G20 SOLIDARITY FUNDRAISER

MUSIC BRUTALITY BY

RASCAL AND BONEZ (violin and accordian madness)

SCUM SYSTEM KILL (3rd last australian show ever - you know us - we're loud and obnoxious)

VOTING WITH BRICKS (fast political punk with a trombone)

AMAZING PERFORMANCES BY

S.N.A.G (Sensitive new age gang)

BROWN COUNCIL (amazing sydney performance group)

and DJ DEADBEAT

PLUS SPEAKERS talking about what is still happening in regards to charges brought against folx post g20 protests

FRIDAY 22 MAY

8pm

$8

--

The Red Rattler Theatre

6 Faversham St.

Marrickville NSW 2204

enquiries@redrattler.org

http://www.redrattler.org

G20 Public Meeting Update

click to enlarge

March for Multicultralism

click for larger Image

Free Burma-Melbourne Solidairty

Footage of rally and march in Melbourne on Friday 28 September, one of many such events being held across Australia in response to violent repression by the military government in Burma.

Thanks to pc for the footage,

G20 ARRESTEES SOLIDARITY RALLY

outside the Melbourne Magistrate's Court,
cnr William and Lonsdale Sts, City
Friday 31st August
9:30am

Please show your support for those arrested at the G20 protests in
November last year - DEFEND POLITICAL PROTEST! DROP THE CHARGES!

At a time when civil liberties are under threat we should all support the 27 people facing charges resulting from their alleged participation in political protest against the G20 in November 2006.

The charges are overblown and disproportionate – imposed after a media witch-hunt led by the Herald Sun. They are part of a conservative campaign to discredit protest and social movements for change.

Thousands of people joined the protest against the g20 meeting. We did so because the G20 is an unaccountable elite institution that pushes neo-liberal policies that wreck the lives of workers and the poor. Privatisation, cuts to public health, education and welfare, and WorkChoices-style attacks on workers’ rights are all neo-liberal policies pushed by the G20.

We protested because we want a better world – without corporate greed, endless war against Iraq and Afghanistan, and global environmental destruction. The G20, like APEC, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, is an institution set up to promote the interests of the rich and powerful.

It is no surprise that every time they meet, anywhere in the world, they are met with protest and resistance. And that’s why thousands of people will be protesting against the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) meeting, attended by Presidents Bush, Putin, and Hu Jintao, in Sydney in September.

The G20 protest challenged the ‘lock-down’ of the city that the Victorian police imposed to insulate the G20 delegates from the people affected by their decisions. Direct action and civil disobedience have a proud history in movements for social justice, from the suffragettes and 8-hour-day movements to the anti-Vietnam war and Civil Rights struggles of the 1960s.

We need to defend our ability to organise, protest and resist – Drop the charges now!

Called by: Ongoing G20 Arrestees Solidarity Network (OGASN)
Endorsed by: Australian Student Environmental Network, Civil Rights Defence, Unity for Peace, Latin American Solidarity Network, Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group,
Anti-APEC Network, Anarchist Black Cross, Socialist Party, Resistance, Permanent Revolution, Revo, International Socialist Organisation, Solidarity, Refugee Action Collective (VIC).

OGASN meets every 2nd Friday at the New International Bookshop, Trades Hall, Lygon Street, Carlton. For more info call 0421 979 694 or email afterg20@gmail.com. Website: www.afterg20.org

Fighting and organising globally against neoliberalism!

Latin American and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum Oct
11-14, 2007. Melbourne, Australia

A global call for participation

We call on all activists, organisations and communities who are
committed to building a better world to join together at the Latin
American and Asia Pacific International Solidarity Forum to be held in
October 2007, in Melbourne Australia.

The forum has been initiated by the organisers of several successful
conferences and gatherings in solidarity with Latin America and the
Asia Pacific, the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN), Asia
Pacific International Solidarity Conference (APISC) and the Latin
American Solidarity Network (LASNET). With this call we would like to
invite you to participate in this international forum.

A time of resistance, progress and struggle

Today, cracks are beginning to appear in the neo-liberal capitalist
ruling system. In the Asia-Pacific there is a growing crisis of
legitimacy for neo-liberal governments and mass movements of
resistance are on the rise. In Latin American a people's rebellion is
growing across the continent. An echo of the massive independence
struggles against colonialism and imperialism can again be heard.

Old ideas are being re-examined and new ways experimented with.
Discussion and debate have been revived among whole communities -- on
issues such as workers' control and management; indigenous autonomy
and self-determination; building trade unions and social movements;
electoral campaigning and counter-power strategies. These discussions
have given birth to some of the most dynamic and successful social
movements and political organisations in recent decades.

There is great diversity among these movements. Some are working to
achieve power, while others, such as the Zapatistas, aim to completely
re-define and recreate the notion of power. Some have formed links
with political parties and are constantly adjusting how they relate to
the government of the day.

Popular governments have won elections with the support of social
movements, and in countries such as Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador we
are seeing progressive and radical changes. The Venezuelan idea of
socialism for the 21st century is giving renewed hope and energy to
other liberation processes.

Many of these movements and political organisations are winning. They
are strengthening people's participation, strengthening their
communities, developing people's power and inspiring a new generation
of political activists.

Another world can only be realised if people like you and me also
commit to this emerging project of struggle against neoliberalism.

http://solidarityforum2007.org/?q=node

International participants

Aotearoa / New Zealand
* Sina Brown-Davis, Maori/Pasifikan activist, G20 Arrestee
* Vaughan Gunson, Socialist Worker NZ
Bangladesh
* Abul Hossain, President, United Labour Federation
Bolivia
* An activist from the life and water social movements coalition
Canada
* Roger Annis, Canada Haiti Action Network
* John Riddell, Socialist Voice
* Suzanne Weiss, Venezuela We are With You
Colombia
* A representative of the National Federation of Agricultural Farming
Unions (Fensuagro)
Cuba
* Nélida Hernández Carmona & Ifrahim Miranda León, Cuban
Consul-General & Consul in Australia
East Timor
* Avelino Coelho, General Secretary, Socialist Party of Timor
Eucador
* Efren Calapucha, Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of
Ecuador (CONAIE)
El Salvador
* Sigfrido Reyes Morales, Member of Parliament, FMLN Political Commission.
Indonesia
* Dita Sari, Founding chairperson of Centre for Indonesian Workers
Struggle (FNPBI)
* Agus Priono, Chairperson, National Liberation Party of Unity (PAPERNAS)
Korea
* Reverend Jang Chang Weon, Osan Laborers and Migrants Shelter,
Reconciliation and Unification Mission Center
Malaysia
* Irene Xavier, Coordinator, Transnational Information Exchange Asia
Philippines
* Franciso Nemenzo, Chairperson, Laban ng Masa
Pakistan
* Farooq Tariq, General Secretary, Labour Party Pakistan
Pakistan
* Farooq Tariq, General Secretary, Labour Party Pakistan
Papua New Guinea
* John Chitoa and Rosa Koian, Bismarck Ramu Group
Venezuela
* Eva Golinger, author of The Chavez Code and Bush vs Chavez:
Washington's War on Venezuela
* Vladimir Villegas, Vice-Minister for Asia, Middle East and Oceania.
* Sandino Carrizales, Youth activist and Communal Councils organiser.
* Nelson Davila, Venezuela's Charge d'Affairs in Australia
Vietnam
* Tran Quoc Khanh, Vietnam's Deputy Consul General in Australia
West Papua
* Anak Jehudi, Patron, West Papua Students Association, Port Morseby.

