Upcoming Events in Sydney: Weekend of September 12-13 Seeing through Empire’s new clothes: Extending strategies for anticapitalist struggle against the economic crisis. See inside for more info. Friday September 18, 6pm Jura Books - Jura Talks - Left Libertarian Discussions. Our first talk is on ‘Anarchism in the 21st Century’. Sid MUTINY Parissi will give a half hour presentation, and then there # will be political discussion for an hour or so. Hope you a paper of 42 September 2009 can join the conversation. Anarchistic ideas Sunday September 20, 2pm Black Rose - Black & Re(a)d monthly discussion group. & actions For more information & readings see blackandread. In this issue of Mutiny: wordpress.com. This month’s readings include the (infamous/fashionable) The Coming Insurrection by some French folk calling themselves The Invisible Committee. G20 court solidarity - Jimmy Best gives us an insight into life Sunday September 20, 5.30pm and politics inside prison walls. Black Rose - Anatomy of hell/Anatomie de l’enfer (2004) A man rescues a woman from a suicide attempt in a gay thoughts on the student - A report on the most recent ‘anti- nightclub. A provocative and disturbing film about men terror’ raids in Victoria. and women and men’s hatred and fears of women. Wednesday September 23 & climate movement - Libertario en Lucha interrogates Black Rose - Opening night of Black Rose poster exhibition. Make a poster & submit it – any kind of race and class privilege within student political art welcome. Posters will be sold on the night to environment networks and the campaigns raise money for Black Rose. don’t fear prison: they run. Thursday September 24, 7-10.30pm Jura Books - Juracoustic – acoustic music in the library. - 2 and a half weeks in court for the Featuring Steno Caves + more TBA. The night is open to an article from inside whoever turns up. most recent G20 trial led the Mutiny Collective to this analysis of political Sunday September 30 melbourne terror raids solidarity and the legal system. Black Rose - 4pm – the monthly Black Rose meeting, open to all, to discuss sustaining & improving Black Rose as an anarchist library & radical space. - news from Australia, Greece, Chile, 6.30pm, The wild bunch (1969) plus: crisis conference Korea, the USA, South Africa, & Honduras. An aging group of outlaws look for one last big score in this classic Western set against the background of the Mexican revolution. - a review of District 9. program! Black Rose, 22 Enmore Rd, Newtown – www.blackrosebooks.org Jura Books, 440 Parramatta Rd, Petersham – www.jura.org.au FREE Upcoming Events in South Australia: From September 24 - 27 ZINE South Australians are hosting the state’s first climate camp in Port Augusta. On the borders of the Kookatha, Nukunnu, Bungala and Adnyamathanha nations four- days of camping, listening, workshops and direct action will focus on alternatives to coal, nuclear and capitalism. For more information, to help organise and to register go to climatecampsa.org Well, when I went and saw this film I really utiny is an anarchist collective based We meet regularly, please contact us on was not expecting anything special. I had Review: District 9 - in Sydney. We started this zine to the address below: not heard anything about it other than Neill Blomkamp M seeing a few ads on TV. It just didn’t seem explore different avenues of disobedience & mail: c/- PO Box 4, Enmore, that interesting to me. Maybe that’s why I their unrelevant (to the aliens) bureaucratic resistance, & to encourage people to write NSW 2042, Australia was so blown away. Don’t laugh; I really was. methods (that makes me think of Centrelink) I was taken in. The acting by about their ideas, actions & experiences. email: [email protected] and a patronising smile with a the main character, I’m not line of machine guns behind web: back issues at: www.jura.org.au/mutiny kidding, was the best acting it (that makes me think of a I have seen in a film in years. worse version of the conditional I was nearly brought to tears freedom that we live in in It’s Mutiny Zine’s Mutiny is an anarchist collective based in Sydney. We started at one stage. The dialogue is capitalism everyday). 3rd birthday on this zine to explore different avenues of disobedience & a bit thin – it just barely does Without spoilers: the film resistance, & to encourage people to write about their ideas, what it needs to do. Friday 17th of let’s us see the functioning of actions & experiences. OK enough dribbling: April! We will be the people in the bureaucracy Mutiny began as an anti-war collective. We’re currently exploring the film is a look at apartheid in from the top levels and doing something ways to resist gentrification, in particular the ‘redevelopment’ South Africa. This is examined through the ranks. We see the proposed in the Redfern area by the Redfern Waterloo awesome, possibly through a situation where a horrific and violent effects of Authority. We’re keen to work with other people opposed to this at Black Rose. UFO mysteriously appears the bureaucracy on the aliens redevelopment & the displacement, racism, rent hikes & ugliness above Johannesburg and just Come and it involves. We meet regularly, please contact us on the address and their lives. pic from asaro.revolutionary artist assembly oaxaca sits there. The aliens turn out celebrate with us! below: So far so good. to be sick, malnourished and Unfortunately the film totally Editors for this month: Explodedc/- Cake, PO Box Princess 4, Enmore,Mob, Mambutu NSW, Nizwa, 2042, Dumpstered Australia Twin, neglected and end up living breaks down when the action mutineers@graffiti.net in a slum in Johannesburg. sections begin. It’s all so gritty Max Solidarity, SourDough & GrafBack Cat issues at Editors this month: www.jura.org.au/mutiny They are abused, exploited and ‘real’ feeling (partly due to Princess Mob, T with Alice, and