Thirty Years of Creative Resistance - Friends of the Earth Australia

Kathleen McCann
In 1996 I was in Jabiru in the Northern
Territory. A community campaign to stop
further uranium mining in Mirrar country
was on the rise. Energy Resources of
Australia (ERA) already operated the
Ranger mine surrounded by Kakadu
National Park and were pushing the Mirrar
people to agree to another mine on their
traditional lands at Jabiluka.
Others in the room from FoE, ACF , ECNT
and Gundjehmi were weighing up the pros
and cons of a non-violent blockade as many
of the procedural avenues of resistance
were nearly exhausted. There was a need
to galvanise the various pockets of support
to form a collective force, in solidarity with
and led by, the Mirrar Traditional Owners.
Throughout my involvement with FoE I
have made banners, cartoons, stickers,
posters and flyers to communicate our
environment and social justice activities
and aspirations. I had especially gravitated
towards the anti-uranium cause, believing
it necessary to begin at home to help stop
the deadly spin-offs of the nuclear industry.
It made sense to convince Australians that
we should not be involved in any part of
this process. This is where we dig up the
uranium that ultimately generates nuclear
waste, but by exercising our democratic
rights it is also where we can hope to make
a difference.
Sitting in Jabiru considering the images
used before in anti-nuclear campaigns I
thought of the Smiling Sun that originated
in Europe and was adopted worldwide as
a positive promoter of solar technology
and a rejection of nuclear energy. Created
in the seventies it maintained its cute
“retro” appeal but its real strength was
its collective use by the communities who
fought the anti-nuclear fight. They had
brought it to life. No one group was seen
...................................................................................................................................................................................................
to claim it once in circulation. The text
encircling the graphic changed to suit the
aspect of the campaign it promoted and
appeared in many languages.
The graphic for the Jabiluka campaign
needed to be simple and unmistakably
reject the nuclear threat. It needed
to be easily reproduced – by printers,
campaigners, banner painters and kids. It
needed to relate to the Traditional Owners
story and to the anti-nuclear tradition. The
colours of the Aboriginal flag, created by
Harold Thomas in 1971, seemed powerful
and logical, resonating a call for solidarity
with the first nations of Australia. This
choice was bolstered by the happy coincidence
that the Smiling Sun shared
the yellow, red and black and connected
it to our own history in the environment
movement. Respecting Harold Thomas’s
pivotal contribution to the symbolic
heritage of Australia, Gundjehmi contacted
him asking permission to build on this
foundation.
That the representation of a human hand
has universal symbolic power is evident
in the earliest mark-making. Aboriginal
hand stencils on the rocks of Kakadu
are a testament to this, their unbroken
significance a fact of life for the Mirrar and
other Aboriginal people. Contemporary
images of hands maintain their wealth
of meanings and ability to communicate
directly and the outstretched hand showing
a palm denotes STOP in many cultures.
The idea of the inherent danger of the
nuclear industry was easily gleaned from
their own hieroglyphic for hazard, a divided
yellow circle radiating out from a central
core.
I put together the first version of the black
handprint impressed upon the radiation
symbol in a Jabiru room adjoining the
blockade discussion and the image was
immediately welcomed by those next
door. It worked specifically for the Mirrar’s
struggle but its message was universal too
- of community resistance and rejection
of any nuclear threat: uranium mining,
nuclear reactors, weapons and waste.
Originally the FoE Anti-Uranium collective
made simple paper stickers and later
more substantial campaign materials
using the hand image and it took off from
there. Requests came from far and wide
to use the image in Jabiluka campaign
paraphernalia, web-sites, publications
and fundraising initiatives as the blockade
FoE 30 Years 68