The night I learned the power of standing
Photo credit: @manic_seeds_media
I was half asleep when the massive Kenworth Forestry Tasmania log truck rolled up to the gate of a logging coupe in the highlands of Lutruwita (Tasmania). We had set up camp under the cover of darkness. I shared a tent with a schoolteacher, while five others slept in their swags or cars, positioned to block the gate as part of a climate action organised by the Bob Brown Foundation.
It was just before 2 am and I’ll never forget that image; a 20 meter long, 3 meter tall truck, engine roaring in the peaceful forest night. Metallic clicks and rowdy clangs vibrated through the air and into my bones. The 550-plus horsepower machine was facing us with its huge chrome bull bar, mean looking, ready to kill anything in its path…yet we stood our ground, right in front of it.
Standing was all that was required to stop that metal beast from taking the Eucalyptus tasmaniensis from the coupe. Standing, such a small gesture…and such a deep and meaningful posture. Most of us remember that person standing in front of the tanks in protest in Tiananmen Square Beijing in the late 80’s. Isn’t standing what defines us as a species? What other choice do we have when dialog is not an option? We can let our body do the talking, show our moral obligations for future generations, speak about our custodianship for our environment, the boundaries we are not willing to cross anymore, just by standing.
When the truck turned away, after a 15 minute stare off… I felt…heard! A strange feeling, so rare in my numerous communications about the climate crisis with the people in charge or with my relatives; mayors, ministers, senators, family members, neighbours and colleagues… At best a few people have listened but never really heard the simple ‘stop logging native forests’ plea, until that night. My voice was being heard without a spoken word, directly impacting and delaying the destruction, just by standing.
Earlier that week, I took part in another climate action, this time standing in front of logging machines in an active coupe, blocking contractors from operating until the police arrived. That time I was okay with waiting for them to show up, even if it meant receiving a move-on order for the logging zone, which could lead to a fine for trespassing. Logging roads are closed to the public even though they are located on public land. There are so many roads closed for logging that it’s legally not really feasible to keep us out of all of them. Wonder why? There are too many in operation. And that gives you a sense of the scale of the deforestation in place. Like termites, Forestry Tasmania has poked holes everywhere, out of people’s sight, hugely eroding the native forests and accelerating the habitat loss of already endangered species like the masked owl, the spotted quoll and the swift parrot.
My biggest learning and the most important message I would like to share with you is not about courage or defiance, it’s much simpler than that, you just need to be able to stand up to make a difference. Just by being present you make the action feasible, you can act in the background or stand in front of machines and leave before authorities arrive or get arrested, the choice is 100% yours. Consent and respect were a huge part of the action planning, which was practiced skilfully and without any pressure. Please don’t wait to have the guts to get arrested to get involved like I did by failing to see the power of standing.
- Join our Lutruwita Forest Resistance Tour (7-14 February) — https://ow.ly/t2Lg50XVSRW
- March with us at our nationwide March for Forests on 22 March — https://ow.ly/czYb50XVSRU
- Add your name to our Native Forest Declaration — https://ow.ly/U7uc50XVSRV
More info about these actions
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DTpOBnNEg18/?igsh=cnliZXl6NjN3dm5y