misunderstood. The Max (TheSolidarity, mutiny SourDough, zine collective (The does mutiny not zinenecessarily collective agreedoes not with necessarily all the opinions agree with of allcontributors. the opinions of the documentary style of filming GrafContributors Cat, Exploded do Cake, not necessarilycontributors. agree Contributors with all the do opinions not necessarily of the agreemutiny with collective. all the opinions The of the protagonist is one particular man who works and editing) – but when the bullets start Dumpsteredmutiny collectiveTwin and doesn’t mutinyagree withcollective. all the The opinions mutiny collective of the mutiny doesn’t collective.)agree with all the opinions of the for a private firm contracted to monitor, Mambutu. mutiny collective.) flying – so does the bullshit. Fortunately the study and be ambassadors to the aliens: film is interesting and engaging and deep Multi-National United (MNU). Of course the Get the new zine every month, and help us pay enough for more than enough to overcome Subscribe to Mutiny! MNU seeks ultimately to simply exploit the the bullshit hollywood action crap. for printing and distribution (please!) If you can give out extra copies, we can aliens and their technology even further with Max Solidarity send a number of zines for no charge. Subscriptions free for prisoners. Name:______CLIMATE CAMP SOUTH AUSTRALIA Address:______From September 24 - 27, South Australians are hosting the state’s first climate camp in Port Augusta. On the borders of the Kookatha, Nukunnu, Bungala and Adnyamathanha nations four-days of camping, ______listening, workshops and direct action will focus on alternatives to coal, nuclear and capitalism. Port Augusta is the location of SA’s only coal fired power station which produces 40% of the Email:______states energy supply. We aim to disrupt operations in the region and send a clear message to the public and governments we will not be silent in the face of a global environmental catastrophe. ___$5 (3 months) ___$10 (6 months) $___ (donation) Climate camp will provide a forum to discuss relationships between federal climate policy and Copies each month: ___1 ___5 ___copies the agendas of the coal and uranium industries, and the barriers preventing real solutions to climate change. We also aim to address the issue of land rights in relation to the uranium industry, particularly in Please send well concealed cash only to: the context of the NT intervention. PO Box 4 / Enmore / NSW / 2042 / Australia For more information, to help organise and to register go to: Please write, or email mutineers@graffiti.net about bulk distribution, international orders, if climatecampsa.org you don’t have any money, or for any other special requests. though it were a simple believe, … due to a culture that fuels the powers support won his release. trade-off for whatever shift within Australian of oppression. You can http://www.occupiedlondon.org activities that they wished prisons, nowadays rapes then potter around the G20 court update Sydney: bus drivers defy union and take to do whilst free. are extremely rare. garden of a commune Two people were recently sentenced on wildcat action But assaults do occur, somewhere, knowing that charges relating to the G20 protests in 130 bus drivers walked out at the Busways For inmates who are although they are usually you’ve done your bit. Melbourne in 2006. Blacktown depot at 3.30 a.m. on August 25 against the imposition of new timetables among their friends in drug related or because of Sina Brown-Davis received a conviction for affray and was sentenced to 150 hours that would impose shorter times for routes. prison, the whole thing stand-overs for cigarettes But I know that this is a big of community service to be served over 12 Drivers said that the timetables would be is a laugh, a joke. They and racial divisions can be step for a lot people and months. The charge of criminal damage impossible to meet, which would not only spend their days getting problems too. But largely totally out of the question was ‘subsumed’ in affray and no additional inconvenience and anger passengers, and high or doing unskilled violence in prison can be for everybody else. But conviction was recorded. add to Sydney’s public transport shambles, but cut short the drivers’ break periods. labour … or training their avoided by maintaining we all must take action Sunil Menon was fined $5000 ($2500 for each of two counts of unlawful assembly.) The workers said they would be under muscles … or playing normal common sense in whatever ways that The unlawful assembly charges were enormous pressure to drive over the speed cards, they have no real and avoiding obvious we feel that we will be of all that was left after he was found not limit. responsibilities and no antagonists. most value to our cause. guilty of aggravated burglary and criminal Angered by the lack of support from the real concerns People are naturally damage. Transport Workers Union (TWU), the Akin Sari was released on parole in August drivers conducted their own stoppage, in life … except inclined to pursue giving no warning to the union or where is the next various paths; after spending about 20 months in prison for charges relating to the G20 protests. management. The TWU opposed the high coming from each of us will be strike and intervened to end it as quickly The final stage of the lengthy legal process as possible, and has worked to isolate the … and so long as most effective if we will be Tim Davis-Frank’s trial early next that question has pursue the methods Blacktown depot drivers, from the workers year for one count of unlawful assembly. at other depots. an easy answer that most suit our The jury was unable to reach a unanimous The strike produced furious denunciations … then there is individual nature. verdict on this charge when they rejected all other charges against him