Using boats and other small vessels to form blockades, and blockades on land as a form of protest, have been historically successful advocacy tools. They can garner both national and international attention, often producing tangible results. Below are examples of such blockades.
Photo: Activists of the KMSS farmers’ rights movement block turbines for the Lower Subansiri Dam from being unloaded at the Brahmaputra River in India’s Assam state and return them to the sender, May 2011. (UB Photos)
Blockading for Bangladesh: U.S. Activists Stop Arms Shipments
Bangladesh, then known as East Pakistan, declared independence from West Pakistan in 1971. To deny the secession, West Pakistan declared war, with U.S. support. Unknown to the vast majority of the American public, the U.S. was supplying military arms to West Pakistan in an effort to quell the uprising in East Pakistan.
Knowing this, a group of activists in Philadelphia decided to blockade Pakistani freighters from loading arms at U.S. ports (June 1971). They dispatched small boats that placed themselves physically between the freighters and the dock. The first blockade occurred at Baltimore, followed by similar blockades at Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston. This tactic, used for the first time in U.S. history, proved a huge success. The publicity garnered caused the International Longshoremen’s Association to shut down all U.S. ports to Pakistani arms shipments. Ultimately, the U.S. Congress responded to the pressure when in November 1971, the State Department announced there would be no more arms shipments to Pakistan.
Australia’s 1990 Rainforest Blockades
In Australia, a similar blockade was held when the Rainforest Action Groups decided in February 1990 to form a blockade at Darling Harbor in Sydney. They protested against a ship carrying rainforest timber from Southeast Asia. Twenty-five environmental activists in kayaks and rubber dinghies formed a physical barrier between the ship and the dock. Similar blockades transpired in Melbourne. The publicity from the blockades caused the Building Workers’ Industrial Union, three of the largest plywood manufacturers in the state of Victoria, the Transport Workers’ Union, and various other merchants, to ban the use of rainforest timber. The Waterside Workers Federation showed its support by banning a similar rainforest timber ship.
From Seattle to Estonia, Greenpeace’s History of Blockade Tactics
The environmental group, Greenpeace, have long used the tactic of blockades to promote their causes. In June 2015, environmental activists in kayaks attempted to blockade the oil and gas company Shell’s Polar Pioneer drilling rig. The rig was leaving Seattle for Arctic waters to drill for oil. By this blockade, Greenpeace successfully drew attention to its position that arctic oil stay in the ground to avoid catastrophic climate change. Greenpeace had previously taken a similar step in September 2006 in Estonia. Greenpeace activists successfully blocked the toxic ship, Probo Koala, in the harbour of Paldiski, Estonia. This caused the Estonian Government to detain and investigate the toxic tanker said to have dumped toxic waste in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, killing seven people and causing 44,000 people to seek medical assistance.
Mass Blockades Against Coal Exports in Australia
More recently in May 2016, in Newcastle, home to Australia’s biggest coal export port, police have arrested 66 people in an anti-fossil fuel blockade. Hundreds of kayaks and boats blocked the entrance to the harbor. This was in an attempt to stop coal ships from leaving or entering the port. Another group blocked train tracks used to transport coal in the city. The blockades were successful, as more than 1,000 people attended, calling for the Australian government to take action on climate change and to reduce the use of fossil fuels. The blockades were part of several anti-fossil fuel actions happening across 12 countries.
