Anarchist viewpoint on Melbourne was Re: Fwd: Closing Crown,Blockading WEF by C.O'Reilly

[Gary MacLennan <g.maclennan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Comrades I am forwarding this from Ciaron O'Reilly.  I do not have his
explicit permission but I am sure he would say yes. The advantage is that
it gives us an anarchist perspective on the Moebourne events and perhpas
corrects the impression that the day belonged to us Marxists.

Ciaron is a Catholic Anarchist, a member of the Ploughshares movement and a
disciple of Dorothy Day. He is also an egotistical and very difficult man
(not like us!), but he is a very good person.  Moreover many of his
criticisms of the behaviour of Marxists in mas movements is unfortunately
very true in my experience.  Though I must say that you would have to
torture me to get me to chant 'om' at the police.

regards

Gary


> From <ciaronx@xxxxxxxxxxx>
>>
>>CLOSING CROWN, BLOCKADING THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
>>by Ciaron O?Reilly
>>
>>I have just concluded three days of blockading the World Economic Forum
>>at the Crown Casino in Melbourne. I was part of the "Plan B Affinity
>>Group" which included my brother Sean, Melbourne Earth First folks, folks
>>from Brisbane, Redcliffe, Maleny and Sydney.
>>
>>
>>Around 7 a.m. on the Monday morning we blockaded a bus full of delegates
>>at our gate. The police moved in held us down and unloaded delegates
>>behind their line who made their way from the bus to the entry. We then
>>blockaded the whole gate with more numbers joining us. Buses of delegates
>>were turned around - 300 delegates failed to gain entry during the first
>>day. Settling in - we demanded a self-managed blockade site, where those
>>taking the risks of blockading would make the decisions. We chased one of
>>the Trotskyite marshals away and tamed the other one to service the
>>blockade rather than her party?s agenda.
>>
>>
>>By the time the police came out mid-morning to negotiate entry for the US
>>Olympic basketball team?s bus (an assembly of multi-millionaire salesmen
>>for Nike et al), they were negotiating with us rather than the marshals
>>who weren?t blockading. The assembled blockaders consensed to deny access
>>for the bus and adopted the policy of nothing in or out. Many WEF
>>delegates, Murdoch/Packer journalists, Crown Casino staff and patrons on
>>foot were nonviolently turned away from the gate. We also adopted a
>>preference for singing not chanting, sitting and linking with a low
>>centre of gravity against police pushing rather than standing, and
>>"omming" at the point of police attack rather than chanting and verbal
>>abuse. There was a great vibe at our site throughout the day.
>>
>>
>>At 7 a.m. on the Tuesday we joined 30 folks already in a sitting blockade
>>position at that gate. These included two Green Members of Parliament
>>from New Zealand. We had a very nonviolent vibe, plenty of singing, no verbal
>>abuse etc. Fifteen minutes in, the riot squad armed with batons, ran out
>>of the casino and assembled behind police ranks. 150-200 riot police than
>>ran into, over and through our block, many stopping to kick people in the face
>>and groin with their heavy boots, many wielding batons as they went. I
>>was struck in the head several times by batons and kicked in the face. We
>>kept omming. Some folks were screaming in pain. One Lismore woman had her
>>arm broken, one Melbourne man his wrist broken, an Irish guy scored a
>>broken nose. There were head wounds, broken ribs, concussions, loss of
>>blood, pissing blood and glasses smashed. On reflection we felt sitting
>>made our block more resolute and less vulnerable to limb and facial
>>injuries. Membership of an affinity group was a decisive factor in this
>>act of resistance being an empowering rather than a demoralising experience.
>>
>>
>>Groups of riot police then began snatching people off the blockade. Four
>>police grabbed me by my dreads, legs & arms and dragged me 40 metres on
>>the bitumen away from the rest of the crowd. I was isolated on the far
>>side of the tight riot squad formation that was claiming the intersection
>>in preparation for rapid entry of delegate buses. The police then batoned
>>me around the body and the head, throughout this experience I asked "Have
>>I done anything illegal?", "Am I being charged?" They continued the
>>bashing without any verbal response. They left me in a heap and retreated
>>behind the shoulder to shoulder, batons extended riot formation. The
>>buses were speeding into the casino through a gap in the formation using
>>the far lane. I jumped up and ran across the road managing to take a
>>standing star position in front of the last bus, which screeched to a
>>halt in front of me. I was then jumped by four riot police who batoned me
>>on the road and then dragged me onto the sidewalk against the wall and
>>bashed me again. Interrupted by an ABC film crew they retreated behind
>>the riot formation that had secured the intersection.
>>
>>I collected myself. I walked up to a metre from the riot formation gave
>>my captive audience a talk on the corrupt institution and wholesale theft
>>they were defending, the conspiracy against the poor that is the WEF and
>>the casino?s role of laundering profits from the heroin trade. I told
>>them history belonged to those who can endure not to those who can
>>inflict, unfurled a banner in front of them and sat on the road in prayer.
>>
>>
>>Once all the buses were in, the riot squad retreated into the casino. The
>>media attention brought to our gate attracted the Marxist groups &
>>marshals with megaphones, mobiles and little respect for the people who
>>had just
>>resisted. There was no way we were going to take back the gate as a
>>self-managed blockading space. Many of our affinity group were injured,
