Latest Updates - Page 6 of 12 - Blockade Australia

6 Hour Block Of All Coal Trains – Angus climbs monopole | 21 Jun 2023 | Media Releases | Photos

Blockade Australia sustained disruption continues: climate activist stops Newcastle coal port.

HAPPENING NOW, 3:40am: Muloobinba local, Angus, is sitting atop a 9-metre pole on a rail bridge at Branxton (stolen Wonnarua land) on the Hunter region rail line leading into the Newcastle coal port, effectively obstructing the Hunter Valley supply line. This supply line carries coal to the port of Newcastle, most globally significant export hub of thermal coal.

Their banner says “EXPORT ECONOMY = CLIMATE FUCKERY”

Angus, 22 years of age, said: “The Australian system is killing us. We need to fight to continue living.

The luxury of a handful of people is being prioritised over the lives of every other living thing on the planet.”

“The best way we can fight the system is by directly confronting its operations with direct actions like this.

Physical action that disrupts the destructive functioning of the colonial project, known as Australia is real, political power.”

“This is an organised resistance to the Australian system’s organised destruction.”

The resistance movement that disrupts Australia continues for the third consecutive day today, as staunch activists take direct actions to challenge the current economic and political structures across the continent. Newcastle coal port, Brisbane port and Melbourne port have been forced to halt operations each day as a result of these actions. The organising network of Blockade Australia has deployed periods of sustained disruption in the Newcastle Coal Port in 2021, the Port of Botany in 2022, and the Sydney CBD in 2022.

This is part of a coordinated mobilisation in response to Australia’s facilitation of the climate and ecological crisis, and its active blocking of impactful action towards a safe climate.

Vision: https://mega.nz/folder/QLcFxLob#bCduj1eCSs46qE5luiepRA

Livestream: https://fb.watch/lhHaT4htKu/

Socials links: https://linktr.ee/blockade.australia

Subscribe to media updates: www.blockadeaustralia.com/subscribe-to-media-updates

Interviews available

CLIMATE ACTIVIST ABSEILS OFF FOOTSCRAY RD BRIDGE AT PORT OF MELBOURNE. | | Media Releases | Photos

This morning, Niamh O’Connor (20) has abseiled off the Footscray Rd Bridge, blocking six lanes of traffic and the operations of the Port of Melbourne.

This is the third consecutive day that activists from Blockade Australia have organised simultaneous disruptions of major ports in Melbourne, Newcastle, and Brisbane.

Their banner reads “You can’t demand anything from the system.”

Niamh said:

“Blockade Australia has no demands because you cannot demand anything from a system that is designed to extract and exploit. The system that will always put profit above acting on the climate crisis. This system is the problem and the only way to create change is to stop it. By abseiling off the Footscray Rd Bridge and blocking the operations of the Port of Melbourne I am disrupting the system that must be stopped.”

“Stopping the extrativist machine that is Australia, by putting myself in front of an economic bottleneck that the system relies on, is a powerful tool of protest that effectively creates change.”

“I organised with School Strike 4 Climate. I stood with 150,000 other people and asked for change from the government, a tool of the system, to have no response. Asking the system that benefits from not acting doesn’t work. Acting to stop destructive industry is effective.”

A member of the Blockade Australia network said:

“The ecosystems that support human and nonhuman life are under attack. Systems designed to extract and exploit are at fault.”

“Australia’s response to climate change is a death sentence disguised as action.”

“The climate crisis is a by-product of our current political and economic system.”

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

The Blockade Australia network has organised periods of sustained disruption in the Newcastle Coal Port in 2021, the Port of Botany in 2022, and the Sydney CBD in 2022. This move is the latest in a long campaign to disrupt economic bottlenecks in the Australian system in order to stop Australia’s climate destruction.

Blockade Australia media contact list: https://www.blockadeaustralia.com/subscribe-to-media-updates/

Vision: https://mega.nz/folder/QLcFxLob#bCduj1eCSs46qE5luiepRA

Livestream: https://fb.watch/lhTPZoJQIv/

In the cover of darkness Grace pulls breaks of coal ship loader | | Media Releases | Photos

A young activist with Blockade Australia has climbed on top of a mountain of coal and pulled the breaks of a loader stopping the world’s largest coal port. This is the sixth action taken as part of a coordinated mobilisation against the global climate crisis that Australia is facilitating.

Location: on top of stockpiles of coal, inside the Newcastle coal port. Kooragang Island, Newcastle, NSW – on stolen, unceded Awabakal and Worimi Country.

For the second consecutive day ports around the continent have been shut down by activists. These ports are Newcastle coal port, Brisbane port and Melbourne port.

Australia is set up as a colonial extraction project for the Commonwealth, by shutting down the critical infrastructure of ‘Australia’ we resist this project leading us to climate collapse.

Their banner says “Ecological collapse demands organised resistance. Take Action. Blockade Australia.”

Grace, 18, a conservation graduate from Ngunnawal & Ngambri country says why they are taking direct action:

“Politicians aren’t going to suddenly wake up; there is no magic formula of words that will make them want to change things.”

