Behind the Scenes Roles and Elements
There are a whole range of ways you can support the people at the blockade without actually being there, such as:
- sending food eg getting vegie shops & organic stores to donate or discount food, cooking yummy cakes and treats or just sending the basics;
- making financial donations - hard cash is always needed & appreciated;
- giving blankets & warm clothes;
- writing letters in support;
- taking people to & from the blockade;
- arranging child minding facilities, for the day or longer periods, depending on your experience & expertise & places available for childminding.
- If there's a suitable space, or you can create one, a place to give massages, counselling sessions, etc. to those coming in from or going out to the blockade will be appreciated heaps.
- acting as a volunteer co-ordinator;
- in high stress (safety) situations providing a 'safe house' near the area or at the closest town. This gives those on their way to or from a blockade a place to stay while in transit.
Contacting your local environment centre or group is normally a good start to any of these activities.
Scouting - Potential blockades sites need careful scouting. Look for water supply, road & foot access, positions to defend, on-site or nearby materials, radio/ mobile phone services, stage of works, road conditions, names & good directions. If your keen, get the relevant harvesting plan & other maps, and camp out. Look for fauna and rare plants. Play owl tapes at night. Check streams conditions
Office - Co-ordinating people, media releases, writing submissions, research, copying documents, marking up maps, making Freedom of Information (FOI) applications etc.
Lobbying - Awareness Campaign - Writing Letters to the Editor, fundraising events, gigs, media releases, radio and TV interviews, articles for magazines & newsletters, issuing action 'alerts' & updates.
Office - The office of the local action group involved in the blockade is more than likely to be very busy at the time of the protest keeping other people and groups informed of developments, communicating with the blockade camp, phoning and faxing the media, political parties and affected bodies. Things you can do include: phone answering, document faxing, drafting media releases, obtaining information, lobbying politicians. co-ordinating people, food and gear to the blockade, receiving & writing up reports of people returning, acting on requests by the blockade camp for items or action ;
Lobbying - Anyone can sit down and lobby by writing a letter of concern, phoning &/or faxing politicians, political parties and the so-called 'authorities'. You can also write Letters to the Editor of local or the big circulation state and national papers. Before you start though, make sure you have the latest relevant info, understand the issues and know what it's been agreed to push for. Your local environment centre or group will probably have a list of names and contact addresses and ph/fax nos. for relevant politicians e.g the Minister and Shadow Ministers.
Fundraising - Raising money obviously assists provide the necessary cash to pay for major actions (phone bills!!) but the other important objective achieved by fundraising is the publicity and awareness of the issues which is generated. Gigs are a great time to network & encourage new volunteers.
Volunteer Co-ordinator - Those with good co-ordinating skills could volunteer at a local environment centre to help other people find things they can do and work out what is required to be done next.
Awareness campaign - Issuing a new action 'alert', usually 'green', unless further blockades remain likely when the 'alert status' might only move back from 'red' to 'amber'. Contacting local environment centres and other relevant groups to advise them of the new alert status i.e. not 'red' and asking that all 'red' alerts be removed and updated. Gather all the relevant information from the blockade for further reference later and for the preparation of displays which might feature photos and newspaper clippings.
At the Blockade Site - Clean up the camp site, remove all rubbish, close any pit dunnies and compost heaps, disperse the fireplaces, remove any unneeded structural installations e.g. tripods, check that all equipment is collected, repaired where necessary, and returned to the appropriate people. Basically the aim is to leave the site as it was - or better!
Legal - Final liaison with police, which might include formal complaints of police conduct. Collect evidence from witnesses at key events in the blockade, to support those people arrested and charged at the blockade, by asking that they write down immediately their version of those events. Liaise with the lawyers who will defend in court anybody arrested.
Green Policing, i.e checking the status of forestry operations, after forestry operations, to ensure that all logging & road construction conditions are being met may be an outcome of any negotiated settlement which results from the blockade. Green Police write reports of breaches and follow up with letters seeking further action &/or remedial works.