If you're in Australia and looking for a way to make humanitarian donations that you know will reach their destination, then I recommend donating to the APHEDA Gaza appeal. They have supported many different projects in Gaza and the West Bank, including the el-Wafa hospital which was recently bombed by Israel.
Longer term, one of the most useful projects I've been involved with is the Keep Hope Alive olive harvesting program. Travelling to the West Bank and taking part in the harvest was one of the most useful things I feel like I have done; the planting is harder work, but speaking to those who have done it, even more fulfilling.
Keep yourself informed - here in Australia we have a corporate media which, at best, equates the violence of the occupied with that of the occupier, and at worst echoes Tony Abbott's "We Are All Israeli" line. Sites like Electronic Intifada and +972 are great trustworthy sources. This open letter from Gaza is worth reading too.
And then engage in information making, too - share to your networks, whether social media or around your workplace or communities. Update Wikipedia pages so those who are looking for easy answers don't get the wrong ones.
Go beyond your comfort zone. Unfortunately I work weekends and haven't been able to attend many local rallies personally, but if you can, please do. We don't have the strength of institutional bias or resources that defenders of Zionism do, but we have justice on our side, and when we unite in mass action that narrative can win through. The next Sydney rally is on August 3.
Showing posts with label sydney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sydney. Show all posts
Tuesday, 29 July 2014
Wednesday, 26 February 2014
A League fans protests mismanagement, heavy-handed security
Originally published in Green Left Weekly.
In what the Sydney Morning Herald described as the "darkest night" in Sydney Football Club's history, active supporters of the A-League football (soccer) club ― known as "the Cove" ― staged a walkout during the February 8 match against Adelaide United in protest against heavy-handed security tactics.
The Cove displayed banners as the teams entered the pitch stating "We want [Head Coach Frank] Farina gone". A banner in Russian also called for club CEO Tony Pignata and chair of the board Scott Barlow to be sacked by David Traktovenko, Russian banker and sole owner of SFC.
Security staff at Allianz Stadium confiscated the banner shorly afterwards and took the membership of the fan folding it up on the spot. The active support walked out.
Fans gathered at the rear of the stadium, chanting "back the team, sack the board" for the rest of the night. Inside the stadium, another fan threw a beer on Farina, while the team lost 3-0.
Pignata and Barlow blamed the confiscation on "a staff member of Sydney FC who was located at pitch level during the game" and said protocols would be put into place to ensure that "every fan has the right to peacefully and respectfully voice their opinions".
After the incident, the club announced several meetings to engage the fans. However, if the examples from other clubs are any indication, it is unlikely the fans will be given much say in the club's direction.
After a long history of passionate engagement by active fans, Melbourne Victory Football Club announed new standards were being imposed for the start of the 2013-14 A-League season.
New measures introduced by the club included "barcode scanning, perimeter taping and removal of crew banners".
This means the club is removing areas from "general admission", severely restricting freedom of movement in areas set aside for active support, which includes activities such as singing, chanting, dancing and banner waving.
In the letter, the club blamed the A-League's governing body, the Football Federation Australia (FFA), for mandating that all areas, including active areas, have designated seats as part of the conditions of clubs holding a licence.
The leadership group for the North Terrace active support, the North Terrace Collective (NTC), has made general admission in its area during home games and the freedom for fans to move around active bays a "non-negotiable" in their ongoing closed-doors negotiations with the club.
With the club unwilling to budge, the NTC has since boycotted the designated active area in all home games.
The letter detailed several concessions offered by club management in negotiations with the NTC, including trialling ad-hoc admission for those seated in other areas to the active bays and offering members guest passes.
However, after a widely-reported incident, away from the venue, between small numbers of Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers fans before a December 28 match in Melbourne, the FFA had mandated member only active bays as part of the suspended sentence imposed on both clubs on January 2.
These sentences apply to both the north and south terraces for Melbourne Victory fans and the Wanderers' Red and Black Bloc. They were announced without consultation from either group.
A February 12 statement on the North Terrace Facebook page said negotiations with the club were ongoing but "progress has slowed" since the sentence was being applied. It said, "understanding and respect for organised, independent active support in this country — from the governing body down ― is evidently a long way from being achieved."
The security measures come in a context of Australian media racist dog-whistling against A-League fans, espeically active support. Yet all they have delivered is the ongoing boycott of active bays.
During Melbourne Victory's Asian Champions League qualifier against Thai club Muanthong United, fans displayed banners calling for "More Club, Less Franchise" and "Robson out", targeting Melbourne Victory Chief Executive Ian Robson, who has been leading negotiations with the supporters.
Despite such fan protests, the A-league is set for more billionaire antics with the puchase of an 80% stake in perennial under-performer Melbourne Heart by Manchester City ― the English Premier League giant owned by Sheikh Mansour of Dubai's ruling family.
Meanwhile, a consortium publicly headed by Primo Smallgoods owner Paul Lederer is set to buy the Western Sydney Wanderers for $12 million. Singaporean businessperson Jefferson Cheng is the primary financial backer.
But is such corporate ownership the best way to build the league and the world game in Australia?
SFC fans point out the problems with the club are bigger than Farina and stem from a culture of nepotism. Barlow, the board chair, is the son-in-law of owner Traktovenko.
What is the solution? The route taken in establishing the Wanderers in 2012 gives an indication. There was serious community engagement to decide key aspects of the club and strong connections with existing amateur and semi-professional clubs in the region were forged. This has helped establish the club as one of the most loyally and passionately supported within its short existence.
That degree of engagement was necessary for the FFA to win an $8 million grant from the then Gillard Labor government for the development of grassroots football in Western Sydney.
But will the club continue to offer such genuine engagement with fans now it is under corporate ownership?
Or will we see the kind of tokenistic fan engagement as has been offered to Sydney and Melbourne Victory supporters ― at most, winning the right to actively support their clubs on their terms, but never with a say over how the club is governed?
There is another option, which second-tier Queensland-based National Premier League club Northern Fury has opted for as part of its bid to build support for re-entering top-flight football.
The club launched a much-awaited community ownership option this month, in which ordinary supporters hold ownership over the club. This follows the example of Germany's Bundesliga (the nation's top league), where clubs are 51% owned by members.
Club chairperson Rabieh Krayem said members would "actually having a say in the club by voting for the board of directors" ― something a world away from the experiences of Melbourne Victory or Sydney supporters.
In what the Sydney Morning Herald described as the "darkest night" in Sydney Football Club's history, active supporters of the A-League football (soccer) club ― known as "the Cove" ― staged a walkout during the February 8 match against Adelaide United in protest against heavy-handed security tactics.
The Cove displayed banners as the teams entered the pitch stating "We want [Head Coach Frank] Farina gone". A banner in Russian also called for club CEO Tony Pignata and chair of the board Scott Barlow to be sacked by David Traktovenko, Russian banker and sole owner of SFC.