Aaliyah ft DMX- Come Back in One Piece

The Palm Island Uprising

We've had enough mate, this is ridiculous.The system not only is not working for us, it has never ever worked for us or delivered justice. What is going on on Palm Island is a genuine reflection of how all Aboriginal people are feeling at this stage across Aboriginal Australia.
Murrandoo Doomadgee, cousin of Mulrunjie Doomadgee, on Lateline, 26th November 2004

On the 26th of November, 2004, around 300 members of the Aboriginal community on Palm Island in northern Queensland rioted, burning down the police station and courthouse, and setting fire to the police barracks, a police officers house, and a stolen police car, by throwing Molotov cocktails (as well as rocks and other projectiles). The islands armed police force were helpless to stop the destruction, and the scores of riot police ready to be flown in from the mainland to put the riot down were prevented from doing so by rioters blockading the islands only airstrip with cars.

On the 19th of November, 36-year-old Palm Islander Mulrunjie (Cameron) Doomadgee had died in police custody, after being arrested for drunk and disorderly behavior. The riot came in immediate response to the reading of the coroners autopsy report a week later, which detailed Doomadgees injuries at time of death as being four broken ribs, a punctured lung, and his liver literally torn in two an injury most commonly seen in serious road accidents. The coroner deemed these injuries to be in-keeping with the official police line of Doomadgee having fallen on a concrete step during a scuffle as he was being led from the police paddy wagon to the islands watch-house. It seems the Aboriginal community of Palm Island did not agree.

Palm Island has quite a history of colonial brutality and indigenous resistance. Before white invasion in north Queensland, the island belonged to the Manbarra people. It was only in 1914 that the Queensland Government claimed the island as a reserve, and shortly decided it would make an appropriate dumping ground for Aboriginal and Islander people regarded by the colonial establishment as uncontrollables. By 1940, at least 1,630 people from 40 different Aboriginal communities around Queensland would be forcibly removed from their communities and deposited imprisoned on the island.

Removal to Palm Island was the heaviest punishment a colonial officer could legally administer. In charge of the new reserve settlement was an ex-army captain, Robert Curry, a man with no previous administrative experience. From the start the settlement was under-financed, with the residents (that is, prisoners) of the island violently denied their traditional ways of life (even speaking Aboriginal languages was forbidden) surviving on meagre rations and living in complete poverty. Leprosy and venereal disease spread through the settlement, and the doctors appointed to the island by the colonial administration were, unsuprisingly, less than enthusiastic in their attempts to curtail the diseases spreading.

Perhaps an indication of just how desperate things were on the island during this time is the mental collapse of Administrator Curry whose living conditions would have been positively luxurious compared to the settlements Aboriginal population who in February 1930 went on a destructive rampage, killing his own children and torching several buildings before he was shot by one of his own Aboriginal staffers.
In 1957 a series of incidents involving the colonial staffs treatment of Aboriginal women and a decision by the colonial administration to cut wages, led to a strike by the residents. The authorities responded by expelling 25 identified ringleaders of the resistance, and their families, from the island. A second strike occurred in 1974 when the colonial administration sacked the local Community Council and threatened to turn control of the island over to the City Council of Townsville the nearest mainland city.

The Australian Govenment finally relinquished control of Palm Island at least on paper in 1985 when title for the island was passed to the Community Council in the form of a DOGIT (Deed of Grant in Trust). While this gave the residents a greater say in the administration of the island, the transfer of title led to the removal of much of the Government infrastructure. Soon after the decision was made, barges arrived and houses, shops, the timber mill and farming equipment were disassembled and shipped back to the mainland. The Aboriginal residents of Palm Island some of them Manbarra people, indigenous to the island, many of them indigenous to elsewhere in Queensland and transported (or the descendents of those transported) to the settlement as punishment for their defiance of colonial authority had their traditional ways of life stamped out and replaced with the poverty of colonial capitalist life by the white European occupiers over the course of 70 brutal years. Then, when they protested their slave-like conditions and insisted upon some semblance of independence, the Government punished them for their perceived ingratitude and removed everything it had taught them to rely upon.

In the 20 years since this event, familiar symptoms of social trauma and denigration have set in as a direct result of the poverty, appalling conditions and subsequent desperation of the community of Palm Island, who grapple with the weight of a common legacy of colonization: they are at once brutally oppressed and utterly abandoned. A Department of Public Works Director-Generals briefing note records that in an 8 month period in 2003, there were 16 youth suicides and 8 domestic murders on the island. The community of 3500 indigenous people is squeezed into about 220 houses, averaging 17 people to a house. The unemployment rate on the island remembering that the Aboriginal people comprising the community of Palm Island have had their traditional ways of life completely annihilated is said to be around 95%. In the late 1990s, The Guinness Book of Records listed Palm Island, Australias largest indigenous community, as the most violent place on earth outside of a war-zone. Here we see the extent of the damage Australia has done to its surviving indigenous communities; the legacy of colonization in its starkest tones.

Since the uprising, the Palm Island community has been vilified by the very political and cultural establishment that created its problems in the first place. Peter Lindsay, The Federal Member for Herbert (in which Palm Island is situated), for instance, recently called his constituents dysfunctional and hopeless. Perhaps a reporter for the ABC went even further in revealing the true nature of Australias supposed multi-culturism and respect for its indigenous cultures: during the inquest into Mulrunjie Doomadgees death (which at this writing is still in progress), legal representatives for Aboriginal witnesses requested interpreters for the witnesses, for whom English is not a first language (Aboriginal people are now at least permitted to speak their own languages on Palm Island). The reporter in question asked an Aboriginal spokesperson, why cant these people just speak English?
Aside from the unabashed white supremacist commentary of the occupying culture which, by the way, has no more legal right to be occupying a single square inch of Australia than, say, the U.S military in Iraq the Palm Island community has been terrorized since the uprising by a paramilitary police force that has itself been nothing short of an army of occupation on the island.

Indeed, well-respected Aboriginal activist Sam Watson responded to a question from the mainstream media about violence in the Aboriginal community in the wake of the riot thusly: The only violence weve had in the Aboriginal community within the past few hours has been the tactical response force running through our homes and terrorising our old people and our children Weve had small children, eight and nine-year-olds, cast onto the ground and their heads forced into the dirt by these thugs in balaclavas with submachine guns. That sort of thing doesn't even happen in Iraq.

As well as verifying Watsons shocking assertions, U.K newspaper The Guardian (Australias corporate media has evidently been too busy wondering why residents of Palm Island wont just speak English to bother reporting any of this repression) also reported that police smashed down front doors of homes and stormed in with shotguns and riot shields. An alleged leader of the protests, Lex Wotton, was arrested by four car loads of police, who shot him with an immobiliser gun while he was stood with his hands up and the police guns were trained on him.

More than 30 people were arrested by these methods plus of course the countless people terrorized by the Tactical Response paramilitaries who werent taken into custody. 18 men, 3 womyn (one of them 65 years old) and 2 children (of undisclosed age) were charged, and eventually released on bail, but for many of them it was a condition of their bail that they could not return to Palm Island not for the funeral of Mulrunjie Doomadgee, not to be with their families for Christmas, and not even if they were the sole provider for their families.

Meanwhile, the man clearly responsible for the violent demise of Mulrunjie Doomadgee, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley the arresting officer on the night he died, who was seen on top of Doomadgee, punching him, by another man arrested that night was whisked away from the island soon after the death (for his own safety) and transferred to a cushy post on the Gold Coast, apparently rewarded rather than punished for the murder.

