Gong Commune at Bushfire Snap Action in Wollongong (2 of 2)

One of the contributions from Gong Commune to the recent snap action in response to the bush fire crisis:

I would like to Acknowledge that we are gathering here today on the lands of the Dharawal and Yuin People. To acknowledge that since invasion the struggle for sovereignty, community, Country and dignity has never ceased. The successful, careful custodianship for millennia that First Nations people have practiced here in so-called Australia, on the very lands we now stand, across the beautiful Yuin Country down south and across the entire continent, throws into stark relief the fundamental violence of settler colonial capitalism. In but a couple of hundred years, this system has wrought such deep destruction on these lands, of which the current fire crisis is just one aspect. I want to pay respects to all First Nations people present here today. Pay my respect to all elders past present and emerging. And to acknowledge that the first condition of freedom here — in so-called Australia — must be Aboriginal self-determination.  

We are all here today because the bushfire crisis is tragic and overwhelming. The destruction of Country, the damage to such vast ecosystems, the loss of dwellings and most importantly, of life, is occurring at such a scale that it is difficult to take it all in. We all feel a deep sadness, grief, and rage. But we know that it hasn’t come from nowhere.  

The response to the fire crisis by Morrison has received widespread, legitimate criticism and is the target of a lot of anger. I too share this rage.

But we can also see the present moment for what it is and where it came from: the problem is not a lack of leadership from this or that government. The problem is far more fundamental than that: we see it in the ongoing dispossession of First Nations people; we see it in the exploitation of people for profit; we see it in the extraction of fossil fuels; we see it in the theft of water for mining and agribusiness; we see it in the systematic rupturing of the metabolism between human society and the web of life that capitalism is based on.   

It is not surprising that those who would exploit and extract for profit, who build concentration camps for refugees and migrants, who maintain racist systems of incarceration and policing, who joke about rising sea levels across the Pacific, are the very architects of the climate barbarism we are now entering. The current crisis is an indictment not only on Morrison and the Liberal party, not only the ALP, but of the very economic system of which they are but functionaries.  

None of the political class will save us from this situation – they seek to make money from it. But if they won’t help, then who will? The answer to this question can be seen right here, right now, and across all the acts of solidarity and mutual aid that we see in response to this crisis, and that we see whenever and wherever people struggle for a better life. 

On New Years Eve, my dad was one of many who lost their homes to the fires in Cobargo. The town has since been without electricity, phone reception and drinkable water. We also know Morrison was chased out of town when he went for a PR trip – and that was great to see. Those same people were later harassed by the police for their efforts, in an attempt to intimidate them. It didn’t work. What happened in Cobargo that day was an expression of the dignified rage people feel, and it resonated widely.  

Cobargo also shows how all sorts of solidarity and mutual aid emerge in moments like this. The Cobargo Relief Centre is an independent, community-organised response to the disaster. It is one example of how people are self-organising outside of formal political channels and beyond the logic of commodities to deal with the crisis. People are self-organising the provisioning of food, shelter and so on to anyone who needs it. These types of organisation are important not only for sustaining life in the face of disaster, but for resisting the forces of climate barbarism. Mutual aid, like the Cobargo Relief Centre and the Aboriginal Medical Service Supplies Drives, are an important form of climate action and we should seek to further extend the collective control of resources and decision making in the hands of communities. 

Beyond disaster relief, we should seek to identify and struggle against the forces hurtling us all towards deepening crisis. In the Illawarra, one example of this is the ongoing mining under the water catchment. Every day, between 8 million and 30 million litres of water is currently being lost due to coal mining. That is the amount of water that 170000 people rely on each day. The current proposals to expand the mines would further dry out the escarpment, local dams, creeks, and eco-systems – increasingly putting our depleted water supplies at risk and helping to fuel bushfires. The Illawarra is the only place in the world where longwall mining is permitted under the community’s water supply. We cannot allow mining to continue in our water catchment. 

Not all is yet lost, but the struggle for climate justice needs to step up a gear. It must be decolonial: First Nation’s struggles for land and self-determination are its backbone and need to be centred in the movement – Aboriginal land in Aboriginal hands. It must also be widespread, rebellious, and involve militant action to strike, to blockade, to disrupt.

In the face of crisis it can be hard to be hopeful, but another world is possible and we can already see it through the smoke and in the midst of disaster.