Security staff at Allianz Stadium confiscated the banner shorly afterwards and took the membership of the fan folding it up on the spot. The active support walked out.
Fans gathered at the rear of the stadium, chanting "back the team, sack the board" for the rest of the night. Inside the stadium, another fan threw a beer on Farina, while the team lost 3-0.
Pignata and Barlow blamed the confiscation on "a staff member of Sydney FC who was located at pitch level during the game" and said protocols would be put into place to ensure that "every fan has the right to peacefully and respectfully voice their opinions".
After the incident, the club announced several meetings to engage the fans. However, if the examples from other clubs are any indication, it is unlikely the fans will be given much say in the club's direction.
After a long history of passionate engagement by active fans, Melbourne Victory Football Club announed new standards were being imposed for the start of the 2013-14 A-League season.
New measures introduced by the club included "barcode scanning, perimeter taping and removal of crew banners".
This means the club is removing areas from "general admission", severely restricting freedom of movement in areas set aside for active support, which includes activities such as singing, chanting, dancing and banner waving.
In the letter, the club blamed the A-League's governing body, the Football Federation Australia (FFA), for mandating that all areas, including active areas, have designated seats as part of the conditions of clubs holding a licence.
The leadership group for the North Terrace active support, the North Terrace Collective (NTC), has made general admission in its area during home games and the freedom for fans to move around active bays a "non-negotiable" in their ongoing closed-doors negotiations with the club.
With the club unwilling to budge, the NTC has since boycotted the designated active area in all home games.
The letter detailed several concessions offered by club management in negotiations with the NTC, including trialling ad-hoc admission for those seated in other areas to the active bays and offering members guest passes.
However, after a widely-reported incident, away from the venue, between small numbers of Melbourne Victory and Western Sydney Wanderers fans before a December 28 match in Melbourne, the FFA had mandated member only active bays as part of the suspended sentence imposed on both clubs on January 2.
These sentences apply to both the north and south terraces for Melbourne Victory fans and the Wanderers' Red and Black Bloc. They were announced without consultation from either group.
A February 12 statement on the North Terrace Facebook page said negotiations with the club were ongoing but "progress has slowed" since the sentence was being applied. It said, "understanding and respect for organised, independent active support in this country — from the governing body down ― is evidently a long way from being achieved."
The security measures come in a context of Australian media racist dog-whistling against A-League fans, espeically active support. Yet all they have delivered is the ongoing boycott of active bays.
During Melbourne Victory's Asian Champions League qualifier against Thai club Muanthong United, fans displayed banners calling for "More Club, Less Franchise" and "Robson out", targeting Melbourne Victory Chief Executive Ian Robson, who has been leading negotiations with the supporters.
Despite such fan protests, the A-league is set for more billionaire antics with the puchase of an 80% stake in perennial under-performer Melbourne Heart by Manchester City ― the English Premier League giant owned by Sheikh Mansour of Dubai's ruling family.
Meanwhile, a consortium publicly headed by Primo Smallgoods owner Paul Lederer is set to buy the Western Sydney Wanderers for $12 million. Singaporean businessperson Jefferson Cheng is the primary financial backer.
But is such corporate ownership the best way to build the league and the world game in Australia?
SFC fans point out the problems with the club are bigger than Farina and stem from a culture of nepotism. Barlow, the board chair, is the son-in-law of owner Traktovenko.
What is the solution? The route taken in establishing the Wanderers in 2012 gives an indication. There was serious community engagement to decide key aspects of the club and strong connections with existing amateur and semi-professional clubs in the region were forged. This has helped establish the club as one of the most loyally and passionately supported within its short existence.
That degree of engagement was necessary for the FFA to win an $8 million grant from the then Gillard Labor government for the development of grassroots football in Western Sydney.
But will the club continue to offer such genuine engagement with fans now it is under corporate ownership?
Or will we see the kind of tokenistic fan engagement as has been offered to Sydney and Melbourne Victory supporters ― at most, winning the right to actively support their clubs on their terms, but never with a say over how the club is governed?
There is another option, which second-tier Queensland-based National Premier League club Northern Fury has opted for as part of its bid to build support for re-entering top-flight football.
The club launched a much-awaited community ownership option this month, in which ordinary supporters hold ownership over the club. This follows the example of Germany's Bundesliga (the nation's top league), where clubs are 51% owned by members.
Club chairperson Rabieh Krayem said members would "actually having a say in the club by voting for the board of directors" ― something a world away from the experiences of Melbourne Victory or Sydney supporters.
Saturday, 17 November 2012
Parramatta BDS protest Nov 15
Over 150 people protested at Parramatta Town Hall on November 15,
calling for a boycott of Max Brenner chocolate shops and an end to
Israel's recent escalation of attacks on Gaza.
The rally was part of the ongoing campaign for Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Max Brenner's parent company, the Israeli Strauss Group, donates care packages of chocolates to Israeli commandos of the Golani and Givati brigades.
Max Brenner stores have come under protests in Sydney and Melbourne. In 2011, 19 protesters were arrested for "besetting" the QV square store in Melbourne and for trespass in a public place. The charges were dismissed on July 23.
The rally heard from Ray Jackson, President of the Indigenous Social Justice assocation; Sylvia Hale, former Greens MLC; As’ad Awashra, a Palestinian student from Ramallah on exchange at the University of Sydney; Haskell Musry, member of Jews Against the Occupation; and Marlene Carrasco, Bankstown campus chair of the UWS student association.
The protesters marched from Parramatta Town Hall to the Max Brenner store located in the nearby Westfields shopping centre, where they confronted around 30 counter-demonstrators who bore anti-Islam signs and Australian flags. Two male counter-demonstrators wore niqābs and dresses in an attempt to provoke the pro-Palestine protesters; however, there were no incidents of violence.
Westfields' board member and co-founder Frank Lowy is a long-time supporter of Israel; he joined the Haganah, the Jewish militia in Palestine, in 1945. He served for 2 years before joining the Golani Brigade and participating in Al-Nakba, where he was wounded during the attack on Sajra. Lowy moved to Australia in 1952.
At the end of the demonstrations, a motion to call for a rally on Saturday 24 November was passed; an ad-hoc organising meeting was held to plan details of the rally, which will take place at Town Hall at 12 noon. For more info visit the Palestine Action Group's Facebook or website.
We recieved good coverage from Iran's Press TV; I haven't seen or heard the mainstream media coverage, but I've been told it was as atrocious as ever.
The rally was part of the ongoing campaign for Boycott, Divestments and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. Max Brenner's parent company, the Israeli Strauss Group, donates care packages of chocolates to Israeli commandos of the Golani and Givati brigades.
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| Ultimo, Sydney. |
Max Brenner stores have come under protests in Sydney and Melbourne. In 2011, 19 protesters were arrested for "besetting" the QV square store in Melbourne and for trespass in a public place. The charges were dismissed on July 23.