As the inquest into Doomadgees death drags on it seems less and less likely that Hurley will ever face charges; but 23 of the men, womyn and children arrested so brutally on Palm Island face charges of arson, serious assault of police, rioting with intent to cause damage to property and riotous demolition of a building (and it could have been worse: a few days after the uprising the Queensland Police Union made a failed bid to ensure that the charges against those accused of firebombing Palm Islands police station be upgraded to attempted murder, as there were cops hiding in there). The Queensland Police Union also launched a government-sponsored public appeal for donations to help the officers whose belongings were destroyed or stolen in the rebellion this, of course, includes Hurley, whose house was burnt down (sadly not with him in it he had already left the island). Perhaps a fat cheque helped ease Hurleys disappointment at not being honored for his bravery unbelievably, at least two of the 18 armed police who fled the 300-strong insurgency of 26th November were said by Queensland Police Minister Judy Spence to be in line to be awarded bravery medals!!!

Absurd double-standards, lies, hypocrisy, brazen racism, murderous police state brutality and repression; all of it part of an unbroken circle of occupation and genocide in this country that has been spinning continuously for 217 years and counting. There has been no great change in the megalomaniacal ideals or vicious conduct of the invading European culture that has colonized Australia. But indigenous resistance to this spinning circle of death and money, this McCulture of annihilation, is changing, is fluid. In Redfern in early 2004, we saw a small but militant reprisal from the Aboriginal community of the Block when a young Aboriginal boy was impaled on a fence while being chased by police [see The Redfern Uprising by Dave Antagonism]. The Palm Island uprising less than a year later involved at least twice as many Aboriginal people, and, although there was little direct engagement with the cops (who were hopelessly outnumbered and thus beat a hasty retreat), the insurgency was both militant and focussed the primary vestiges of colonial authority on the island (the police station, the courthouse) were attacked and destroyed outright. The Palm Island uprising also showed clear signs of tactical awareness, particularly in the blockading of the islands airstrip, preventing police reinforcements from arriving.

This, in my view, is what elevates it from a riot spontaneous, unfocussed, easily out-maneuvered, contained or crushed by a large enough enemy force to an uprising, an insurgency, an insurrection.

But thats semantics. What we need to do is piece together what these recent ruptures in Australias otherwise undisturbed colonial realities mean for us anarchists, radicals, indigenous sovereignty advocates, environmentalists, anti-racists, criminals, malcontents; whatever space we occupy in the underbelly of occupied Australia. Because clearly, our standard practice when we even bother of giving lip-service to Aboriginal struggles as some kind of medication for our White Australian guilt-complex (whether we personally are white or not), is just not going to cut it anymore. The Aboriginal rebellions in Redfern and on Palm Island have been the only serious challenges to the colonial capitalist power structure in Australia in recent memory, and the fact is, to paraphrase Ward Churchills Pacifism as Pathology, the rest of us are in danger of being left behind to feel good about ourselves (if that), while the revolution goes on without us.

So if were serious about liberation in any way at all, we must find ways to contribute to the burgeoning Aboriginal militant resistance. Granted, the examples I have given here Redfern and Palm Island are clear cases of Aboriginal communities reaching a breaking point and spontaneously revolting against the colonial power structure as it manifests in their own community. But its increasingly clear that all Aboriginal communities are approaching this breaking point, and so our options for how and where to contribute to the resistance are practically infinite earning the trust and respect of Aboriginal communities with support and solidarity, furthering discussion and action around issues of Aboriginal sovereignty in the political circles we are already moving in, and I would say most important of all, readying ourselves for militant resistance in a very serious way.

At Redfern and Palm Island, the Aboriginal Nations of this country let it be known that, after more than 200 years of genocide, they are not about to be pushed over the brink without a fight. Now we must all decide to stop waiting for provocation, and finally carry the fight to our enemy.

Anonymous

Picket and Demo Against CN Rail and SPP

- Support indigenous struggles for sovereignty, dignity and self-determination on Turtle Island ...

-- Oppose CN Rail's racism and colonialism ...

-- Protest Bush, Harper, Calderon and the "Security and Prosperity Partnership" (SPP)

::::::::::::::::::::
TUESDAY, AUGUST 14th, NOON
Picket and Demonstration
Montreal Central Train Station
metro Bonaventure
(enter via the metro,
or via the street at 895 de la Gauchetière West,
between University and Mansfield)
::::::::::::::::::::

** Meet at the large departures/arrivals sign in the main lobby of the train station. Bring your banners, placards, flags and other symbols of dissent. **

-- We demand that CN Rail drop their racist lawsuits against Mohawk activists at Tyendinaga;
-- We stand in support and solidarity with indigenous struggles for sovereignty and self-determination all over Turtle Island;
-- We denounce CN Rail's role in the corporate North American
Competitiveness Council and the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP).

"When justice fails, block the rails!"


CN Rail is a multi-billion dollar company, headquartered in Montreal, whose tracks and installations occupy native lands from ocean-to-ocean.

CN Rail is currently pursuing multi-million dollar lawsuits against Mohawk activists from the community of Tyendinaga who are actively involved in the defense of their land.

The Mohawks of Tyendinaga are demanding the return of the Culberston Tract, which was stolen from them in 1832. Recently a portion of the land was reclaimed, with the Tyendinaga community demanding that the Ontario government revoke the license legitimizing a private quarry operation that is literally removing land from the Culberston Tract. For more info, consult:

http://ocap.ca/firstnations/tyendinaga/culbertson

CN is threatening more lawsuits against other indigenous communities and activists who block CN rail lines.

CN Rail and their executives are targeting indigenous community organizers who have effectively brought the issue of native sovereignty to the forefront. In the context of unsettled land claims, and the fact that their tracks sit on appropriated native territory, CN Rail's actions are colonial and racist.

While CN uses the courts to attack native activists, their CEO -- E. Hunter Harrison – is a member of the North American Competitiveness Council, a key promoter of the recently formed "Security and Prosperity Partership" (SPP) between Canada, the United States and Mexico. The SPP continues the imposition of the neo-liberal North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), combined with paranoid "Homeland Security" policies.

The SPP is an attack on all working and oppressed peoples, especially the indigenous peoples of "North America". The SPP leaders – George Bush, Stephen Harper and Felipe Calderon -- will be meeting later this summer, from August 20-21, in Montebello, Quebec (just 90 minutes from Montreal).

Join us on August 14 in Montreal, as we build towards the protests against Bush, Harper and Calderon in Montebello on August 20 (info: www.psp-spp.com )

Organized and endorsed by: Block the Empire-Montreal (BLEM), Liberterre, NoOne Is Illegal-Montreal, La Rue Brique, Solidarity Across Borders, Tadamon! Montreal, La Pointe Libertaire and others (to add your group endorsement, please contact noii-montreal@resist.ca)

-> Text of the flyer passed out at the picket against CN on July 1,
2007 in Montreal:

http://nooneisillegal-montreal.blogspot.com/2007/07/flyer-text-why-we-are-protesting.html

-> “About the SPP” Background: http://www.psp-spp.com/?q=en/aboutthespp


INFO: 514-848-7583, noii-montreal@resist.ca

Assholes Politicians Economists and Cops

APEC-Shut it Down!!!

Fuck Apec

Against Israeli Apartheid

In Bil'in it was the 131th Friday demonstration against the separation fence and
occupation. In late morning we marched as usual - Palestinians of the village
and the region, many internationals as it is summer vacation now, and Israelis
of the anarchists against the wall initiative. On the road to the gate of the
separation fence we chanted as usual. When we arrived at the foot of the hill
the gate is on its top, we set down not to give the Israeli state forces the the
excuse to start fire on us. After few minutes, individuals of the group of young
adults who join the demo but resent the nonviolent mode of it "succeeded to
provoke" the Israeli state force who started to shower us with tear gas.

