With the arrival of our newest Lurker – Griffin Cubby born May 2011 – we’ve been quiet for a few months.
Welcome to the world Griffin Cubby!
Baby climate activist
Griffin at his first protest
2 weeks old and braving the leeches
Practicing with his dad
But we’re coming out of hibernation, with a new album on the way, and a tour in July with Melbourne bands Ducks in the Mud and A Commoners Revolt. The Eat The Rich tour will take us to the SOS conference in Albury, the Phoenix Bar in Canberra, followed by shows at Jura Books and Dirty Shirlows in Sydney.
Eat the Rich Tour 2011
We’re also playing at the Winter Magic Festival in Katoomba in a few weeks, and a new album in the pipeline! The album will be launched on September 17th at the Red Rattler in Marrickville.
Two weeks ago, I was one of the people who locked-on to a coal track in a protest against the building of a new coal-fired power station. I don’t break the law regularly. Don’t even have a speeding fine. Two days ago I sat on a coal track to stop the trains and refused police requests to move. Over the past seven years I have tried a variety of ways to participate in the growing climate change movement including:
changing my light globes and lobbying my parents ; )
local campaigning, lobbying and protest at Macquarie University and in the community with ASEN and Climate Action Newtown and at work,
national lobbying of politicians and corporations, campaigning and creative actions with AYCC,
international actions with Youth of the United Nations NGOs, and
making activist climate music with The Lurkers
It is important that there is variety in the way we address an issue like climate change because it is an issue unlike any faced by the globe. I sincerely believe that all of these actions listed above help in small and large ways and congratulate you if you are doing any of them. On the weekend I took the further and less common step.
I did this because I reflected on what is effective. I don’t have cash to donate. I do climate unfriendly stuff like drive a car. I work and have fun. When I looked at what needs to happen in our community to get traction and what I can offer, this action fitted the spot. If you want to know more about Bayswater check out this site. As the UN negotiations to respond to climate change continue past their sixteenth year our planet continues to heat up due to coal burning and other fossil fuels. As our leaders talk about the difficult decisions without acting, the time to act is here.
In Copenhagen last year young people were asked by Kumi Naidoo from Greenpeace International to give their lives to solve climate change. He asked us to act, not out of desperation or fear but to act out of love for the world. Climate camp at Bayswater was overflowing with this love.
So that Friday, I went along to Climate Camp in the Hunter Valley and on Sunday I participated in civil disobediance with 130 other people. They were people from the local area including indigenous people, local farmers and city folk like me. I locked-on to seven other people making it impossible to be moved by the police while causing no property damage.
I was hooked up with carabeenas and rope to my old friend Erland as well as four sixteen year old girls from northern NSW. We had a huge amount of support and care from friends and activists who gave us sunscreen, water and food. We sat in the beating sun and heavy rain singing, dancing, telling stories and playing music for seven hours. There was even a radical marching band!
Police took us away in the paddy van and we sat in the holding cell for a few hours chatting and were out by 10:00pm. The under-age protestors got a lecture from the police and were let off without any charge! My court date is set for 21st February, 2011. Me and Erland will be heading back up to Muswellbrook on that Monday and might be let off the charge of ‘tresspass and remain’ and ‘ locking on’ with a Section 10 if we can show we are of ‘good character’.
The action was a coordinated, peaceful demonstration of the community’s frustration about expansion of coal-fired power stations in NSW. It was successful and positive. I feel proud to have been involved, even as someone who was not brought up to be politically active. Climate change is something that I think we can beat if we act in substantial ways now and continue to. I have not written this to convince you to lock-on but to explain my story.
When we were locked on we sang a lot of songs. One song by David Rovics resonated with lots of people. Here are the lyrics and here is a video of David singing it for some people arrested in the Copenhagen demonstrations.
So much gratitude to the Climate Camp organisers for creating such a wonderful event.
It was nice to see so many fans with video cameras when we played at the Switch off Hazelhood protest last month. Hazelwood power station is the most polluting power station in Australia.