“Studying conservation challenges the idea of what this system thinks considers beautiful. The more I understand about conservation the less exciting learning about ecosystem becomes – it is totally heartbreaking knowing how quickly everything is dying. Once you know how quickly everything is dying it makes no sense not to act with urgency like I am right now.”

“Sometimes being part of a small group of people doing this feels unfair. A lot of people are ignoring the reality of the crisis because it’s too uncomfortable. Not acknowledging the situation we are in is cowardly. We can all take responsibility in these desperate times to do something about it, together.”

“Engaging in direct action like this makes a clear statement that we won’t be messed around. We are doing this because it’s necessary for survival and necessary to avert mass extinction. Actions like this are for our collective survival I act out of love for our haters, for the people rooting for us, for literally all human and nonhuman life.”

This is part of a coordinated mobilisation in response to Australia’s facilitation of the climate and ecological crisis, and its active blocking of impactful action towards a safe climate.

UPDATE: After being refused police bail and held in a cell over night Grace was released on bail the following afternoon by a magistrate in the Newcastle local court. She will appear in court to face charges on the 15th of July.

Vision: https://mega.nz/folder/QLcFxLob#bCduj1eCSs46qE5luiepRA

Livestream: https://fb.watch/lhdVL9MInt/

Socials links: linktr.ee/blockade.australia

Subscribe to media updates: www.blockadeaustralia.com/subscribe-to-media-updates

Interviews available.

YOU CAN’T DEMAND ANYTHING FROM THE SYSTEM.

This morning, Niamh (20) abseiled off the Footscray Rd Bridge, blocking six lanes of traffic and access to the Port of Melbourne, the biggest container port on the continent.

Niamh said: “Blockade Australia has no demands because you cannot demand anything from a system that is designed to extract and exploit. The system that will always put profit above acting on the climate crisis. This system is the problem and the only way to create change is to stop it.”

For the third consecutive day, activists have mobilised to blockade major ports across the continent. Ports are a critical part of the infrastructure of the Australian export economy. This is an organised response to Australia’s role in causing the climate and ecological crisis.

#BlockadeAustralia

AUSTRALIA’S PROFITS CAUSE FLOODS, FIRE AND FAMINE

For a second day in a row the roads leading in and out of the Port of Brisbane have been blocked by another activist. Darsh hung from a tripod spread across the 2 in-bound lanes and was later removed by the fire brigade.

This morning, Darsh said “I stand for a community that cares for each other, that shares the wealth created by the labour of the working class instead of stealing it for the benefit of the 1%, and that uses increasing repression to enforce their structural privilege at the cost of ecological catastrophe.”

“This is an act of self-defense. I am blocking the operation of the port because the port is a central part of the system that is threatening our safety. We need to end the system that is destroying our future and this action is the beginning of that process.”

Darsh was not offered police bail when taken into the watch house. Later that afternoon in court the Magistrate decided to imprison Darsh at least until the 17th of July 2023 while he waits for his next court appearance.

It is the most vulnerable in the world who are already suffering the consequences of Australia’s heartless decisions.

A supreme court appeal of this bail decision will be heard on Monday.

Protests are planned against this police repression on Friday and Monday

Donate to support Blockade Australia: https://chuffed.org/project/blockade-australia-support-fundraiser
Sign up to get involved: https://www.blockadeaustralia.com/sign-up/
Join our telegram channel: https://t.me/BlockadeAustralia
Read more at: https://Facebook.com/blockadeaustralia

Grace snuck into the coal port and pulled the breaks! | | 3 Port Blockade: 2023 | Action Updates | Photos

BLOCKADE STRIKES FOR THE 6th TIME IN TWO DAYS

Grace, 18, has now been arrested after stopping operations at the world’s largest coal port in Newcastle by stealthily climbing to the top of a stacker-reclaimer and gluing their hand to the railing – it’s a crane-like machine that is five stories high, think biggest machine you’ve ever seen. Stacker-reclaimers are used to load coal onto ships for export. Grace glued herself onto the machine and said:

“We are a relentless bunch of people. We will not stop until real action on climate is taken.”

Major export facilities across the continent have been disrupted six times in two days by #BlockadeAustralia

Grace is a conservation student who grew up on a farm on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country (Canberra). Grace works at a bakery, and is concerned about the future of food amidst the climate and ecological crisis, and what the future holds for all life on Earth.

She live streamed it!

Donate to support Blockade Australia: https://chuffed.org/project/blockade-australia-support-fundraiser
Sign up to get involved: https://www.blockadeaustralia.com/sign-up/
Join our telegram channel: https://t.me/BlockadeAustralia
Read more at: https://Facebook.com/blockadeaustralia

Day Two: six Blockade Australia actions to break the system that is breaking us.

We’re still here, organising resistance to Australia’s exploitation and extraction. Ordinary people can disrupt the supply chain that feeds the ‘economy’ aka the destruction of our biosphere.

The doctrine of infinite profit is killing us. We’re here for self defense.

Munro: ‘We’re digging ourselves a hole and the port is a big part of the shovel. We need to put that shovel down’.