The majority of the people dispersed among the olive trees slowly retreating
towards the village. However, tens of us were not deterred and stayed near the
separation fence and the soldiers who failed to get rid of them as they could
not use the tear gas in too short range. So, the commander ordered the arrest of
few Palestinian and international activists. (When the demonstrators are about a
meter or so near the state forces among the trees, it is very hard for them to
drive the demonstrators away by gas or by physical violence.)

After the soldiers at the front wasted most of their stock of tear gas, the
demonstrators returned again and again till the soldiers replenished their stock.

Teams of state forces that advanced up to the building area of the village and
used sooting with bullets covered with rubber (mainly against stone throwing
kids) failed to put end to the demonstration.

After about two hours the village popular comity for the struggle announced the
end of the demo - resuming it in a second wave at noon after the Friday prayer.

After the second wave ended too, the activists who were detained during the
first wave of demonstration were released.

-----------------------------------------

At the south, the relatively new front there were two demonstrations. The
participants as usually in the joint actions of the last few years: local
Palestinians from the village(s) involved and the region, international
activists - mostly of the ISM, and Israelis - mostly of the AATW initiative.

South Bethlehem - Palestinians, internationals, and Israeli activists (mostly of
the AATW) in the persistent joint struggle against the separation fence.

The first demonstration was in Um Salmuna.

The participants marched toward the construction site of the separation fence
undisturbed. However, when they damaged the fence around the construction site
of the separation fence, the Israeli state force arrested one Israeli activist
charging him for the damage.

The second demonstration was at noon at the Walage village.

In that Friday demonstration there was no confrontation with the Israeli state
forces.



--------------------------------------------

The week end joint struggle in the south continued in Saturday too...

http://awalls.org Saturday evening, report with pictures:

30 Meters of the wall dismantled in Beit Mirsim 11/08/2007

Today, Palestinian, Israeli, and International activists dismantled a section of
the Israeli separation barrier at the village of Beit Mirsim.

This action is the second of such actions in the past two weeks, following a
similar action in Surif

Beit Mirsim is a tiny Palestinian village in the Southern West Bank. It has been
known as an archaeological site and as a site of a war crime committed in 1967
by the army.

Today, the criminals who destroyed the original village of Beit Mirsim walk
free. So do the bureaucrats at the ‘Civil Administration’ who prevent its
reconstruction and order new homes destroyed, along with many others who embody
the “persistent Israeli urge to “clear” Palestinians away” (Amira Hass “crimes
of war, destruction of civilian property”). In contrast, those who tear down the
criminal wall are in jeopardy from both Israeli courts and military.

No one knows that jeopardy better than the people of Beit Mirsim: the regularity
with which collective punishment is meted out in the West Bank and the crimes
the IDF is capable of. Still, they persist living on their lands after seeing
their village destroyed and despite decades of hardship courtesy of the army.

Today they took initiative in their struggle for survival.

Together with Israeli and International supporters they physically dismantled
the cage which constructed for them by the Israeli ‘Ministry Of Defense’ has
constructed for them.. In that, they follow the countless examples of
Palestinians living near the wall.

Whenever and wherever there is an opportunity Palestinians will simply dismantle
the cage they are in.


Media report: Leftists, Palestinians damage separation fence
Anarchists Against the Wall activists, local residents of Hebron vicinity
village cut 30 meters of barbed wire, electric fence

Thirty Palestinian and Anarchists Against the Wall activists damaged the
separation fence near Hebron Saturday afternoon.

The activists managed to cut 30 meters of the barbed wire and electric fence
before security forces arrived at the scene. The activists ceased their
activity, and no arrests were carried out.

Activists cut separation fence

A source in the left-wing organization said that similar incidents have occurred
many times over the years. “We will continue to do this, and join the
Palestinian resistance to the occupation,” he said.

“The fence is a political tool designed to steal as much land from the
Palestinians as possible, and to ensure the Israel has strategic control over
the Palestinians. We oppose the fence wherever it stands, and we intend to
continue damaging it.”

http://mishtara.org/blog/?p=228

How to Fuck the Police

thanks to http://www.crimethinc.com/police/how.html

On the Streets:

Organizing a Copwatch Program

Copwatch groups seek to contest or at least limit police repression by directly monitoring police officers. Copwatch volunteers patrol the streets, observing police and recording their interactions with civilians. They often concentrate on areas of high police activity or to which known trouble-making cops are assigned. Copwatch groups also advise people of their rights and listen to their stories, and otherwise endeavor to undermine and thwart the police state.


Most radicals, not to mention many others, realize that the idea of policing itself needs to be completely rethought. In the meantime, people have to be protected from the brutality they face daily at the hands of the police.

Get a Group Together

Form a group. Put out calls for one everywhere, even on the bulletin boards of church groups and local grocers, not just in the activist community. Approach your neighbors—the best neighborhood watch includes a copwatch.

Educate people in your community and other communities, especially targeted ones, about their legal rights, and about how to carry out a copwatch. Hold classes everywhere in your city, at accessible places and times. These can be formal events, or informal teach-ins outside a movie theater or between performers at a show.

Hold regular, accessible, well-advertised meetings—don’t depend on the internet for all or even most of your communications. Many of those who need copwatch most are unlikely to have easy or regular computer access. Decide as a group what your goals are and how you will go about achieving them.

Find hotspots where police repression frequently takes place. Look for them in the police blotter in your local paper, or ask around in neighborhoods, or approach lawyers who do a lot of street work and request advice.

Establish patrols, and have them report on their observations on a regular basis. Your group will be more effective if it is well organized.

For a variety of reasons, it makes the most sense for people to do copwatch patrols in their own neighborhoods. If it is important that you patrol another neighborhood, make an effort to become familiar with it: get to know locals, and make sure you understand local issues and context. Canvas from door to door if necessary, introducing yourself and your group and announcing your intentions and motivations. Be open to input from locals; they are the ones who will experience the bulk of the repercussions from everything that happens in their neighborhood. Come through on your commitments: don’t just show up out of nowhere doing a copwatch program for a little while and then disappear, stick around until locals know who you are and that they can count on you.

When the cops are particularly brutal or kill someone, raise a ruckus about it. Put pressure on them and keep it on. Approach the survivors and follow their lead as to how to handle things. Offer to organize protests or benefit events, screenprint shirts, or play media liaison for them. If they’re into it, hold demonstrations, spray paint the names of the victims and murderers everywhere, smash out the windows of the offending police station.

Agitate for laws and regulations that enforce stricter controls on police. Try to get the worst police officers fired. If your community has a Citizen Review Board, make an effort to give it teeth. Police review boards should be elected by district, not appointed. They must be empowered to impose punishments and fire officers.

People from communities that are terrorized will often be understandably afraid to stand up for themselves. A copwatch program can be the first step towards solidarity with each other.

How to Copwatch

To copwatch effectively, all you need is your eyes and ears, and some means of recording incidents. A small notebook and pen or pencil are the most useful and least conspicuous. A camera or video camera can also be useful, as can a cell phone or an audio recording device.

Copwatching is generally safest and easiest if you make sure to follow the letter of the law. There should be no drugs, alcohol, or illegal weapons on your person or in your system. Be careful not to jaywalk. This author has friends who have done a perfect copwatch, then jaywalked almost immediately after leaving the scene, receiving a $50 ticket for their efforts. If you are driving, make sure that you and all of your passengers have on seat belts. Resist unnecessary horn honking or loud music as you drive away—violations of noise pollution laws and ordinances can be used as excuses to detain and arrest you. If you are not following the very letter of the law, you may end up doing more harm than good and could get yourself arrested. Don’t give them any excuse to bust you.

