![\"leardblockade\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/leardblockade.jpg?resize=800%2C480\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
By Margo Kingston<\/a> @margokingston1<\/a><\/p>\n 31st January 2014<\/p>\n I met Kat Moore briefly the evening before she was arrested on Tuesday at #Leardblockade up a monopole on the Whitehaven construction site after stopping 13 Trucks from working all day.<\/span><\/p>\n I interviewed her yesterday by phone shortly after her return to Melbourne.<\/p>\n Margo Kat<\/b> Margo<\/b> Kat\u00a0<\/b> Margo Kat<\/b> Margo Kat The last three hours I was singing – bits of Beatle, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell – whatever came into my head. My support team can vouch for that! A bit\u00a0 of jazz as well – songs that felt right to be singing up there, not necessarily protest songs.<\/p>\n They saw me as soon as I got up there. They had an eye on me the whole day. Early on there were more there – enjoying the novelty, taking some photos, having a chat, trying to figure out how I got up there – they were pretty impressed with the rig-up. Then they just checked me once in a while.<\/p>\n It was the first time I\u2019d been arrested. I\u2019d done quite a bit of training with Nicola, and I was pleased to find that I was as prepared as I\u2019d hoped to be. I wasn\u2019t surprised by anything that happened. It was like they were following the script that Nicola had given to me. They were playing the game and I\u2019d already been taught the rules.<\/p>\n Margo Kat Margo Kat It\u2019s a bit of affirmation of my ability to maintain my calm and deal with whatever happens.<\/p>\n![\"JhreYyG\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/JhreYyG.png?resize=532%2C717\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>How does it feel to be home after that experience?<\/p>\n
\nIt feels good. I feel more entitled to be actively speaking about this. I\u2019ve taken that stand, so I\u2019m not just sitting on the sideline preaching. I\u2019m actually doing something about it.<\/p>\n
\nHow did you come to be at #leardblockade?<\/p>\n
\nI found out about the Australian Youth Climate Coalition<\/a> and went along to Powershift 2013<\/a>\u00a0and then to the East West Link protests where I met Nicola (a non violent direct action trainer at Counteract<\/a>) and did some training with her \u2026 I came up to #leardblockade in December, but logistically I could play a big role because I had to leave early. This time when I came up I\u2019d already made the decision that I was going to\u00a0 put myself forward as arrestable.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>How long were you up the monopole?<\/p>\n
\nSix hours.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>How did you find that experience?<\/span><\/p>\n
\n<\/b>The first three hours was a bit iffy because I was getting my head around logistics, like how to tie my water bottle on so I didn\u2019t have to hold it and didn\u2019t drop it. I ended up loosening the legstraps with my harness because they were digging in. Sitting with all that pressure for a long time starts to cut off your circulation a bit. Once I figured out the logistics I really enjoyed it up there.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>What\u2019s the Twitter experience been like since you got home?<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>I got back this morning, and I had to get out of the house and do something else after a while because I was just sitting in front of the computer and reading all the articles, looking at Facebook and Twitter, finding all the photos. I got to the point where I thought, \u201cI\u2019ve got to go and do something else to take myself out of that heads space – I\u2019m back, let\u2019s get a dose of reality”. So I went into the AYCC office and did some work there.<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Getting arrested was a big step to take –<\/p>\n
\n<\/b>Yeah, in the end it felt like the only next logical step for me to take. I\u2019ve had conversations about it and I prepared for being arrested, and I\u2019ve approached the problem it from different angles. I got to the point where I thought that was the next thing I needed to do in my path of opposition to the coal industry. Now I\u2019ve done that I can chill out a little bit. Rather than constantly feeling like I\u2019m on the verge of crossing that line, I\u2019ve crossed it and now I can relax again, not feeling like it\u2019s something I\u2019m about to do.<\/p>\n![\"photo\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nofibs.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/photo1.jpg?resize=592%2C394\")
<\/p>\n