The rally heard from Ray Jackson, President of the Indigenous Social Justice assocation; Sylvia Hale, former Greens MLC; As’ad Awashra, a Palestinian student from Ramallah on exchange at the University of Sydney; Haskell Musry, member of Jews Against the Occupation; and Marlene Carrasco, Bankstown campus chair of the UWS student association.
 |
| Marching to Max Brenner |
The protesters marched from Parramatta Town Hall to the Max Brenner store located in the nearby Westfields shopping centre, where they confronted around 30 counter-demonstrators who bore anti-Islam signs and Australian flags. Two male counter-demonstrators wore niqābs and dresses in an attempt to provoke the pro-Palestine protesters; however, there were no incidents of violence.
 |
| Haskell Musry, Jews Against the Occupation |
Westfields' board member and co-founder Frank Lowy is a long-time supporter of Israel; he joined the Haganah, the Jewish militia in Palestine, in 1945. He served for 2 years before joining the Golani Brigade and participating in Al-Nakba, where he was wounded during the attack on Sajra. Lowy moved to Australia in 1952.
At the end of the demonstrations, a motion to call for a rally on Saturday 24 November was passed; an ad-hoc organising meeting was held to plan details of the rally, which will take place at Town Hall at 12 noon. For more info visit the Palestine Action Group's Facebook or website.
We recieved good coverage from Iran's Press TV; I haven't seen or heard the mainstream media coverage, but I've been told it was as atrocious as ever.
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Koori Centre Cuts
Earlier this year, myself, members of the local Redfern community and many supporters of Aboriginal rights staged a small photo shoot in Redfern in front of the Block's Aboriginal flag, to show support for Damien Hooper at the Olympics:
Unfortunately, Sydney Uni doesn't share in the same level of goodwill towards the original owners of our colonised land... Despite acknowledging the Cadigal people of the Eora nation whose land the university was build on, the administration has pushed ahead with implementing a new strategy for Indigenous education which has raised serious concerns by the students, particularly due to the fact that the “Wingara Mura — Bunga Barrabugu” strategy will scatter the Koori Centre’s functions and staff across campus in 16 faculties".
In the above article SRC Indigenous Student Officer Narelle Daniels highlighted the key concerns students had with the changes:
Although students have gotten word of this restructure coming down on the Koori Centre at the end of Semester 1, due to SRC elections taking place this semester the campus activists who took on the management over staff cuts in Semester 1 didn't play a huge role in organising. Koori students have been collecting signatures and attempting to at least get a meeting with the DVC Indigenous, Shane Houston, to discuss the implications of the restructuring on their experience and ability to remain at Sydney Uni.
By the end of semester Koori students were feeling quite uncertain about the future - particularly given the break for exams begins this week, and students will be off campus and unable to mobilise any action against closing the common room for months. So at short notice a rally was called for the final week of semester, at which over 60 students turned out to support the Centre remaining open. As soon as the action was called it got picked up by the national movement; Alice Springs radio called Kyol Blakeney, one of the organisers, for a live interview, and a letter was read out from Gary Foley, legend of the Tent Embassy movement!
Kyol told me:
Of course, we haven't seen the students demands incorporated into the new strategy yet, so it's all tentative... It's now summer break, so the uni may try and take advantage of the absence of students to reneg and hope nobody notices... but the inspiring action sofar has certainly showed that the student movement at Sydney Uni hasn't gone anywhere. And they know the latent power of the student movement and its' ability to create PR nightmares and untenable situations for management.
Unfortunately, Sydney Uni doesn't share in the same level of goodwill towards the original owners of our colonised land... Despite acknowledging the Cadigal people of the Eora nation whose land the university was build on, the administration has pushed ahead with implementing a new strategy for Indigenous education which has raised serious concerns by the students, particularly due to the fact that the “Wingara Mura — Bunga Barrabugu” strategy will scatter the Koori Centre’s functions and staff across campus in 16 faculties".
In the above article SRC Indigenous Student Officer Narelle Daniels highlighted the key concerns students had with the changes:
"How long will students have access to Koori Centre facilities like the library, computers and common room?
It’s not just about the rooms, it’s about keeping Indigenous support close to home. We simply don’t want 16 different places … But when we’ve asked for a meeting with him [Houston] reception keeps putting us off."
Although students have gotten word of this restructure coming down on the Koori Centre at the end of Semester 1, due to SRC elections taking place this semester the campus activists who took on the management over staff cuts in Semester 1 didn't play a huge role in organising. Koori students have been collecting signatures and attempting to at least get a meeting with the DVC Indigenous, Shane Houston, to discuss the implications of the restructuring on their experience and ability to remain at Sydney Uni.
 |
| Resistance members collecting signatures during the SRC elections |
By the end of semester Koori students were feeling quite uncertain about the future - particularly given the break for exams begins this week, and students will be off campus and unable to mobilise any action against closing the common room for months. So at short notice a rally was called for the final week of semester, at which over 60 students turned out to support the Centre remaining open. As soon as the action was called it got picked up by the national movement; Alice Springs radio called Kyol Blakeney, one of the organisers, for a live interview, and a letter was read out from Gary Foley, legend of the Tent Embassy movement!
Kyol told me:
I promote the idea of more black fullas in Uni and more understanding throughout the wider community of the culture but I do not condone the idea of the removal of the Aboriginal support staff as it makes no sense to take away support when you are trying to encourage other Aboriginals to come to uni and succeed. That is the reason why I am in the protest and against Shane Houston.At a meeting with Houston at the end of the protest, Kyol and the other students from the Koori Centre got the following commitments (posted around the Save the Koori Centre FB page):
Ie they won! (At least the lion's share of demands, although the dispersal of the academic programs doesn't seem to be on the table for discussion anymore, and students of those courses have recieved notification presenting it as a fait accompli).Space and facilities – common room, computer labIndigenous Student Support & ITAS Co-ordinators – Tanya Griffiths and Freda Hammond to be reinstated into their office in the Koori Centre at 2 days per week minimum with their own office space.Faculty support – support officer (Indigenous within each faculty.)2 additional support officers with roles towards – ITAS, Working with Cadigal, Basic Personal Support.Looking to seek funding for an entirely new Koori Centre that acknowledges the word (Aboriginal/Cadigal) in the title. This will include common room, Computer lab and Indigenous support staff at a minimum.No faculty-specific common areas – There will be only one big community space for every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student on main campus and the University of Sydney.
Of course, we haven't seen the students demands incorporated into the new strategy yet, so it's all tentative... It's now summer break, so the uni may try and take advantage of the absence of students to reneg and hope nobody notices... but the inspiring action sofar has certainly showed that the student movement at Sydney Uni hasn't gone anywhere. And they know the latent power of the student movement and its' ability to create PR nightmares and untenable situations for management.
Friday, 2 November 2012
Next Sydney rally for BDS
This week the chief Chazan and Rabbinate Choir of the IDF performed at a "Salute to Israel" concert at the Central Synagogue of Sydney. Although there was no protest there to greet them, it's nonetheless worthy of condemnation that officials of an occupying military would attempt to tour the world at a time when the writing is really on the wall.
