Capitalism and the countryside, Tim Stewart and Nathan Renault

While a grass roots campaign to stop climate change has been effectively blocked by organisations such as the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Get Up, 350.org, One Million Women, the NSW Conservation Council, and the Australian Conservation Foundation who now run rallies to support the Labor Party's new carbon tax on working people, new potential allies and alliances are being formed against big capital in the countryside. A fight between farmers and landholders and mining corporations exploiting coal and gas reserves in agricultural areas from the Hunter Valley (north of Sydney), through to the Western Downs (west of Brisbane) is inspiring activist coalitions and direct actions such as the recent People's Blockade of Tara. This workshop will offer some insights into the struggle against coal and coal seam gas mining in the context of agribusiness, sustainable farming and the broader fight for sustainable, low carbon future.

Tim Stewart has suffered the bureaucratic blocking at the last two climate action summits in Canberra and has visited blockades and protests against coal and coal seam gas mining from Liverpool Plains to the Keerrong Valley in NSW.

Nathan Renault is a media studies student following rural action groups fighting coal and coal seam gas from Toowoomba to Tara in Qld.

for workshop times: click here to download agenda