at his trial in in the media and from the Industrial nothing to burden But if you are at all July. Relations Commission. This betrays considerable nervousness that the drivers’ their minds. inclined to engage in Greece: political prisoner released direct action, please example could encourage other workers to Greek prisoner Theodoros Iliopoulos was defy the trade unions and take independent Usually when an do consider it. As for freed from prison after a 49 day hunger action to defend their jobs and conditions. inmate is released, everyone else, it is strike. He had been detained without Like employers across the board, Busways, the question on your responsibility trial since last December on fabricated a large private operator, is utilising the their mind is, “how can I to support those that molotov-throwing charges. One of the last economic crisis, with the backing of the people held in prison after the December state government, to demand a productivity get what I want?” … (then Perhaps once you grow have the courage to uprisings, his applications for release had secondly) … “how do I tired of entire process confront their fears. It is speed-up on top of years of attacks on previously been rejected on the grounds conditions. By contrast, the Rowe family, reduce my risk of getting of direct action and important that you give that he is “dangerous for democracy”. which owns the Busways Group, is thought caught?” … there is no prison, you could then your time and if possible, He went on hunger strike on 10 July, to be one of the wealthiest in Australia. real deterrent perceived retire to leave a new give your money to help demanding his freedom. For more than a Although the Busways management has month the authorities refused to provide now agreed to further talks on the proposed within the minds of most generation to continue support those who find him with proper medical support at a inmates, … and while where you left off. You themselves locked up in timetables, and despite a no-strike order, public hospital and instead kept him in the drivers said they would strike again unless this serves no positive are older and possibly prison because they did under-funded and under-equipped prison’s the company dropped its demands. medical room. purpose for society … it wiser, but certainly you’ll what they could to help See longer report at http://libcom.org/ may indicate something have a story to tell. You’ll create a better world for Anarchist comrades in Greece and abroad news/sydney-bus-drivers-defy-union-take- worth taking note of for carry the satisfaction all of us who share it. quickly mobilised in solidarity, and later wildcat-action-27082009 leftist and communist political parties anarchists. that you’ve done your also made announcements in his support. Chile: Mapuche youth killed by police in part to create change Jimmy Best His determination and the Greek and land occupation To counter what you may and undermine the fear international solidarity movement in his Jaime Mendoza Collío, a 24-year-old Mapuche activist, was shot by the police of 10 workers each, who in turn elected a this reflects the type Fear halts the movement Confront your fears while taking part in an occupation of land delegate (chojang) for coordinated action of our best intentions. and engage in direct claimed as indigenous territory August 12 of crimes that occur in On August 5 thousands of riot police Australia and therefore But against this it seems actions against the at Angol in the southern Chilean region backed by company thugs stormed of Araucanía. His slaying marks the third the factory and violently broke up the the type of mindset that that we are capable of powers of oppression indigenous activist killed since 1990, when occupation. The following day, the Korean the average inmate growing comfortable with and ecological corrosion, the Mapuche launched a strategy of land Metal Workers Union (KMWU) and the (criminal) has. More almost any condition … and your actions occupations aimed at recovering their Korean Confederation of Trade Unions broadly, it may represent that we are subjected may potentially inspire ancestral territory. (KCTU) accepted the company’s demands After an unsuccessful attempt to meet with for massive job cuts. The government is the mindset of the entire to. This complacency all manner of changes. socialist President Michelle Bachelet in carrying out a vendetta against workers Australian population. Or is often what gives Large participation in Santiago, a group of traditional indigenous involved in the occupation, with 64 facing perhaps it could be that strength to oppressive direct action, undoubtedly leaders or “loncos” launched a new wave of charges for resisting police attacks. people who participate in forces, but it can also be leading to a larger land occupations and protests in Araucanía US: soldiers refuse to serve in Afghanistan on July 23. direct actions in Australia effective in countering population of direct Travis Bishop, a sergeant in the United our fears. Muster the action participants and In addition to the occupations of land, are quite sneaky and States army, was sentenced to a year in don’t get caught because courage, comforted by their associates being there have been violent incidents in prison for refusing to serve with the army which small groups of hooded activists in Afghanistan because of his Christian of the ignorance of the the knowledge that you locked in prison may threw stones at and painted graffiti on a beliefs. He insists that it would be Australian Police force. will adjust to whatever be entirely desirable?! passenger bus and set fire to two trucks. unethical for him to support an occupation Another possibility is challenges you may need Power is contained only A radical Mapuche group, Coordinadora he opposes on both moral and legal that the direct action to face. within the