Aidan Ricketts
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    • Mind over matter: The world of abstraction is driving us to destruction
    • The real threats to our liberty and survival
    • Avoiding the abyss of conspiracy theories
    • The difference between a legal system and a fantasy novel
    • What’s a conspiracy and what’s just common garden variety corruption?
    • Unpredictability, humility and an emerging anthropandemic
    • The trilemma – climate change, economic collapse, and rising fascism
    • Happy New Normal for the decade ahead
    • Fires, liars and climate deniers
    • The race to the bottom in australian politics
    • Talking about lock-on devices – an article in ‘The Conversation’
    • The Ponzi scheme is teetering
    • Regenerative culture a key part of the blockade experience
    • Staying sane in the late Anthropocene
    • Extinction Rebellion
    • Major parties have failed on climate, it’s time to rebel.
    • Elections In The Late Anthropocene
    • It is the Greens that are defeating the Nats and it’s all about your preferences
    • Australia’s powerhouse of democracy and innovation is in the Northern Rivers
    • Is identity politics a problem for the left?
    • The climate emergency and the awful state of Australian politics
    • Liberty, freedom and civil rights? Do any of us understand these things anymore.
    • Democracy and rights under threat in corporate police state
    • The forest wars are back, time to mobilise
    • …more commentary
  • Workshops
    • Newkind Festival: Australia’s masterclass for social change
    • Earth laws & regional community environmentalism
    • Greens. Reboot. Future. A weekend of great speakers and big topics
    • Stop CSG Sydney – talk by Aidan Ricketts 25/07/14
    • …more workshops
  • News & Events
    • The lucky country is fast becoming a crime scene
    • Gas body fired up over methane leaks
    • Contaminated sites – CSG/LNG
    • Extreme coal in the UK
    • Activists efforts rewarded in Vanuatu
    • …more news & events
  • Media
    • Activism educator Aidan Ricketts explains how and why protests can be peaceful
    • Bob Brown Is Taking “Shocking” Anti-Protest Laws To The High Court
    • Anti protest laws could arrest nannas, seize tractors
    • “They blinked first”
    • Colin Barnett quick to protest against ‘activism degrees’ – The Australian, 16/10/2014
    • ‘Degrees in activism’ put brake on growth – The Australian, 15/10/2014
    • Magistrate throws out vexatious police case against CSG protesters
    • Outrage over school PR ‘by stealth’- The Northern Star
    • CSG clash a certainty
    • Communities use new tactics
    • Gas group attacks lecturer
    • …more media
  • Activist Resources
    • The Activists’ Handbook
    • The ‘How To Guide’ for declaring your community gasfield free
    • Direct Action and the CSG-Free Community Strategy: an activist training resource
    • Planning and Mapping your Campaign – a guide for local action groups
    • …more resources
  • Reviews
    • The Ecologist review
    • Resurgence review
    • Chain Reaction review
    • Plan to Win review
Screen shot from The Conversation article: ‘Lock-on devices’ are a symbol of non-violent protest, but they might soon be banned in Queensland

Talking about lock-on devices – an article in The Conversation

On October 2, 2019 · Leave a Comment · In Commentary, Media

As a tool of non-violent civil-disobedience, using “lock-on” devices avoids risking group stand-offs with police, which can end up worse than rugby scrums. These devices certainly cause inconvenience, but it’s difficult to imagine how a person with one or both hands locked into a device could be anything but non-violent.

[…]

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Algorithms of Change – Politics in the Pub

On May 4, 2017 · Leave a Comment · In Commentary, Media

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The future of Capitalism, Democracy and Activism in Australia

On July 19, 2016 · Leave a Comment · In Commentary, Media

Politics in the Pub: 24 February 2016.

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Anti protest laws could arrest nannas, seize tractors

On March 11, 2016 · Leave a Comment · In Media

By Melissa Gulbin. Reprinted from the Northern Star, 10th Mar 2016.