Sydney's next rally for BDS will take place in Parramatta on November 15 - the date has changed after it was originally called for November 8, which clashes with another local event.
There's been some recent victories in the global movement that are worth reflecting (and I don't think we'll have a victory anytime soon around Max Brenner, but mobilising in our hundreds to stand up for Palestine is a victory in itself :) The Israeli Batsheva Ensemble dance troupe last week announced they would cancel their performance in Brighton, England due to BDS protests, while protests called by Open Shuhada Street in Cape Town, South Africa won a campaign to have Israeli AHAVA products taken off shelves earlier this month.
The global campaign against Veolia continues to build pressure as well, with actions taking place in London against the Natural History Museum and Perth against the state government for contracting with the company. While I waited for the Palestinian Freedom Riders to get on their bus to Jerusalem, I was passed by several run by Veolia. *UPDATE* I find it quite cool that the Perth activists mirrored those freedom rides in their action by occupying a bus and singing a knock-off of "Wheels on the Bus" - definitely an addition to the West Bank action!
Peace and Justice.
Sydney's next rally for BDS will take place in Parramatta on November 15 - the date has changed after it was originally called for November 8, which clashes with another local event.
As part of the ongoing campaign for solidarity with Palestine, the Palestine Action Group is calling another peaceful protest against Max Brenner at Parramatta Westfield.Videos of the last protest:
Max Brenner is an ongoing target of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign for its support for Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Max Brenner supports the torture, displacement and genocide of the Palestinians. The company is owned by the Israeli conglomerate the Strauss Group, which provides “care rations” for the Israeli military, including the Golani and the Givati brigades. These were two of the key Israeli military brigades involved in Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza in December 2008/January 2009, which killed more than 1300 Palestinians, the majority of whom were civilian, including over 300 children.
Since the Golani Brigade was deployed to Hebron in late 2011, Palestinian residents of Hebron have reported an increase of arbitrary arrests, home invasions, tightening of restrictions on movement and other acts of aggression as part of Israel's criminal occupation of the West Bank.
Max Brenner wants to "sweeten" the "special moments" of these brigades and be "there at the front to spoil them with our best products". It wants to sweeten genocide. It deserves to be boycotted.
There's been some recent victories in the global movement that are worth reflecting (and I don't think we'll have a victory anytime soon around Max Brenner, but mobilising in our hundreds to stand up for Palestine is a victory in itself :) The Israeli Batsheva Ensemble dance troupe last week announced they would cancel their performance in Brighton, England due to BDS protests, while protests called by Open Shuhada Street in Cape Town, South Africa won a campaign to have Israeli AHAVA products taken off shelves earlier this month.
The global campaign against Veolia continues to build pressure as well, with actions taking place in London against the Natural History Museum and Perth against the state government for contracting with the company. While I waited for the Palestinian Freedom Riders to get on their bus to Jerusalem, I was passed by several run by Veolia. *UPDATE* I find it quite cool that the Perth activists mirrored those freedom rides in their action by occupying a bus and singing a knock-off of "Wheels on the Bus" - definitely an addition to the West Bank action!
Peace and Justice.
Sunday, 23 September 2012
September 20 Rally for BDS - Sydney
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| Photos by Kate Ausburn, http://www.flickr.com/photos/treslola/sets/72157631580808970/with/8005982335/ |
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| Photos by Kate Ausburn, http://www.flickr.com/photos/treslola/sets/72157631580808970/with/8005982335/ |
After the Muslim protests last weekend organisers were called in by the police and asked to call off the protest; after stating they didn't feel comfortable doing that, the police stated they would come to an agreement acceptable to both parties, while at the same time informing the organisers they had a high court summons for later that night if one couldn't be reached. However, the police do seemed to have learned from the last time they tried to take us to court for the Nakba day demonstration and it backfired; this time, they agreed to allow us the full use of the road for the alloted time, and to keep the riot police back so long as we marshalled the protest effectively. It all went really smoothly, we outnumbered the far-right pro-Israel mob drinking chocolate around 10-1 (as usual), and it was a really pumping experience!
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| Photos by Kate Ausburn, http://www.flickr.com/photos/treslola/sets/72157631580808970/with/8005982335/ |
Given the climate and the fact that shock jocks seized on our protest as a "follow up" to the weekend, there was a huge media presence. Of course this wasn't framed in the best way (and they took one of my less sharp moments to quote from, of course), but we got a bit of media from Channel 9. On the night I'm pretty sure 7 gave us a live cross to the news program, and PressTV and ABC Radio definitely got interviews too, although I haven't seen/heard them surface yet.
We also got quite a decent write up beforehand in Sydney's City News, quoting myself from PAG, Haskell from Jews Against the Occupation Sydney, Rachel Evans from Socialist Alliance and a Murdoch Uni academic I don't know. After the interview I assumed they would play the "tapping into Muslim anger" angle (a lot of questions went in this direction) but they actually wrote something extremely favourable, running my quotes regarding Israel's colonial and apartheid occupation of Palestine. W00T!
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| Photos by Kate Ausburn, http://www.flickr.com/photos/treslola/sets/72157631580808970/with/8005982335/ |
I'm quite happy with the good work for BDS happening here in Sydney, even with all the Islamaphobia being heaped around we still managed to make a very good, peaceful and vibrant mobilisation, and we're in a great position to keep building this campaign and put some runs on the board in the fight against Israeli apartheid :) I'd like to commend everyone involved in this campaign sofar - Palestinian students, independant activists, socialists from different organisations, we've all been working together very collaboratively and have been well recieved to get real traction.
Thursday, 6 September 2012
Sydney Uni campaign - what we learned
This speech was delivered to the 2012 national conference of Resistance. An abridged version of this was published in Green Left Weekly.
Since the 2005 fightback against Howard's Voluntarity Student Unionism laws, there's been little in the way of sustained education activism at USYD and in Sydney (or across Australia generally, with student unions unwilling to challenge Labor and managing to channel most student energy into lobbying and PR campaigns. But that has changed. Sydney University and staff have launched a widely-supported campaign against cuts – and it's been a real learning experience.
We've learned that our university is being managed in line with the profits-first agenda of the 1% that run the government and the economy. We've learned that under Vice-Chancellor Michael Spence, corporate research partners and “good economic management” take priority over students, staff and society.
But importantly, we’ve also learned we can roll back attempts by university management to implement staff and course cuts. We've learned how we can fight back.
The university of sydney management first signalled there would be restructuring at the end of 2011. However, in early 2012 a "budget black hole" was announced due to lower-than-expected intake of international fee-paying students. Ostensibly due to this black hole, management wanted to cut arbitrarily 120 "underperforming" academic staff, 190 general staff and threatened us with $28 million of non-salary cuts.
