On this day in 2008 the first Australian climate camp began near Newcastle.
Climate Camps were all the rage at the time, after the first one, in Yorkshire, England in August/September 2006.
Time travel cheat, a bit, here’s an account of what happened days later –
July 13 & 14, 2008: Newcastle, NSW, Australia Climate Camp stops coal trains at worlds’ largest coal export port
On July 13, 2008 approximately 1000 activists stopped three trains bound for export at the Carrington Coal Terminal for almost six hours. Dozens of protesters were able to board and chain themselves to the trains while others lay across the tracks. Hundreds were held back by mounted police. Police arrested 57.[19]
Sunday 13th July 2008: 1000 people gathered at Islington Park in Newcastle for a rally and march to the Carrington Coal Terminal. It was a colourful and eclectic crowd of local residents, parents and children, percussionists, clowns, students, and concerned citizens from every state in Australia. Their message was simple and clear: let’s see renewables instead of more new coal.
Source: Greenpeace
See photos and account on peacebus.
Climate Camp Australia 2008
Why this matters.
We have tried to resist. That resistance has been regularly exhausted, repressed, derided. But those who resisted were right, even though they lost.
Those who derided, smeared, laughed? They can go… well, this is a family website, so let’s just use the word “away” – they can go… away.
What happened next?
The coal kept being dug up, exported, burned. The carbon dioxide molecules kept warming the planet.