At gigs, and even when we’re busking, people invariably take photos or videos. I always wonder where on earth those dodgy videos end up…
I can only presume these coppers were desperate to show their mates back at the station the awesome Lurkers gig they missed out on. Because if it was for ASIO, what the hell are they gonna do with a recording of The Lurkers playing Environmental Evangelism Makes no Friends?!
Then again, maybe they were genuinely afraid of the protesters. I know that nothing strikes fear into my heart quite like a papier mache globe.
There so many cops at the protest, they had to get creative about their modes of transport. We saw dirt bikes, helicopters, inflatable boats, 4WDs, horses.
In fact I think the only transport mode missing was the elegant bicycle. I guess that would have been too environmentally friendly for the occasion.
If you feel like doing something to save us all from the impending doom cause by climate change, join us at Climate Camp this weekend.
The eternally inspiring Climate Action Newtown have been doorknocking around Newtown in the seat of Grayndler in the lead up to the federal election. Us Lurkers volunteered for a few afternoons knocking on doors and chatting with local people about what they think about climate change. The community consensus among people we spoke to was pretty clear:
76% of residents said that the Federal Government is not doing enough to tackle climate change
92% of people believe that Australia should develop a plan to move to 100% renewable energy
77% of residents believe that the government should stick to its 2007 election commitment to put a price on carbon and make polluters pay
83% residents believed that new energy in NSW should come from renewable sources rather than coal
73% of residents were more likely or much more likely to vote for a candidate committing to a price on carbon and significant investment in renewable energy
Ingrid from Climate Action Newtown made this awesome little video of the doorknocking. We’re proud that Ingrid chose our song ‘Got My Boots On‘ as the soundtrack.
People are often shy about talking about money – how much they earn and how much they give. But I’m interested in having the conversation…
A few weeks ago, my old university called me up to ask me to donate to one of two worthy causes – one for ground breaking cancer research that the uni was doing, or supporting a scholarship fund for disadvantaged students (so you still have an appealing option even if you are a conservative or a bleeding heart). I was conflicted – I recieved a scholarship for rural disadvantaged kids that subsidised my accomodation for my first year of uni. And I think equal access to education is one of the most important things society can offer. But surly it should be publically funded, rather than dependent on the wealth of the alumni and prestige of the uni?
But on the other hand, I earn more money than I need to live so I feel an ethical duty to donate money to organisations who are making change.
Which got me thinking about all the worthy organisations out there who don’t have the resources to ring me up and ask for donations. And especially the ratbag organisations who don’t even qualify for tax deductability cause the Government hates them (because they are good at political campaigning).
So my new policy is every time I’m personally approached by a large organisation looking for donations, I will donate to a small ratbag organisation instead. (Not that I’m hacking out on bigger organisations – I also donate to Oxfam and the Wilderness Society)
I’d love to hear your suggestions for other awesome organisations that are either too radical or don’t have the resources for mass fundraising.
Anyone who has no corporate sponsors, has been struck of the tax deductability register or who engages is civil disobedience is going to be off to a headstart : )
“I have spent my lifetime face to face with some of the most brutal and inhumane acts ever committed, but nothing has been as traumatizing for me as trying to get action to tackle the climate crisis.” Gillian Caldwell 1SKY.
This lady is so genuine it floods across the planet and through the computer screen.
These videos were recorded in March 2009, when people were still hopeful for Copenhagen. I wrote a song after Copenhagen called ‘Kitchen’ inspired by the phenomenal activists I know from AYCC and ASEN (it’ll be on our new album coming out later this year). The ones who have dedicated their lives to solving the climate problem.
The thing about climate activists is that we can all do it and we can all be awesome. I used to worry that because I am a rubbish organiser I can be of no use to the climate movement. After two years of being a crap organiser I realised I should use what I am good at and help that way. Whether it is creating websites, cleaning up rubbish after a parade or listening to your climate activist friend winge over a glass of wine, everyone has their role in this movement.
