Restore Passenger Rail protesters won’t apologise for blocking SH1 in Wellington
The protest group who blocked State Highway 1 in Wellington on Monday morning causing massive traffic disruptions won’t apologise and say more protests are on the way.
Four protesters were arrested and charged on Monday with police warning they could face up to 14 years in jail.
The protesters were charged with endangering transport after blocking part of State Highway 1as they sat across the southbound entrance to the Terrace Tunnel, holding a banner that read “Restore Passenger Rail”. Some demonstrators even glued their hands to the road.
The protesters, from the Restore Passenger Rail group, said there would be more protests until the Government committed to restoring a nationwide passenger rail network.
The Climate Protestors blocking Wellington Motorways are legends and true heroes.
They are prepared to use their white privilege for real justice.
These are nice white middle class protesters who won’t get 14 years for blocking a motorway.
As the speed of climate change hits us, as the true cost of our denial is realised – protestors will get angrier and angrier at the inaction.
Sometimes the machine is so hateful and evil you have to throw yourself onto the gears to stop it.
I salute the Wellington Protestors for their real courage.
Many more like them will be needed before this country is awake to the existential threat that is climate change caused by mad made pollution.
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Be mindful that a counter protest aka as in Albert Park, could overwhelm the traffic blockers. Wonder how far away that is? Much like the granny in Cambridge, the populace is getting restless. The counter revolution will be beyond what police can (or even want to) control . Where can we find some cheap tomato juice? Hope the courage you give the protestors does not end up in broken bones at the protests, or some vigilante justice in the middle of the night.
So the “protestors will get angrier and angrier at the inaction”. The public in response can get angrier and angrier at police inaction and clashes will invariably result.
Mindless protesting like seen at the snooker in England, where the protest has no relevance to the event, is not conducive to a protests result. Just pisses people off more.
Because now people know more about climate change and their goals. Like a dude immolating himself in front of the television set barely get a news cycle. Harmlessly protesting on SH1 has dominated several news cycles. Bothering rich people works to get the media to pay attention.
Mindless protest sums them up.
It’s already happening in Britain and Australia if the YouTube feeds are anything to go on.
Privileged bourgeois activists pushing their guilt trips onto proletariat zero hour contract wage slaves trying to earn a crust and pay the bills seems a real winner.
UB The job is ultimately dirty at the top as well as at the bottom. The top ones get paid more, let them do the protesting that will be for everybody’s advantage. Another way of looking at it instead of your class-skewed utterings that are cliches. Wider thinking is needed now.
Of course the protestors could raise some capital, lease some track time, lease some rolling stock, hire some staff, sell some tickets, run a rail service. . .
I’d be up to put in some capital, and to do some train travel. . .
The train ‘enthusiasts’ are barking mad, for reasons that are too many to list.
Name one reason.
Moat of our train tracks are not electrified. There is a shortage of bus drivers and a bigger shortage of train drivers. The need for stations to be built would cause a large carbon footprint. Most business people cannot afford the time in traveling to and from a station .That is just a few problems not taken into account by these simple minded economic warriors.Hope they have the book thrown at them
I could add that NZ is subject to lots of weather emergencies and earthquakes, and a train is dependent on the entire length of the track being in service. Vehicles can be re-routed around slips because the road network has more options for local diversions, and aircraft just fly over the top of the disruption.
Japan has a similar earthquake history to New Zealand if not a bit worse yet seems to run a modern rail system just fine. Auckland’s over crowded yet somehow “recruiting” cars around traffic jams doesn’t sound great for mental health.
So are train enthusiasts “barking mad.” I guess it just comes down to preference.
It’s all good for right-wingers to prefer vehicles and roads but as soon as protestors make a preference for alternative modes of transport and energy they’re “barking mad?”
Every super city in the world gets a rail system. Rail was, the type writer and coal gave humanity the industrial revolution. Auckland and the rest of New Zealand isn’t that special it can operate outside of the capitalist system.
The train enthusiasts are barking mad for what they want to build for a very low population density nation, and a very small population, in a hilly, geologically unstable and flood-prone country, when there are working and adequate alternatives.
And those alternatives have much faster travel times. And To people’s door.
Every train enthusiasts’ proposal should honestly start off with “assume an unlimited amount of project capital with very small interest costs,…”
Auckland is building up. Let’s “assume” a third more vehicles on Auckland roads in 10 years. Given the government wants to build 100,000 homes 😀 funny I know.
The primary driver of rail isn’t the overall population it’s density of urban areas, and lack of density in car-centric towns.
My position is that rail should replace road as the primary method of transport for most of cross city Urban transport with support from busses and cars for more Rural/less trafficked areas. I don’t think we should/can get rid of roads but I think highways and such should be eliminated where possible
Rich and Middle class don’t want to mix with poor. Train would have status as late-night bus : dirty, dangerous, full of druggie and crazy people.
So Aucklanders would have to foot the majority of the bill as cities usually subsidies rural areas anyway
The train enthusiasts are barking mad for what they want to build for a very low population density nation, and a very small population, in a hilly, geologically unstable and flood-prone country, when there are working and adequate alternatives.
And those alternatives have much faster travel times. And To people’s door.
Every train enthusiasts’ proposal should honestly start off with “assume an unlimited amount of project capital with very small interest costs,…”
Ada Good practical thought that hadn’t occurred to me. Probably not to others also. The Holy Grail of good outcomes before the eyes sometimes obscures the niggling likelihoods that will fracture the perfect picture.
They are silly for starters.
Martyn – I wonder if you would salute them if they ‘damaged telecommunications lines’ for their cause?…Because some of those protesters would do this…
There are better targets than already frazzled commuters…such as corporates and the farming sector…but I too applaud direct action on Climate Disaster.
Tipping points are being reached, so inconvenience means little when civilisation as we know it is at stake. A fried Earth would be a major inconvenience!
School Climate Strike seems back on track (the numbers will build again Martyn) and I support it as an older person–so should you–I usually march near the back with my sign, a blue Earth graphic, and text “What Planet are YOU on”.
After Cyclone Gabrielle and the Auck Anniversary floods it is vital to keep the message in front of people and keep building community participation. Govt.s and corporates will not move an inch without significant pressure from citizens, and this will have to include “adult” strikes too.
How do the protesters know which cars are EV and which cars are diesel ? Surely they want to let the EVs through. Or are those banned as well. In which case we should all be on horse skates, skate board, push scotter and push bikes now..not electrc bikes as they are bad for environment.
They need to treat the climate change protestors the same as they treated the ones that disrupted Wellington for weeks ending in setting a fire and parking infringements being largely ignored give them a slap on the hand.
I’ve just superglued some soup to the motorway…It’s the best way to stop climate change….If that doesn’t help comrades nothing will…
Lol
Middle class whiteys who don’t need to work that day screwing over the stressed working class to make a point about how bad it is sitting stationary in cars burning fossil fuels?
In Wellington was it?
No one cares – the protestors look like plonkers and everyone hates Wellington anyway.
Losers= the actual workers prevented from doing their jobs.
Winners= no one.
Bravo!
Lock them up?
I’m more in favour of integrated public transport planning than rail alone.
On protest methods, once you impede the free movement of people and trap them with no alternative route/s to move (as on a motorway) it is problematic as to how effective a protest becomes.
It may be more productive to target transport decision makers than the commuting public.
Protesters or attention seekers?