Copwatching is best done with two or three others—you are less likely to be arrested in a group. One cool-headed person can take the role of speaking to officers, getting their names, ranks, badge numbers, district designations, squad car numbers, license numbers, and general descriptions, thus making them aware of your being there as observers. The others should hang back, recording every detail of the encounter, being careful not to interfere, provoke, or draw attention. If you have the numbers, one person can pose as an individual onlooker with no connection to the rest of the group. Decide on your roles before the encounter, if possible.

Presumably, you are there to defuse the situation, not escalate it. Don’t goad the police into arresting people as a way of getting back at you because of your attitude. Reign in the hostility you feel towards them—be polite but firm. Remember, police are dangerous. Walk, don’t run, and avoid quick or sudden movements around them.

At the same time, don’t be so easily intimidated that you cannot accomplish your task. Police officers who feel threatened by your concern about the victims of their repression may well threaten you, shouting “Move on!” and puffing themselves up like territorial frogs. In the course of your interactions with them, you’ll develop a sense of what to expect from them and an instinct for exactly how seriously to take their threats.

Carry cards detailing legal rights, flyers with information about local copwatch programs, and other information with you to give to people subject to arrest or harassment. Inform people about their rights, and of any numbers, local services, or internet sites by means of which they can contact a lawyer or learn how and where to file a complaint. Citizen complaint review boards are often virtually useless as a way of dealing with police brutality, but they can be useful for documenting incidents. Be aware of local laws and limitations—for example, in some cities, in order to be able to file a lawsuit against the city, you must send a letter to the mayor announcing your intention to sue the district within six months of the incident in question. In such a case, you should emphasize to people who have suffered police brutality that they should keep their options open: “You don’t have to follow through with it, but you should secure your right to sue if the incident was severe enough for you even to think about doing so.”

When observing police officers’ interactions with civilians, try to get as much information as you can. Make note of the day, time, and exact location of the incident; the officer’s name, badge number, district, and physical description; where arrestees are being taken; the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of any witnesses; and vehicle or license numbers for any police vehicles involved in the incident. Use cameras or other recording devices to document the event from beginning to end. Take down complete descriptions of police actions and any resulting injuries. If there are injuries of any sort, even preexisting ones, be sure to detail what medical attention was or was not offered by the police—people have been let go by officers after copwatch members observed them being denied medical attention, even though the injuries had been not caused by the police.

If you feel it is warranted, you can call 911 and report that someone is being injured. Wait until the end of your statement to note that it is the police doing so, but don’t leave that out, and stick to the facts. As all 911 calls are recorded and are relatively hard for the justice system to “lose,” they can provide useful documentation for legal proceedings. You can also call a friend’s or your own answering machine and record what is happening as it happens, assuming the tape is long enough. The sound quality may not be as good as an on-site recording device would provide, but the police cannot confiscate the tape; this method can be particularly useful if everyone present is getting arrested. If you get arrested and the police don’t take your cell phone immediately, call a talk show or progressive radio station from the back of the police vehicle.

If you witness someone else being arrested, try to give the arrestee a way to contact you, and vice versa. This is not to say you should give your name or get their name in front of police. Give your name and contact information only if you are comfortable with the police getting it, unless there is another way.

If you are comfortable doing an assertive copwatch, introduce yourself when you approach the scene and explain that you are there doing a copwatch. Ask police why they are detaining or arresting people, but don’t ask arrestees for their names directly, as they might not wish the police to have it. If arrestees say their names and addresses to the police loud enough for you to hear, write them down. If the justification for the stop seems to be vague, ask officers to name the section of the law they are enforcing. Officers will lie and make mistakes—if you know the code do better or have a copy of it with you, speak up. Don’t approach or speak to the arrestee directly while he or she is being detained; if you do, you risk being arrested. Sometimes you’ll have to do just that, but know what you’re getting into.

If a detainee is let go or ticketed, make use of the opportunity to give your flyers and rights cards to them. If a detainee is arrested, you can fold a card in half and ask the officer to give it to him or her—fat chance, but miracles happen. You can’t speak to an arrestee directly without risking trouble, but you can loudly talk about what rights people have with the police or a bystander or your compatriot. These include the right to remain silent, the right to speak to an attorney, the right to refuse a search of your person, personal items, or car.

Stick around until the police have moved on. The Rodney King beating began with what seemed to be a routine traffic stop.

Make use of every opportunity to have educational conversations. Speak to onlookers about their rights, about what citizens can do about police brutality, about community alternatives to policing. When answering questions about legal matters, don’t be afraid to say, “I don’t know.” This is always better then giving out wrong information.

Collect statements from other witnesses if you can. Many will not want to get involved. Try to persuade and educate them otherwise, and get statements from them even when you can’t get their names.

Keep the information you have gathered from your copwatching. If your copwatch group does not keep records, keep track of it yourself. It can be useful to submit copies of your records to government agencies, so they will have them documented and on file. Do not edit any videotapes you shoot, as this can render them useless as evidence in court.

If possible, carry with you the text of the laws most commonly used to justify harassment. In addition to being familiar with and ready to cite local laws, it can help to learn local police regulations, though it is often difficult to obtain copies of these. During your encounters with police, be forceful rather than tentative, but remain polite.

In extreme cases, police will smash or confiscate and “lose” your equipment to keep you from having evidence against them. If it seems like this might happen, a member of your group should swiftly leave the area with the evidence that has been gathered so far.

Be prepared to be arrested. Though copwatch is not illegal, police will trump up charges. Carry ID and at least $50 if you want to be able to get out of jail swiftly and easily.

Know what you will and will not do in extreme situations. Consider in advance what risks you are willing to take and what charges you are prepared to receive in order to intervene if someone is being beaten, injured, or killed by the police. Decide this ahead of time and talk about it within your group, so all of you know what to expect from one another. If you copwatch in some areas, you will eventually find yourself in this situation.

Be prepared to follow through on your work. If you couldn’t get an arrestee’s name and you feel that the situation was bad enough to warrant further investigation or that the abuse will continue after the arrest, go to the station to which he or she has been taken. Loudly and firmly ask what condition the arrestee is in and demand to know the charges he or she has received; explain what you saw during the arrest, and ask to make a complaint against the officers. This makes the police aware that people are concerned and will follow through; it may stop a back room beating.

Be careful leaving the area after a copwatch. Police have been known to follow, ticket, target, or beat copwatchers a few blocks from the site at which they were observed. Don’t let down your guard.

Report on what you have seen to your group, to whatever citizen review boards your area has, however ineffective, and to your community at large. Talk to city council members about police conduct, and show them your evidence. Tell them you want hearings and policy changes. Get your information to the National Lawyers Guild and or the ACLU. Tell community and church groups. Write up reports and spread them through local independent media outlets, both websites and papers.

If your copwatch group is ready, you could establish a copwatch hotline, a phone number people can call to report the activities of police officers; you could even have a response team ready to follow up calls. You could also start your own local copwatch paper or website, reporting on your observations, the conduct of local police, and the struggle in your community to survive and thwart police repression.

Copwatching Alone

Don’t copwatch alone if there are other options. You should not ignore those in exceptional danger just because you are alone, but be aware that lone copwatching entails taking extra risk. If you have been convicted of felonies, have a lengthy arrest record, or are not a citizen, you should probably not copwatch alone unless the circumstances are really exceptional. Be less assertive in engaging the police or the individual being detained or arrested than you would be if you were in a group. Police officers are much more likely to arrest or assault you if there are no other witnesses present.

Be especially careful to obey the letter of the law. If possible, remain at least twenty feet from the incident that you are watching; try to phone someone and let him or her know what’s happening. As always, take complete notes and, if possible, photos, audio, or videotape of the incident. If you take photos, make sure that they are taken at the last possible moment, to ensure the safety of you and your camera. Be especially careful leaving the area.

