Australian Eco-Defence Prisoner

Urgent ELP Bulletin! (15th September 2011) Dear friends Whoops! The name of the
Australian forest defence prisoner is Ali Alishah. He is being held in the Ron
Barwick prison. Please send urgent letters of support to:

Ali Alishah
Ron Barwick Minimum Security Prison
PO Box 24Lindisfarne
Australia 7015 AUSTRALIA

Biography

Ali has be remanded in gaol till the end September when he will face court over forest protest charges. Ali potentially will face another few months in prison after that. Please offer this brave forest defender all the support you can.

Personal information

Ali Alishah is a Tasmanian forest activist who is spending his second week in custody after standing up for what is right in Tasmania

What is not right in Tasmania is the proposed pulp mill, the continued logging of old growth and high conservation value forests, and the logging company Ta Ann. Ali Alishah has been fighting to protect ancient forests in Tasmania for over eight years. The Tasmani...an and Australian Governments as part of the forests peace process have promised to protect native forests but have failed to deliver on these promises. The industrial scale destruction of our world class forests continues right now.

Ali has been on the frontline of environmental battles in 2011 to show Tasmanians, that despite promises to the Tasmanian people, our spectacular forests are still not being protected. Ali Alishah was taken into custody after locking onto a truck entering the Gunns pulp mill site despite permits allowing work to commence lapsing in August. Ali is still in custody and our globally renowned forests are still being logged. What price do people have to pay to stand up for Tasmania's unique forests? Ali was arrested at Gunns proposed pulp mill site on Monday 5th Sep 2011. He was held in remand overnight, appeared before a magistrate on Tuesday 6th Sep and was remanded until the 26th Sep 2011.

This peaceful forest campaigner is an upstanding, educated and highly intelligent member of society. Ali was prepared to accept the consequences of standing up for what he saw was a great injustice to Tasmania’s globally unique environment. Ali has taken a peaceful and noble stance to stand up and speak out for our forests, our endangered wildlife, our air and water, and our climate.

During his participation in the pulp mill campaign with CODE GREEN and ongoing campaign efforts with the Huon Valley Environment Centre and Still Wild Still Threatened since 2003, he has been a very committed, articulate and professional activist. He was a defendant in the Triabunna 13 case, recently dropped by Gunns.

Ali’s commitment to act on his conscience through nonviolent direct action for our forests has lead to repeated convictions. Ali has volunteered as a campaigner over a long period of time in Tasmania, he has a deep understanding of the politics of Tasmania, and the history of the campaign to protect Tasmania's wild forests. He is strongly committed to nonviolence, a commitment so valuable in a time when
intense violence is perpetrated in society against the environment and people.

Ali is known as a man who thinks and cares about the environment and about everybody else around him, and puts these before himself. The sorts of action Ali was wholeheartedly committed to will be continuing. Support is urgently needed right now to help protect Tasmania’s environment. Please contact CODE GREEN, Huon Valley
Environment Centre or Still Wild Still Threatened to get involved.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

1) This Friday 16 September we will be sharing a vigil for Ali on Hobart Parliament Lawns at 1pm. Join a community of concerned citizens who would like to show support for Ali while he is held in custody.

2) If you are not able to participate on Friday, we are inviting you to write a letter of support for Ali and send it to the Mercury and Examiner newspaper. Send it to us and we will print it off and pass it to Ali while he is in remand.

3) Pledge your support for Ali, write a sign of support with the words "Protect Tasmania's Environment" and take a photo of your sign, wherever you are around the globe and we will print them and use them at our vigil. Email your messages of support to huonenvironmentcentre@gmail.com

4) Over the next few weeks community members we will be aiming for an action about the Gunns proposed pulp mill every day. We cannot do this with the amount of people currently in Tasmania. We are calling out to the Australian community to help us. You can take action from the local to the global level, by joining actions in Launceston or holding a solidarity event in your local city. How to get involved:

Email -codegreentas@gmail.com, pulpmillaction@gmail.com

Phone contacts: pulp mill action phone: 0488 451 501 See more

Website
http://www.nativeforest.net

++++++ Earth Liberation Prisoners Support Network
BM Box 2407LondonWC1N
3XXEngland

-=-=-
http://forestfungus.tumblr.com/

Speak out for Lex Wotton’s Political Freedom!

