Young activists spread anti-nuclear message across Australia
Since returning, solidarity bus riders have addressed public meetings in Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Wollongong. Several are taking part in the Friends of the Earth Nuclear Freeways tour
Protesters issue warning on Olympic Dam expansion, Green Left Weekly, August 1, 2010, By Patrick Harrison After spending over two weeks on the road together, students and activists onboard the New South Wales “Indigenous Solidarity Ride” stopped at Olympic Dam on July 15 to protest against a proposed uranium mine expansion.
Solidarity bus riders used their bodies to send a message at July 15 demonstration. They painted themselves blue and green to symbolise water and toxic waste, and formed human chains to spell out “No U Mine” and “Water”……The Olympic Dam expansion would make it one of the largest open-cut mines in the world, increasing uranium production five times.
Local traditional owners and Indigenous communities campaigning against the mine spoke at Students of Sustainability and the Alice Springs convergence about the significant damage the mine expansion would do to sacred Aboriginal sites and the environment, especially local water reserves.
Zane Alcorn, an Indigenous Solidarity Ride spokesperson, said: “Not only is the expansion at Olympic Dam going ahead without the consent of traditional owners, but tens of millions of litres of water per day are already being sucked out of the Artesian Basin on Arabunna land to service the mine.
“Australia is the driest continent on the Earth and faces a massive water shortage. It is ludicrous that we are literally exporting our sacred and precious water.
“For us, it was important to stand up and say that Australia should not be the world’s uranium supplier. [It] is against the wishes of traditional owners and contributes to the nuclear fuel cycle, which adds to weapons proliferation and long-life nuclear waste.”
Since returning, solidarity bus riders have addressed public meetings in Sydney, the Blue Mountains and Wollongong. Several are taking part in the Friends of the Earth Nuclear Freeways tour, which seeks to inspire and link the communities along the waste route from Lucas Heights nuclear plant to the proposed nuclear waste dump site in the Northern Territory at Muckaty.
Protesters issue warning on Olympic Dam expansion | Green Left Weekly
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