In Private and Community Spaces: Handling a Police Raid
If police knock on your door, do not invite them inside; step outside and close the door before speaking to them, locking it behind you if need be. If there are other people in the house, make them aware that the police are present. Don’t address other people in the house by name; let them decide how they want to identify themselves. After saying clearly “I do not consent to this search,” stand aside and maintain silence. Do not answer any questions.

If you are arrested or detained in the course of a raid, do not resist unless it is absolutely imperative that you escape and there is a high likelihood that you will be able to do so; instead, calmly ask on what basis you are being held. Don’t volunteer any information or answer any questions except when you are asked to identify yourself. No matter what they tell you, speaking to the police can never accomplish anything except making things worse for you and those you care about. If you have a lawyer, upon interrogation—whether formal or informal, whether by federal agents or local officers—simply present your lawyer’s card and state, “You can speak with my lawyer.” If you don’t have a lawyer, assert and maintain that you will seek legal counsel before answering questions.

If the police say they have a warrant, ask to see it but do not at that point resist the search. A warrant is simply a piece of paper signed by a judge; it should have an address and some terms of the search. It is not valid without a judge’s signature. In most cases, the police cannot enter your residence legally without a warrant. To get a warrant, they must have probable cause and a judge must sign his or her name validating this; judges can be sneaky, but they also don’t want any heat to come back on them. This is why we often don’t see warrants used in activist raids: there simply isn’t the probable cause. If they can’t get a warrant, the police may try to use other pretexts to get in: fire code violations, health violations, looking for people who have warrants out for their arrest. Educate yourself on local laws and municipal code. If the police come by when there is someone inside who has a warrant, it may be best for that person to go outside so the police cannot use this as a justification for entering the building.

If your space may be raided, decide in advance how you will handle this. Except in a few specific cases—for example, if you are engaged in a political squatting action with widespread community support, and you intend to resist eviction by militant means—it will make the most sense to cooperate carefully with the police, and then take revenge later by legal or extra-legal means. Determine with everyone involved what image you will try to project—“nonviolent peace activists suffering unjust police harassment,” for example—and maintain it from the beginning of the process through the follow-up media and court campaigns. Hold discussions in advance, so everyone who may be affected by a police raid knows what to expect, how to conduct themselves, and what their role will be in your response. Make sure everyone is comfortable with the decisions made and understands each other’s needs.

Sometimes a police raid will come as a surprise. Other times, especially if they are planning a raid on a larger scale, such as at an infoshop, activist house, or convergence space during a mass mobilization, you may be able to see it coming. Stay aware: if they are escalating their surveillance of your building or your activities, this may culminate in a raid. This surveillance may take the form of infiltration by undercover agents, who may be easy to recognize as such—on account of poor acting, suspicious questions, or suddenly getting involved right before an action—or very difficult to detect.

If you are involved in any kind of activity that demands security, your collective should decide ahead of time how careful to be in working with others who desire to get involved in your group and in actions you plan. Do you need to have a vouching system to protect against loose-lipped liberals and undercover cops? Or do you want to work with large numbers of people to such an extent that it makes more sense to leave things wide open? Some collectives decide not to take on last-minute stragglers right before an action: police infiltrators usually show up late, because there isn’t enough funding to put them in earlier.

If you are on good terms with groups that are in dialogue with the authorities, they may be able to tip you off when a raid is nigh; likewise, locals familiar with the workings of the local police force might be able to provide useful insights. For a serious raid, the police will establish a staging area a couple blocks from the location, which may give away their plans at the last minute if nothing else has.

In preparing for a potential raid, be conscious of what you have on the premises and what can be found nearby in dumpsters and adjacent lots. Make sure nobody has any illegal drugs or paraphernalia, recognizably stolen items, or other material which authorities could use against you. Police officers will routinely confiscate such standard household items as paint thinner and PVC pipe and claim the possessors were using them to make bombs. Such ludicrous charges will not generally stand up in court, but they can enable the police to denounce your group to the public; they can also paralyze individuals, preventing them from participating in serious actions until their court cases are finished.

Knives, spray paint, gasoline, anarchist literature, bottles of urine, and other similarly dangerous articles will all be needless liabilities when the police show up, unless you’re actually planning to fight them off with the stuff. Be conscious of what can be seen even when your doors are shut and locked; the police can use items “in plain view” to look further, even without a warrant. In extreme cases, the courts have declared it permissible for the police to enter a home to investigate further after seeing something suspicious through a window. Be careful to follow the very letter of the law: police who can find nothing else to use against you may ticket you for parking more than ten inches from the curb, for example.

Have a phone tree in place, to be activated in the case of a raid: there should be a couple numbers you can call to reach people who can instantly call others, and so on, until a large number of people have been informed. It is important that there is always at least one person off-site who knows what to do if he or she is the only person not arrested.

Don’t leave phone lists or similar information accessible to the police; there’s no sense in doing their intelligence work for them. If those informed by the phone tree converge immediately upon the space being raided, this will force the police to restrain themselves, and show them and the community at large that this is an issue many take seriously; in a best case scenario, this can even transform the raid into a positive, community-building event. Have local media ready to come: don’t miss the chance to have the local alternative or pirate radio station report live from your raid, or to get sympathetic coverage in the alternative press. Plan in advance what spin you want to give the story, so the police play into your hands. Compose a press release ahead of time and have it ready to go out.

If you fear a police raid is possible or imminent, keep a video camera charged and equipped with a blank tape, ready for use in documenting police conduct. You can also hide secret cameras on the premises; these may prove especially important if the police break their own laws in the course of invading your space. Get every single badge number and license plate, and record every movement and action of each individual police officer; in court, it will be very much to your advantage if you can prove that, for example, a police officer who claims he remained outside during the raid was actually upstairs knocking over bookshelves and breaking things. Your camera people should be levelheaded; even if things are heating up, it may be more important in the long run for them to record events as they unfold, calmly and consistently, than to get involved.

Once you’ve got documentation, keep track of it. Don’t edit or adjust it in any way. Be able to prove that your footage has been in your “line of possession” from the time you recorded it to the time it appears in court; this means you should be able to document everywhere it has been, and show that it has been in the care of good, law-abiding citizens the whole time—and as few of these as possible. To this end, it can be wise to leave your material with someone’s conservative parents or responsible sister-in-law; this can also be a way to make sure it is not seized in a secondary raid. Keep an organized journal, with times and dates and signatures, detailing all your observations from the time you first begin to fear a raid might take place. After one occurs, compile written narratives, with signatures, from all witnesses and participants, while the events are still fresh in everyone’s minds.

If you’re in the middle of organizing an action or campaign from the space that may be raided, make sure it won’t be crippled by a raid. Keep important materials elsewhere, make sure that all the people in pivotal organizing positions are never in the space all at once, see to it that there are other spaces to which activities can be shifted. Establish a place to get back together after the raid or ways to reestablish contact with one another and make sure that everyone is accounted for.

When bringing suit against the city over a raid, work out the local chain of command and sue as high in the hierarchy as you can. Those who hold power will attempt to portray any misconduct as the anomalous incompetence of individual underlings; your job is to show that the raid was orchestrated from on high and that the people at the top of the pyramid are to blame, if not the system itself. Get the best lawyer you can—the American Civil Liberties Union is generally a better resource than the National Lawyers’ Guild when it comes to violations of 4th Amendment rights regarding search and seizure and 1st Amendment rights regarding freedom of speech. If you don’t own the space that was raided, make sure you have the cooperation of the landlords: emphasize that they too can get something out of the proceedings. Keep the media informed throughout the affair, and keep the pressure on.

