LEARDS FOREST BLOCKADE

Information booklet
February, 2014

2/22/2014

News from Front Line Action on Coal | Front Line Action on Coal

NEWS FROM FRONT LINE ACTION ON COAL

February 7, 2014 by frontlineaction in Uncategorized Leave a comment
Hi all, from the new camp! Apologies for not updating here recently. In the last couple of days, the bulk of camp FLAC has moved from the edges of the Leard State Forest to Cliffs property, just 15 minutes away. Those who are interested in visiting, passing through, or joining can contact frontlineactiononcoal@gmail.com. Things have been rather hectic in the last couple of months, with work ramping up at the new Maules Creek mine site and 28 activists arrested since December. Just yesterday a protester attached to a tripod structure shut down the main haul road of Whitehavens Tarrawonga Coal mine for twelve hours in an inspiring display of endurance and resolve. Here on the front line, dedicated people have consistently been putting pressure on Whitehaven and Idemitsu coal companies in the form of creative and peaceful direct action. There have been tree sits, picket lines, tripods, and mono-pole structures; with individuals locking their bodies to all kinds of forest-smashing machinery to voice impassioned objection to the desecration of country and land. Whats becoming rapidly clear is that these open pit coal mines do not have social license; we will not stand by while the entitled few jeopardise and pollute water, farmland, sacred sites, and the air that we breathe in spite of deep and widespread objection. This campaign sends a strong message that coal mines are a poor investment, and investors should get out while they can. Hoards of concerned people from all over Australia are joining the blockade every day; both Idemitsu and Whitehaven Coal should expect sustained and growing protest in the year ahead. If youve read or seen any media in recent months, youll notice the fastly cementing bonds between large bodies of people (including Front Line Action on Coal) and various NGOs as functioning under the nomenclature of Leard Forest Alliance. Its yet another example of the strengthening of opposition here to open pit coal mining in Australia and should, again, serve as a warning to those thinking of investing in this cagey and dying industry. The campaign, like all things, is only as good as the people who make it. So mobilise yourself. Get off the couch and come to the camp, even if its for a day. If youve ever considered the dangers of climate change, or are interested in historic campaigns that create real change in the world, then now is your time to come. Consider this your call to arms; we are waiting for your arrival. Movements grow and change, and must be given fresh air with new lifeblood that passes through. So show your support in any way you can the clock is ticking. trees are falling, and coal is burning. Make it happen. Make it count.

http://frontlineaction.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/news-from-front-line-action-on-coal/

1/1

Leards Forest

Newcastle

Sydney

Regen Festival

2/22/2014

Jonathan Moylan | #StandWithJono | Jonathan Moylan pleads not guilty in Supreme Court - Jonathan Moylan | #StandWithJono

Jonathan Moylan pleads not guilty in Supreme Court

25 year old Jonathan Moylan has made his first appearance in the Supreme Court of New South Wales today, where he entered a plea of not guilty. The ongoing case was moved from the Downing Centre Local Court to the Supreme Court on the request of the prosecution. It has been set to be heard in June 2014 over three weeks. Supporters stood out the front of court holding placards and banners showing their support for Jonathan and his actions. Mr Moylan was also supported by his parents, and his twin sister. Maules Creek local farmer Rick Laird, whose property is threatened by Whitehavens proposed mine, also attended court with Mr Moylan. The Laird family has owned property in the area for 150 years and are the namesake of the Leard State Forest, two thirds of which will be destroyed if the proposed mines in the area go ahead.

Weve been fighting these mines for years, and people are finally starting to hear about it. Youre only given limited ways to challenge mine proposals, and they get approved anyway, even if it means the end of a community. If these mines go ahead, its the end of our livelihoods. We wont be able to farm the land and we worry about the impact of coal dust on our health, said Mr Laird. The Maules Creek community stands with Jono, said Mr Laird, out the front of the court house where a large contingent of people from the Gomeroi nation, also joined the vigil. An international campaign has also been growing with Jonathan receiving support from prominent figures such as Noam Chomsky, Bill McKibben and David Suzuki. In recent days there has been coverage in several European papers. It is an honor to stand with Jono, to support him in his dedicated and courageous actions to defend all of us against the scourge of coal mining that is destroying the prospects for decent survival, and to protest, vigorously, the harsh sentence for actions that merit praise, respect, and thanks, said Mr Chomsky. David Suzuki has recorded a video message, which will be released in coming weeks and says, Do I support Jonathan Moylan? You bet I do. Hes a hero. Author, environmentalist and founder of 350.org, Bill McKibben said,Harshly punishing nonviolent action against the coal barons is not just spiteful and mean, its stupid. Mr Moylan clearly speaks for the future. In a campaign video that has been widely circulated high profile barrister Brian Walters SC stated, Jonathan served ANZ shareholders by making them aware their resources are being used unethically.

