Shivering, looking up at the stars, I said a non religious prayer for those in danger at that moment, that our day would make life better somehow for those in the future.
The location of that morning's response was still secret when we embarked towards Wellington on a bus full of elders. By far, the majority were gold card carriers (New Zealand pensioners). The rest of the group were travelling by train.
I sat across from a couple in their 70's we talked about what it's like watching the student climate strike movement arise. These grandparents have a deep empathy for the future generations in this movement. The empathy is tempered equally with fear that time is rapidly running out, to save the life and species that remain with us.
Whilst these golden oldies will not see the extreme devastation of ecological system collapse, they care enough to sleep on the ground night after night, to wake at 4am, to lock themselves to buildings, stop traffic and generally do things that are vastly uncomfortable, even for the young.
So I joined them for the day.
My role for the action was as a first aid, especially as a trained psychological first aid respondent through the Red Cross/Crescent. So I was prepared for the worst yet instead, I saw the best of Aotearoa. I witnessed valour, creativity, positive community and commitment.
I was glad when we arrived at 6 am at the Stout Street location. It was a great spot because we could swarm intersections on Lambton Quay regularly while letting traffic through. The day's events weren't overly disruptive or too dangerous but still felt impactful, and although the morning started out with tension in the air, instead the police presented as friendly and hands off.
There were speeches by members, music, biking, flags, dancing and chants. It started to feel more like a city festival takeover, toddlers to octogenarians. Even though there was seriousness and concern for people glued and locked over doorways and across streets.
The elderly and the young shivered hand in hand on the cold bitumen for hours, proving this is an intergenerational movement. Some were covered in emergency blankets to stay warm. I rubbed my own hands together to warm the hands that were glued to stone walls of the Ministry of Business. We poured water, fed and administered Ibuprofen into their mouths. All around these immobile people were singers, dancers, chanters first aiders and marchers.
Each protector, as I would prefer to think of them, were supported by the larger movement. For every one person willing to be arrested, there were 7 others playing vital roles in support. Honestly, I didn't know many people but knew if I was one of the arrestees, I would've been totally supported. And it wasn't just our crowd that were cared for. I personally offered hot soup to the police and apologised to cars who couldn't get through.
We explained to the public that we don't want to disrupt but in reality, this is comparatively an insignificant disruption. This signifies what many current generations are beginning to feel, that future generations will suffer if we don't stop and think to turn this around. The vast majority gave us friendly beeps, thumbs up and waves. In fact, this was what stood out to me the most, that despite the disruption, there was support!
We are a movement of genuinely caring people, so naturally, we care about others children as much as our own. It's a generational care which isn't spoken often in a western culture, but in indigenous cultures is essential.
Being Australian, I found this incredible and for the first time in 10 years of living here, I started to fall in love with Aotearoa. I was expecting more resistance to the 'rebellion'. Perhaps that is a hangover from my country of birth and its domineering ways. Regardless, this support gave me renewed hope for a collective and more positive movement going forward, less rebellion and a more collective responses.
We are not out here to fight but to mobilise together.
We don't want to have to do these actions to get traction for life. We know the Government has committed to a billion trees. Bravo! Still, we need to keep pushing forward, there are no real losses in adapting to a survivable future. We have the capabilities to drastically reduce fossil fuel use, its a no brainer.
In the lead up, camping with these people for a few days I quickly discovered that this was a movement of intelligent, capable and caring people. The food was amazing and the atmosphere exciting. Everyone was there in a spirit of conscience. We may not be able to change the world in the ways we hope to, but we were going to try our damn best! And if its too late for others then for our own sense of goodness.
Some members had been fighting for decades for ecological protection and no longer hoped for a survivable future, yet still felt the need to do what was right. From camping together, sharing meals, nights of singing and dancing, the true community spirit of this event shone through.
For a collective of powerfully procreative people, it was surprisingly fluid, spontaneous and respectfully chill. I would even say I found a community I didn't even know I had been missing. My 7 yr old daughter came for one night and said to me during hours of jamming 'This is a fun place for families'. It was true, it was sober, creative and bonding.
Many members in this group are tired of climate debates, tired of throwing around the science, which is clear - we're in deep trouble. Because ironically, talking about the science can be depressing and depression never inspires movement. It's common sense, whether you believe in climate change or not, we want life to flourish. This is not a movement about arguing the science, its about changing our culture.
After lunchtime the crowd swarmed the ANZ bank to demand disinvestment into fossil fuels. Things are being done, but if people want to hope for a truly liveable future, we still desperately need an emergency response now. This is why XR demands that we tell the truth about the emergency we are in, gather a peoples response to the emergency and become carbon zero by 2025. To do this we need to demand that government and corporations stop supporting the extraction of fossil fuels.
Extinction Rebellion is about changing systems and not blaming people. Non violence in communication was just as important as non physical violence. We had been trained in de-escalation at camp and when I saw a protester address staff directly, an XR de-escalation marshal immediately checked in on the situation. I appreciated that.
The protectors who superglued themselves inside the ANZ bank were a small mix of people that included 15 year old Micah. From the inside people starting falling to the floor and a wave of 'die ins' rolled out towards the street.
