Drop the Charges: Auckland Forum on the Upcoming ‘Terror raids’ Trial

Public Meeting:
6:30pm Friday 20th May 2011
B15 Lecture Theatre (Library Basement)
University of Auckland

On May 30th a 12 week long trial for 15 of those arrested in the so called ‘terror raids’ of 15 October 2007 will begin in the Auckland High Court.

On October 15 2007 armed police raided homes across New Zealand, claiming that a range of Maori, environmental and anti-war activists were planning terrorist attacks. Eighteen people were arrested – most of whom were held in prison for four weeks while the Police applied to charge them under the Terrorism Suppression Act. The Solicitor General refused to allow the Police to proceed with the terrorism charges.

All of the 15 are facing charges of possession of weapons under the Arms Act. Five are charged with ‘participation in an organised criminal group’.

A number of prominent New Zealanders, including academics, legal experts and Maori leaders have written to the Solicitor General calling for the charges to be dropped, as the trial will be unfair as the defendants have been denied many crucial civil rights, including the right to a jury trial.

This panel discussion will discuss the ramifications of the case for civil rights in New Zealand and why the charges should be dropped.

Speakers:

David Clendon: Green MP

John Minto: Spokesman for Global Peace and Justice Auckland

Tame Iti: Drug and Alcohol counsellor for Tūhoe Hauora Trust and defendant in the case.

Syd Keepa: Vice President Maori for New Zealand Council of Trade Unions

Khylee Quince: University of Auckland Law Lecturer

Barry Wilson: Auckland Council for Civil Liberties

Violent boss has charges dismissed by right wing judge

Magistrate: “Civil disobedience is merely a euphemism for breaking the law”

By Socialist Party reporters Melbourne

A boss who drove a semi-trailer through a group of protesters, endangering the lives of several people, walked free from court this week without so much as a slap on the wrist. Anthony Elliott, the owner of the Elliott Group of companies in Melbourne, had all 15 charges against him dismissed after a 4 day court hearing.

The case related to a community assembly that was held outside the premises of Elliott Engineering on May 4th last year. The assembly was organised by Union Solidarity in support of 48 workers in the Latrobe Valley who were chasing Anthony Elliott for almost $1 million in unpaid entitlements.

Elliott bought the engineering plant in the Latrobe Valley from Skilled Engineering and then shut it down after about 18 months. He locked the workers out and refused to pay them their full entitlements.

The Latrobe Valley workers picketed their site for over 34 weeks in an attempt to stop Elliott removing the plant and equipment from the premises. The action in Kilsyth was designed to put added pressure on Elliott to pay the workers what they deserved.

Some of the workers had worked at the Latrobe Valley plant for over 20 years and many were owed tens of thousands of dollars. But through dodgy accounting and the setting up of shelf companies, Elliott found a loophole in the laws and claimed that he did not have to pay the entitlements owed to the workers. This is nothing more than the theft of workers wages on a grand scale.

On the day of the community assembly Anthony Elliot drove not one but two trucks through the picket line. The second truck collected four protesters who were forced to cling onto the bull bar of the truck or be run over and potentially killed. Elliott was only forced to stop the truck more than a kilometre down the road by a protester in a pursuing car.

The police had witnessed the entire event on the day and pledged to ensure Elliott was punished with the full force of the law. Unfortunately the police were extremely unprepared for this case and the police Prosecutor Sergeant Murray Phillips seemed disinterested throughout the entire hearing.

The strategy of Elliott’s defence was to spend half of their time trying to trip up the witnesses about specific details from the day and the other half attempting to discredit the witness’s credibility. Some of the witnesses were accused of collusion and another had his evidence dismissed by the magistrate simply due to a prior unrelated conviction.

Anthony Main

The other two witnesses, Dave Kerin from Union Solidarity and Anthony Main from the Socialist Party, were attacked at length for their political beliefs. In his summary magistrate Brian Clifford said that “Kerin told the court he was a teacher. I believe he is a teacher of civil disobedience”, and “civil disobedience is merely a euphemism for breaking the law”.

Dave Kerin

Clifford also said that “ringleader” Kerin had set up Union Solidarity as a vehicle to break the industrial laws and that he had perhaps stopped thousands of trucks dating back to his time in the BLF (Builders Labourers Federation). He said that the protesters were engaged in illegal conduct on the day and that they were “not afraid to break the law and ride on trucks”. “I believe that Mr. Kerin is an experienced bull bar rider” he said, “And I do not believe that he had any regard for anyone’s safety”.

Clifford described Main as the most obnoxious person in attendance at the picket line on the day. He seemed more disgusted that Main had yelled at Elliott about the unpaid entitlements and called him a “dog” than the fact that several people were nearly killed by the truck.

