AUST: Anvil Hill Action Camp Oct 4-8, 2006

Anvil Hill - drawing a line in the sand against the continued expansion of the coal industry in Australia.

See Anvil Hill, and learn skills for climate action and beyond!
Anvil Hill Action Camp
4th-8th October, 2006

Register today!

WHAT?
Five days of training and skill-sharing for people taking action against climate change!

Wednesday 4th – Friday 6th:Three days direct action workshops, skill shares, practical sessions & action!

Saturday 7th – Sunday 8th:Tour of Anvil Hill, workshops, discussions about the campaign, media & strategy training – and a good old BBQ & bushwalk.

Come for the whole 5 days or just for the weekend.

WHEN?
4th - 8th Oct 2006 or come for the weekend of the 7th/8th Oct.

WHERE?
In the Hunter Valley near Anvil Hill and the town of Denman (3 hours drive north of Sydney, 2 hours west of Newcastle). Directions will be sent out when you register

WHY?
Because climate change is the biggest threat to our future…because coal fuels climate change …because Newcastle is the largest coal exporter in the world…because he proposed new coal mine at Anvil Hill will produce 9 million tonnes of coal each year and will drive the expansion of Newcastle's coal export infrastructure …because
the mine will have massive local environmental and social impacts… because we need to act urgently to prevent dangerous climate change…because it is time to draw a line in the sand and say NO to the mine at Anvil Hill.

The proposed mine is rapidly becoming the focus of a campaign by a broad coalition of groups concerned about it’s impact on the local environment and the global climate. Anvil Hill is the largest intact stand of remnant vegetation on the Central Hunter Valley floor, and, at a time when global greenhouse pollution needs to be cut
swiftly and radically, consumption of fossil fuels like coal needs to be phased out as fast as possible.

Throughout history, non-violent civil disobedience has been used again and again to triumph over injustice. From the anti-slavery movement, through the women’s and civil rights movements, non-violent direct action has been a potent tool – and it is
a tool that we need more than ever in the fight against climate change.

This camp is about sharing skills and stories. It’s a camp for people of all ages and from all walks of life. It’s about creating a strong, diverse community of people who are confident and inspired to take power into their own hands, in their own communities to take effective action to stop climate change and the proposed
Anvil Hill coal mine.

PROVISIONAL WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Wednesday: 10am-5pm: Overview of the global movement to prevent climate change, theories of social change, non-violent direct action workshops;

Thursday: 9am-5pm: Planning effective actions, blockading techniques, legal issues for activists, climate change, coal & clean energy alternatives;

Friday: 9am-5pm: Political strategy & lobbying, overview of hunter coal chain, campaign strategy, planning effective actions, blockading skills;

Saturday:10am-5pm:Traditional owners welcome to country at Anvil Hill, overview of Anvil Hill campaign, bushwalk near proposed mine sitel, BBQ and social gathering;

Sunday: 9am:5pm: Workshops – using the media for effective campaigning + campaign strategy, civil disobedience as a tool for social change, where to from here for the Anvil Hill campaign.

Note: There will be open space sessions every day with lots of opportunity for skillsharing and spontaneous discussions & workshops. If you have workshops you’d like to offer, please e-mail us at: anvilhillaction@riseup.net

COST
Costs include all meals, tea and coffee etc.
Waged: $15 per day
Unwaged: $10 per day

Note: If you can’t manage this cost, please contact us to see if we can sort out some kind of exchange so that no-one is excluded from participating.

FOOD, ACCOMMODATION & OTHER CAMP INFO
• Accommodation will be camping. So you will need to bring your own tent and sleeping gear;
• In order to keep costs low, a communal kitchen will be set up, with rosters for cooking and washing up etc. We’ll be sourcing food from organic and local farms where possible;
• Children are welcome to attend but will need to be supervised;
• Sorry but you can not bring dogs;
• Transport will be available from Muswellbrook & Newcastle stations and minibuses from Sydney & Melbourne. Please see details on the website closer to the event.
• Please note: the camp will be a drug and alcohol free event.