Yesterday we played at Climate Action Newtown’s launch for the national grassroots campaign for 100% renewable energy. The campaign is about phasing out dirty energy sources like coal and sourcing all of our energy from renewable sources like wind, solar, geothermal and wave power.
The campaign is a national effort coordinated by climate action groups around Australia. There’s more photos from the Newtown launch here.
I couldn’t resist including this awesome picture from the Sutherland launch…
Find out more about the national campaign for 100% renewable energy here.
Newcastle Harbour 3 hours north of Sydney has the dubious honour of being the world’s biggest coal port. It’s where Australia exports climate change to the rest of the world.
The people’s occupation of the harbour is an annual event where people build dodgy rafts and other ‘sea worthy’ vessels and occupy the harbour for the day, stopping any coal ships from getting through. Activism that involves swimming, lying on the beach and capsising hopeless raft building efforts..
What is it that makes songs more meaningful than the musical equivalent of dinner party conversation??
I think it all comes down to whether the music is a catalyst for change of some kind. Just because a song is about a political issue, if it doesn’t make anyone or anything change then I don’t think you can call it political song. The change can be in action – people changing their behaviour because of the song or the experience. Or it could be people changing their mind about something as a result of the music.
Eric Drooker's 'People vs Military'
Ok, bear with me while I pull out some complicated sounding language… Collective singing is an experiential metaphor for collective action. What I mean is that rather than just using a metaphor as a verbal illustration, you actually get people participating in a ‘collective action’. Through singing together, people experience the power and togetherness of acting in a group. Singing all by yourself is scary and exposing. Same as political action – it’s scary confronting a police line or a coal train all by yourself. So collective singing gives people the direct experience that doing things collectively gives power. However, it’s not enough just to sing – that’s just step one! Then you have to take that feeling and apply it into political action.
We have more power collectively than we do alone
Music and performance can be political in other ways. There are lots of examples from theatre that can be equally applied to music. Brecht used the technique of Verfrumdungseffekt – roughly translated this means “alienation effect” or “making strange”. The way it works is that evoke contrasting feelings in people by putting things together that don’t really match. So you tell a funny story and make people laugh. But the joke is followed immediately by a song that is sort of related but tragically sad. So it gets people thinking about the same thing from two different points of view, and question their own assumptions about something. People wonder why they laughed at the funny joke when it’s actually really sad.
Pete Seeger, Lee Hayes and and The Weavers were involved in Agit Prop theatre, after the style of Brecht. They appropriated lots of old tunes like hymns and traditional folk tunes that people know in their bones. That way, people feel like they already know the song, and are singing along before they realise it. And articulating a political view is a really important step in taking action. (Incidentally, the Nazis also used this technique, which has meant that many German people now associate those songs with the Nazis and have stopped singing those songs).
And in another example from theatre… Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty aimed to spur people into action in a different way. He would assault the senses, with bright lights, smelly fish, bad language… whatever. Often it would be offensive or cruel. The point is to provoke a visceral response in the audience. Music can use this technique in a way – offending people is not always bad. It can get people thinking and acting differently as a result. You just need to be thoughtful about how you offend people and for what purpose.
Music can also be a way of bringing people together for political organising. Anne Feeney did a superlative job of this at a gig we played together in Copenhagen. She used her songs to inspire people into action. And she used them as an excuse to start some conversations like any good union organiser would do with a group. “Who got arrested this week?”, she asked the crowd. A few people had. “Did they take you to the cells? And did they take you names? Did you have to pay to get out? No? Good” (The crowd cheers). “In my opinion if you haven’t been in a position to get arrested, you haven’t been doing shit”. Or something to that effect. Followed by her song Have You Been to Jail For Justice.
If you have anything to add (or dispute!) I’d love to hear it.
Punk bluegrass ratbags The Lurkers released their first album "Shoot to the Moon" in 2009. They spend much of their time travelling the country in a biodiesel powered yellow van, playing at festivals, parties and protests. Their second album is due for release in 2011.
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