Ben's Blog

Protest/Festival – Port of Newcastle November 2024

The tide is now on the ebb, but it will return, as long as the moon keeps going around the earth.
Rising Tide brought together 7,000 climate activists from all over

Eastern Australia, with one goal, to ‘stop the boats.’
Chris Minns did everything in his power to stop the protest, and some things outside his power. But the protest went ahead despite his efforts.

I have never seen so many kiaks in one place, a formidable flotilla.

Every day about 400 kiakers paddled around in circles, watching in frustration as the enormous ships rolled in, one after the other. 12 ships every day. 7 days a week, 365 days a year!

The police were out in force guarding the channel, but on the last day, Sunday, we broke through police lines and took the channel. We held it for 2 hours as the police picked us off one by one. I was not one of them. I felt like I was in a school of sardines, learning how to survive. We formed a tight circle as the big black police launches, manned by big black uniformed coppers, circled around us. You also had to keep a sharp eye out for the jet skis nipping about. If you weren’t paying attention they would sneak up behind you and grab your tail end and drag you unceremoniously back to the beach. The launches were the real danger, hovering like hungry sharks, grabbing the stragglers, chucking their paddles away and hauling them into the boat, leaving their kiaks to drift with the current. If those fellas got you it was strait to the watch house and a hefty fine. There were 170 arrests. The police tried to stop the protest due to safety concerns, yet in all that mayhem, there was not one injury.

A good time was had by all, but for some it was a very expensive outing. The important thing is we are building a powerful movement that one day will be able to stop the boats by shear force of numbers. No more clamouring for media coverage. No more grovelling to the politicians. We will decide what ships can come and go, and I can assure you, not one single lump of coal will leave our shores if we have our way. But we are not there yet. Many obstructions have been placed in our path. This country has passed 49 anti-protest laws in the last 20 years, each one harsher than the last.* Meanwhile, the Albanase government has approved 26 new coal and gas projects, that will add 200 million tons to global emissions. To put that in perspective. Australia’s annual emissions are 460 million tons. According to a recent report by the C.S.I.R.O., emissions caused from burning the fossil fuels exported from Australia added a further 1055m tonnes a year to the atmosphere.

A lot of folks say protesting is ineffective. They may well be right, but one of the primary reasons is because those very same people refuse to get involved. I constantly hear my friends say, “Oh, good on you, but it’s not for me. I couldn’t do that.” What I think they mean is, ‘I couldn’t just jump up one day and go and stop a coal ship.’ Well no one can do that on their own. You have to go and join a group of people. They will give you strength and confidence. One day, someone will suggest an action and everyone will get excited and be eager to join that action, and you will find yourself getting excited too, because taking on the system is one of the most exciting things you will ever do in your entire life, with the possible exception of playing in the AFL grand final, or having a baby!

Ben Laycock November 2024

*https://www.hrlc.org.au/reports-news-commentary/protest-peril#:~:text=The%20Protest%20in%20Peril%20report,being%20steadily%20eroded%20in%20Australia.