Front Line
Hey Guys!
This is a blog about the two months that I have spent in the Leard State Forest at the Frontline Action on Coal Camp. I was invited to “Listen Up” in October for a weekend of music, protest, and camping. I had previously participated in a few rallies, “Food Not Bombs”, along with other small activist debaucheries, and this seemed like the right general direction to take to make a positive impact on my planet.
The listen up was beautiful, I met heaps of kindred spirits and heard some powerful music. I felt welcomed and comfortable enough that a few weeks had passed, but still I had not continued on my travels. My days were spent reading, meeting other enthusiastic protesters/elders, monitoring the forest for inorganic changes, and keeping up general camp maintenance (turning the solar panels, washing up, gardening, turning the compost, etc).
After a while, you receive the privilege of spotting the same Goanna hanging about, chasing the black snake out of the wood pile, and watching the Carawongs pick through the compost. We would block the miners from working on the haul road by having morning tea or yoga sessions, learn some liaison skills, and bond with whoever is up at camp for the week. I even acquired some rad tree climbing/banner dropping skills (thanks Kat). I learned to pay attention to Margie when she talks, shit pits don’t dig themselves, Muzz is one of the best friends to have around, and that Dubi likes dinner at 5.
Living in this small settlement is one of the few lifestyles I had proudly support. Most modern societies in the city offer me detachment from myself, and family, endless wasted resources, and 9-5 robots with addictions and sharp tongues, who are all competing for luxury or power.
FLAC is blockading against coal mining in the Leard State forest, which stretches way beyond one action. We are on the frontline doing what our governments have failed to even try to do. We are demanding the rights of our environment to thrive without dis-ease, so that all earthlings might have a shot at doing so as well. We are standing to stop useless consumerism at the source, and breaking free of the obedience routine that the human race knows all to intimately. We will not trade stomach ulcers, anxiety, or our morals for corporate comforts. And, although we are living next door to a dirty, toxic coal mine, at least we aren’t plagued with excessive apathy, or vanity. Happy 500 days of Tenacity brothas and sistas!
Hails