Indymedia: In the early hours of February 14, various anti-police slogans were sprayed across dozens of fences, walls, billboards and bus stops throughout Woolloomooloo, Redfern, Chippendale, Camperdown, Darlington and Newtown.
Later that morning hundreds gathered at the fence line were TJ Hickey was chased to his death by police 10 years ago. For hours his family and supporters marched through the streets of Sydney to Parliament House, chanting against the uniformed murderers of the state, with demonstrators carrying banners such as “JUSTICE FOR TJ” “ABORIGINAL CONTROL OF ABORIGINAL AFFAIRS” “AVENGE TJ BURN DA COPSHOPS” “ACAB” “COPS PIGS MURDERERS” and “FUCK THE POLICE” Continue reading “Sydney: Revenge for TJ”
To be constantly reminded of a death, of a riot, an injustice and a communities suffering has initiated the reappropriation of this public artwork using local resources and traditional and non-traditional techniques that reflect its heritage.
This work serves as a reminder of the 14th of February 2004, the day of the passing of TJ Hickey who was killed at the hands of the local command. TJ was rammed whilst on his bike by a police vehicle and impaled onto a fence within a two minute walk from here. Continue reading “Sydney: Redfern sculpture reappropriated in memory of TJ hickey”
23 November: Police have launched an internal investigation after a man was shot dead during a pursuit at Redfern in inner Sydney.
Police have confirmed a senior officer opened fire, sending a stolen truck crashing into a pub in a thoroughfare off Regent Street just before noon (AEDT).
Witnesses said they saw police fire up to four gunshots at the truck before it smashed into the Railz Hotel.
April 22: Two young men from Redfern, aged 18 and 14, are in a serious condition in hospital after being shot by police early Saturday morning. They were said to have been in a stolen car which mounted the footpath in Kings Cross, hitting a pedestrian.
A video on a news website shows police dragging 18 year old Troy Taylor, who had been shot in the neck, from the car and punching him as they arrested him.
Stills from video on Daily Telegraph website
Police are said to be calling for calm, in fear of unrest in Redfern similar to the riots in 2004, when 17 year old TJ Hickey died after being chased by police.
Four others in the back of the car, a man aged 24 and three youths aged 13, 14 and 16 were charged late Saturday with being carried in a conveyance, or joy riding. The group were allegedly fleeing from two police officers who had recognised them.
Indymedia: Just before dawn on April 1st a group of anarchists dropped a banner reading “COPS OUT OF REDFERN, OUT OF OUR LIVES” from a construction site at 90 Regent St Redfern. The building now being renovated had been a squatted social centre and a home for more than 10 people throughout November and December of 2010. Within the large city owned building, dubbed ‘The People’s Castle’, solar power, a free shop and free café were established and opened to the public. In mid December 2010 police evicted the building following a failed supreme court challenge to keep the social centre open. Sydney city council, who owned the building, claimed it would be open as a youth homelessness centre within 6 months. It has remained empty ever since.
Photo by newtowngraffiti: 'Some low-life has splashed the bower bird sculpture with yellow paint
15 February: Attack on sculpture in Redfern
Sculpture on corner of Redfern St and Botany Rd, in Redfern attacked with paint early in morning of 7th anniversary of Thomas Hickey’s murder by NSW police. Flyers were thrown around the area with the following text:
Everyday we pass by these spiked poles we cannot help but be reminded of the unforgivable murder of TJ. It is as if it has been erected to remind us of what we cannot forget- the black deaths, the bloody colonisation which has been for the last two centuries.
This disgusting tangle of metal seemingly circumvents criticism because it is portrayed like some kind of gift of art. Let’s be honest about this, clearly this structure has been engineered to prevent people from gathering in the square. Its imposing presence occupies the entire space and its very form intimidates anyone who dares to linger. Could this obstruction be any more blatant in its design?
As if the damn police towers that lay before it, and the cretins there who make it their job to imprison, murder, torture, harass and watch our every move need also a tribute metres away. This structure enrages us, we can’t let the mechanisms of colonisation, and state repression bulldoze forward. The anti vandal squad (the ever efficient urban art critics) might wash this paint off tomorrow. But is will still remain a hideous mark of gentrification.
This attack is proof that they can’t stop everything, they can’t stop us talking to you now, in reality they can’t stop me and you. This attack we make tonight is for TJ, and everyone murdered by the state (of which there is too many than we could ever list).
This attack was carried out as a minimal response to the murderous savagery of the Greek police on the 28th and 29th of June General Strike against the Troika’s repressive austerity measures. And also to express our solidarity with the imprisoned fighters for social liberation in Greece. Even here far away in Australia we look on and are inspired by the dignified struggle against capitalist domination in Greece.
Solidarity is our weapon.
Fire to the prisons.
-Midnight koalas-
19 October: Melbourne – Politician’s Office Smashed and Paintbombed
Last Wednesday night we attacked the office of Australian Labour Party MP Jenny Macklin, who postures herself as Indigenous Affairs minister. We did this because the Australian government is a government of occupation and ongoing colonization of the Indigenous people of this country. Our actions are in solidarity with the Indigenous people who have been invaded, whose land has been stolen, who have been forcibly removed from their homelands, from their families, whose cultures and languages have been irreversibly damaged, and who are still experiencing ongoing waves of attacks at the hands of our colonial government, of this very office of “Indigenous Affairs”.
We also carried out this attack because as non-Indigenous citizens of this country we are coerced into a situation where we materially benefit from the colonization of Indigenous peoples. We have learnt to deny the reality of the origins of our material wealth – we are the “lucky country”. The myth of luck disguises the reality of war and occupation upon which our lives are built. We are born into a society that tells us that this colonial activity is a good thing, that it is “for us”, that it is “for them”. That capitalist, materialist culture is “good”. Is “beneficial”. That everyone deserves the “great Australian dream” built on the spoils of colonial war. But the dream is a myth. We act because we want to break the monotony of this existence. We do not believe that material comfort is the sole quality which makes life “good”. We act because we do not believe in the cultural superiority of capitalism, and reject the missionary logic of assimilating Indigenous peoples to provide them with a “better” life. We do not believe a life based solely on consumption that is devoid of real emotion, community, individuality and joy is a “better” way of life. This society is boring. It’s empty, unfulfilling, dissatisfying. It is built on a web of lies, pain and suffering, haunted by the almost erased memories of ways of life we have lost.
We reject this culture of denial. We reject a society that is telling us that we must accept the categories given to us by society, be it either “oppressed” or “oppressor”, “colonized” or “coloniser”. We are against colonization. We are against the assimilation of the world into white supremacist capitalist culture. Everyone is resisting this system every day in countless different ways, from the seemingly insignificant – like every time someone shoplifts from Woolworths, doesn’t buy a ticket on the train, turns off their tv because they’re sick of the mindless bullshit; to community walk-offs, and rioting in the streets. This is one way we are choosing to not only resist but intensify our resistance and our lives. Through this action we are reclaiming our dignity and clearly stating our refusal to be “obedient” citizens of colonial Australia.