fear of those Arauco Malleco (CAM), claimed grounds and he has filed for conscientious responsibility for the incidents. objector (CO) status. that occurs in Australia whom it targets. So any Earlier this month bombs exploded at Bishop is the second soldier from Fort is minimal and of what The isolation that is culture that largely rejects two gyms in wealthy suburbs of Santiago, Hood in as many weeks to be tried by the does occur, very little of commonly felt by inmates the lures of positions and Chile’s capital. A group calling itself military for his stand against an occupation it is perceived as being within prison, especially possessions and is also the Caravanas Iconoclastas por el Libre he believes is “illegal.” Specialist Victor Albedrio (Iconoclastic Caravan free ‘serious’ enough to warrant the ones with brains, indifferent to the threat Agosto was sentenced to 30 days in a prison sentences. would be reduced if the of punitive action … only will) claimed responsibility, releasing a county jail for his refusal to deploy to statement saying that the purpose of their Afghanistan. people within your ‘free’ has their fear of violence action was “to disturb the daily peace of Try to confront your fears; community were willing remaining. Certainly the the exploiters.” In November 2007, the Pentagon revealed that between 2003 and 2007 there had been I’m telling you now, that to stand beside you threat of state violence is The group expressed its support for the an 80% increase in overall desertion rates prison is not bad enough, while you were locked always a real one, but in Mapuche Indians, who are suffering from in the Army and Army AWOL rates from that it should prevent up. If people would visit comparison to the threat “the usurpation of lands and the murders 2003 to 2006 were the highest since 1980. of Weichafes (warriors).” Between 2000 and 2006, more than 40,000 you from being active. you in prison and write of being locked up in http://www.ww4report.com troops from all branches of the military If more active minds you letters and give you prison, I believe it is not Korea: police storm occupied factory deserted, more than half from the Army. engage in direct action, money to buy food … of largest concern to most The Ssangyong Motor Company strike and South Africa: Bus drivers strike over the more it is likely that and if people happily people. plant occupation in Pyeongtaek, South racism change will occur. If this allowed you to call them, Korea, ended after 77 days. A thousand 250 bus drivers in Cape Town went on leads to more anarchists it wouldn’t be so bad. You Upon observing workers had seized the small auto plant in strike went on strike against alleged in prison, then the less would be more pleased the current inmate May, demanding no layoffs, job security mismanagement and racism on Tuesday for all employees, and no outsourcing of August 11. Piet Tame, a striking bus driver, scary prisons will seem to do your time if you (criminal) population, Ssangyong production to other firms. The said that a worker who had to appear to you and others whom had the support of your you will recognise their occupiers, and workers from other plants before a disciplinary hearing for being your actions will inspire. community. You would indifference to the punitive supporting outside, had held the plant late had three black witnesses. A manager If you’re surrounded by feel satisfied that you had justice system. Most against repeated quasi-military assaults. had apparently said the three witnesses’ The police cut off supplies of water and gas statements were unacceptable because they like minded people it will committed an act of direct inmates enter and exit and refused entry to humanitarian medical were black and often lied. make your time in prison action to help the cause and re-enter prison again help. The core occupation of the plant was The bus strike lasted four days despite a much easier to serve. that you believe in. and again throughout powered by 50 or 60 rank-and-file groups their whole lives, as final court order forbidding workers from organization warned that beatings and DON’TDON’T fear fear prison. prison. If If you you CAN CAN dodo striking. mass arrests are being used as a way Strikers were penalised by the Cape Town of punishing people for voicing their Labour Court. The secretary of the SA opposition to the June ousting of President thethe(on time...? histime...? back to the Then Then suckerpunch DO DO ofDirect Direct his childhood Action! Action! files) Transport and Allied Workers’ Union told Manuel Zelaya. I won’t go into the is reduced. We dissolve the court that the union did not support Amnesty International said the human I won’t go into the is reduced. We dissolve the illegal strike and had made efforts to rights situation outside of Tegucigalpa argumentsarguments for for and and against against thatthat power power by by refusing refusing stop it. is believed to be equally or even more the effectiveness of direct to give into fears and the effectiveness of direct to give into fears and Honduras: protesters injured by riot police serious. The checkpoints along the primary action in this article … by doing so, we inspire roads in Honduras are currently manned action in this article … by doing so, we inspire On August.19, Amnesty International However, it is probably others to do the same. Of by military and police who often delay or However, it is probably others to do the same. Of published a series of photos and refuse entry to human rights organizations suffice to say that I believe course being locked up in testimonies on alleged ill treatment by suffice to say that I believe course being locked up in to areas where human rights violations are that large amounts of prison is not what anybody police and military of protesters in the reportedly occurring. thatanarchists large (and amounts the