GET INVOLVED
The camp cooking, housekeeping and decisions will have input form all the participants. Have a workshop or skill to share? Want to help get the camp together?
Want to help with the Kids area? or facilitation? Want to come early and help set up & get to know the amazing bush surrounding the proposed mine site? Please email the organising collective. anvilhillaction{at}riseup.net

HOW TO REGISTER
You can download a registration form from
http://anvilhillactioncamp .blogspot.com/

Please send in this registration form to:
anvilhillaction@riseup.net

Or mail to:
Anvil Hill Action Camp,
PO Box 290 Newcastle,
NSW 2300.

For questions, please call Sophie on 0438 273 765. For transport related questions, please call Rob on 0428 541046.

For more information please visit: http://anvilhillactioncamp.blogspot.com/

Come for the 5 days... or just for the weekend. Families are welcome. Look forward to seeing you there!

***

Check out www.thisisnotart.org!

This Is Not Art
Newcastle
28th September - 2nd October

See http://earthling.thisisnotart.org.

Earthling: National Environmental Activist Forum

Earthling is a terra firma gathering for environmental activists, who too rarely get together to talk about “why” and “how” and “if.” Sessions will explore broad ideas about the way we activate, and the tools we use, the way we organise and the biggest challenges facing us all.

Earthling will include panel discussions on climate change, biodiversity conservation, media and image culture and green-indigenous alliances as well as practical workshops, a wind-down Environmentalism at the Club talk fest and
benefit gig for the Save Lake Cowal campaign.

Program
(Please note: this program is subject to change, keep in touch to make sure you get the final program)

Thursday 28th September:
>>This is Not Art Launch
From 6pm, Festival Club

Friday 29th September:
>>Tassie Forests
12:00pm - 1:00pm, Playhouse Theatrette
Wilderness, old growth and ancient rainforest - Tasmania's Southern Forests are still wild and still threatened at the hands of the woodchip industry. Find out more ...

>>Cape York Peninsula
2:00pm - 3:00pm, City Hall: Newcastle Room
Cape York is one of the three most unspoiled wilderness areas left on Earth. Until now, these diverse landscapes have largely escaped the environmental damage so common in southern Australia. A mosaic of rainforests, woodlands, wild rivers, heath lands, and wetlands remain intact - but the companies are lining up...

>>Bitchin Stichin get Together
5:00pm - 7:00pm, Shop front, 376 King Street
Be part of the Alternative Futures Quilt Project, which will show all the amazing progressive visions that people hold. Join in on creating panels to be sent to Melbourne and sewn into a MASSIVE QUILT that articulates a better world than the bleak future vision that the G20 is trying to impose.

>>Earthling film night
7:00pm - 10:00pm, City Hall: Newcastle Room
Special guest Auntie Ellie will introduce a film about Lake Cowal, cyanide threatened wetlands in Wiradjuri country. Then, from Tassie's forests, a global treasure, a pirate ship, bugs and clearfells. Plus films on the Manhattan Project, Cape York, the clandestine insurgent rebel clown army, emissions statement, and more.

Saturday 30th September:
>>Green Black Alliances panel
10:30am - 12:30pm, Banquet Room Newcastle City Hall
Some alliances between environmentalists and Aboriginal activists have been hugely successful, as are some Aboriginal conservation areas. Others have raised questions about where Aboriginal and environmental interests diverge. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal panellists and audience members reflect on their experiences in
green-black alliances. What works, and what needs to be improved?
Featuring: Carole Ridgeway-Bisset, Worimi Traditional Owner
Steven Ross, Coordinator, Murray Lower Darling Rivers Indigenous Nations Ellie Gilbert, Lake Cowal defender Peter Thompson, Nature Conservation Council Lucinda Douglass, The Wilderness Society
Panel-led and audience participatory panel.

