The far-right anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim organizations "Reclaim Australia" (RA) and "United Patriots Front" (UPF) are staging Australia-wide rallies on November 22nd. In response antifascists, anti-racists and other community activists will be holding counter-demonstrations.
Via Campaign Against Racism and Fascism (CARF):
Anti-Muslim fear-mongering is escalating, and Reclaim Australia has called national rallies for November 22. It is no coincidence that the rallies follow the recent launch of the Australian Liberty Alliance, which will stand in the 2016 elections on dangerous policies that include a 10-year moratorium on resident visas for people from Islamic countries.
The far right and modern-day Nazis are seriously working to build a movement. First, they scapegoat Muslims to split and weaken the working class. Next, they will target unionists, leftists, First Nations, immigrants, women, LGBTIQ people and others to blame us for capitalism’s worsening crisis. Big capital needs this movement to break our capacity to resist.
Let’s stop stop them! Hit the streets, and bring more people. Together, we are far stronger than they are.
Counter-demonstrations (More are expected to be added as November 22nd draws closer, check Slackbastard blog for latest updates):
Canberra
Melbourne
Sydney
Brisbane
Newcastle
Perth
Adelaide
Melbourne, October 13th, 2015: Activists from Rojava Solidarity Australia disrupted the opening of a cultural event sponsored by the Turkish government. The event 'Sufi Music Ensemble & Whirling Dervishes Melbourne Show' was held at the Melbourne Town Hall and was sponsored by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Turkish Embassy in Canberra. Mid-way through a speech by a representative of the Turkish government, two activists made their way to the front of the stage and unfurled a banner that read: "STOP TURKISH STATE TERROR" and shouted slogans that included "Turkey supports ISIS", "Turkey is at war with it's own people", "Long live the Kurdish people" and "Who bombed Ankara" before being roughly ejected by security. Unfortunately video footage of the action was accidentally deleted during the scuffle with security. While the majority of the audience were hostile towards the action there was a smattering of applause from people who obviously approved of the action. Here is a statement from Rojava Solidarity Australia explaining the reasons behind their action:
STOP TURKISH STATE TERROR!
We have interrupted this event due to it being sponsored by the Turkish government. The Turkish government is currently waging a campaign of terror against the Kurdish and progressive left movements in Turkey.
This campaign has involved covert support for extremist Islamic organizations such as the so-called Islamic State; mass arrests and imprisonment of Kurdish and left-wing activists, community leaders and politicians; mass censorship and restrictions against social and news media; maintaining a military blockade that prevents humanitarian aid from reaching the Kurdish autonomous region of Rojava in Syria that is under constant attack by IS; the murder of prominent Kurdish and left-wing activists; launching airstrikes against Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq who have been one of the most effective fighting forces worldwide against IS; and most disturbing of all - facilitating terrorist attacks against peaceful and democratic protests.
The most recent of these attacks took place on the 10th of October in Ankara, Turkey's capital. At least 128 people were killed and hundreds more were injured when twin explosions hit a peace rally organized by the trade union movement. The Turkish state's immediate reaction following this horrific attack was to order it's security forces to deploy tear gas and water cannon against people rendering aid to the survivors and to implement a media blackout on reporting about the attack as well as blocking it's citizens from accessing Twitter and Facebook. The government then went on to make the outrageous claim that Kurdish or left-wing groups could have been behind the attack and to impose further restrictions on reporting or releasing information related to the attack.
The Australian government regularly makes grandiose announcements and engages in much media posturing regarding it's supposed involvement and commitment to the so-called 'War On Terror' - in particular the war against the Islamic State. However, the Australian government maintains normal relations with the Turkish state - a state that routinely terrorizes it's own population and covertly funds and arms the Islamic State, Al-Nusra Front and other violent Islamic fundamentalist groups that are currently terrorizing the people of Syria and Iraq. The Australian government also lists the PKK (Kurdistan Worker's Party) as a 'terrorist' organization at the behest of the Turkish government. It is widely recognized throughout the world that the PKK is currently one of the most effective fighting forces worldwide against the Islamic State. The PKK are also recognized worldwide for their heroic role in the rescue of thousands of Yazidi people from the Islamic State on Mt Sinjar in Iraqi Kurdistan.