I was outside on the footpath and an elderly lady in her 80's tried her best to lay down with the help of her friends besides me. As we lay there avoiding handbags, feet and other odd spots, we settled onto the hard ground. I had assumed she was a part of our convoy, but when she chuckled to her companion, 'I didn't think I'd be doing this today!' I understood that I was surrounded by more senior passers-by who had joined in.
After a song calling us to 'rise up' we rose together and all non glued participants left the bank premises willingly with a party atmosphere. The music which I have come to love, is an important part of the movement. There are specially written songs that are both catchy and inspiring.
The bank was in shut down besides police, the bankers and the protectors glued to the glass. As a first aider, I was allowed into the bank. The staff were surprisingly supportive. They gave the protectors drinks. They understood that this was not personal. None of us are living perfect lives and none of us are looking to blame, we're looking to change a system that is profiting people without any intergenerational thinking or concern. We safely unglued the participants.
Dot, Jaime and I saw that there was still super glue on the glass. We spent an equal amount of time ungluing the participants as we did cleaning the superglue off the glass. Crowds watched as we went about being respectful to property. We're not here to damage property, we are here to restore thriving life to the planet! We kept cleaning until the last stubborn bit remained. The staff were friendly and thanked us for cleaning and urged us to go out and have a great day!
I heard stories throughout the day of security, staff and police who had quietly admitted that they were sympathisers and were simply doing their jobs to pay the mortgage.
It started to sink in that there was more support than resistance and this was a profound moment in our national and human history, and so, just the beginning. I myself had one of those conversations. I witnessed the secret support first hand.
One of my main concerns from the beginning of training at climate camp was about disrupting public transport on the main commuter route. I felt that this would impact the people who are supporting the environment through their choices. We need people to be using public transport. So this was my main concern. I'm ok with disruption, but it needs to be targeted to try and and encourage the right behaviours and support the vulnerable.
After what seemed like the end, we marched back towards the train station and then even a surprise to me, a sit down was initiated at the beehive intersection.
I was asked to let the waiting buses know what was happening. It was a dilemma for me because now I was a part of the situation I was concerned about. When I went on the buses, I was genuine, pleading, 'I am so sorry to disrupt your trip home tonight. The protesters will be sitting in, so this may take some time. We don't want to be disruptive but were afraid if we don't do this now, our future will be far more disruptive!'
Most were understanding, but on my second bus, a woman with a disability was distressed. The whole bus watched as she, close to tears told me she didn't know how she could get home and had no money for a taxi. I felt so bad for her and in front of the bus watching me, I promised her I would find her some money and a taxi home. I asked her to wait as others started to file off. I ran to the sit-in, and explained to three people whom I didn't personally know, but recognised from camp, 'We have a distressed person with a disability on the bus, and I promised to get her a taxi, but I don't have the money.' The older woman of the group without hesitation and complete trust in me gave $35. I marvelled at her generosity.
I ran back and found a taxi and paid for the commuters fare home. She was so grateful and apologised that she got upset, 'I hope you get some change!' she said. Back at the bus I announced to the remaining passengers that there were three seats left in the taxi to Newtown. Only one passenger went with her. Everyone else was willing to find other ways. That said it all.
The day ended with arrests, surrounded by singing and cheers of climate heroes. And they are! They will be looked back on one day as a movement that steered the world to watch, just like they have been with biculturalism, women's rights and anti nuclear. This ability Aotearoa has to uniquely shape global history is again being demonstrated. The support I felt seems to be unique to this people and place.
After I witnessed the arrests and saw that the group were heading for a shared dinner, I had my own responsibilities to fulfil. Finally I embarked on a train home exhausted. A crew of tired rebels came onto the carriage. I had to laugh to myself when I saw the look on the passenger's faces wondering if their 8 pm train home was about to be disrupted.
Everyone seemed too tired to face that. Even our own crew were visibly exhausted, red-eyed, wind burnt and needing a warm bed. I knew they would be sleeping on the ground that night again back at camp, but at that stage I don't think they cared.
We heard from them that the police had released all activists without charge. Again a lovely surprise to us all. We admitted we felt very fortunate to be in New Zealand comparatively to Australia and the UK. We have the great opportunity and freedom of having a population who are on board with making life sustainable. I believe this is because we are a bicultural nation, where indigenous values are respected and shared more than most colonising nations because of te Tiriti o Waitangi.
This cultural uniqueness was evident despite the disruption. Turns out its not so much a rebellion in Aotearoa, but rather a movement of families that is fast becoming a community and culture to protect the planet.
I believe New Zealand is in the unique position to again lead the world in mobilising change, because we do not have to follow such extreme engagements that other nations have to do to gain traction. I personally would like to see the extinction rebellion continue their celebration of procreativity, whilst making very clear demands about what we need to do as a nation to move towards survival. I believe we are in the position to be invitational rather than resistive.
Our train pushed through the night, a lady stood as she rose to disembark and announced sincerely to all, 'Im from Vanuatu, thank you for helping my people!' She got off at Porirua, which was my stop. We both left the station and caught the same bus home.
We went back to our lives in New Zealand, both of us thankful for different reasons. I was thankful to have met such amazing people, and for her - that people cared. This movement demonstrates that there is never a loss in caring for life, for all who come to live with the Tangata Whenua.