Chaelundi Nonviolent Action? The following events took place around the 12th and 13th of March 1990. Chaelundi is a 30,000 hectare state forest 70 km south west of Grafton on the N.S.W. north coast. The N.S.W. Forestry Commission (F.C.) had just started logging at the edge of an 8,000 hectare section that had never seen a chainsaw and was planning to carve an eight kilometre logging road through its heart. Recent studies have shown this forest to contain the highest population and most varied array of arboreal mammals in S.E. Australia. The Environmental Planning and Assessments Act requires by law that the F.C. do an Environmental Impact Study (E.I.S.) before any significant damage is done to sensitive forests. The F.C. yet again neglected to fulfill this requirement and was therefore operating illegally. The North East Forest Alliance (N.E.F.A.) with the election looming decided on a blockade of Chaelundi State forest. N.E.F.A. had not adopted all the principles of nonviolent action, such as openness and non secrecy. After much discussion on the pros and cons it was decided to be open and a press release was circulated identifying the time, place and reasons for our actions. This gave us some important first favorable reporting of the issue. Rain stopped logging on the first day which allowed for much valuable dialogue with the F.C. and the contractors. The F.C. then decided to close the forests to everyone including the media and wait it out till Monday. The blockade continued. We told the police and F.C. we were committed to a nonviolent blockade of the access road while we waited for an injunction to be heard in Sydney in the next couple of days. Monday's action went smoothly and as planned. Ten people calling themselves the Earth Police tried to make a citizens' arrest on the head forester, claiming that the operation was illegal. Police dragged cars off the road and peacefully arrested nine people for sitting and singing on a blockade of logs. Two others were arrested after chaining themselves to cars. Positive peaceful images and stories were sent to all local media and Sydney TV stations. The message of illegal logging in Chaelundi soon became common knowledge. The next day didn't go quite so smoothly. There seemed to be a distinct lack of enthusiasm in the air to organise a circle and plan an appropriate action for the day. What followed was a spontaneous and secretive direct action with the expected result. While I was organising my camera a logging truck approached. Someone yelled out "Let's blockade it". Spontaneously people wandered on to the road and a coupleof brave wimmin crawled under the stationary truck and chained their necks to the front axle. About tencontractors came bolting towards the truck thinking that the protesters may have been about to damage the truck. People were very nearly bashed and necks stretched as tempers flared. There were no police present, yet luckily for us we had a few cameras which probably stopped blood flowing that day. After that dust had settled some others attempted another spontaneous blockade of some macho contractors. Six people were nearly run over as the contractor ploughed through. The message that went out on the news that night was, "Violence in the Forests", and just showed an angry confrontation between two divided groups of people. Rather than have the earth irreparably damaged in ten years I would like to see a society which found it totally unacceptable for any consumer item or industry to be in any way involved in damaging our environment. To achieve this goal we must convince people that the earth is threatened and inspire them to get involved. N.V.A. is a complete strategy to help bring about this green revolution. John Lennon says there are no problems only solutions. N.V.A. says that there are no enemies only future converts. For the Future, Dean Jefferys, C/ Bowraville P.O., 2449. Postscript: Forestry refused to give me and other media a permit to enter the closed forest; despite my video footage being seen both days on National T.V. I was arrested and fined $500. The attempts to suppress important actions and information continues; thereby supporting the need to keep alternative media and organisations alive and expanding. Presently I am making a documentary on N.V.A. which will be available for global distribution by the end of 1990.