Students and staff responded immediately, organising two small rallies in the pouring rain during the university orientation week. Taking heart from the students rising up in Quebec and around the world, students at the University of Sydney began organising and mobilising to defend our staff, our academics, our courses and our quality of education.
We began distributing hundreds of leaflets from information stalls on campus, giving weekly "lecture bashes" in classes to inform fellow students of the campaign's goals, actions and progress, preparing bulletins to challenge the management's PR, and having long and thorough discussions with as many students as possible about the logic behind the cuts and how we could defeat them.
Within the first week we organised a hundred-strong action outside the Vice-Chancellor's office, staging a "die-in" to signal the death of quality education. Then in week 2 700 students and staff rallied outside Spence's office again, passing a motion of no confidence in him and the whole university management. However, the motion and the demands of students fell on deaf ears, so we resolved to build our campaign.
The Education Action Group formed out of those first initiatives, bringing together a variety of socialists, anarchists, Labor, Greens and general staff & student activists. The EAG went all-out to mobilise for a rally in Week 5, bringing around 1500 people out onto Eastern Avenue to hear from staff members facing the sack, postgraduate students losing their supervisors, etc. This rally was also supported by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU); one of the key factors in the success of the campaign sfar has been the important level of unity in action maintained between student-led EAG and the Sydney University branch of the NTEU, with both groups organising individual pickets, actions and meetings, but all key campaign actions being endorsed by both.
After weeks of building, we mobilised far bigger number of students than we'd hoped to, with contingents from the different faculties facing cuts taking part – many of whom had never taken part in any kind of campaign before in their life. At the end of that rally, many of those students joined the EAG's occupation of the Arts Administration building, which descended on the wing of the Quadrangle in force and filled the offices with around 100 people. We held a democratic assembly, the largest we held all semester, resolving that we would take whatever action necessary to defeat the cuts. The occupation lasted for two hours, frustrating the Dean of Arts, who, despite proclaiming his support for student activism, tried to get us to give up the occupation since the cuts are being driven by government funding. Despite this, we resolved to put an ultimatum to the management, which we stuck to the doors of the VC's office when we finished the occupation, resolving to launch a campaign of escalating mass direct action. Out of that first occupation we planned a student walk-out, a mass referendum and a rally taking to the streets in week 9.
For the walk-out, we quite publicly advertising that there'd be an occupation and "siege on management", so security, not suprisingly, knew we were coming, and prepared an over-the-top response. We marched from the Quad lawns to the Provost's office, attempting another occupation; however, the doors were all well guarded, and a few who made their way in through a window were pushed back out through it by undercover police officers and extra private security workers. So instead, we "laid siege" to management, sitting in and blocking all access in or out of the VC's office for the rest of the day.
Students rallied again three weeks later – and in between we two-day referendum campaign on the cuts, which polled almost 4000 students and staff and passed a resounding 97% no vote (and of the 3% voting yes to the cuts, a third also ticked that they'd be attending the next rally against the cuts! - so I guess we also learned people are naturally inclined to tick yes on a referendum...)
The success of the campaign has been due to the broad diversity of actions and tactics we've used to convince students of the need to take action, join the rallies and fight these cuts. The Week 9 rally on May 7 rally at the Senate – one of the largest mobilisation of students on campus to date - would not have been as successful if the EAG hadn't mobilised all-out for the referendum campaign the week before, hitting the footpaths to spread the word, building excitement and opening thousands of conversations about the campaign and the need to confront management.
Around 1000 people turned out for the May 7 rally, marching out on the streets and across to the other half of campus, where the Senate had been scheduled to meet that day. Although the meeting had been rescheduled and the building was empty, Spence had called in the riot police to defend it, and, when students attempted to occupy the building, we were pushed thrown around, dragged away from the doors, and 3 were arrested. One activist who isn't a student at USYD, a well known community and union activist, was also served with a lifetime ban against setting foot on campus.
Ominously, Michael Spence had sent an email to all staff that morning, warning that the protest would likely be hijacked by "outside agitators" with their "own agenda". Ultimately, this hugely over-the-top response had the opposite effect to that intended by management; the footage of students being treated so roughly on their own campus for attempting to protest non-violently might have put some people off the campaign, but it made far more see the riot squad, not students and staff, as the outside agitators.
After the attempt at the occupation was blocked on May 7, the protest kept going; we got word of the alternative Senate meeting venue, and votes to once again hold a "siege on management" and blockaded the building. Management put out in the media that the Senate meeting proceeded as normal, but we are reliably informed that we prevented it from meeting in any real sense for the whole day.
The morning of May 7 it had been announced that the total number of forced redundancies being sent to academics was 23 – with around 50 academics accepting redundancies, around half of the numbers management had been attempting to originally cut. (check & list exact numbers). This wasn't a full victory, but it was a victory nonetheless.
Maintaining and building upon our strong staff-student mobilisations which were united behind clear demands – and not the words or actions of a few – is what ultimately limited the numbers of staff management could cut. We leanred that from other movements around the world like the mass mobilisations of the students in the UK, Chile and Quebec, and from the success of our own struggle at Sydney University.
But the campaign at USYD has sofar this year been almost entirely defensive in nature. There are more aspects to the "change plan" that management hasn't started to implement yet which we have done little about – the cuts to general staff, courses, the recently announced restructuring of the Koori Centre, etc. We've been reacting to management, not getting ahead of their plans. This is the same across many Australian universities, where defensive battles have been sparked; generally, we are on the backfoot.
Several students confronted VC Michael Spence at the NUS Education Conference just a couple of weeks ago – he'd been invited by the Labor students as, since they got funding to hold the conference, they had to have him invite us since it was "his uni". We thought otherwise, and disrupted his speech by claiming the lectern, heckling and holding placards – to which the general response from NUS delegates was, shamefully, frostiness for us and applause for Spence. We've asserted that it's not – but the question is still open for this campaign, and more broadly – what's our vision for the campus, for our education, and how are we going to fight to get it put into place instead of the neoliberal agenda being pushed now?
These cuts are being implemented by a layer of management who have been appointed into a climate of marketised, competitive education, where funding is contingent on "selling your education product" to students. Vice-Chancellors and other figures who might have stood up against government have been the ones implementing the cuts. But the USYD Dean of Arts, Duncan Iverson, wasn't wrong when he told us Federal government funding is what's driving the problem.
I quote from the USYD EAG's semester wrap-up document:
“Self-interested managers are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a bigger logic of competition and education-for-profit that we have to fight against... Australia was the only OECD country to lower its contribution to higher education in the decade between 1995 and 2005...
As Universities are forced to compete for students, grants and rankings, they will find more and more ways to cut our education to the bone. This is why they are cutting staff at the same time as releasing a Budget Briefing for 2012, which outlines that the first goal for next year is to increase the “net operating margin” from $133 million in 2011 to $183 million in 2013, to fund “additional capital expenditure”. We must continue fighting together for a quality education because we still see the poisonous global trends of budget cutting and austerity.”
