SASS' DIARY: DAY TWENTY SIX

Day 26
Kakadu – Darwin

Early morning, 4:30 am, we woke, techno floating through the air .. camp rose and ate preparing for the carnival of death – face painting, costumes, banners .. we were ferried down to the lease gates arriving in darkness as workers trucks drove through – police paddy wagons beat us to the site, overtaking us as we drove (part of the trial camp action liasion)…
Costumed hordes overtook the area – radioactive suit, mutation fluoro green people, brides of death, scream masks … weddings were played out and a variation on “glory, glory, allelujah” sang by all – radioactive tubs were unloaded along the road and human sculpture erected , alongside barriers held up – the action culminated in a die in on a gravesite constructed by the lease gate – those in radioactive suits calling out “This area is contaminated .. radioactive site, keep back.” As the dying crawled into a pile on the grave mound – radioactive suits surrounded them in a circle holding hands, surrounded by the rest of the costumed members of the action – we all held a few minutes of silence and then people began to call out “remember Jabiluka .. Hiroshima .. Chernobyl..Nagasaki.. Nuclear workers.. Victims.” The call was then made, that for those who had decided to be arrested by entering the lease area – we would now move into that part of the action. An ERA worker read a short statement saying that we would be arrested if we trespassed … then people began to climb under the wire and into the lease area (in ones and twos) and the police dragged them off to wagons… At this point I became quite overwhelmed by emotions (sadness, despair, impotence) that I had been carrying all week (other members of the peace bus ended up in a similar state - possibly due to the fact that we were leaving the blockade and thus it was a culminating event whereas for other blockaders there was a sense of continuing struggle and thus perhaps containment of those ongoing emotions).

As the gate opened and one of the wagons left there was another die in – those who did not wish to be arrested were carried by the r-suits out of the paddywagons path – after the wagons had left rap/drums started ( again – music had also been going prior to the 1st die in ) – words being quite Jabiluka specific. A moving structure with drums, rad suits and Benny was constructed.

I was quite inspired by the colour, diversity, expression and creativity of this action. It was quite dynamic and vital. My reservations (later) were regarding the negative aspects of the theme – maybe it needs to be balanced by a positive vision of the future (not just death, destruction and mutation). Nonetheless, I was inspired to think about getting a similar action together in the street outside ERA, a carnivale – bands, doof, performance, stalls, food, the bus, banner painting, drumming, costumes .. and maybe also a “restricted area” performance take over of the ERA office foyer (Jacqui Katona was advocating arrestible actions elsewhere than at the lease site)

We stopped in Jabiru and zoomed off to Darwin sleeping on navy crown land (Buffalo Creek) by the beach despite a friendly warning by the police