http://www.standwithjono.org/jonathan-moylan-pleads-guilty/

1/1

This is an excellent comment, but it is dated. I would reword Bucky's comment that 'we keep inventing jobs because of this false idea that everybody has to be employed at some kind of drudgery... to justify his reason to exist..' to read 'we keep inventing jobs because we exist in a belief paradigm that we need growth to survive... yet it is only the economy that requires growth... let each person carry out his or her (!!!) special talent, and allow community to network and grow through a partnership paradigm, rather than the hierarchical model of the free market'... via facebook.com/byndy.stork

DECEMBER 2013

In the fifth day of escalating protest at Leard Forest in north west NSW, protestors seeking to protect the forest from being cleared for an open-cut coal mine have again blockaded the entrance to the construction site for the mine, preventing a water tanker from accessing the site. A woman is attached to the gate that provides access to the site for water tankers carrying thousands of litres of water onto the construction site to build a road through the forest and begin work on the mine. Susie Russell, spokesperson for the Leard Forest Alliance said, Construction and operation of this mine will use high security water from the Namoi River. Weve already seen hundreds of thousands of litres of water go into this site and this morning weve stopped a water tanker taking precious water into the area to be used to build this mine. Is it Australias priority to use our precious water for the death of a forest, or for the life of the land? Its time to choose.

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

LOVE YOGA ON THE HAUL ROAD

Blocking Whitehaven Coal's Tarrawonga haul road today, holding up three trucks so far! Whitehaven is responsible for the desecration of Sacred Gomeroi burial sights, and the potential pollution of the local land, water and air, if the production of the Maules Creek Mine continues. We are asking you to come and help us stop it! Come and stand in solidarity with those who have already put themselves on the line, with the farmers who continue to support and assist us, and the Gomeroi people who have suffered at the hands of this cold corporation. "Activism is the rent I pay for living on this planet"

DECLARE: "I am being divinized thru a process the Greeks called "Theosis" by the Living Spirit of The Prime Creator who dwells within my consciousness as the Super-Consciousness. I am in my authority and power as a Son/Daughter of God and death has no hold on me, I am already an Immortal. Death has been swallowed up by Life and no longer has a "sting". Victory has already been accomplished. I am not subject to the law of entropy and I am not under the jurisdiction of the "Prince of this World". The Logos, the generative principle of all creation, is active and alive within my mind/body/spirit complex and nothing can halt or alter the inevitable unfoldment of the Divine Evolutionary Purpose for the Sons and Daughters of God." via facebook.com/evolvefestival

Joining in on suffering does not change suffering...it has been said, "you cannot solve a problem at the level of consciousness in which it was create." People suffer because they have been separated from love. And yes, you have the great gift of free will and choice to be one with love or separated from it. It is self love that leads to outer love and thenit can be shared with the world, Loving Consciousness." You CAN harmonize with love, love transforms consciousness. "Love one another as yourself. It cannot be any other way. Conversely, loving others IS how you love yourself. Love is a power, not a process." Love Without End.
via facebook.com/cynthia.oneill2

SovereigntyThe word has been bastardised for many, many years, as we would all know. Theres many people over the planet who claim to be gurus of soverign, many people say that this is the only way, and so on. Sovereignty is in your heart, not just in your head. Sovereign capacity is the ability to know who you are, the ability to know how you need to behave as a sovereign being. Behaviour is what makes everyone around us on the planet judge us, depending what we say and depending what we do, because they are the only things they can witness. They can judge what they hear, but they have no idea how we feel about it until we speak it or until we enact it out by our behaviour. We are the consciousness, we are the divine being, and the conscious, the divine being, is the sovereign over the body, so it is the ultimate authority over our body. It controls what we think, say and do. If anyone wants to say that they own our body and has the right to control it, then ask them, Please control what I think, say and do better than I can, and if you cant, sit down and shut up. That is the first thing.
via Jagamara, native Australian @ youtube.com/user/paradoxman316

I would tell you that the occupy movement needs to have an agenda. Occupying for the sake if occupying is as moronic as the anarchists who destroy property to demonstrate we don't need government. By doing so, they show the most obvious need for it. Please specify what needs to happen. Help the schools, help the impoverished, don't just sit around fucking up urban parks again. Bitching at the rich never gets anyone anywhere. If you want a movement, you have to move the people. Make the change you want, in peaceful and constructive ways. Please don't just complain again. If everyone of those occupiers spent all of the time they spent occupying bettering their communities while spreading their message, we would all be better off. via facebook.com/OccupyWallSt

Back in the "real world" (mainstream culture), the Occupiers and Rainbow Tribe had to cope with a complacent population unwilling or unable to ask meaningful questions. Few have ever bothered to ask, "Actually, why can't we light a bonfire in a trash can, bring out the drums, flutes, trumpets, dancers, and wine, and have a council meeting about local politics on the street?" The reality of Occupy is that community amplifies wealth. Sharing multiplies what each of us owns individually, and strong local communities are surely the best thing to overcome racism, sexism, hunger, gentrification, loneliness, unemployment, ADHD, depression, and greed. Poverty is a cultural construct that falls as soon as we feel like it. As Yoko Ono said, War is over if you want it. via earthnet.us