Thirty Years of Creative Resistance - Friends of the Earth Australia

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March at the Jabiluka mine site, NT, 1998. Friends of the Earth Sydney (FoES) was also notable among the big Australian green groups for its relentless campaigning on nuclear weapons, largely through the efforts of long-term campaigner John Hallam. In the late 1990s, FoES campaigned with other groups to have Jabiluka placed on the World Heritage Committee’s In Danger list because of the threat posed by the Jabiluka uranium mine. Working closely with Alec Marr of the Wilderness Society, John Hallam co-ordinated a global fax campaign that was instrumental in drawing the World Heritage Centre’s attention to this issue. FoES was also responsible for resolutions on Jabiluka in both the Australian Senate and the European Parliament, and also for campaigns against the new nuclear reactor planned for Lucas Heights in Sydney’s southern suburbs. In 1996, after a series of visits by nuclear powered and/or armed warships to the Port of Melbourne, FoEM sought a Supreme Court injunction to stop entry by a US nuclear powered ship, but procedural delays meant that the ship had docked before the matter could be heard. ................................................................................................................................................................................................... A spin-off from the highly successful nuclear campaign was the international nuclear weapons project co-ordinated by Dimity Hawkins and veteran FoE campaigner John Hallam. Highlights of this campaign included the 1999 European Parliament resolution to take strategic nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert and numerous resolutions on nuclear weapons in the Australian Senate. Work included lobbying for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) in 1996, the de-alerting campaign of 1999, work on the Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review in May 2000 and continuing work on the ‘nuclear blackspots’ of India and Pakistan and North Korea. This involved close collaboration with international organisations especially the IPPNW, the World Court Project and BASIC. FoE in Adelaide and Melbourne collaborated in an effort to gain World Heritage listing for the Lake Eyre Basin, worked with the Arabunna People’s Committee (APC) on monitoring the impacts of uranium mining on the regions unique Mound Springs, conducted a feasibility study for a national park in the region and carried out field trips throughout the area. Ila Marks and Eric Miller were central figures amongst a group of antiuranium activists that has continued run regular exposure tours to the region since the mid 1980s. Jan Whyte, of the Melbourne anti uranium collective, moved to Marree in northern South Australia. Her subsequent work with the APC helped facilitate productive relations between groups like FoE and local traditional owners over mining and land rights concerns. Attempts by the Federal Government to facilitate the expansion of the nuclear industry did not all go to plan. Whilst in-situ leach (ISL) mining, a method of production rejected in a number of countries, was approved for use at the Beverley mine in South Australia, the plan to open a new mine at Jabiluka was halted through the resistance of the region’s traditional owners, Mirrar, with the support of many thousands in Australia and around the world. FoE 30 Years 74
Living at the Jabiluka Blockade Camp Sarojini Krishnapillai is a FoE member who lived at the Jabiluka camp for four months “Colourful, creative, chaotic…camp life was anything but boring.” Over 5,000 people made the trek to Australia’s Top End to put their bodies on the line to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine. Located inside Kakadu National Park, about 20 km from the mining township of Jabiru, the blockade kicked off in March 1998 and for the next eight months, the camp was home to people from all over Australia. Over 500 people were arrested – including the region’s senior traditional owner, Yvonne Margarula – as people stood up to protect environmental and indigenous rights. Although the blockade was indeed exciting, there was much grunt work to be done behind the scenes, as Kirsten Blair points out: “The first and most important task was getting the water supply organised. The site had a bore and tank leftover from its cattle grazing days. The bore cost $5,000 to redrill and as the tank hadn’t been used for years, it needed some serious cleaning out. Katie Vallentine [from WA] and I spent two hot days (between downpours) chucking shovels full of rotten leaves and dirt over the 10 foot high sides. A messy but crucial job!” As the camp got underway, arrests rolled on at the blockade site and the campaign to stop Jabiluka unfolded around Australia in legal, political, financial, community and international forums. Fundraising on an incredible scale – art auctions, raffles, benefit gigs, T-shirts, donations – ensured that the enormous costs of running the remote protest camp were covered. ................................................................................................................................................................................................... Friends of the Earth in Melbourne played a pivotal role in mobilising and organising for the blockade. FoE’s ‘Direct Action Pledge’ garnered early support by asking people to pledge their physical or financial support for the blockade well before any action took place on the ground in Kakadu. When the blockade began, FoE took on the mammoth task of organising buses to ferry over 1,000 people over 4,000km from Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide to Kakadu. The camp was a major logistical feat from start to finish – and every day in between. Keeping up to 500 people fed, watered and well, in the hot and humid conditions was a challenge, especially during ‘buildup’ - the sweltering lead up to monsoon season where humid temperatures topped 40°C. While conditions could be trying at times, most people immersed themselves in camp life with enthusiasm, resourcefulness and most importantly, humour. In the lead up to the 1998 Federal Election, blockaders organised the “Strong Country Celebration”, and over 300 people arrived at camp for a week of actions. More than 100 people were arrested at the Jabiluka lease wearing John Howard masks. Down at the police station, police were frustrated as the arrestees all gave their names and addresses as “John Howard, Government House, Canberra”. Not so funny was election night, listening by radio to the results in the camp kitchen. Communications were always a challenge – made easier (most of the time) by the CB radio set-up in the trusty “Radio Shack”. Radio ‘handles’ (names given to protect the operator’s identity) and encoded messages were at times more confusing to us than to the police listening into these conversations: ”Kakadu 444 this is Milk Crate to Bossy Boots, we are located at two-thirty, do you copy, over” Our suspicions were confirmed when the Jabiru police pulled over a car load of campers to do a ‘random’ roadworthy check and greeted each of them by their secret radio ‘handle’! FoE 30 Years 75
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Up to a few decades ago, many peopl
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It seemed like a simple idea: to pr
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The optimism, courage and creativit
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Over thirty years, FoE has develope
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decades. In Australia, FoE is commi
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This group acted as an inspiration
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In the 1970s, a handful of key issu
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Apart from working on the direct im
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In the mid ‘70s I was studying en
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In 1976, there was a strong campaig
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egan to jostle for access to Antarc
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Keith Suter The future is never as
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I first became aware of FoE via Pet
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Page 47 and 48: Ila Marks Dave Sweeney talking at t
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Their final edition, in the year th
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FoEA is a federation rather than an
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input to national decision making f
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are independent. A secretariat base
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lead to some form of wisdom: a know
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Anon (1987); Know your FoE; the Coe
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Page 5 • ‘U Mines’ - Through
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1990s Page 46 • Image from Chain
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• The march that followed the ‘
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Page 116 • FoE ran a food stall a
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Thirty Years of Creative Resistance - Friends of the Earth Australia

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