At 6am am today, Vickers entered the Kooragang Island terminal of the Port of Newcastle with a bike scaling a stacker reclaimer with a lock on and stopped all operations.
The solo activist explained: “This act of resistance is happening on stolen, unceded Awabakal and Worimi Country. I pay my respects to First Nations people across this continent and everywhere that are resisting organised destruction.”
“Unless you’ve recently swapped your head for a pumpkin, you’ll know that humanity and the ecosystems we live with are in deep shit.”
“Australia, which I see as the entirety of our intertwined economic and political system, is unwilling to control its addiction to extracting fossil fuels and flogging them to the rest of the world. Australia is massively driving the climate crisis that we’re all having to face right now and into the foreseeable future if we don’t act now.”
“In the absence of any braking system to this runaway train towards global destruction, I am taking matters into my own hands by stopping the world’s largest supply chain export of coal from operating. We need to disrupt Australia where it hurts most. Ports represent 98% of Australia’s trade – where most of its wealth and prestige lies with the rest of the world.”
“I am one person, I can do this, imagine what could we do if you join us.”
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.
Yesterday: Two people have blockaded Newcastle coal port by shutting down the rail line after jumping on top of, and locking onto, a stopped train over a bridge crossing the Hunter River at Singleton. This is the fourth action to disrupt the functioning of the port this week.
Kalpa Goldflam, 64, and Ayla, 16, are stopping the functioning of the world’s largest coal port.
Their banner says: “AUSTRALIA: FUELLING THE CLIMATE CRISIS SINCE 1788.”
Jacinta Walsh (62) has stopped and jumped on top of a train at the rail line servicing the Port of Melbourne early this morning, halting the operations of the largest container port on the continent.
For the fourth day in a row, activists from Blockade Australia have successfully blockaded the Port of Melbourne. This has been part of a coordinated mobilisation across three major ports on the continent, aimed at disrupting the economic operations of Australia, to protest Australia’c continued blocking of climate action.
They are holding a banner which reads “We change everything, or we lose everything.”
Jacinta said: “Australia works within an extractive system that is literally killing our chances of survival. We need to reimagine a world we want to live in.”
“I fight for humanity, I fight for all species, I fight for the earth. We have one home, let’s keep it healthy. I fight for life.”
“We do not have time to wait for the government and corporations. They are never going to do what we need to do to survive. The system is geared solely towards exponential economic growth and expansion. We can’t have exponential growth on a finite planet.”
A spokesperson from Blockade Australia said:
“Without mass organised civil resistance, Australia and its allies will not stop organising the exploitation of this planet.”
“Sustained action that shuts down centres of political and economic power is the only effective means of forcing the political change required. It is time to Blockade Australia.”
Press conference in Melbourne with Niamh O Connor, who abseiled off the Footscray Rd Bridge on Wednesday, will be announced shortly.
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