May Day 2010
When : 3pm, Saturday, May 1, 2010
Where : Melbourne Anarchist Resource Centre, 62 St Georges Road, Northcote
May Day is the international workers' day! From 3pm the Melbourne Anarchist Club is hosting a BBQ. Free food (meat and vegetarian) and drinks will be available, or BYO. All are welcome to come and celebrate workers' struggle!
UPDATE: Melbourne Black will also be launching their second issue. A super-deluxe run of 50 with spiffy covers will be there.
Cover of Melbourne Black #2
For more information on the origins of May Day, see The anarchist origins of May Day.
The original Melbourne Anarchist Club was founded on May 1, 1886.
Also on May Day, the RAAF is organising an attention-grabbing direct action around housing issues. For more information, see the RAAF website. There is also a rally in support of refugees at noon at Trades Hall.
On Sunday, May 2, Trades Hall has organised a rally and march. Assemble at noon at Trades Hall, corner Victoria and Lygon Streets, Carlton. (Trades Hall has also organised a gig on May Day. The gig will take place at Trades Hall from 6pm.)
Benefit gig
Chilean Solidarity Benefit Gig : Saturday, April 17, 2010
A benefit gig, organised by the Chilean Popular & Indigenous Solidarity Network, the Latin American Solidarity Network (LASNET) and the Melbourne Anarchist Club, is taking place this Saturday, April 17 @ the MUA Hall, 54 Ireland St, West Melbourne, from 7pm ’til late.
Performers include Baka People, Latin/reggae band Madre Monte, hip-hop artist Pataphysics, Us Individuals and more.
Funds raised will be used to support grass-roots and autonomous organisations in Chile: the Sinapsis collective in Santiago and Mapuche (indigenous) peoples, all of whom have been badly-affected by the recent earthquake and tsunami.
Antiracist Rally
Last Friday there was a rally — an "anti-anti-immigration" rally as it was referred to by some — held to counter a proposed anti-immigration and anti-islam gathering that had been advertised on Facebook. The rally was well attended; unions, religious organisations and the usual suspects were there. A half-dozen bewildered racists were spotted at the nearby Young & Jackson's pub and, aside from a young fellow who looked like he might have been celebrating Hitler's birthday a little too early, they kept their distance.
Highlights included Nazeem Hussain from comedy group Fear of a Brown Planet giving the police a fair bit of stick for their own racist antics. Similarly, when the rally's MC implored the crowd to thank the police, it was met by some incredulity and impoliteness. You can see coverage from the media here. Slackbastard also covered this a bit on his blog.
The banner pictured below with "fuck bosses" on it wasn't done by us, but it's still pretty ace. The cops asked the banner-holders to take it down, which they did.
Meanwhile in Sydney on the following Sunday, the far right Australian Protectionist Party bravely held their own Nuremburg-lite out the front of the Villawood Detention Centre. Media reports are scarce, but apparently the racists were outnumbered, although the Sydney rally was more confrontational.
Unfortunately, the racists in Canberra also chose this weekend to announce that all applications by Afghanis and Sri Lankans for asylum will be suspended for six months and that this has absolutely nothing to do with an upcoming election.