The Australian government is demonstrating via it's actions that it's only real commitment to combating IS is to use them as a convenient specter on the domestic front in order to stifle dissent, increase surveillance of it's citizens and further restrict freedom of speech. By maintaining normal relations with the Turkish state, Australia is in fact aiding the Islamic State and other extremist fundamentalist terror groups - making a complete mockery of it's supposed commitment to the 'War On Terror.'
STOP THE TURKISH STATE'S WAR AGAINST IT'S OWN POPULATION!
END AUSTRALIAN COOPERATION WITH THE CRIMINAL ERDOGAN REGIME!
SOLIDARITY WITH THE KURDISH STRUGGLE AND THE PROGRESSIVE LEFT MOVEMENT IN TURKEY!
Rojava Solidarity Australia
13.10.15.
(via Rojava Solidarity Australia)
Melbourne, Australia: In the early hours of Sunday, August 30th we attached a banner to a fence outside the Richmond railway station in inner-city Melbourne as a minimum expression of our participation in this year's International Week of Solidarity with Anarchist Prisoners.
INSURGENT SOLIDARITY WITH ANARCHIST PRISONERS!
FIRE TO THE PRISONS AND THE SOCIETY THAT KEEPS BUILDING THEM!
- some anarchists
The Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group calls on the Australian Government to drop the charges against Jamie Williams and release him unconditionally. He was arrested on 27 July and charged with “preparing for incursions into foreign countries for the purpose of engaging in hostile activities”. The substance of the charge is that he attempted to leave Australia to join the YPG forces in Syria fighting Daesh, which styles itself as the “Islamic State”.
We do not know whether Jamie Williams was actually trying to join the YPG, but we would have only admiration for him if he was. The YPG-YPJ (People’s Protection Units – Women’s Protection Units) of the PYD (Democratic Union Party) are defending the Kurdish communities of Rojova in Syria against the barbarous forces of Daesh and are doing so very effectively. Further, in the areas of Rojova the YPG-YPJ are protecting, there is a social transformation being conducted which has the potential to be greatly liberatory and to inspire revolutionary workers’ movements across the region.
We say only “potential” because the PYD are allying themselves with US imperialism in its military assault on West Asia, something that undermines the libertarian socialist goals for which the PYD claims to be struggling. While this alliance brings certain tactical benefits (having F-22s take out Daesh vehicles and field HQs definitely made defending Kobanê easier), they are greatly outweighed by the strategic disadvantage of the barriers it puts up between the Kurdish and Arab peoples of the region. The MACG therefore calls on the PYD to break with the United States and throw its lot in with the workers and oppressed masses of West Asia instead. US intervention in West Asia will kill far fewer jihadis than it will recruit for Daesh, something not unconnected to the fact that the US has killed far more people in the region than Daesh ever will.
Regardless of the PYD’s short-sighted choice of friends, however, its struggle against Daesh is greatly progressive and should be supported by workers in Australia and around the world. And if workers in Australia like Jamie Williams decide to join the YPG-YPJ or radical bands allied to them, the Australian Government shouldn’t stand in their way.
FREEDOM FOR JAMIE WILLIAMS!
LONG LIVE THE ROJAVA REVOLUTION!
(via Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group)
27.07.15: A solidarity action took place outside the Turkish consulate in Melbourne on Monday in response to Turkish state complicity in the Suruç Massacre and in response to the international call out made by Anarşi İnisiyatifi (Anarchy Initiative) who lost four of their comrades in the attack.
A group of about 20 mostly anarchist activists gathered outside the consulate at around 5PM with banners and signs condemning the massacre and the involvement of the Turkish state, there were also signs expressing support for the ongoing Rojava Revolution. Of the two large banners that were unfurled outside the consulate, one read: 'Solidarity With Suruç From Melbourne! Stop Turkish State Sponsored Terror!' while the other banner read: 'In Memory Of Evrim Deniz Erol, Alper Sapan and Medali Barutçu - Solidarity Is Our Weapon!'
There were two speeches made with the speakers expressing solidarity with the people of Suruç, the Kurdish struggle in Rojava and elsewhere in Kurdistan, condemning the Turkish state for their involvement in the Suruç massacre and for their recent airstrikes against the PKK as well as the shelling of YPG/J positions inside Rojava. Mention was also made of the brutal crackdown against the Kurdish movement and the Turkish left inside Turkish state controlled territories - a crackdown that has resulted in mass detentions and the extra-judicial killings of at least 3 young activists.