like) of prisonwants is for not themselves. what anybody But Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. The “I’ve written this article for anarchistsshould commit (and the acts like) of wantsif it means for themselves. that changes But “I’vethose written of you this who article harbour for a shoulddirect action, commit in actsthe hope of ifcould it means be that accelerated, changes Seeing Through Empire’s New Clothes: thosecompassionate of you who harbour heart and a directof activating action, in change.the hope I couldthen I be think accelerated, it may be A conference to discuss strategies for anticapitalist compassionateare motivated by heart empathy, and ofbelieve activating that an change. increased I thenworth I sacrificingthink it may a be little struggle around the economic crisis arenot motivated complacency by empathy, and not believefrequency that ofan direct increased action worthtime out sacrificing of our lives a little for [email protected] - www.crisisconference2009.com notgreed, complacency … those and of not you frequencycould undermine of direct action the timewhat out we of believe our lives in. You for who care about things punitive justice system may not get as much Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th September: 10am - 6pm greed, … those of you could undermine the what we believe in. You Redfern Community Centre 29-53 Hugo St Redfern. whothat care are about affecting things the punitivethat has justice power system over so mayshopping not get done as and much you many people’s minds. It may be upset to open thatlives are of people, affecting animals the that has power over so shopping done and you Across the road from Redfern Station. and environments, both is of course likely that any your eyes and see how lives of people, animals many people’s minds. It may be upset to open locally and globally. increase in direct action quickly all of your goodly Saturday 12th and environments, both iswill of course result inlikely an that increase any yourplastic eyes society and has see turned how increase in direct action quickly all of your goodly 10am Welcome to Country. locallyIt’s certainly and globally. not a perfect in prison sentences being its back on you, … but at Introductions. theory I’ve put forward in willhanded result out in anto those increase who plasticleast then society you’ll has know turned who Housekeeping. It’sthis certainly piece-but not it’s a justperfect food inparticipate prison sentences in it. being But I itsyour back real on friends you, … are. but at 11am - 12.30 How We Create Austerity, the ‘New Struggles for Country theoryfor thought.” I’ve put forward in handedcan’t help out to but those think who that least then you’ll know who Capitalist Crisis Green Economy’ and Climate Change this piece-butJimmy it’s just Best food participatethe more anarchists in it. But that I yourWithin real friends prison are. I’ve for thought.” can’tare helpentering but think prison, that … observed and learnt many Lunch the easier it will be for things about myself and I’mJimmy writing this Best because the more anarchists that Within prison I’ve 1.30 - 3pm Outworker Sharehood Peak Debt I want to tell you that I areother entering like minded prison, people … observedothers and and the learnt way manypower Organising Alternative Economies from prison to engage in direct action, operates. During my time I’mdon’t writing think thisthat becausethe threat the easier it will be for things about myself and 3.30 - 5pm Labour Governments Union Delegates because, ‘perhaps’ they in prison, it has been my Network I of want prison to tell needs you that to be I other like minded people others and the way power perceived as a deterrent could find some comfort observation that there are Sunday 13th don’t think that the threat to engage in direct action, operates. During my time against direct action. in the knowledge that very few anarchists within 10.30 - 12 of prison needs to be because, ‘perhaps’ they in prison, it has been my Unemployed Workers Critique of Social Sexworker Organising There will be those of you they will have some peers Australian prisons at any Democracy perceived as a deterrent couldon the find inside. some comfort observationone time. that there are Economics who will think that this in the knowledge that very few anarchists within againsttheory I’m direct putting action.forward Lunch they will have some peers Australian prisons at any Thereis ‘crazy’ will beand those will therefore of you Punitive power is The absence of anarcho- 1 - 2.30pm Economies of Racism, Unions, Ecology + whodismiss will it think instantly. that As this for onmaintained the inside. within the oneactivist time. types of people Queer Households and Socialism theoryeverybody I’m putting else … forward please minds of the fearful and within Australian prisons the Crisis ishang ‘crazy’ in and there will therefore and just Punitivewhen people power are is no Thecould absence indicate of aanarcho- number 3 - 4pm All-in Strategy dismissgive it ait littleinstantly. thought. As for maintainedlonger afraid, within such power the activistof possibilities. types of Perhaps people Session everybody else … please minds of the fearful and within Australian prisons 5pm Evaluation/Closing hang in there and just when people are no could indicate a number give it a little thought. longer afraid, such power of possibilities. Perhaps Thoughts on the student & climate movements from libertario en lucha...