Account
As we were organizing a convergence against a particularly ridiculous meeting of politicians, it became evident that our city’s Red Squad had its eyes on us. We continued our work, though we realized that, under the circumstances, we lacked the numbers to go forward with our original plans of turning the city into our playground. We narrowed our focus and message, deciding our best bet would be to embrace the image of pacifist peace activists: this would give us an advantage should the defenders of Power attempt a smear campaign against us. Having established this strategy, we decided that the weekend would go ahead as planned, with a festive street march and demonstrations outside the hotel where the politicians were meeting.

As the dates for the actions approached, we saw a steady increase in police traffic around our collective space, which was serving as a meeting and organizing point for the demonstrations. On multiple occasions, we experienced the unique pleasure of visits from undercover cops. Keeping tabs on liberal organizers we knew maintained ties with the police, we received additional clues that we were facing impending state repression, which was likely to take the form of a raid on our space.

We met as a collective and resolved to act preemptively in order to minimize any possible harm we would suffer and, if possible, humiliate and expose the police. We started by compiling a phone tree of our friends and supporters in the community, as well as a list of local media contacts. Drawing on the precedents established by the numerous police invasions of autonomous spaces that summer, we took a number of precautions, such as removing items that had justified earlier absurd charges against revolutionaries: for example, we removed all kitchen knives and Vitamin C pills, since cooking utensils and supplements had been considered weapons and drugs in other raids. We also cleaned the space and planted new flowers around the house, hoping this would make the police look even more ridiculous should they choose intrude on our space. We stockpiled photo and video cameras, tape recorders, note pads, and other recording devices, and spread them throughout the house, both openly and covertly. We made sure that at least one of the collective members was downstairs at all times, and that our door was always locked—though this was particularly difficult, with so many people coming in and out. People who could not risk arrest stayed at other locations.

Everyone who spent time in the space was briefed on the situation and developed an understanding of the collective’s rights. In a move that later proved to be of some importance, we painted the door with some “house rules,” including bans on weapons, animal products, and substances. This has since been used in both the media and in legal decisions as a further embarrassment to the police. We also prepared a press release, leaving only a few blank spaces for the details of the expected raid, and left it with an uninvolved family member in case the raid was accompanied by numerous arrests.

Busy as we were with organizing against the meetings, we were still able to keep our space open for concerts and other events. Two nights before the planned protests began, the police arrived during one of these shows, an apolitical folk performance. The raid caused quite a bit of alarm for the artists and visitors! At that time, some of us were leaving to work on the pirate ship puppets—described as “anarchist body armor” in police reports to the media—that we were planning to use for street theater. As we were loading the ships into a pickup truck, we noticed that police vehicles were assembling at every nearby intersection and decided to attempt to leave. As soon as we began driving, we were pulled over for the most minute of traffic violations. We called back to the space, where police were already knocking on the door. We set in motion our well-planned phone tree, calling our lawyers, leaving reports on answering machines, and informing scores of friends that we were in trouble. It turned out that the police had used supposed fire code violations to get into the house, because it is standard practice in our city for housing inspectors to be “protected” by police. Each cop and each inspector were followed everywhere by comrades from our ranks who documented everything. The police went through our book selection, our kitchen, our desks, our basement, our storage areas, even our bathroom, not to mention the personal belongings of those living upstairs. They searched our whole house and the squatted house next door. They towed our cars, on the ridiculous pretension that they were parked three inches too far from the curb! In the end, they didn’t use violence or arrests; they just hoped to scare us and reveal our supposedly violent machinations to the public.

The phone tree, however, paid off. The local media as well as a slam poetry group showed up immediately, along with about fifty of our friends. In conjunction with the drumming and the constant flash of still cameras, the slam poets created an atmosphere of festive defiance and creatively informed the media and curious passers-by about just how fucked up this situation was. While normally hostile to radicals, the local corporate media could not resist covering the obvious foolishness of the police, who wandered about the property en masse with bomb-sniffing dogs while obviously earnest and non-violent activists explained how the events of the evening were—can you believe it?—causing them to “lose faith in this society.”

Thanks to the thoroughness of our preparations, we were able to upstage law enforcement prior to the main event of the protests themselves; this coup gave us much-needed attention and credibility. Additionally, afterwards we were able to succeed in suing the city for tens of thousands of dollars. This enabled us to fund many new subversive projects, which the forces of order are even less equipped to deal with in the aftermath of their ill-thought-out raid.

Christy Moore - Biko Drum

Christy Moore and Friends sing Wally Page's 'Biko Drum', a tribute to the Black South African civil rights hero Steve Biko who was brutally murdered in a jail cell by the Apartheid White South African State. Nelson Mandela also gets a mention.

This is from some program on RTE but fucked if I can't remember what it was. From the same Irish TV program as 'Viva la Quinta Brigada. Enjoy!

I won't apologise to Howard' - Hone Harawira

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4122207a10.html
View video ...

Maori Party MP Hone Harawira isn't retracting the "racist bastard" comment he aimed at Australian Prime Minister John Howard, despite a reprimand from his caucus colleagues.


"That's how I felt about it. Quite frankly that's still how I feel about it," he said at a press conference today after a caucus meeting called to discuss the issue.

Mr Harawira made the comment yesterday during a Maori Television discussion about the radical measures the Australian government has announced to deal with abuse and alcoholism in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

"John Howard is a racist bastard imposing racist policies on a people who are not in a position to fight back," Mr Harawira said on Maori TV's Native Affairs programme last night.

He compared Mr Howard's move in the Northern Territory, with its mineral wealth, to United States President George Bush's invasion of Iraq, allegedly to control oil. A similar move in New Zealand would be met with violence from the Maori community.

"If they tried this up north, we'd be out with guns. It wouldn't happen."

He told Australian press agency AAP he stood by his comments: "If I was an Aboriginal man in the Northern Territory I would feel like absolute shit right now.

"I would have the leader of my country saying I am an alcoholic, I am into pornography, I am into sexual abuse. All I would want to do is go out and smash someone."

He was commenting on Mr Howard's plans for fighting abuse and poverty in remote Aboriginal communities, including bans on alcohol and pornography, tight controls on welfare payments, and extra police and troops.

Those measures were announced in response to a report by the Northern Territory board of inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children from sexual abuse.

"All Howard has done is generate more anger and bitterness in the Aboriginal community, a lot of which is going to be internalised," Mr Harawira, the MP for Te Tai Tokerau, said.

The plan was ill thought out and aimed at helping Mr Howard to win an election later this year. His Liberal-National coalition was well behind the Labor Party in recent polls.

"The report that he is basing his recommendations on is already 10 years old. Why didn't he do something about it back then?" Mr Harawira said.

A spokeswoman for Prime Minister Helen Clark said Mr Harawira's comments were "most regrettable".

"John Howard has been a good friend to New Zealand and it concerns her that any MP from any party would lash out in this way."

She would not say whether Mr Harawira's attack would damage trans-Tasman relations.

Mr Howard declined to comment.

Earlier he angrily rejected a claim from Australian Capital Territory chief minister John Stanhope that the policy was racist and heavy-handed.

Mr Harawira also discussed sending a Maori delegation to support protests in Australia next week and called on iwi leaders to speak out on attacks by the Australian Government on Aborigines.

Maori Party co-leader Pita Sharples appeared to support Mr Harawira's sentiments, saying that in context they reflected the level of concern the situation had generated in Australia.

"From our initial analysis, we would not have thought military intervention to be at all appropriate in dealing with the sensitive nature of the situation outlined in the report."