As expected there was the usual over the top presence of both state and Federal police officers who were stationed in front of the consulate doors and across the road from where the demonstration took place. A staffer from the consulate was also observed taking photographs of the action.
Solidarity With The People of Suruç!
Long Live The Memories of Evrim Deniz Erol, Alper Sapan, Medali Barutçu And All The Young Revolutionaries Who Died In The Suruç Massacre!
Long Live The Rojava Revolution And The Kurdish Resistance!
Increase The Pressure Against Turkish State Terror!
Melbourne, Australia, 01.07.15: Hundreds of prisoners at the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Ravenhall have rioted in response to a state-wide ban on smoking in all of the state of Victoria's prison hell-holes. The prisoners attacked screws, lit fires, rammed an exit door, torched prison vehicles and stormed a control room during what the cops are describing as one of the biggest prison riots in recent history. All prison staff were evacuated from the prison and heavily armed police goon squads entered the prison deploying tear gas in an attempt to suppress the riot. The riot began at around 12:20PM on 30.06.15 and continued until 03:00AM on 01:07:15 when the cops finally suppressed the uprising. There are reports from the corporate scum media that several prisoners were injured in the riot and that at least 2 screws got battered. As a result of the riot the entire prison system in Victoria is now on complete lockdown.
In response to the riot a snap action was held at a traditional First Nations meeting spot in the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Collingwood by First Nations Liberation (FNL) and their supporters in solidarity with the rioting prisoners. In the state of Victoria, First Nations peoples only make up 1% of the population but make up 30% of Victoria's prison population - this over-representation of First Nations people in the prison system is a direct result of the unceasing genocide that has been waged against First Nations people since the arrival of the colonists in the territories now commonly referred to as Australia in 1788. Afterwards a small group of anarchists painted graffiti on a nearby wall in solidarity with the rioters.
Solidarity and strength to the Ravenhall rioters who kept the screws and heavily armed cops at bay for almost 15 hours armed only with makeshift weapons, their fists and a fierce will to resist!
Fire To The Prisons! Destroy The Prison Society!
Insurrection News receives and transmits:
Graffiti action in Melbourne's CBD in solidarity with the revolutionary US political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal.
Mumia is currently hospitalized due to an extremely serious medical condition and he is being denied proper medical care - his life is in great danger.
The fascist North American state was unable to execute Mumia via 'legal' methods for the trumped up charges he has been imprisoned on since 1981 so now they are trying to execute him again but this time via medical neglect and malpractice.
We took to the streets of Melbourne's CBD with spray-paint on May 17 to express our anger and outrage at the malicious and vindictive actions of the tyrannical North American state and it's repressive 'correctional' system and sprayed 'Free Mumia' tags at various locations throughout the city as a visual reminder to passers-by that even in far away places such as these stolen territories administered by the colonial entity referred to as Australia, Mumia's situation has been and continues to be well known - especially now given the perilous situation Mumia is currently enduring.
We add our voices to the international chorus of solidaritarians who are demanding the following:
(1) Adequate diagnostic testing of Mumia's health be done (2) That Mumia's doctor be able to communicate freely and regularly with the prison infirmary physicians who are delivering Mumia's medical care (3) His doctor be allowed meaningful and regular phone access with Mumia. (There are no phones in the hospital, in the infirmary, his calls are limited to 15 mins and and he has limited access to the day room where the phones are). (4) Allow Mumia's chosen doctor to conduct an onsite medical examination, and (5) as many have said, it is past time for Mumia to be released from prison!
This action took place within the context of our ongoing Winter offensive of graffiti and propaganda actions in solidarity with anarchist and other revolutionary prisoners worldwide.
- Subversive Tagging & Propaganda Cell
11.05.15: Graffiti & flyer action in the inner-city suburbs of Melbourne for the anarchist comrades facing repression inside the dungeons of the Chilean state. Slogans sprayed for Nataly, Juan and Guillermo - on hunger strike since April 14th and for Tamara Sol Vergara and Natalia Tato Collao. Flyers pasted about the case of Tamara Sol Vergara and the hunger strike of Nataly, Juan & Guillermo.
(send to us by Subversive Tagging & Propaganda Cell)
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