Australia: Labor's Green Loons training for "direct action and civil disobedience"

Greens protesters promoting rising tide of crime

EXCLUSIVE by Joe Hildebrand
The Daily Telegraph
March 14, 2009 12:00am

PEOPLE are being urged to break into shops, "disable" four wheel drives and throw pies at people by an extreme environmental group being promoted by the NSW Greens.

The group Rising Tide is planning a blockade of the world's biggest coal port in Newcastle, for which Greens MP Lee Rhiannon has held a "direct action and civil disobedience" workshop to prepare protesters.

Rising Tide claims the protest will be legal and peaceful, however it also warned participants "there can be no guarantee against arrest".

Ms Rhiannon - who will attend the blockade with her staff - yesterday praised Rising Tide but said she was unaware of its support of vandalism and did not condone it.

Rising Tide said people concerned about climate change should also "shut down" petrol stations and blockade power plants.

The suggestions are contained in a list of 64 "actions" posted on the group's website.

A spokeswoman for Rising Tide stood by the list, saying the actions were "trivial" compared to the threat of climate change.

Many of the suggestions are benign but some are clearly illegal and potentially dangerous.

They include:

* DISABLE a 4WD. (Letting the tyres down is one way - and doesn't leave you open to "malicious damage" charges, because it doesn't

damage the vehicle);

* THROW a pie at chief spin doctor at the NSW Minerals Council;

* SHUT down petrol stations;

* SUBVERTISE - distort the messages on adverts for climate criminals;

* PAINT bike lanes on the road;

* START a campaign against air flights; and

* BLOCKADE or occupy a power station."

Rising Tide spokeswoman Georgina Woods said the group stood by the suggestions, saying they were "on the scale of things, a little bit of inconvenience".

"Our group is non-violent but we feel we're facing a wide unprecedented challenge and a little bit of civil disobedience as an expression of community frustration," she said.

Green activist Lisette Salkavich, who distributed an email urging people to get involved in the Rising Tide blockade, said that while she had not done it herself damaging property could be morally justified in some circumstances and climate change was an urgent threat.

International Socialism, Kevin 07 Rudd, let loose via the Greens /Environmental movement, the Lunatics are running the International Socialist Asylum
Come on Kevin 07 Come clean.