Darsh: “It’s an act of self defense to disrupt the destruction of the ecosystems that sustain us.”

We are here for life, for earth and all her peoples.

Join us.

Donate to support Blockade Australia: https://chuffed.org/project/blockade-australia-support-fundraiser
Sign up to get involved: https://www.blockadeaustralia.com/sign-up/
Join our telegram channel: https://t.me/BlockadeAustralia
Read more at: https://Facebook.com/blockadeaustralia

This morning, Munro (26) suspended themselves on a monopole at the gate of the Port of Melbourne, disrupting operations of the continent’s biggest port for several hours.

They said: “We’re in dire circumstances and I’m willing to put myself on the line to try to bring Australia’s climate destruction to an end.”

“This port is directly contributing to the climate and ecological collapse. When you realise the truth, that we are in such a desperate situation, then you need to come to grips with it and do something about it.”

The doctrine of infinite profit is tearing our future from us. Economic disruption has become vital for survival.

Power no longer only resides in governments and institutions – it is through the movement of goods and resources via roads, ports and rails that the current system is maintained. It is through the disruption of these flows that the system is challenged.

The doctrine of infinite profit is killing us. We’re here for self defence.

Munro: ‘We’re digging ourselves a hole and the port is a big part of the shovel. We need to put that shovel down’.

We are here for life, for earth and all her peoples.

Join us.

#BlockadeAustralia

Update: The legend known as Munro was in court the same day, he plead guilty and spoke for himself in court after refusing a lawyer, he convinced the court he did the right thing and was released without a conviction or a sentence.

Donate to support Blockade Australia: https://chuffed.org/project/blockade-australia-support-fundraiser
Sign up to get involved: https://www.blockadeaustralia.com/sign-up/
Join our telegram channel: https://t.me/BlockadeAustralia
Read more at: https://Facebook.com/blockadeaustralia

ECOSYSTEMS NOT EMPIRES

Earlier today, the Port of Brisbane was at a standstill while an activist blocked the flow of goods coming in and going out for a few hours while hanging from a monopole. This happened along side similar actions taken part in Newcastle and Melbourne.

This continent and the people on it have been and are still being exploited by the political and economic structures. Everyday people recognise that the system is not broken, it was designed this way. It is failing us all and it needs to be stopped.

In their livestream, Jem, 23 said:

“One person making morally guided consumer decisions holds no power to stop the system or to change it. But one person organising collectively can shut down the flow of goods for an entire port”

“When we work together and utilise our combined strengths, we have a greater chance at resisting the systems of oppression that we all live under.”

This action was taken on the stolen lands of the Quandamooka peoples. The first peoples resistance against the violent invasion of this continent, their culture and their people is still going on today.

We need to #BlockadeAustralia

Donate to support Blockade Australia: https://chuffed.org/project/blockade-australia-support-fundraiser
Sign up to get involved: https://www.blockadeaustralia.com/sign-up/
Join our telegram channel: https://t.me/BlockadeAustralia
Read more at: https://Facebook.com/blockadeaustralia

The world’s most significant economic bottleneck of the coal industry BLOCKADED | | 3 Port Blockade: 2023 | Action Updates | Photos

A young climate activist at Kooragang island has stopped exporting at coal terminals of Port of Newcastle, on stolen, unceded Awabakal and Worimi Country.

The activist locked on and glued on, suspended off a bipod for over four hours.

They said, “This direct action not only brought coal trains to a halt, but was a disruption to the colonial project, known as Australia. Australia was established through brutal genocide with the sole purpose of extracting wealth. That’s exactly what is still happening today.

“The colonial and expansionist project, known as Australia, will always protect itself instead of the people. The legal avenues of change currently presented to us only facilitate Australia’s protection of itself, and its priority to incentivise the accumulation of wealth. This priority is perpetuated culturally – through individualism, climate denial, and illusion of meritocracy.”

Other activists blockaded the Port of Brisbane (on stolen lands of the Quandamooka peoples) and Port of Melbourne (on unceded Boon Wurrung Country) at the same time this morning.

“Direct actions like these shake up the current system and “business as usual”. 98% of Australia’s trade is via ports – meaning most of the flow of the economy is centralised around these pinch points which we are able to disrupt.

“We are taught that power is only accessible to few individuals in “special” and “authorised” places. Everyday people are feeling disenfranchised and disempowered. We’re breaking that down by building a resistance movement that disrupts pinch-points in this destructive machine. Collective power comes when we stop destructive forces from operating. We all have the power to disrupt and transform the colonial project, known as Australia.”

This is a coordinated response to Australia’s facilitation of the global climate and ecological crisis.

Update: Claudia has been released on bail pending court on the 20th of July. NSW police charged them with trespass and obstructing a railway.

Donate to support Blockade Australia: https://chuffed.org/project/blockade-australia-support-fundraiser
Sign up to get involved: https://www.blockadeaustralia.com/sign-up/
Join our telegram channel: https://t.me/BlockadeAustralia
Read more at: https://Facebook.com/blockadeaustralia