Clifford said that “Main gave evidence to this court saying that he is a strong advocate of democratic rights. Main is the absolute antithesis of that ideal and his credibility is therefore zero”.

In his judgement Clifford implied that the rights of Elliott as a property owner were more important than the rights of the protesters or indeed the rights of the workers who are owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said that the protesters were engaged in unlawful industrial action on the day and that they had unlawfully hindered Elliott.

Clifford said that the protesters were in no danger and that Elliott had not contravened the law. “If there was any danger at all on the day it was the protesters who created it” he said.

Not only did magistrate Clifford dismiss all the charges, but to flaunt his contempt for the protesters he asked the defence lawyer, Sean Grant, if he would like the court costs to be awarded against Main and Kerin! The magistrate and the defence lawyer shared a laugh when the defence replied “we would love to your honour but unfortunately there are no provisions to do that”.

In this case it was almost like the witnesses were on trial rather than the defendant who had nearly killed several people. The magistrate contradicted himself many times in his summary and showed little respect for his own laws.

Usually the ruling class, and their representatives in the judiciary, attempt to disguise the class bias in the legal system by pretending that the system is fair. In this case, however, the magistrate was very crude and open about the fact that he saw the rights of the boss to enter and exit his property as paramount to the safety of everyone else.

This case, if nothing else, proves that there is one law for the rich and another for the rest of us. In the past workers have been jailed for much less than what Elliott did on the day. As one of the workers employed by Elliott in the Latrobe Valley said “The courts are no place for workers to win”. Socialists see the courts as an instrument of the state. They are there to serve the interests of the ruling class over those of ordinary people.

The fight for these workers to get paid their entitlements is still continuing in the Federal Court. Unfortunately as this worker said “In this case even if we win in the Federal Court we loose”. This particular worker is owed in excess of $70,000 and will only receive about $20,000 if they win the case.

The lesson that needs to be drawn by the labour movement is that we can not put any trust in the bosses, their courts or their system. The courts are not the best arena for us to do battle. This case shows the arrogance of the ruling class as they know they are in a much better position to win at this point in time. Unfortunately this is because most of the unions are happy to play by their rules.

If we are to ensure bosses can not steal our money and then act violently towards us in the future we will need to take a very different approach. This approach will need to include mass action aimed at breaking the laws that are designed to keep us at bay. This is the only way forward.

http://www.socialistpartyaustralia.org/

AMCRAN launch of 3rd edition multilingual series Anti-Terrorism Laws: ASIO, the Police and You

Dear friends,

You are warmly invited to the third edition launch of the publication series Anti-Terrorism Laws: ASIO, the Police and You.

This series of publications is designed to educate the community on their rights and responsibilities under Australia's counter-terrorism laws. It is presented in four languages: English, Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, and Urdu. The third edition covers new areas of law introduced since the first edition in 2004, including the association offence, sedition, preventative detention and control orders. This publication is essential reading, and provides a concise, simple, yet thorough coverage of the laws that all Australians should be aware of and understand.

The booklets will be distributed at no cost at the launch, and will also be available from AMCRAN's website (http://amcran.org/) in all four languages after the launch.

This project would not have been possible without the generous funding support of the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, the UTS Law Faculty and UTS Students Association.

When: Thursday 17 July 2008
Time: 10 am – 12 pm
Where: Lansdowne Room, Bankstown Town Hall, Cnr Chapel & Rickard Rds, Bankstown

Speakers include:

Mr Peter Russo, Defence lawyer of Dr. Mohamed Haneef
Dr Zachariah Matthews, President, Australian Islamic Mission; Board Member, AMCRAN
Ms Marika Dias, Solicitor, Convenor of Anti-Terrorism Laws Working Group, Federation of Community Legal Centres (Vic) Inc.
Mr Geoff Mulherin, Director, Law and Justice Foundation
RSVP by Friday 11 July 2008 essential: amcran@amcran.org

For more information please contact Ayishah Ansari, Legal Convenor NSW, at legalconvenornsw@amcran.org.

We look forward to seeing you at the launch.

Yours sincerely,


Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network

---
AMCRAN
Australian Muslim Civil Rights Advocacy Network
PO Box 3610
Bankstown NSW 2200
Tel: (02) 9708 0009
Fax: (02) 9708 0008
amcran@amcran.org | http://amcran.org

NEVER AGAIN MARCH THIS SATURDAY-Tamakimakaurau

Click on image for a larger version

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION ON DEC 1. This will be the time to say “NEVER AGAIN! REPEAL THE TERRORISM LAWS NOW”. AOTEA SQUARE 12PM THIS SAT 1ST DEC.

