Long Hot Summer Campaign

Spend two weeks in Tasmania and see what you can save...

The Long Hot Summer Campaign is a bold new campaign being organised by The
Wilderness Society (TWS) in Tasmania for January and February 1993.   The
campaign is the next phase in the National Forest Campaign and embraces the
concept of team effort or "critical mass".  Put simply, it's a plan to
concentrate our energies and experience in one place to stop the continuing
destruction of our precious forests.

Why Tasmania?  Tasmania is the Summer hot spot.  It is a place of beautiful
forests and unbelievable devastation.  It is the place where The Wilderness
Society began and where the Franklin was won. It is also the woodchipping
capital of Australia.  More than half the national annual quota of woodchips
is taken from the forests in Tasmania.  This destruction of forests for
woodchipping is set to increase if a proposed fourth woodchip licence goes
ahead.

For all these reasons, TWS has chosen to concentrate our efforts in Tasmania
in the lead up to a Federal Election.  Experienced campaigners in Tasmania,
many with more than a decade of campaigning experience, will train activists
from all over Australia to take a key role in the Long Hot Summer Campaign. 
An experienced media unit on the mainland will ensure that the campaign
maintains a national media profile with attention focused not just on the
destruction of our native forest in Tasmania, but across Australia.

How can you get involved?  We need your help at any time between NOW and the
end of February and beyond.  You can be involved either on the mainland, or
in Tasmania.  This phase of our campaign is a crucial period in the lead up
to the federal election - this summer it's your participation that could turn
the tide and make the difference.

(a) Mainland
There are plenty of things that you can do on the mainland, so don't worry if
you can't make it to Tassy.  Right now, there are two main activities that
you can get involved in:
* Recruitment: finalising contact lists; hooking into personal networks;
doing mail-outs and phone arounds.
* Publicity: postering; painting and hanging banners; getting ads into as
many places as possible (including newsletters, magazines, radio stations
etc., etc.).

(b) Tasmania
The long hot summer will commence on 11th January, 1993 and end on 7th March,
1993. This period is being broken into four two week blocks, so you can come
down for as little as a fortnight or as long as two months.  In each two week
block you can expect to have the opportunity to participate in the following
(at the very least):
* One major activity such as a chip mill action or forest blockade, and many
minor activities, such as pickets, sit-ins, information stalls etc.
* Training, on everything from nonviolent action to media skills to social
change and grassroots activism to volunteer training, campaign planning,
political lobbying skills...need to go on?
* Information sessions on at least two forest issues, e.g. woodchipping,
plantations, pulp and paper etc.

It's a great opportunity to learn invaluable skills, whilst also planning and
participating in activities that will make an impact!  You will be working
with experienced campaigners, and will meet with committed activists from all
over Australia.

Nonviolent Action Training
As part of your preparation for Tasmania, TWS is asking that every person
participate in NvA training before venturing down to Tasmania.  NvA is the
philosophy that guides everything that TWS does.  NvA is about peaceful
resistance.  It incorporates consensus decision making and non-hierarchical
structures.  It is about social change in a peaceful but effective way.

In insisting on nonviolence training, we seek to ensure that people are
equipped for the pressures and challenges they'll face in Tasmania; that the
goals and the aims of the campaign are clearly understood; that intending
activists' expectations are realistic; and that everyone is proficient in the
techniques which will enable us to act as a cohesive group.

Where to now?
If you have not already done so, please fill out a skills register sheet that
tells us what you can do and when.  If you have no time to help, but would
like to come to Tasmania, contact your local Wilderness Society office.

Don't just go wild this summer - get active!
TWS,
cafe.brisbane on Pegasus Network