September 2014 – DISACCORDS

Blackheath: National Parks depot attacked

via Bite Back: “We claim responsibility for the attack on the National Parks and Wildlife Service on the morning of Thursday 18th September.

NPWS were targeted for their part in the war on wildlife, with an extended history, and a continuing habit of dumping 1080 poison (sodium fluoroacetate) into wild places, all under the public guise of ‘conservation’. Killing and destroying indiscriminately, how many more lives and lands must be destroyed by this groups insane, ecocidal visions and experiments?

To express our outrage, under the cover of night, we entered their depot on Darug/Gundungurra Country (Blackheath, NSW). During our short visit, two vehicles were set upon leaving tyres slashed, windscreens smashed and a little additive into the fuel, just to sweeten the deal.

If you choose to continue to use this land as your dumping ground, you will encounter us again. Our rage will only burn bigger and stronger.

In defense of predators. In defense of wildness.

– ELF”

Plan B: a call for decentralised resistance to the G20 Australia Summit

https://planbg20.wordpress.com/

We Did Not Want To Be Here Again…

We’ve been on the streets before. Carried placards and banners and signed petitions and when nobody listened we’ve thrown bricks and set skips on fire. But we’ve got meals to cook, gardens to grow, books to read, loves to tend. We don’t want to be here, doing this.

This is Plan B.

We just don’t think we have a choice. The gap between rich and poor is still growing. Children routinely die starving while hoarded food rots. The world moves daily closer to feeling the tangible effects of irreversible climate change. Profits flow through borders unimpeded (always into the pockets of the rich) but people are caught in razor wire traps. Alongside Eugene Debs, we recognise our kinship with all living beings. We say that while there is a lower class, we are in it; and while there is a criminal element, we are of it; and while there is a soul in prison (or an illegal detention centre), we are not free. These circumstances force us to fight. Fight for our lives.

And we have a plan.

The G20 is meeting in Brisbane in November. This elite decision making body epitomises the undemocratic nature of state-sponsored global capitalism; delegates from the 20 wealthiest economic zones make self-serving proclamations which affect everyone, without open discussion or oversight. The meeting has been faced with fierce resistance everywhere it has gone but this opposition has been smashed by the heavy hand of the militarised police forces which define our century. We’re sick of seeing our comrades beaten and arrested. We’ve learnt from these mistakes. We have a Plan B. Instead of gathering our strength and marching into the traps they have set for us, we are calling for disseminated disorder. Rather than an arterial block, we want to see a distributed attack on the peripheries.

We are calling for people to form affinity groups in their home towns and autonomously organise decentralised direct action against the G20 and the capitalist occupation of our lives.

See you on the streets!!

Brisbane: ‘G20 looms as security nightmare as protesters plan for mayhem’

27 September: Protesters are circulating a plan to unleash “waves of destruction” during Brisbane’s G20 summit.

The plot to mar the event — dubbed Plan B — is being distributed online by protest groups.

It advocates destroying ATMs and other property and disrupting sport and social events. The plan cites an array of activist causes including globalisation, poverty and gay rights.

Attacks would be launched away from the heavily fortified security zones in favour of areas where police would be thinner on the ground.

Police yesterday extended the time and locations that would be subject to restrictions — security lockdowns will now begin on November 8, six days earlier than planned.

Deputy Commissioner Ross Barnett said police needed the extra time because protesters would be out in force earlier than first anticipated. Continue reading “Brisbane: ‘G20 looms as security nightmare as protesters plan for mayhem’”

Sydney: Squatters removed from derelict Newtown warehouse ‘The Hat Factory’ sparking war of words

The not-so-subtle warning from squatters.

26 September: The battle over the derelict Newtown squat that sold for $1.725 million last weekend has broken into a bitter war of words, with inflammatory messages from both sides posted throughout the building.

Warnings aimed at the new owners have been spray-painted across the facade with the words “Be careful what you bid for” and “Yuppies, developers, investors beware”.

Posters featuring men brandishing weapons saying “If you plan to buy this building, prepare for retaliation” are also plastered on the building. Continue reading “Sydney: Squatters removed from derelict Newtown warehouse ‘The Hat Factory’ sparking war of words”

Sydney: real estate agency vandalised, Hat Factory sold, man arrested

A Double Bay auction centre was vandalised over the weekend.

23 September: At some stage on Saturday night or early Sunday morning “Evict the rich” and “Developers f— off our city” were spray-painted across the windows of Cooley Auctions headquarters in Double Bay. The locks of the office were also filled with super glue.

Damien Cooley, from Cooley Auctions suggested the incident could be related to the scheduled auction of 164-166 Wilson Street, Newtown, a warehouse in Newtown that had been used as a long-running squat. It sold for $1,725,000 under the hammer.

“As well as spray-painting all sorts of colourful words they also spray-painted a symbol,” Mr Cooley said of the vandals. He said the symbol, an O with a zig-zag through the middle, also featured on a banner that appeared outside the Newtown squat.

In August police evicted squatters from the warehouse who had reportedly been occupying the building since 2001.

Last month police evicted squatters from the warehouse. They had reportedly been occupying the building since 2001. The squatters were given notice ahead of their eviction and had left the premises by the time police arrived. At the time, several residents told Fairfax Media they had belongings locked inside the property. Continue reading “Sydney: real estate agency vandalised, Hat Factory sold, man arrested”

Sydney: Squatters evicted from Millers Point

16 September: They had stocked the kitchen with food, hauled in crate-loads of belongings and even brought their tortoiseshell cat.

But the two-month long rent-free bliss enjoyed by a group of squatters at Millers Point ended abruptly on Tuesday, as the state government pushed ahead with its plan to empty the harbourside suburb of vulnerable residents.

The small group of 20-somethings left the Argyle Place property about midday after being ordered out by police.

The Argyle Place property “is being prepared for sale”, officials said. Banners draped from the balcony read “Millers Point Not 4 Sale” and “Communities Not Commodities”.

Tayce, a 27-year-old squatter who declined to give her last name, said the eviction was a “farce”. “I’m homeless – there are so many people on the waiting list for [public] housing and this house was empty for two years,” she said. “There is nothing wrong with the house, it’s beautiful. I don’t think houses should be sitting empty.” The house was connected to electricity and, despite a bit of mould, was otherwise “amazing”, Tayce said.

About four squatters had occupied the terrace house after finding the back door unlocked and the property empty. Squatters are also known to be occupying other homes in the area.

Scores of properties at Millers Point are lying idle as the government embarks on a two-year program to evict public housing tenants and sell hundreds of homes. The first four sales well exceeded price guides and netted the government $11.1 million. Continue reading “Sydney: Squatters evicted from Millers Point”

Darwin: Teenagers escape prison cells

14 September: Two teenagers escaped from their cells at the new prison in Darwin’s rural area but did not get out of the prison precinct. Police said the 16 and 15-year-old males broke out of their cells around 3:00am and were found sitting on the roof of the prison. Duty Superintendent Rob Burgoyne said the pair came down from the roof after an hour and were returned to their cells.

The NT Government decided to move juveniles out of the Don Dale juvenile detention centre after a break-out in August, when five teenagers escaped, with two remaining on the run for almost four days.

A few weeks later tear gas was used against six teenagers who escaped their cells, armed themselves with glass and smashed windows and light fittings. Corrections Commissioner Ken Middlebrook said he believed the teenagers, aged between 14 and 17 years, were protesting being placed in the secure unit after five of them had escaped earlier.

“I think they were trying to create as much damage as they possibly could to disable those cells so that they couldn’t be kept there,” he said. Continue reading “Darwin: Teenagers escape prison cells”