Climate activist group, Blockade Australia makes major call on continent’s name

A prominent climate activist group has unleashed a series of posts which claims Australia is a country rooted in oppressive and exploitative systems.

A notoriously disruptive climate activist group has made an outlandish statement that denounces the name of Australia and claiming it represents ‘oppressive and exploitative’ systems.

Blockade Australia released the four tiles on their Twitter and Facebook social media pages just two days after the death of Queen Elizabeth II. They said the campaign was a “call to action” to “blockade the oppressive and exploitative structures called ‘Australia’”.

“Australia is not the name of this continent,” reads one of the four slides.

“Australia doesn’t refer to this land, these waters, or the many communities that calls this place home.

“Australia is the name of the economic and political systems which work to oppress and exploit this continent and its peoples.

“These systems are complex, corrupt and have been designed to maximise extraction and maintain hierarchies of power. They have been in place since invasion.”

Stream your news live & on demand with Flash. From CNN International, Al Jazeera, Sky News, BBC World, CNBC & more. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022 >

The protest group claimed Australia was filled with oppressive political systems. Picture: Facebook/ Blockade Australia.

In the two days since the images were posted, the status attracted 17 shares, 100 comments and 113 reactions. However, some of the comments questioned the relevancy of the post.

“Our education system has a lot to answer for if it produces this weird thought process in our young,” one comment read.

“Can we just keep this page about climate change? If not, I guess I’ll unfollow as this issue is really off tangent,” shared another.

Blockade Australia has earned a reputation for their disruptive and large scale protests advocating climate change action. In July this year, up to 11 people were charged for their protest in Sydney’s CBD. It was part of the group’s plan to take to the streets every day in protest of inaction on climate change.

Blockade Australia protesters took over the city in what was meant to be a week of protests. Picture: John Grainger.

During the four days of campaigns, police arrested dozens of people. Picture: Lachlan Leeming.

However, the frenzy was called off by the Thursday.

“We have made the hard choice to end the mobilisation and wait until next time when we are bigger and stronger,” they shared in a Telegram post.

“We call on people to continue to take disruptive climate action in any way they can.”

Previously, the direct action group also shut down the worlds largest coal port in Newcastle on NSW’s Central Coast. Protesters used rope and glue and climbed on top of machinery.