exploiting people’s lives and labour in the process.

Australia has a multitude of resources in its tool belt to maintain this arrangement of things:

A parliament that is inaccessible to everyday people;

An electoral system that artfully misleads people into thinking they have a say in how they are governed;

A legal system written to protect the right to pursue and accumulate private wealth;

A court system that demonstrates this fundamental priority by framing challenge to the current order as a threat to broader society that needs to be locked up;

A police force obedient only to the interests of those in power;

A media empire fixated on erasing the reality of the climate crisis, concealing those who are really responsible for it, and backing up the narratives told by the cops, the courts, and the politicians;

A conglomeration of multi-million dollar corporations profiting off operations of extraction, exploitation, military expansion that are in the pockets, ears, and beds of major decision makers, those who benefit from the processes of parliament, policy, courts, cops, and the media.

Australia does not work for us.

Australia, and other massive exploitation projects like it, are set on a trajectory of turning all the planet’s resources into cash piles for the elite. To stop them destroying it all, we have to get in the way.

None of us can continue to seek safety in the hope of changes within the current system protecting the conditions necessary for life.

Collective organised resistance lets everyday people access power.

We can respond to Australia’s organised destruction with organised resistance.

#blockadeaustralia

Raid Underway at Blockade Australia Camp | Sun, 19 Jun 2022 | Action Updates | Photos | Sydney

A massive police raid is underway at a NSW property where climate activists connected with Blockade Australia are camped. Around 100 police including a dog squad, PORT squad with body armour and full face helmets, cammo squads, helicopters, CIB plus ordinary uniformed police surrounded the bush property and have commenced search and seizure procedures. It is unclear what the legal basis is for the raid. Direct actions taken by climate activists in the past have included blocking coal ports, bridges and fossil fuel terminals. No harm to other people has ever occurred during these climate protests. Climate activist Zelda Grimshaw said “This is insane police overreach. No actual crimes have been committed by the climate activists at the camp. These are ordinary people trying to protect earth’s life support systems. This level of police repression of the climate movement is unprecedented. We are now suffering multiple impacts of Australia’s continued climate destruction with unprecedented fires, floods, and repression’.

Botany road and rail abseiling activist | Thu, 31 Mar 2022 | Action Updates | Photos | Port Botany

Early this morning, Wenz (29) climbed off the road bridge next to the ‘Port Botany’ sign, blocking the rail to and from the port.

“Blockading Port Botany impacts the flow of wealth and so, reaches people with power. Other methods of protest haven’t solved the climate crisis, but direct action has the potential to create the change we need”

“The climate crisis is a systemic issue and so the only way to address it is by hindering Australia’s operation”

Wenz

Blockade Australia will be hosting regular information sessions online and in-person so people can get involved. Then we will take to the streets and cause mass political chaos for those causing climate chaos from June 27.

“We are living through climate collapse, it is here now and it is more important than ever to take collective action”

Wenz
CLIMATE ACTIVIST CHARGES INTO PORT BOTANY & ABSEILS OFF CRANE | Fri, 25 Mar 2022 | Action Updates | Photos | Port Botany

Today, Max, 26, ran into Patrick Terminal at Port Botany and scaled 60 metres up a crane to suspend himself above the freight terminal. The unloading of a freight ship was delayed by more than 5 hours due to this disruption.

“The climate crisis is not only being ignored but being actively blocked by the system we call Australia.”

Max

Max has shown that one person taking action can halt a massive amount of infrastructure, slowing down the death machine of Australia’s economy. Australia’s active role in climate collapse warrants direct responses like this.

Bipod on rail bridge halts all trains | | Action Updates | Photos | Port Botany

This morning, Emma (25) suspended herself from a bipod structure attached to ropes blocking all freight trains moving in and out of the Port of Botany. Emma locked herself to the structure, causing several hours of disruption.

This is the fourth consecutive day Blockade Australia activists have shut down Australia’s largest container port, to resist Australia’s insatiable appetite for destruction.

“The powers have prioritised the economic wealth and political power of an elite few. They have used policies of extractivism and destruction to exploit everything from this land and people. Those goods are moved around through roads, ports and rails. That’s why I’m attached to this bipod”

Emma

Emma’s action is part of a sustained period of direct action against Australia’s economic operations. Blockade Australia uses this strategy to push back against the forces driving us to ecological and social collapse.

“The system we currently know and its endless economic expansion is incompatible with life. Solutions will never come from within the system, we need to build collective power to confront and obstruct Australia”

Emma
Activist suspends off monopole on rail bottleneck | Thu, 24 Mar 2022 | Action Updates | Photos | Port Botany

This morning, Alex Pearse (33) suspended himself off a monopole blocking all trains running to and from the Port of Botany. This is the third consecutive day Blockade Australia has shut down this continent’s largest container port.

“Australia is a rigged system doing exactly what it was designed to do: exploit people and extract resources from this continent.”

Alex

The system is not broken, it’s designed to break us. No matter what party, no matter what policies, self-preservation and the protection of the ruling class is what Australia does best. Sustained action that shuts down centres of political and economic power is our best chance of forcing the political change required. Change is necessary for survival. As Australia continues to block climate action, we will Blockade Australia.

“We are facing a climate catastrophe. I have worked in environmental science for 12 years and during that time I have seen no credible action on climate. I am taking direct action because without a halt to business as usual there will be no true change”

Alex
Immobilised trucks block major access road | Wed, 23 Mar 2022 | Action Updates | Photos | Port Botany

For the second time today, Blockade Australia has stopped trucks at Port Botany. Dom and Helen have blockaded Penrhyn road with two trucks. Dom has climbed atop one, and Helen has locked on to the steering wheel of another. This is a significant economic bottleneck; it is the only access road to Port Botany’s largest terminal. Australia’s design principle is to use everything in its path to gain private wealth and power. Port Botany is a 24/7 operation of relentless, unsustainable growth. It is a prime example of Australia’s priority to maximise exploitation of people and planet in the pursuit of global supply chains. Disrupting it at pinch points where it is most critical, like the roads leading in and out of major container ports, is effective resistance to this project of mass destruction.

Dom, a wildlife carer and preschool teacher, who through their work has experienced harsh drought firsthand said:

“My experience is just a taste of what others are and will continue to experience as this crisis continues. All appropriate action is being blocked by Australia.”

Dom

Helen is a practicing psychologist who recognises that a climate response requires a new approach to politics: “The mass collapse of ecosystems, wars over resources, and extreme weather events are the inevitable conclusion of a system built on greed and exploitation.

“Everything is at stake. Engaging in strategic action like this is our attempt to force the changes necessary for survival while we still have the chance to act”

Helen