Lift the unfair gag — let Lex speak!
Build the movement to stop Aboriginal deaths in custody

One year ago Lex Wotton was released from jail after serving two-years behind bars as a political prisoner. Lex got a 6-year sentence after being found guilty of riot with destruction by an all-white jury. He took part in a justified community protest against the death in custody of Mulrunji Do...omadgee. In contrast, Chris Hurley, the police officer responsible for the death in custody, has been promoted and compensated. The whole response to the 2004 death in custody has been scandalously flawed.

While Lex is free, he remains politically muzzled by harsh parole conditions, which deny him the right to speak to the media or to attend pubic meetings.

Lex Wotton is an inspirational advocate for the people of Palm Island whose voice is needed to expose the shameful truth behind the death of Mulrunji and everything that followed.

Attend the lunch time speak out outside the Bank of Queensland. Demand the Queensland Government lift the political gag on Lex Wotton now! Stop Aboriginal deaths in custody now!

Wednesday 20 July, 2011
12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
Outside the Bank of Queensland
163 Bourke Street Melbourne.
(Near the corner of Russell Street)

Organised by Indigenous Social Justice Association – Melbourne
PO Box 308, Brunswick, Vic 3056
For more information call
Cheryl on 0401 806 331 or Solidarity Salon on 9388 0062
or e-mail alison.thorne [at] ozemail.com.au
http://www.isja-msg.com

Melbourne: anti-racists shut down Australian Defence League demonstration

Herald Sun, 15 May 2011

Muslim groups are worried by a new nationalist organisation that claims Australia is in danger of being Islamicised.

Australian Defence League supporters clashed with Left-wing protesters in the city yesterday as the group held its first local rally, sparking a warning from the Baillieu Government that bigotry would not be tolerated. A small team of police initially kept the groups apart, but ADL supporters were forced to end their protest early when activists encircled them and tore up placards.

The ADL is an offshoot of the English Defence League, which has staged demonstrations in areas of high Muslim concentration in the UK.

About 40 ADL members, including women dressed in mock hijabs, protested in Federation Square yesterday over issues such as the certification of halal meat and concern sharia law would be introduced.

Protest organiser Martin Brennan claimed the group had 1400 members but denied it was anti-Muslim. "We are not racist whatsoever, we are against radical Islam infiltrating Australia," he said.

Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Ikebal Patel said the group was provocative and wrong to believe that most Australian Muslims wanted to bring in sharia law. "It's of great concern that anyone is out there trying to disrupt the peaceful social fabric of Australia," he said. Islamic Council of Victoria spokesman Nazeem Hussein said the ADL's views were uninformed and saddening.

State Multicultural Affairs Minister Nick Kotsiras said the Government did not tolerate racism, bigotry or the incitement of hatred. "Activities which undermine the multicultural harmony of Victoria will be dealt with swiftly," he said.

The ADL protest was swamped by the much bigger group of activists and unionists who shouted anti-racism slogans. Anti-racism protester Mick Armstrong, from Socialist Alternative, said the ADL was trying to copy the tactics of its British counterpart. "They have had their protest and we have ended it," he said.

Rioters torch Australian immigration centre

Dozens of asylum-seekers torched nine buildings at a Sydney detention centre.

21 Apr 2011 Al Jazeera

Asylum seekers have torched nine buildings at a Sydney detention centre in
a night of wild riots with a handful of protesters remaining on rooftops
on Thursday as police worked to regain control.

The riots kicked off late on Wednesday at the Villawood Detention Centre
with an estimated 100 detainees involved at the height of the drama.

