XR Aotearoa Event Wednesday 26 October 2021

by Francesca Pouwer

A number of us from FFF took part in the rolling action of dancing cows making their way around the capital in protest of industrial agriculture and its effects on the environment, animal welfare and human health.

After that we went to give moral support to fellow rebels who had glued themselves to steps at Parliament grounds all night as part of the Te Tiriti demands for declarative democracy. The protesters said to NZ Herald: “Our aim was to draw attention to Te Tiriti-based climate assemblies, which we believe is one of the only ways to genuinely address the climate crisis without further ignoring colonisation, capitalism, imperialism.” Read the full article here:

We started off with a fun event: disco dancing in front of the Railway station at 8.30 am to the commuter crowd’s attention and it was shown live on Breakfast TV with John Campbell.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1F7cm_fFisCaa7K2SNvofJzJwD8WHHMKx/view?usp=sharing

From then on the focus was on the major culprits responsible for industrial agriculture in Aotearoa: MPI, Fonterra and Pāmu (Landcorp Farming Ltd).

At all three locations we requested that a representative come down to meet with us but no one came out. At MPI we were actually told someone would meet us but after half an hour we realised it would not happen.  On leaving ,we ‘posted’ a ‘massage’  through the massive glass doors in an act of rebellion. ( Video by glass doors of MPI)

At Fronterra we entered the hall and despite being told there was no public access the cows went ahead with their dance to let it be  known they are on strike and have had enough of being live milk machines for Fronterra.

( video of dancing cows in hall Fronterra on XR wellington facebook)

The Pamu event stays with me the most because it brought home to me the extent of industrial farming here in NZ. XR had invited environmentalist Angus Robson along and he provided the aerial photographs for a mud and cowshit  display assembled at the doorstep of Pamu.

(Two photos from gallery)

Angus has been on a mission to expose the horrors of ‘winter grazing’ but really it is Mud Farming. 

Greenpeace Youtube Video on Mud Farming: https://youtu.be/9sJZgQ3yNTA

The worst thing is Pamu farms are government-owned assets. So while the government is making all sorts of regulations to reduce environmental harm and ultimately stock numbers, they do not lead by example on their own industrial  farms. 

https://fb.watch/937H8j-gh3/

https://fb.watch/937H8j-gh3/

Please sign the Greenpeace Petition ‘HEALTHY FARMING, NOT MUD FARMING’:https://petition.act.greenpeace.org.nz/agriculture-intensive-winter-grazing