Five Melbourne men, from Magistrate Peter Reardon I have been involved with the Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN) the city’s large Somali and spoke against the conditions in and the West Australian Student Environment Network (WASEN) for a bit more Lebanese communities, were which the men were being held than a year now. Before that I was doing social justice and anarchist activism in arrested and charged under the but said he was constrained by Bogotá, Colombia, where I’m originally from. draconian Howard-era terror the terror laws, and unable to During the time I have been involved with ASEN and WASEN, I have come laws. The raids brought a fresh grant release. The laws require “exceptional” circumstances to to realise how the student activist movement and climate action movement in wave of anti-Muslim racism in the mass media and inspired a call from be proved for bail to be granted. There are general are so ineffective and have so many problems that it is impossible to Federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland no mitigating circumstances to be taken in achieve the goals they are trying to achieve. for a new set of even tougher terror laws. account. I’m going to list the problems I find within the “movement” and write my On the morning of 4 August over thoughts on them. 400 heavily armed police officers from federal Civil libertarians and activists had hoped and state agencies raided nineteen properties that the Rudd government would relax, if not “White knight movement” across Victoria, with cameras from the mass repeal, the anti-terror legislation that was media in tow. The Australian was told of the introduced in the wake of the “War on Terror”. I define the climate action movement and the student activist movement as the raids by the Australian Federal Police and held The laws are vague, difficult to prove and “white knight movement” mainly because it is composed by a majority of white back their morning print run to ensure that they target “thought crime”. All of this comes on top and middle class “activists”. This movement see itself as the movement that could carry the story. of zealous policing of the laws. will save the world against the dark forces (i.e. climate change). This white Five arrests came out of this and middle class domination1 of the movement makes it really hard for those operation. It was alleged that the men were If anything, the opposite has been true, with of us who aren’t white or middle class to feel safe2. Those who are white planning to attack army bases, although the the Rudd government looking to prove that or middle class have a lot trouble identifying oppression within the movement initial charges relate to allegations that the they too are “tough on terror”. Rudd and men were conspiring to commit an offence. McClelland have been talking up the domestic and the majority (of white and middle class people) think that because they are 3 Lawyers for the men say police, government terror threat in order to justify the government’s “activists” they don’t have to deal with their own oppressive behaviours . I have officials and the media have exaggerated the ongoing commitment to the occupation of 4 experienced racism and white supremacy within the movement and I am really allegations of plans for a suicide attack on Afghanistan. upset of the lack of individual and collective work to overcome privileges. Holsworthy barracks. The five men have been denied bail, As long as these laws are in place, individuals, The circle and will be held in Melbourne’s notorious their families and their communities are We close ourselves in circles of “activists” and forget about what is happening Barwon Prison until their trial. The infamous going to suffer. Anecdotal evidence from outside our circle. This creates lack of community building. We only hang out case of the “Barwon 13”, the first men to be the communities targeted suggests several charged and tried under the anti-terror laws, children were present during the raids and with our “activist” friends instead of trying to build relationships with outside revealed the harsh conditions that those were traumatised by heavy-handed policing. people and especially people oppressed by a system of privilege (non-whites, arrested were subjected to. Those men were poor, homeless, etc). held in isolation, routinely shackled to the Most disturbingly, particularly in the wake of floor and given only limited contact with other recent racist attacks on Indian students in 1 - I only use the terms white and middle class because in my experience there is an prisoners, their families and lawyers. All of Melbourne, Somali and Muslim community equal distribution of genders and it is not male dominated. But I’m not denying the this was prior to groups are already reporting existence of power imbalances based on gender. any conviction. With increased harassment. 2 - Non-male genders included too an irony not lost on 3 - Male activists included the “Barwon 13’s” There has been little in the way of 4 - “White supremacy is more than just a set of ideas or prejudices. It is national families, those men public opposition to the racism so oppression. Yet to most white people, the term conjures up images of the Nazis or that were convicted far, although some civil libertarians Ku Klux Klan rather than the system of white skin privileges that really undergrids were shifted to and lawyers have made public the Capitalist system” Defeat white supremacy! Anarchism and the black revolution, a lower-security statements against the arrests. Lorenzo Kamboa - http://lemming.mahost.org/abr/abr1.htm prison to serve their sentences. noticeably important during the drawn out aggravated burglary trial, because it gave the arrestees Policy change not communal power people who aren’t lawyers and whom they actually trust, someone to talk to and have a cigarette When I talk to most “activists” it seems or coffee with during the frequent recesses and for the three days it took the jury to return that the majority believe in community a verdict. Having comrades to talk to at these times helped to reduce the stress and anxiety, power and in the dissolution of the whether it was to debrief about what was happening with the trial or to talk about something