So while we need to make each campus an organising space against attacks on our education, as students across Australia and the world we also need to take the fight to the government and demand free and good quality public education. We need to link up and unite our struggles to actually challenge the neoliberal model of education.
That is why we should also look at ways to link up with other campaigners globally and across Australia, as well as those asiring due to TAFE cuts already being undertaken by the reactionary governments of austerity on the East coast. This moment could be an opportunity to broaden and deepen our campaigns, forming a broad-based education activist network, unifying campaigns demanding free, quality education for all.
So if you've worried about your education but never thought about being an activist – get informed, learn what we can do. Because when we exercise our collective strength, we are powerful.
What's the next step in this process? The upcoming EduFactory! conference will be a great opportunity for activists from across Australia to do just that, and may prove an important moment for the direction of our movement. Be there.
Since the 2005 fightback against Howard's Voluntarity Student Unionism laws, there's been little in the way of sustained education activism at USYD and in Sydney (or across Australia generally, with student unions unwilling to challenge Labor and managing to channel most student energy into lobbying and PR campaigns. But that has changed. Sydney University and staff have launched a widely-supported campaign against cuts – and it's been a real learning experience.
We've learned that our university is being managed in line with the profits-first agenda of the 1% that run the government and the economy. We've learned that under Vice-Chancellor Michael Spence, corporate research partners and “good economic management” take priority over students, staff and society.
But importantly, we’ve also learned we can roll back attempts by university management to implement staff and course cuts. We've learned how we can fight back.
The university of sydney management first signalled there would be restructuring at the end of 2011. However, in early 2012 a "budget black hole" was announced due to lower-than-expected intake of international fee-paying students. Ostensibly due to this black hole, management wanted to cut arbitrarily 120 "underperforming" academic staff, 190 general staff and threatened us with $28 million of non-salary cuts.
Students and staff responded immediately, organising two small rallies in the pouring rain during the university orientation week. Taking heart from the students rising up in Quebec and around the world, students at the University of Sydney began organising and mobilising to defend our staff, our academics, our courses and our quality of education.
We began distributing hundreds of leaflets from information stalls on campus, giving weekly "lecture bashes" in classes to inform fellow students of the campaign's goals, actions and progress, preparing bulletins to challenge the management's PR, and having long and thorough discussions with as many students as possible about the logic behind the cuts and how we could defeat them.
Within the first week we organised a hundred-strong action outside the Vice-Chancellor's office, staging a "die-in" to signal the death of quality education. Then in week 2 700 students and staff rallied outside Spence's office again, passing a motion of no confidence in him and the whole university management. However, the motion and the demands of students fell on deaf ears, so we resolved to build our campaign.
The Education Action Group formed out of those first initiatives, bringing together a variety of socialists, anarchists, Labor, Greens and general staff & student activists. The EAG went all-out to mobilise for a rally in Week 5, bringing around 1500 people out onto Eastern Avenue to hear from staff members facing the sack, postgraduate students losing their supervisors, etc. This rally was also supported by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU); one of the key factors in the success of the campaign sfar has been the important level of unity in action maintained between student-led EAG and the Sydney University branch of the NTEU, with both groups organising individual pickets, actions and meetings, but all key campaign actions being endorsed by both.
After weeks of building, we mobilised far bigger number of students than we'd hoped to, with contingents from the different faculties facing cuts taking part – many of whom had never taken part in any kind of campaign before in their life. At the end of that rally, many of those students joined the EAG's occupation of the Arts Administration building, which descended on the wing of the Quadrangle in force and filled the offices with around 100 people. We held a democratic assembly, the largest we held all semester, resolving that we would take whatever action necessary to defeat the cuts. The occupation lasted for two hours, frustrating the Dean of Arts, who, despite proclaiming his support for student activism, tried to get us to give up the occupation since the cuts are being driven by government funding. Despite this, we resolved to put an ultimatum to the management, which we stuck to the doors of the VC's office when we finished the occupation, resolving to launch a campaign of escalating mass direct action. Out of that first occupation we planned a student walk-out, a mass referendum and a rally taking to the streets in week 9.
For the walk-out, we quite publicly advertising that there'd be an occupation and "siege on management", so security, not suprisingly, knew we were coming, and prepared an over-the-top response. We marched from the Quad lawns to the Provost's office, attempting another occupation; however, the doors were all well guarded, and a few who made their way in through a window were pushed back out through it by undercover police officers and extra private security workers. So instead, we "laid siege" to management, sitting in and blocking all access in or out of the VC's office for the rest of the day.
Students rallied again three weeks later – and in between we two-day referendum campaign on the cuts, which polled almost 4000 students and staff and passed a resounding 97% no vote (and of the 3% voting yes to the cuts, a third also ticked that they'd be attending the next rally against the cuts! - so I guess we also learned people are naturally inclined to tick yes on a referendum...)
The success of the campaign has been due to the broad diversity of actions and tactics we've used to convince students of the need to take action, join the rallies and fight these cuts. The Week 9 rally on May 7 rally at the Senate – one of the largest mobilisation of students on campus to date - would not have been as successful if the EAG hadn't mobilised all-out for the referendum campaign the week before, hitting the footpaths to spread the word, building excitement and opening thousands of conversations about the campaign and the need to confront management.
Around 1000 people turned out for the May 7 rally, marching out on the streets and across to the other half of campus, where the Senate had been scheduled to meet that day. Although the meeting had been rescheduled and the building was empty, Spence had called in the riot police to defend it, and, when students attempted to occupy the building, we were pushed thrown around, dragged away from the doors, and 3 were arrested. One activist who isn't a student at USYD, a well known community and union activist, was also served with a lifetime ban against setting foot on campus.
Ominously, Michael Spence had sent an email to all staff that morning, warning that the protest would likely be hijacked by "outside agitators" with their "own agenda". Ultimately, this hugely over-the-top response had the opposite effect to that intended by management; the footage of students being treated so roughly on their own campus for attempting to protest non-violently might have put some people off the campaign, but it made far more see the riot squad, not students and staff, as the outside agitators.
After the attempt at the occupation was blocked on May 7, the protest kept going; we got word of the alternative Senate meeting venue, and votes to once again hold a "siege on management" and blockaded the building. Management put out in the media that the Senate meeting proceeded as normal, but we are reliably informed that we prevented it from meeting in any real sense for the whole day.
The morning of May 7 it had been announced that the total number of forced redundancies being sent to academics was 23 – with around 50 academics accepting redundancies, around half of the numbers management had been attempting to originally cut. (check & list exact numbers). This wasn't a full victory, but it was a victory nonetheless.
Maintaining and building upon our strong staff-student mobilisations which were united behind clear demands – and not the words or actions of a few – is what ultimately limited the numbers of staff management could cut. We leanred that from other movements around the world like the mass mobilisations of the students in the UK, Chile and Quebec, and from the success of our own struggle at Sydney University.