>>so we headed to the makeshift clinic. Four Plan B folks went on to
>>hospital with
>>others who had blockaded with us. We decided to head around to the far
>>side of the casino to see what the Green Bloc affinity groups of
>>eco-activists were up to.
>>
>>
>>On the other side of the casino we were shocked to find that the union
>>bureaucrats were undermining the blockade by ensuring casino staff could
>>gain access to the site and keep the facility functioning. This may
>>explain why the Marxist groups had abandoned this site, wishing to avoid
>>a conflict with the Unions. Union bureaucrats were policing and
>>undermining the blockade rather than reinforcing it. It was obvious a lot
>>of phone calls had been made between the Labor Premier?s office and
>>Trades Hall the previous evening. On the first day most staff could not
>>gain entry, all were paid in their absence and some were ensconsed in
>>hotels downtown. The Gaming Commission announced the casino would be
>>closed for three days, costing them millions of dollars in lost revenue.
>>We challenged this complicity with debate and began a blockade of nothing
>>in or out - in defiance of the union bureaucrat sell out. Trade Union
>>delegates threatened us, but we remained resolute throughout the day.
>>
>>
>>We also began to focus on raising the issue of post-arrest
>>(/hospitalisation) solidarity. We decided as an affinity group to choose
>>one movement casualty and organise support for them. We chose the guy who had
>>lost seven of his teeth to a baton charge on the Monday. Over the next
>>couple of days we spoke to the issue of such solidarity, questioned some
>>of the marshals attitudes to people as disposable cannon fodder and
>>passed the hat. We have facilitated raising approx. $870 for this young
>>man. Senator Bob Brown went to the hospital to visit Damien Settle, a
>>young man from Cairns who had lost three teeth to a police baton,
>>contacted his parents and brought a
>>lot of media attention to his plight. We are asking the Green Party to
>>follow through with a similar fund raising for this casualty. We
>>encouraged folks to adopt one person hospitalised or arrested to
>>accompany over the next few months. At the end of Tuesday Plan B reduced
>>with injuries decided to play a pro-active support role for Wednesday
>>blockading and also to end well as a group.
>>
>>
>>On Wednesday morning, police action similar to the previous day was used
>>on the opposite side of the casino to get the delegate buses into the
>>conference. By mid-morning I wandered around to this side of the casino
>>gave a rap about solidarity and passed the hat. After a while I was
>>chatting to an elderly Franciscan monk, when a squad 30 riot police
>>marched in formation down the road and took up position in front of me.
>>They turned and surrounded me and the monk. They closed in, the sergeant
>>saying he had information I was carrying screws or a weapon in my bag. My
>>thoughts were they were after the money fund raised for the injured or
>>were going to plant something in my bag. As they grabbed me I went limp
>>and slid to the pavement. They flipped me over and put my hands behind my
>>back and carried me behind police lines. With a knee in my back and my
>>hands behind they went systematically through my bag and asked me if I
>>had any weapons. I replied "I?m from the ploughshares movement, show me a
>>weapon and I?ll disarm it for you! I am a pacifist." When they let me up
>>Sergeant Wood then said, "You jumped in front of the bus yesterday!"
>>
>>
>>I replied, "I was only doing my job! If you were doing yours as a
>>policeman in a liberal democracy, you would arrest and charge people
>>suspected of an offence and they would be prosecuted in a court. What we
>>have seen is fascism, summary bashings. The only charges have been baton
>>charges!"
>>
>>
>>Given the Victorian Labor Government?s willingness to use fascist police
>>violence in relation to nonviolent civil disobedience, rather than due
>>process of the law; given that Trade Union bureaucrats tried to police
>>and undermine the blockade; given that the moderate anti-casino
>>campaigning churches boycotted the blockade; given how huge and
>>multi-entranced the blockade site was; given how small in number and
>>under resourced we were; given the wealth, power and violence arraigned
>>against us - we did extremely well in closing the casino down, disrupting
>>the World Economic Forum and challenging the rule of corporate power in
>>Melbourne.
>>
>>
>>Lots of lessons to be learnt, hopefully lots of reflection will follow.
>>The way to enter and go through such a stark confrontation with the
>>violence of the state is in an affinity group, not as an isolated
>>individual. It wasn?t in the interest of Marxist parties to encourage the
>>decentralisation of power of affinity groups. They competed for the rule
>>of the mass (and future recruitment drives) with their marshals,
>>megaphones and mobiles. A lot of anarchist energy was wasted in the
>>fashion statement and posturing that was Black Bloc.
>>
>>
>>Still and all there was a great crew of heroic "unAustralians", that drew
>>from rank and file members of all groups and beyond. Wonderful folks from
>>the medics to the "food not bombs" crew to artists to folks who put their
>>bodies on the line.
>>
>>
>>As Dorothy Day once reflected, "If they come for the innocent, without
>>stepping over your body, cursed be your religion and your life!" The
>>ruling elites stumbled as they tried to make the World economic Forum in
>>Melbourne this past September ­ some didn?t make it at all!
>>
>>
>>
>>     a.. Donations for dental repairs of the victims of police violence
>> can be made c/- "Swords into Ploughshares c/-126 Shaftsbury St.,
>> Tarragindi, Brisbane Q. 4121
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
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