>>A Physical Investigation of Urban Ecology
1:00pm - 3:00pm, Playhouse Rehearsal Room
'Dwelling no place but being everywhere as home, as the only way to truly experience the dimensions of reality, time and space.' Franco Rella, 'Atopy of the Modern'. Exploring the nature of the urban, through physically mapping the elements of place. Drawing on psychogeography and Body Weather practices, a series
of walking tasks will focus on bodytuning and site mapping to encourage a sense of intimacy with place. Everywhere as home.

>>DIY activist media workshop
2:00pm - 4:00pm, TAFE computer labs
Online Video Publishing for Independent Doco Makers and Campaigners - how to use new web video tools to distribute your film and get your message out there, hosted by the EngageMedia team.

>>Image, media and activism panel
4:30pm - 6:30pm, Banquet Room, Newcastle Town Hall
What gains has the "movement" made by becoming more sophisticated in terms of messaging and marketing? And what, if anything is lost by focus-grouping environmental awareness? Environmental groups, especially those with extensive
resources, have become increasingly interested in notions of "framing" "messaging" and how to attract media attention. Panelists and audience members will be encouraged to reflect on the benefits and risks of this kind of community engagement and explore whether this media-consciousness serves short-term "outcome-based" campaigns at the expense of longer-viewed consciousness shifts.
Featuring: Bob Burton, Sourcewatch
Anna Helme, Engagemedia
Mithra Cox, Media Officer, Nature Conservation Council of NSW
John Sutton, environmentalist and media academic
Terra, Lake Cowal defender Panel-led with audience participation

>>Environmentalism at the Club: Silencing Dissent
7:30pm - 11:00pm, Newcastle Leagues Club
An all of room piss-up and debate about how dissent is quashed.
In 2005, 'anti-terror' laws were used to deport US peace activist Scott Parkin, and Tasmanian timber giant Gunns Ltd. served a $6 million writ against 17 individuals and 3 organisations for defending Tassie forests. Come along, eat drink and talk about how dissent is being silenced in contemporary Australia.
Featuring: Iain Murray, Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Greg Ogle, The Wilderness Society

Sunday 1st October:
>>Biodiversity crisis panel
12:00pm - 2:00pm Banquet Room, Newcastle Town Hall
Featuring: James Watson: National Wild Country Coordinator, Wilderness Society
Carmel Flint: Grassroots biodiversity advocate with the North East Forest Alliance
Peter Robertson: Campaign Coordinator for Environment Centre Northern Territory
Ashley Love: North Coast conservationist
Panel-led discussion with audience participation

>>Tea party workshop space
12:00pm - 5:00pm, Sunday Street Fair, Auckland street

>>Climate crisis panel
5:00pm - 7:00pm, Banquet Room, Newcastle Town Hall
Industrialised economies need cheap energy, and lots of it. How does this fit with the challenge of climate change, which demands radical cuts to greenhouse pollution? Can consumer-society and the growth economy exist in a zero-emissions world? And if dealing with climate change requires radical social change, do we have time to achieve that?
Featuring:
Monica Richter, Australian Conservation Foundation
Peter Gray, Rising Tide Newcastle
Asher Goldman, Save Happy Valley (NZ)
Ben Pearson, Greenpeace Australia-Pacific
Panel-led discussion with audience participation

>>Going for Gold: Lake Cowal benefit gig
7:30pm onwards, Festival Club
Going for Gold is an awareness night to experience words, music, film and dance inspired by a spectacular seasonal wetland in Wiradjuri Country that is threatened with gold mining. Dance and chill out, see the latest documentary and meet Traditional Owners, grassroots campaigners and activists involved in the struggle.
Featuring: Madeline, Paul Spencer, Dhopec, Sydney City Trash, Unsoundbwoy, MC Picses, James Brook and P.Chi