But the campaign at USYD has sofar this year been almost entirely defensive in nature. There are more aspects to the "change plan" that management hasn't started to implement yet which we have done little about – the cuts to general staff, courses, the recently announced restructuring of the Koori Centre, etc. We've been reacting to management, not getting ahead of their plans. This is the same across many Australian universities, where defensive battles have been sparked; generally, we are on the backfoot.
Several students confronted VC Michael Spence at the NUS Education Conference just a couple of weeks ago – he'd been invited by the Labor students as, since they got funding to hold the conference, they had to have him invite us since it was "his uni". We thought otherwise, and disrupted his speech by claiming the lectern, heckling and holding placards – to which the general response from NUS delegates was, shamefully, frostiness for us and applause for Spence. We've asserted that it's not – but the question is still open for this campaign, and more broadly – what's our vision for the campus, for our education, and how are we going to fight to get it put into place instead of the neoliberal agenda being pushed now?
These cuts are being implemented by a layer of management who have been appointed into a climate of marketised, competitive education, where funding is contingent on "selling your education product" to students. Vice-Chancellors and other figures who might have stood up against government have been the ones implementing the cuts. But the USYD Dean of Arts, Duncan Iverson, wasn't wrong when he told us Federal government funding is what's driving the problem.
I quote from the USYD EAG's semester wrap-up document:
“Self-interested managers are just the tip of the iceberg. There is a bigger logic of competition and education-for-profit that we have to fight against... Australia was the only OECD country to lower its contribution to higher education in the decade between 1995 and 2005...
As Universities are forced to compete for students, grants and rankings, they will find more and more ways to cut our education to the bone. This is why they are cutting staff at the same time as releasing a Budget Briefing for 2012, which outlines that the first goal for next year is to increase the “net operating margin” from $133 million in 2011 to $183 million in 2013, to fund “additional capital expenditure”. We must continue fighting together for a quality education because we still see the poisonous global trends of budget cutting and austerity.”
So while we need to make each campus an organising space against attacks on our education, as students across Australia and the world we also need to take the fight to the government and demand free and good quality public education. We need to link up and unite our struggles to actually challenge the neoliberal model of education.
That is why we should also look at ways to link up with other campaigners globally and across Australia, as well as those asiring due to TAFE cuts already being undertaken by the reactionary governments of austerity on the East coast. This moment could be an opportunity to broaden and deepen our campaigns, forming a broad-based education activist network, unifying campaigns demanding free, quality education for all.
So if you've worried about your education but never thought about being an activist – get informed, learn what we can do. Because when we exercise our collective strength, we are powerful.
What's the next step in this process? The upcoming EduFactory! conference will be a great opportunity for activists from across Australia to do just that, and may prove an important moment for the direction of our movement. Be there.
Sunday, 5 August 2012
Visiting Villawood
Today I visited Villawood Detention Centre here in Sydney, where Serco keeps refugees under guard at the behest of our government. I've visited the single men in stage 2/3 before, as well as the high security section stage 1 (where both asylum seekers with criminal records and those who have made trouble or staged protests inside detention centres are kept). But today was my first time visiting the Housing stage, where families and children are kept locked up.
I met Ranjini, a Tamil woman who fled Sri Lanka in 2008, as the Sinhala chauvinist government was tightening the net on the breakaway northern territory of Tamil Eelam. Her first husband, the father of her two boys, was killed in the fighting. Her two boys, 6 and 8, have lived through the voyage from Sri Lanka to India, from India to Christmas Island, then the stagnation of our detention system until about a year ago, when she was released into the community to have her asylum application processed. However, a few months ago she was called up by Immigration, plucking her two sons out of school, to be locked back up in Villawood.
Her younger son is full of energy - he pulled me outside to play hide-and-seek, to build a tent out of the soccer goals, to try and fix his bike's broken wheels. He is allowed out of the centre to go to a public school, where he is accompanied by a minimum of 3 Serco guards; they can visit parks, and once Clovelly Beach, but only after it's been investigated and cleared by Serco. For now, though, he is still full of beans; he reminded me of the young boy at my neighbour's house in Wollongong. But I know that growing up behind barbed wire has to be wearing on his mind. He made me promise to bring him a real tent the next time I visit.
These are the human beings that our establishment politicians and media voices demonise to misdirect our alienation and anger.
I met Ranjini, a Tamil woman who fled Sri Lanka in 2008, as the Sinhala chauvinist government was tightening the net on the breakaway northern territory of Tamil Eelam. Her first husband, the father of her two boys, was killed in the fighting. Her two boys, 6 and 8, have lived through the voyage from Sri Lanka to India, from India to Christmas Island, then the stagnation of our detention system until about a year ago, when she was released into the community to have her asylum application processed. However, a few months ago she was called up by Immigration, plucking her two sons out of school, to be locked back up in Villawood.
Her younger son is full of energy - he pulled me outside to play hide-and-seek, to build a tent out of the soccer goals, to try and fix his bike's broken wheels. He is allowed out of the centre to go to a public school, where he is accompanied by a minimum of 3 Serco guards; they can visit parks, and once Clovelly Beach, but only after it's been investigated and cleared by Serco. For now, though, he is still full of beans; he reminded me of the young boy at my neighbour's house in Wollongong. But I know that growing up behind barbed wire has to be wearing on his mind. He made me promise to bring him a real tent the next time I visit.
These are the human beings that our establishment politicians and media voices demonise to misdirect our alienation and anger.
Sunday, 25 March 2012
#OSyd Occupy Friday, 23/03
On Friday night I headed along to the first (and hopefully not the last!) "Occupy Friday" night hosted by Occupy Sydney.
It was a good response; I'd estimate that there was at least 50-60 people in attendance throughout the night, including around 40 marching down to the steps of the MLC centre tower, where the US consulate in Sydney is located, to show solidarity with #Occupy Wall Street protesters who have faced police violence in the last week.
From the Facebook event:
The fact that #OSyd has survived the summer, maintaining a presence at Martin Place (unlike any other #Occupy in Australia), is definitely a good thing. Free Schools draw in similiar numbers to the 50-60 that were down there on Friday night - but the Free Schools are more focused on discussion and less on taking action; from speaking with many of the longer term occupiers, this is the first time in a long time that such numbers have been part of political action with the group.
There is a lot of thinking going on in #Osyd about what is the best way to move forward, to grow the movement now the initial excitement (read: media attention) over the idea of occupy has faded a little. The protest camp faces constant police harassment, as do individual occupy activists. In this context, I think events like Occupy Friday are crucial in mobilising people who, for whatever reasons, haven't gotten involved in #OSyd yet - or who got involved back in October then dropped away in response to the police harassment, their own time constraints and priorities, or whatever.
