Nina Newington is saving Nova Scotia forests for mainland moose

In December, we at rabble.ca asked "What are the organizations that inspire you? Who are the activists leading progressive change? Who are the rabble rousers to watch in 2021?" And you responded. Over the next while, we'll be running both print and audio features about the people and organizations you nominated. Follow our rabble rousers to watch here.

Our guest today is heading for a courtroom on Monday.

"We had made a decision, many of us, that we were willing to get arrested, that we weren't willing to voluntarily lift the blockade. And so we stayed in place and after about four days of the RCMP showing up to see if we would change our minds, they arrested nine of us ... and charged us with a criminal charge, which was a bit of a surprise, of disobeying a court order." -- Nina Newington

Nina describes herself this way: "Writer, gardener, carpenter, Nina Newington lives with her wife on a farm by the Bay of Fundy. Her second novel, Cardinal Divide, came out last year. She delights in the unsettling of colonialism, the unbinding of binary, the necessary transformation of our relations with nature."

She was nominated as a "rabble rouser to watch" because of her work through Extinction Rebellion in defending Nova Scotia forests and waters from destruction in the name of profits. She was arrested, along with other protesters in December for blocking clear-cutting of a forest in southwestern Nova Scotia, specifically for not obeying a court injunction.

WestFor, a consortium of 13 mills and industrial forestry groups, is behind the harvest plans on Crown land. They applied for an injunction prohibiting protests which could hinder the company from doing their business. An interim injunction was granted, and a group of protesters, which included Nina, was charged with disobeying the interim injunction.

On reflection about her current situation and her life to date: "The forest protector camped on a logging road in southwest Nova Scotia feels remarkably close to the tomboy playing truant in the woods of my native Britain 50 years ago: disobedience has been a theme."

Image: Nina Newington/Just Before Our Arrests. Used with Permission.

Music: Karl Nerenberg/La touladie en hiver. Used with permission.