government. Most tell me that their actions totally different. Also people bringing us lunch at court, and those who gave us out-of-towners (locking on to power stations) are building places to stay and general hospitality were much appreciated and helped greatly with being community power (WTF?). The reality able to cope with the overall situation. to me is that the climate movement is all about policy change and not about The court area is also an intimidating place where making decisions can be difficult and where community power. All tactics used within lawyers exert a lot of influence. Political solidarity here is crucial to give people the option the “movement” are some kind of lobbying of stepping away from their lawyers when making decisions and being able to confer with (be direct lobbying such as letter writing comrades. There were certainly times over the course of the G20 case that it seemed arrestees or dramatic lobbying such as locking on to under the stress of the court process and pressure from their lawyers made rash decisions. something). When I talk to “activists” it Having comrades physically there (and of course not just in court, but in the periods between seem that they really believe that locking as well) hopefully can help people feel like their lawyers don’t have to be their first point of on to a conveyor belt in a power station reference when making decisions. is a form of direct action and that it is not While lawyers have their role and their expertise, they are part of the system that does not asking anything from the government but showing “the power of our community”. understand collectivity and collective responsibility. Their job is to represent their individual This is a lie we tell ourselves. Locking on client and this can mean that the arguments they make in court can impact on other arrestees. to something is a tactic used by “activists” It is important for arrestees to work together and with those offering solidarity in directing to ask the government for some kind of their lawyers. The aggravated burglary trial was an example of this occurring fairly well and policy change. Most of the actions I’ve it was one of the strengths that contributed to the successful verdict. been have some kind of banner saying Acting collectively as best we can in this process means lawyers can’t run divisive “take action on climate change” this is of campaigns. It can help to ensure that the privileges of some in terms of race and class course, asking the government to do it. background – which play out so strongly in the legal system – can be extended across Lack of alliance building differences rather than being used to divide arrestees or benefit only a few. This is important because as much as we might sometimes want to, the courtroom is not a place that allows The “movement” has failed on building alliances with other “movements” and for the articulation of revolutionary politics. Certainly, in the aggravated burglary case even peoples. Climate change is something that affects us all, and for this reason we when elements of a political defence were used, they never extended beyond the niceties should be building solidarity with other “movements”. We don’t support many other causes, and instead we try to find the problems of those other causes. Now of liberal-left pacifism. This can be frustrating but the best we can do is stand together more than ever we should be in solidarity with workers, indigenous, community and push their rules as best we can to get a good outcome (although there may be some action groups and a whole more of causes. disagreement here, as some people feel it is still worth taking a strong political line to court). Ineffective tactics While the next time people are arrested or face trial will probably be as different from Climate change is a really fucking scary thing. And the “movement” that tries to the G20 cases as they were from anything prior, we still hope that we can learn stop it, has failed on which tactics to use for stopping it. For many years the from what we went through. This discussion was begun, in part, at a meeting main tactics used by this “movement” are Non Violent Direct Action (NVDA), held in Melbourne during the trial; we need to continue to think through rallies, letter writing, etc. These tactics have not worked in the last few years the difficult questions of how to make solidarity meaningful. This article and they probable won’t work in the coming years either. Sticking to the same only touches on many of the issues and we hope a lot more is written and tactics can be a problem and it is even worse when the alternative tactics are distributed in the coming months about this long and draining process. being criticised by the “movement” itself. If this “movement” accepted diversity of tactics towards its goals it could be more effective. I hope this is something the movement can reflect on and that it is taken seriously. end the day after or at least not long after the events actually finished. For others this took On court and solidarity. by the mutiny collective. longer. Others had no choice. But, clearly, with the material need for forms of solidarity to have The legal process from all the G20 arrests isn’t over yet: it looks like the last charge of unlawful continued until it’s all finished in the courts – not to mention the question of supporting people assembly that the jury couldn’t agree on won’t be tried until next year. Nevertheless, we’ve been in and after jail - the question of the where, when, form and longevity of solidarity is a very real able to draw a sigh of relief. With not guilty verdicts on the most significant charges, we don’t one. have to worry about more friends and comrades going to jail this time. It’s important, however, Dealing with the aftermath is as much a part of the action, and as much a part of the movement not to let