The Maori Party welcomed, however, a commitment by the Howard government to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people and the over-riding emphasis on child protection, community justice and community involvement.

Dr Sharples tried to water down the impact of Mr Harawira's criticisms, saying the party caucus would discuss the issue before making any further response.

"It is critical that careful analysis is undertaken of all of the information to hand about the focus of the report before any further comment is made."

A party spokeswoman said Mr Harawira was not available for further comment.

With NZPA

Stop the Genocide on Stolen Aboriginal Land Kulin Nations July 14th Full Endorsement List International Day of Action

Full endorsement list as of 7 July 2007
Rally — Stop the genocide on stolen Aboriginal land

Endorsements — Australia


Black GST

Camp Sovereignty

Chilean Popular and Indigenous Network

Freedom Socialist Party

Indigenous Social Justice Association – Melbourne

Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET)

Ongoing G20 Arrestees Solidarity Network

Radical Women

Australian Asia Worker Links

Resistance,

RMIT Student Union

Socialist Alliance

Socialist Alternative

Your Voice

3 KND

Nuclear Free Australia

International Socialist Organisation

3CR

Socialist Party

Electrical Trades Union

Plumbers Union

Union Community Alliance

Communist Party of Australia

Maritime Union of Australia

Geelong Trades and Labour Council

Moreland Peace Group

Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (Victoria)

Campaign for Women's Reproductive Rights

Indigenous Social Justice Association — Sydney

Anarchist Media Institute

IWW (Australia)

Leonard Peltier Support Group

Victorian Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby

Union Solidarity

Anti Nuclear Australia

Australian Student Environment Network

Friends of the Earth

International endorsements

• From Aotearoa


Te Ata Tino Toa

Conscious Collaborations - Global indigenous network

Mana Wahine

Komiti Pasifika

Solidarity Union

Socialist Worker (Aotearoa)

Human Rights Project Aotearoa

Whakaminenga o Te Paatu

Wellington Wildcat Anarchist Collective

Aocafe (Aotearoa Cafe)

Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand

Radical Youth (Auckland)

Citizens Against Privatisation (Auckland)

Imagine Native Action

Indiginz

Hone Harawira, Maori Party MP Te Tai, Tokerau

Te Ururoa Flavell, Maori Party MP, Waiariki

Metiria Turei List MP Green party Aotearoa/NZ

• From Canada

MNN Mohawk Nation News

• From Chile


Mapuche Solidarity Coalition

People's Assembly Movement

Colectivo Avanzar - Santiago

• From the United States

American Indian Movement

Leonard Peltier Defense Committee

Freedom Socialist Party — U.S. Section

U.S. Radical Women

PROTEST

Hi people there has been changes to Saturdays protest 12:30. march
from the Tent Embassy to march to Garema Place Civic, and rally at

Aboriginal Tent Embassy
Saturday 14th July 2007
Saturday 12:30.

Join us in a march from the Tent Embassy to new Parliament House(kkkanberra).

How can we celebrate NAIDOC when the government occupies Aboriginal
Communities with armed forces?

Invasion is happening again in Australia. The Howard regime similar to
Hitler’s regime has occupied communities. While they say it’s in the
best interest of the Aboriginal people we know it’s a land grab.

Fight for Justice for Aboriginal people.

Yours in the Battle

Kerry

Kerry Reed-Gilbert

Associate Dip Adult Ed (Aboriginal)

BEd (Adults)

Kuracca Consultancy & Communications

PO Box 623

Dickson ACT 2602

Ph/Fax: 02 6241 7346

Mobile: 0415 469 512

Web: www.kuracca.com

Tamakimakaurau Tautoko

Just a quick line to let you know there was a very militant occupation of the Australian Consulate in Auckland this evening against the invasion of Aboriginal lands and in solidarity with our black brothers and sisters facing John Howard's racist attacks. All very exhausted after being on a picket of the Auckland Central police station until our comrade Tane was freed, so please contact me tomorrow for a more comprehensive report if you want one. Please find underneath an eye witness report from www.indymedia.org.nz

Kia kaha
Joe Carolan
Socialist Worker, Aotearoa

Very militant protest in Auckland tonight- hardcore chants!
"Genocide- it ain't no mystery- White Australia has a Black History!"

"Black and WHite
Unite and Fight
for Aboriginal
Land Rights!"

"Get thr troops out now,
get the troops out now,
Get the TROOPS, OUT, NOW!


very good speeches from all the groups in support-
Julia and Joe from Socialist Worker, Martin Hirst, Lecturer in Media studies at AUT, Jared from Workers Party, Jim Gladwin from Citizens against Privatisation, and statement read out from Kulin Nations and Aboriginal declaration of sovereignty' by UNITY editor Daph Lawless in Consulate occupation that broke through police lines.

Awesome Aboriginal flags and banners,
organisers have pledged more direct action in weeks to come.

Comrade Tane Feary arrested- big posse went up and did a police station picket that saw him released after an hour and a half. Tane, a victim of police brutality, charged with assualting a cop. Heaps of people have filled out police complaint forms and this case will be fought- heaps of witnesses saw him strangled as protest broke through.

No white media covered the event. Maori TV was there and will be showing it tonight at 11pm. Niu FM, Auckland's Pasifika radio station, also covered the protest live. Video and pictures to follow from protesters soon. Check out www.unityaotearoa.blogspot.com or www.indymedia.org.nz

Hope this inspires comrades in Australia to take direct action. Also Australian embassies throughout the world should get the same treatment.

Aboriginal Australia has been invaded.


Aotearoa has stepped up to the Front Line.

Maori TV coverage
check out the news for Mon 2 July, bout the 9 min mark

www.maoritelevision.com/programmes/news/te_kaea_online.htm


KIWI UNIONS AND ACTIVIST GROUPS PROTEST AGAINST HOWARD'S RADICAL ABORIGINAL PLANS

Date: 2 July 2007

Auckland 6am: There's growing support for Aboriginal communities after moves by the Australian Government to clamp down on what it says is a major problem of the abuse of children..

Trade unions and anti-racist groups will protest outside the Austalian Consulate in Auckland today....

And Green Party MP, Metiria Turei, says it shouldn't stop there. (listen)
http://niufm.com/site_resources/library/News/Lito/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_JUL207/metiria_turei............10am.........277.mp3

Australian prime minister John Howard has announced a series of radical steps in response to what he says is a damning report on child abuse in indigenous territories.

Howard's introducing a ban on sales of alcohol and pornography, enforced by the military if need be, and welfare payments conditional on children attending school.


Part of the plan is to take control of Aboriginal land to improve property and public housing, paying compensation where necessary.


But Solidarity Union Secretary, Joe Carolan, says it's heavy handed and racist. (listen)

http://niufm.com/site_resources/library/News/Lito/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA_JUL207/joe_carolan..............8am..........277.mp3

Medical camps have been set-up where it's believed voluneteer doctors will examine about 23,000 aboriginal children under the age of 16.


But Aboriginal health experts have told media that the medical checks are "highly inappropriate" and culturally insensitive.

Aotearoa Always Represent Kaupapa Driven 100%

Much Aroha for all the Crews back in Aotearoa showing Solidarity with their Aboriginal Brothers & Sisters. Chur Chur

Whakaminenga o Te Paatu
Te Ata Tino Toa
Conscious Collaborations-Global Indigenous network
Mana Wahine
Solidarity Union
Socialist Worker (Aotearoa)
Human Rights Project Aotearoa
Wellington Wildcat Anarchist Collective
Aocafe (Aotearoa Cafe)
Green Party Aotearoa/NZ
Radical Youth (Auckland)
IA ImagineNative Action
Citizens Against Privatisation (Auckland)