Rising Tide is building the biggest civil disobedience action for climate in Australian history - will you join us?
My name is Zack - I’m a law student from Newcastle and a full-time organiser with Rising Tide Sydney. My job: get 10,000 people to block the world’s largest coal port in Newcastle for over 50 hours this November.
We’re demanding an end to fossil fuel approvals, a tax on fossil fuel exports to fund transition and climate loss and damage, and the end of fossil fuel exports by 2030.
The current Rising Tide campaign began in August of 2022 with five people in a room in Newcastle. As I write these words, a busload of two dozen Rising Tide organisers and activists are on a national tour, visiting the many Rising Tide Hubs that have self-organised with hundreds of active members - from the Northern Rivers to Brisbane, Adelaide, and the east coast capitals. We’ve built a movement - and we’re just getting started.
The Rising Tide Magandjin/Brisbane crew on tour - featuring our 12-metre-long (and growing) Climate Defence Pledge scroll!
I don’t have to tell you that our world is in crisis. Nature continues to suffer from the effects of global heating as our seas acidify, as floods, fires, and drought destroy critical habitat, and as animals - and people - drop dead from unprecedented temperatures. By far the biggest contributor to this crisis is the burning of coal, gas, and oil - yet our government continues to approve new fossil fuel projects, and hands billions of dollars to these polluters in subsidies and tax credits.
We’ve known about the consequences of greenhouse emissions since before I was born. In these critical decades, we signed petitions, went to rallies, pleaded and begged for change.
In 2024, we’re now taking a very clear message around the country: if our government doesn’t take on the fossil fuel industry, we will.
The People’s Blockade of 2023 - the best party of the year!
In November of 2023, we proved that with an ambitious plan - and in just over a year - we could start to fulfil that promise. Blocking Newcastle coal port for 32 hours with over 3000 people on the ground was a transformative experience for many people, including myself. But a two-day blockade - however empowering - isn’t enough to accelerate the energy transition and stop new fossil fuel approvals. We need to build.
109 port blockaders occupy the shipping channel of Newcastle Port after a 30-hour approved protest.
Having joined on the first leg of our national tour, I’m now back in Sydney to prepare for our events. Promoting an event like the 2024 People’s Blockade of the World’s Largest Coal Port is easy in some ways - for the over 60% of Australians who are concerned about the climate crisis, a protest that directly targets Australia’s single biggest contribution to the climate crisis with a family-friendly approach and mass participation is a good pitch.
But it can be hard to commit to a campaign when there are so many fights to get involved in. Particularly in Sydney, so many disparate groups do incredible work in their communities, but as a movement we struggle to coalesce.
There’s no easy solution for this - but on Saturday July 6, Rising Tide Sydney is hosting a town-hall event - The Sydney Splash - inviting grassroots groups to send delegations of members with banners and flags, and have a representative share on stage what work their group is doing for nature and the climate.
Also on the program are speakers Craig Foster and Polly Hemming, lending heavyweight advocacy and policy expertise to a panel full of diverse and critical perspectives on movement-building.
Rising Tide Sydney will also share plans for organising towards this year’s Blockade - starting with an action kayaking across Sydney Harbour to Kirribilli House the following morning on Sunday July 7.
Join us to take a simple message to the PM: if you don’t take on the fossil fuel industry - we will!
A focus on momentum, storytelling, and participant experience is what drives me to work with Rising Tide. We don’t always get it right - but as a fully grassroots movement, I’m proud of what we’ve built in such a short time.
Rising Tide Sydney wants to continue building the movement in collaboration with every lover of this planet and the people who live here. You are most welcome to travel with us in whatever capacity you choose, because we can only build a better world together. RSVP for the Sydney Splash or contact [email protected] to arrange a group delegation and speaking slot.
For those in Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, and Newcastle - you still have time to attend one of our tour events and link up with your local Rising Tide crew. Without exception, I have found them to be among the best people I’ve ever known.
I hope to see you this November, making history as a movement for nature.
In solidarity - Zack