The women risking everything for the climate
In 2020, Australia experienced its worst fire season on record. Wildfires raging across the country burned 24.3 million hectares of land, destroyed more than 3000 homes, and killed at least 33 people. Sometimes these figures are difficult to understand in personal, day-to- day terms.
As a resident of Canberra, I was unable to go outside for days because of the choking smoke that came from huge fires 150 kilometres away. This also meant that my mother and most of my dearest friends were trapped in a nearby holiday town, with fires cutting off all roads, and no way to communicate or receive news. There was insufficient accommodation and supplies for the tourists, so they had to sleep in their cars on blocked roads, and then drive through still-burning forests to get home. My mother has Type 1 diabetes, and faced a medical emergency because without power, she was unable to refrigerate her insulin. I spent days trying to contact my family and friends, fearing the worst. It was a terrifying time, and it stretched throughout the summer, with new fires and emergency warnings every few days.
It was this ‘Black Summer’ of bushfires that inspired Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco to become a climate activist. She was running an events management business when bushfire smoke smothered Sydney for weeks. Less than two years later, she would stop a single lane of traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and stand holding a lit flare, to draw attention to the climate crisis. In December 2022, Violet was sentenced to fifteen months in prison.
Women around the world are facing similar penalties for participating in climate protests. In 2021, seven women used chisels and hammers to smash windows at the London headquarters of Barclays Bank, to protest its investment in fossil fuels. Carol Wood, Nicola Stickells, Sophie Cowen, Lucy Porter, Gabriella Ditton, Rosemary Webster and Zoe Cohen were found guilty of causing criminal damage, and are due to be sentenced on 27 January. They could each face up to eighteen months in prison.
The right to protest is a fundamental tenet of democracy. It is also a human right, enshrined in multiple treaties to which Australia and the UK are parties. And something particularly noteworthy about these women’s cases is the lack of proportionality. The Sydney Harbour Bridge has seven vehicle lanes, two train lines, a footpath, a cycleway and a 24-hour bus lane. Roughly 4000 broken-down vehicles are removed from the bridge each year; Violet blocked one vehicle lane for less than 28 minutes. Similarly, Barclays Bank made a profit of £6.38 billion in 2021; the protestors caused £100,000 of damage to their windows. That is 0.001% of the company’s total profit, and no doubt they were insured.
The whole point of protests like this is not to ruin people’s property, their lives or even their days – it is to draw attention. But politicians and lawmakers perceive these protests as egregious. The State Premier of New South Wales, Dominic Perrottet – who fittingly was recently embroiled in a scandal involving him wearing a Nazi uniform – said that the jailing of Violet Coco was ‘pleasing to see’ and that ‘if protesters want to put our way of life at risk, then they should have the book thrown at them’. The irony is that being 28 minutes late for work doesn’t put my way life at risk, but climate change does. Hazardous smoke does. Being trapped in fires or floodwaters does. And so does the erosion of democracy and human rights that results from such draconian laws and sentences.
As we await the sentencing of Zoe, Carol, Nicola, Lucy, Gabriella, Rosemary and Sophie, I realise: these women are just like me, and they believe the things I believe. They believe governments worldwide are not doing enough to mitigate catastrophic climate change. And because of the strength of their belief, and their willingness to take action when the rest of us haven’t, they’re facing months or years in jail. Would that be me if I were brave enough? If someone handed me the bike lock, or the flare, or the chisel? If I had nothing – or indeed everything, like my children’s future, my physical safety, my way of life – to lose? Would it be you?
Opinion piece by: Katherine Quinn