these good verdicts make us complacent or lead us to ignore how significant – and how as the more exciting elements of what we do. Solidarity work can be boring work, and may not traumatic – these G20 cases have been. As revolutionaries we don’t have any faith in the legal always have the explicitly political front that some would prefer, but neglecting the question of system to bring ‘justice’; the fact that our friends were found not guilty on many charges this solidarity is a real problem within the movements. Some have criticised the notion or emphasis time doesn’t mean that we’ll be safe next time. While the verdicts were a huge relief, they also upon fundraising over politics as it played out in the G20 solidarity. This question raises a obscure the degree to which the entire legal process – from arrests, through drawn out hearings number of discussions about what the relationship between a political and legal campaign looks and years of waiting, to the weeks of trials – consists of various forms of punishment. like and what the role of arrestees in a political campaign should or could be. I went from Sydney to Melbourne for the first week of Sina’s trial. It was strange and The arrestee becomes an object in the schema of political movements and maneuvering as soon disconcerting for me to run into acquaintances from the general activist left milieu who didn’t as one takes the position that solidarity, and political solidarity, can only be expressed through an know that the trial was even happening. It made me feel like I was kind of crazy – maybe this explicitly political campaign. Bundled up in all of the arguments about political campaigns are thing that had taken over so much of my life (partly without my choice but also because I’d numerous assumptions about ‘real politics’ that need to be unpacked at some other time. Suffice chosen G20 solidarity work as politically important) wasn’t that important to anyone else. to say for now: the state’s targeting of individuals, and of us collectively through individuals, Part of the problem was that the process had simply been dragged on for so long. From becomes a lived experience, material and subjective for the arrestees. Our response to this reality dramatic and difficult beginnings, we’d had years of court appearances, bail hearings, is in the most profound and direct sense, a reflection of how we think the practice of radical mentions, sentencings and appeals. The time scale makes it easy for those not closely politics and change happens. This necessarily implies the reality that solidarity takes numerous involved in events to lose track. forms, which fulfill different needs. But the fact remains that solidarity is a long-term process. Solidarity in itself is an important campaign – regardless of the form it takes. It should never be thought of as something other to the movement. We can’t think that there is something more The Melbourne G20 actions occurred in November 2006. It took a long time to pass for the important to be doing elsewhere at the expense of engaging with the reality of an existing resolution of a couple of actions to come to a close. Certainly this is not the longest political trial. This doesn’t mean that we can or should drop everything else that we are doing as soon case by any measure, nor should it come as a surprise that the state has an interest at times in as someone gets arrested, but it does mean that solidarity needs to be given more time and keeping people locked into the routines and banal rhythms of the legal system. So, the question political importance in its own right, than it appears to have in Australia at present. We can’t of what we as people and friends and comrades of people who have, and undoubtedly will think of change, and self-reproducing movements if we think only of the next big action, event again face this situation, can learn from this experience has to take a form that is relevant to or campaign, whilst neglecting the reality that the state tries to fuck us up, and that this at times our practice and lives. One of the clear problems that came out of this most recent experience, takes the form of charges, trials, and prison. That is, we have to defend ourselves not just at the from our perspective, can be thought of as perhaps the timeline of an action: where does barricades, or the lock-on site, or the picket, but in between these moments and spaces. commitment to an action begin and end? Stress on arrestees during a long court process and questions of what it means to provide support Before taking part in the days of G20 actions, probably there was little consideration of and solidarity all reach their peak in the very limiting physical space of the court complex and what the aftermath might be like. Certainly, many people were taken by surprise on courtroom itself. Turning up in court day after day for two and a half weeks for the aggravated the Saturday, with no one really thinking anything like burglary trial made acute the arcane hierarchies and oppressiveness of the legal system and how what happened was possible. In this sense, we were the highly formalised language and structure are designed to intimidate, isolate and pressure confronted as much by surprise as the state was. arrestees into caving in. And of course this trial was only the end of a case that dragged on for What the impact of this surprise ended up looking more than two years, during which life for the arrestees was punctuated by court appearances and like became a problem of solidarity with the meetings with lawyers. arrestees. For many, commitment to that action could The presence of people at court to offer support and solidarity at hearings and trials helps somewhat to counter the disempowerment felt by those going through trial. At the basest level it means people who are facing political charges don’t feel alone and isolated. It was also