Download leaflet for Auckland march
www.unite.org.nz/neveragain.pdf

PICK UP POSTER & LEAFLETS FROM:
Unite House, Level 12, 300 Queen St, City
NDU, 20 Church St, Onehunga
Front Veranda, 4 Ethel St, Sandringham
PHONE PENNY TO HELP LEAFLETTING 09 8469825 / 0212114127

ORGANISING MEETINGS
AUCKLAND: Civil Rights Defence Committee, 6pm, Tuesdays, Unite House, Level 12, 300 Queen St
WELLINGTON: Weekly support group meetings - open to all - 6pm Tuesdays at 128 Abel Smith St

AUCKLAND

Wednesday, November 28, cnr Hobson St and Victoria St
Holding banners advertising Sat march

Saturday, Dec 1, 12 noon, Aotea Square – March to say “Never Again – Repeal the terrorism Laws”

Saturday, December 1, 7pm, PR Bar, 2 Ponsonby Rd
PARTY FOR YOUR RIGHT TO FIGHT!
This work is in the public domain. A crew of Kiwi musicians, writers and political activists is throwing a party next Saturday night to celebrate freedom of expression and raise money for the campaign against the Terrorism Supression Act. Entry is free, and donations will be taken for the Civil Rights Defence Committee. The event will be headlined by Powertools musicians Bill Direen and Otis Mace, who will also use the evening to mark the end of the national tour they started in Dunedin last week. Organisers: Powertool Records, www.powertoolrecords.co.nz ; Titus Books, titusbooks.online.fr
Contact: shamresearch (at) yahoo.co.nz

Monday and Tuesday, December 3 &4, 10am-12 noon, outside Auckland District Court
Rally to give solidarity to the 16 appearing in Court those days

Friday, December 7, 9pm to late, Kings Arms, 59 France St, Newtown
RISE UP! BENEFIT CONCERT FOR THE TUHOE – together with - : DAM NATIVE www.damnative.com/ CORNER STONE ROOTS - UNITY PACIFIC - BATUCADA SOUND MACHINE - NAT ROSE - DAM NATIVE - DLT - MISS B ME - DT - ANTONIO TE MAIOHA - BT - MISS GINGER HAWAIIAN MC; and more. $25 at door. $20 from Real Groovy, Conch Record. www.conscious.maori.nz

Sunday, December 9, 2.30pm, St Columba Centre, 40 Vermont Street, Ponsonby
TERRORISM LEGISLATION, INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AND YOU! A Human Rights Network public forum – Dignity and Justice for All of Us. Panel of speakers chaired by Margaret Bedggood with Edwina Hughes –Indigenous Rights/ UN Declaration; Greg Thwaite- Terrorism legislation/ human rights; Tim McBride- NZ Terrorism legislation; Women’s Rights/New Issues-Shila Nair; Kristin Ross and Cicilia Khin-Youth Concerns. For information contact Joan Macdonald email joanmac (at) pl.net. Phone 360 8001

PALMERSTON NORTH

Thursday, November 29, @ Square Edge [Evelyn Rawlins Room], Palmerston North
PUBLIC MEETING: Anti-terror law, dawn raids and human rights
In a wave of massive state repression, 300+ Police, in many cases armed, raided houses around the country making 17 arrests. Search warrants were carried out in Auckland, Whakatane, Ruatoki, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch. The arrestees are all activists in the Tino Rangatiratanga, peace and environmental movements. Find out more on the raids from a panel of speakers including whanau, activists affected by the raids and commentators with an analysis on the events and recent updates. "I weep for what has just happened at Maungapohatu in Tuhoe. The Police raid seems to be about punishing Kenana for questioning the Crown and will only take us back in the mists of fear and doubt…I wonder if we will ever stop worrying when it might happen again". - Karaitiana Rarere, Ngäti Kahungunu, 1916.
For more info see:
www.converge.org.nz/pma/nzterror2.htm
www.conscious.maori.nz
Contact email consciouscollaborations (at) gmail.com phone 027 457 8326

WELLINGTON

Every Tuesday - 6pm - Support Meeting at 128 Abel Smith St.

Wednesday, November 28, 7pm, Supper Room, Horticultural Hall, (between the carpark and the Town Hall), Laings Road, Lower Hutt
PUBLIC MEETING: ANTI-TERRORISM LAW, DAWN RAIDS, AND HUMAN RIGHTS
with guest speaker Moana Jackson (Ngati Kahungunu / Ngati Porou), followed by a light supper
Organised by a group of concerned Hutt residents, for more information contact tel 382 8129 or email pma (at) xtra.co.nz LEAFLET: www.converge.org.nz/pma/mj281107.pdf

Thursday - November 29 - 7pm - Film Archive Cinema - 84 Taranaki St - The Last Resort

Friday - November 30 - 8:30pm - Paramount Cinema, Wellington: PATU! - 1981 Springbok tour documentary

Saturday - December 1 - FREE CONCERT, Frank Kitts Park, Wellington. You are invited to E tu! A free day concert on Sat 1st December (Sun 2nd if rain) from Noon till 7pm. Come and check out the amazing line up of bands, knowledgeable and insightful speakers, plus enjoy kids activities, food stalls and our Wellington waterfront. E tu! will provide you with the space, time, resources, and relaxed atmosphere to educated yourself, whanau and wider community about the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002, its background, global context and implications.