To me, #Occupy Sydney is above all a movement for the dispossesed; the homeless, the unemployed, the workers, the "aussie battlers", everyone who is on the short end of the stick in this society. Only a small number of those people are dedicated, motivated and convinced enough to be part of an overnight camp of a small number of people who are going to face police intimidation. #Occupy, or any movement which seeks to say that our economic and political system is the problem, needs to find a variety of different methods of organisation that all of those layers of people can relate to within their comfort zone, while still seeking to draw those people forward into the struggle.
Occupy Fridays seems to me a great tactic to do this; space for a variety of kinds of activism, collective mobilisation, and potentially building up numbers to renewed occupation on a scale the police can't just harass away. I think it's important that #OFri still maintains an emphasis political action, like the solidarity vigil, as well as organising and discussion. I'd encourage all socialists, anarchists and others seeking to change the system to come down to next week's Occupy Friday before/after the March to Jerusalem, and be part of the conversation :)
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| We are the 99% |
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| Mic Check: I don't think George Orwell intended 1984 to be an instruction manual... |
From the Facebook event:
Occupy Sydney will be hosting Occupy Fridays beginning on friday the 23rd and continuing every friday after that. Occupy Fridays seeks to facilitate a hub for arts, free education, creativity and ideas. Occupy Fridays is open to anyone and everyone and will be an open source event; which means that anyone involved can contribute and participate in determining the destiny of Occupy Fridays and the future of Occupy Sydney as a whole.
Occupy Fridays is a great way to engage for the first time or re-engage with YOUR Occupy Movement and explore alternatives to the current economic and social realities that govern our lives.
On Friday the 23rd, there will be a variety of ways to get involved which are fun and educational, including:
-Theme, The Australian Fun Exchange
-Free school workshops & teach-ins planned, including a freeschool on the financial system and a "know your rights" workshop. Also for anyone who wants to spontaneously hold a workshop can do so!
-Portugese conversation class at 10:30pm
-Placard making area
-Musicians Welcome and please bring your own instruments for jammin’
- Kid’s section -3-4pm
- Tiny Tents Task Force
-Yoga Lessons
- Friday Night Sustainable Cinema (Movie TBA)
- Stencil making (for Occupy Sydney T-shirts and such, bring an old T-shirt and spare material for flags and banners)
-Occupiers will be walking around getting voxpops from people for our "Have Your Say" project. If you'd like to contribute thoughts or ideas, they will be the strange people walking around with video cameras. They're pretty friendly. so don't be shy, get your voice heard!
-Also, anyone who wants to take part, we'll be heading to the MLC Centre steps around 8pm ish and hold a candle lit vigil to show solidarity with our brothers and sisters at OWS who suffered this wknd at the hands of NYPD brutality. BYO candle!
If you have any ideas or skills that you'd like to offer, come to the Occupy Fridays Working Group at 5pm on tuesdays, otherwise, come along, one and all! it’ll be a great night! Please come armed with ideas, musical instruments, a plate of food and a touch of mischeif!
Occupy Fridays will be an overnight event, so if you'd like to bring sleeping gear and occupy overnight, please do so but no tents please as that presents legal issues.
Occupy Fridays is also a drug and alcohol free event. Please respect that and make sure it remains a safe space for all participants!
Please invite your friends!
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| Support Occupy Sydney |
The fact that #OSyd has survived the summer, maintaining a presence at Martin Place (unlike any other #Occupy in Australia), is definitely a good thing. Free Schools draw in similiar numbers to the 50-60 that were down there on Friday night - but the Free Schools are more focused on discussion and less on taking action; from speaking with many of the longer term occupiers, this is the first time in a long time that such numbers have been part of political action with the group.
There is a lot of thinking going on in #Osyd about what is the best way to move forward, to grow the movement now the initial excitement (read: media attention) over the idea of occupy has faded a little. The protest camp faces constant police harassment, as do individual occupy activists. In this context, I think events like Occupy Friday are crucial in mobilising people who, for whatever reasons, haven't gotten involved in #OSyd yet - or who got involved back in October then dropped away in response to the police harassment, their own time constraints and priorities, or whatever.
To me, #Occupy Sydney is above all a movement for the dispossesed; the homeless, the unemployed, the workers, the "aussie battlers", everyone who is on the short end of the stick in this society. Only a small number of those people are dedicated, motivated and convinced enough to be part of an overnight camp of a small number of people who are going to face police intimidation. #Occupy, or any movement which seeks to say that our economic and political system is the problem, needs to find a variety of different methods of organisation that all of those layers of people can relate to within their comfort zone, while still seeking to draw those people forward into the struggle.
Occupy Fridays seems to me a great tactic to do this; space for a variety of kinds of activism, collective mobilisation, and potentially building up numbers to renewed occupation on a scale the police can't just harass away. I think it's important that #OFri still maintains an emphasis political action, like the solidarity vigil, as well as organising and discussion. I'd encourage all socialists, anarchists and others seeking to change the system to come down to next week's Occupy Friday before/after the March to Jerusalem, and be part of the conversation :)
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| 160 days of occupy... and counting :) |
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
Eyewitness: Occupy Sydney - Day 116
So for the first time since I got back to Australia, I made time to head down to Occupy Sydney for the General Assembly tonight. Overall I found it quite an enthusing experience and a really inspiring movement to be a part of, despite the fact that I missed out on the height of mobilisations while I was in Palestine (something which people at the GA told me not to feel guilty for!) and also despite the particular personal politics that develop in movement groups like this.
Some great sounding plans for ramping up campaigning for the year were floated around, so I don't think we've heard the last from this movement, no matter what the police do to try and wear the campers down or drain the scant resources we have.
I still don't think I'll be camping out just yet... but who knows :p
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| Occupy Sydney General Assembly, 08/02 |
After a bit of debate about the future direction of the Occupy movement through websites and previous meetings, tonight's General Assembly included an item for open discussion with a mind towards setting some more concrete proposals for future actions in stone at a future meeting in 1 or 2 weeks. Some people argued in favour of maintaining the overnight occupation site as a permanent 24/7 situation, some argued against it. Personally I think there is a bit of a false division between some different visions of Occupy; the question to me is how the movement continues to grow. The fact that the police are constantly harrassing this movement would be bound to generate public sympathy if the police weren't managing the mainstream media narrative; when it's not so late and I've got some more time, and perhaps a chance to interview some of the people involved in the legal action (rather overworked given the number of cases running out of the movement!), I plan to write up a much more detailed account of the police's attacks on this movement. However, at the same time I think it's real to acknowledge that it's draining resources to maintain a constant legal war of attrition with the cops. It's important that our time as people who want to change the world and don't have the convenience of money and power to do it with focus our energy as much as possible on the strategic goals. To me, actions, events and campaigns which will involve more people and potentially reclaim a mass audience for the movement are exciting, especially given we're at a time when Australia's workers are being made to start paying for the global crisis (even though it "hasn't hit us" yet...). But the Martin Place campsite can play a part in that too.
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| Occupy Sydney General Assembly, while falling governments tick by overhead... |
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| Police pull over a motorist in the background of the #OSyd campsite... |
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