A RAMPED-UP anti-protest bill proposed by the Baird government this week could see the forcible removal and mass arrests of Knitting Nannas and the seizure of bike locks – even tractors – under mere suspicion they could be used […]

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Bob Brown Is Taking “Shocking” Anti-Protest Laws To The High Court

On March 11, 2016 · Leave a Comment · In Media

By Thom Mitchell. Reprinted from New Matilda on 10 March, 2016.

Former Australian Greens leader Bob Brown has launched a High Court challenge to Tasmania’s anti-protest laws – labelled “shocking” by a United Nations official – arguing that they breach the right to freedom of political communication implied in the Australian […]

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Activism Leader: Bentley Blockade will go down in history

On November 4, 2015 · Leave a Comment · In Media

By Hamish Broome. Reprinted from The Northern Star, 4 Nov 2015.

WITH the departure of Metgasco from the region, the Bentley blockade will assume a permanent place in the history books, according to activism academic and gasfields free organiser Aidan Ricketts.

Mr Ricketts, who is […]

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Aidan NR march 1 Nov 2014

“They blinked first” – Speech at Northern Rivers Gasfield-Free march 1st Nov 2014

On November 4, 2014 · Leave a Comment · In Media

They blinked first. And that doesn’t happen very often. They usually make sure they have a symbolic victory over social movements. It is very rare for them to back down in the heat of the moment because they have been overwhelmed but we saw that happen.

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Colin Barnett quick to protest against ‘activism degrees’ – The Australian, 16/10/2014

On October 16, 2014 · Leave a Comment · In Media

Aidan Ricketts, a law academic and an activist against coal-seam gas, runs the Southern Cross course. He said it wasn’t about teaching people how to mobilise, but about teaching how power ­operated in democracies, the powers available to citizens and the legal implications of different courses of action.

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‘Degrees in activism’ put brake on growth – The Australian, 15/10/2014

On October 15, 2014 · Leave a Comment · In Media

Reprinted from The Australian (paywalled), 15 Oct, 2014.

 AUSTRALIA’S largest resources companies have warned green activists campaigning for an end to fossil fuels are destroying jobs and fast becoming one of the greatest challenges to growth.

Andrew Smith, the chairman of the Australian arm of Anglo-Dutch company Shell, yesterday […]

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Show up at Bentley

On April 11, 2014 · Leave a Comment · In Campaigns, Media

“We live across the road on a farm. If it is turned into a gasfield we will get really sick and so will our animals. We don’t want to get sick.”

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Nannas say No to CSG at Glenugie. Photo by Jimmy Malecki

Magistrate throws out vexatious police case against CSG protesters

On November 5, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Media, News & Events

AIDAN RICKETTS: I end up asking the question, you know, someone, presumably in Sydney, was so desperate to secure a conviction in this case that they pulled out all stops, decided to use a previously unheard of charge and proceed through successive prosecution. I mean, I think the big burning political question […]

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Stay Calm, fel empowered

Stay calm, feel empowered

On August 17, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Campaigns, Media, News & Events

Aidan Ricketts – morning speech at Glenugie peaceful blockade from David Lowe.

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Outrage over school PR ‘by stealth’.33 AM

Outrage over school PR ‘by stealth’- The Northern Star

On August 8, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Media

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Aidan Ricketts at the Melbourne Writers Festival

On July 23, 2013 · Leave a Comment · In Media

Digging a Hole

Sunday 25 August 2013 at 11.30 am
Adele Ferguson, Aidan Ricketts, David McKnight

Once Australia grew rich on the sheep’s back, now rocks and minerals carry the economy. It’s no secret that mining has a major impact […]

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ABC Radion National Law Report

Environment protesters turn to corporate law – ABC Radio Law Report

On January 30, 2013 · 3 Comments · In Media

Metgasco is basically a coal seam gas company operating in the Northern Rivers, and as far as we know the only available reserves of gas they have are in the Northern Rivers. The residents of the Northern Rivers are resolutely against coal seam gas development. We’re not dealing with a small protest movement here, we are dealing with a massive virtual social consensus against this industry. So there’s a palpable sense of failure of democracy in the Northern Rivers, and I think people are kind of aghast at seeing this industry imposed on them by force by virtue of the State government, the riot squad.

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