Protesters set an oxygen cylinder alight, which led to an explosion, and
nine buildings,  including a medical centre and dining hall, were gutted
by fire. Firefighters brought the blaze under control early on Thursday
and no one was injured.

Around 400 people are held at Villawood. Many of them are asylum seekers,
but the facility also houses people who have overstayed their visas.

On Thursday, seven detainees remained on the roof of one of the complex's
buildings, next to a large sign that read: "We need help."

Immigration department spokesman Sandi Logan said he could not confirm
reports the men were protesting because their visa applications had been
rejected.

“But any suggestion that they're not being informed of the progress of
their claim is nonsense. ... I don't know the motivation,” Logan said.
“But it's clearly not going to help, in terms of endearing their
settlement in Australia.”

Detention policy

Those still on the roof reportedly want a meeting with the immigration
department, but Logan told reporters this would not happen.

"Until they come down, we won't be negotiating, but we are working and
managing to get them down from the roof," he said.

Criminal charges could be filed against the rioters, some of whom threw
roof tiles and pieces of furniture at officials trying to get the blaze
under control, Logan said.

“This is obviously unacceptable behavior that will have to be
investigated,” Acting Prime Minister Wayne Swan said.

The protest started with just two inmates, apparently upset at the
immigration department denying their applications for visas to remain in
Australia.

Australia has a policy of mandatory detention for asylum seekers while
their claims are processed, and generally holds detainees on remote
Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

But the increasing number of people arriving by boat has seen mainland
centres also being used, including Villawood, which houses about 400
people.

Last month the Christmas Island facility endured days of riots, with about
250 inmates setting fire to accommodation tents and hurling makeshift
explosives at police, prompting them to respond with tear gas.

Rioters try to escape Australian detention center

By ROD McGUIRK, Associated Press March 17, 2011

CANBERRA, Australia – More than 200 rioters torched buildings and tried to
escape a crowded Australian offshore detention center in an escalation of
protests there to gain asylum in the country, officials said Friday.

More than 100 police firing non-lethal so-called bean bag rounds and tear
gas canisters regained control over the detention center on Christmas
Island after the riot started Thursday night, Immigration Minister Chris
Bowen said.

Two administration buildings were burned as well as seven accommodation
tents after more than 200 asylum seekers armed with bricks and polls and
throwing rocks charged police and the perimeter fences, Australian Federal
Police Deputy Commissioner Steve Lancaster said.

Some rioters breached the perimeter wall and police were not yet sure
whether all had been recaptured, he said.

Two asylum seekers were taken to hospital, one with chest injuries and
another suffering chest pains, Immigration Department official Sandi Logan
said.

The riot follows a week of sometimes violent protests at immigration
detention centers on the Indian Ocean island and on the Australian
mainland over delays in processing asylum applications. Authorities are
struggling to cope with increasing numbers of asylum seekers from
Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Sri Lanka who attempt to reach Australia by
boat.

"A small group of detainees have made it clear that they would continue
violent action until they were granted visas," Bowen told reporters.

"We don't let that sort of behavior influence our consideration of visa
applications," he added.

Authorities were responding to the riots by accelerating plans to relocate
hundreds of the 2,500 detainees on Christmas Island to mainland detention
centers to reduce crowding and by bringing in police reinforcements.

A total of 105 detainees, none of whom was involved in the fracas, were
flown from the island Friday, while 70 police were flown in, bringing
total police strength to 188.

"This is a very tense and serious situation," Bowen said.

Police would investigate charging the rioters. Bowen warned that the
culprits could fail their refugee test on character grounds.

An asylum seeker broke his leg in another Christmas Island protest this
week that police quelled.

The detainees include asylum seekers whose refugee applications have yet
to be judged, those who have had their applications rejected but refuse to
return to their homelands and those who have been accepted as refugees but
are pending security clearances before they are freed in Australia.

Human Rights Commissioner Catherine Branson, the federal government's
rights watchdog, is concerned about processing delays which have left most
of the 6,500 asylum seekers currently in Australia in detention for more
than six months.