WAIKAREMOANA

December 31 - January 03 - Ten year anniversary of the Waikaremoana occupation

CHRISTCHURCH

Every Friday until Christmas - Vigil in Solidarity with the Tuhoe people: "each week, the vigil will feature a speaker to talk about the issues that have emerged from the raids of the 15 October. On the 15 October 2007, the Tuhoe people of Ruatoki were subject to an unprecedented police raid that targeted all their inhabitants including children and the elderly. These innocent people were subject to abuse, humiliation and terror. The police raids citing the Suppression of Terrorism Act 2002 force us to examine the context in which they occur. One cannot comprehend their implications without looking at the global context of the “war against terrorism”. The “war against terrorism” has divided the world into what US President George Bush has described as “those who are for us and those who are against us”. In the West, it is a simplistic worldview that has been very effective in marginalizing and labeling ‘dissenters' and those engaged in the struggle for self-determination. It has also been effective in creating a climate of fear and suspicion. We ask you respond to this climate by vigiling in a spirit of solidarity with the Tuhoe people who have resisted colonization with great patience and dignity. To vigil means to ‘remain awake’. We must remain awake to the political agendas at work in the current climate of the “war against terrorism” and demand an end to the targeting of sisters and brothers who speak truth to power. The vigil will be a peaceful and prayerful presence." From 5pm to 6pm, in Cathedral Square; for more information contact email moanacole.barrister (at) paradise.net.nz

MAKE A DONATION TO A DEFENCE FUND ONLINE 38-9000-0099726-00: Indentify donation as being for the defence fund. Initial patrons of the fund are Jane Kelsey, John Minto, Simon Oosterman and Mike Treen
Or Use your credit card through Paypal www.civilrightsdefence.org.nz/donate
Send a cheque to GPJA c/o treasurer Brian Van Dam, 16 Browning St Manurewa.

Related

• http://www.civilrightsdefence.org.nz

License

This work is in the public domain.

No evidence for terrorism charges

"New Zealand's top lawyer says laws put in place to protect New Zealanders from acts of terrorism are flawed.

On Thursday afternoon David Collins QC announced that no one arrested in the nationwide police raids will face terrorism charges because of insufficient evidence and messy legislation.

Even before the Solicitor-General dropped his embarrassing bomb shell, there was anger bubbling over on the steps of parliament about how the investigation has been handled.

Joining the protest Maori Party MP Hone Harawira remarked: "How dare they arrest Tame Iti. What are the chances he is a terrorist leading a terrorist organisation? This is bullshit."

Harawira didn't have to wait long for an answer.

"I have advised the Commissioner that I am unable to authorise the prosecutions that have been sought under the Terrorism Suppression Act," said Collins.

The response from friends and supporters of those arrested was swift.

"We're absolutely thrilled... It's a huge weight off the shoulders of the families, off the individuals and... of every political activist in New Zealand," said activist, John Minto.

But none of this is good enough for the supporters of those arrested. They believe the stigma of alleged terrorism will stick for a life time.

"They have been branded terrorists by the police and that's been bandied right across New Zealand through the media and that's absolutely unconscionable," says Minto."

The threat to your civil liberties - and your trousers

http://readingthemaps.blogspot.com/2007/10/threat-to-your-civil-liberties-and-your.html

The actions of the police in recent days are hard to explain - until we realise that they're desperately upping the stakes, after losing the first round of 'Operation Eight'.

In New Zealand, pressure from the Bush administration in the weeks after 9/11 ensured the passage of a law which gave the police shiny new powers to search, arrest, and prosecute anyone who might even think about committing very vaguely defined 'terrorist acts'.

Over the past few years, and the past eighteen months, especially, the police and the spooks of the SIS appear to have used the 'War on Terror' as an excuse to pursue a vendetta against a few of their old enemies. Pesky Maoris, tree-hugging hippies, annoying peaceniks, and Bolshie trade unionists have all been placed under survellience, in an operation that has cost the police alone a cool eight million dollars - so far. (The SIS has repeatedly had its operating budget increased in recent years, and there's no doubt, after John Key's latest gaffe, that some of that dosh has been blown on 'Operation Eight'.)

The cops have made a mess of 'Operation Eight' over the past week and a half. With those eight million dollars at stake, they went all ninja in Tuhoe Country, smashed their way into activist pads in the big cities, and invited the media along to film the party. Carefully leaked articles in the Sunday papers talked of an 'IRA-style war' by a grand coalition of mokoed Maori, vegan peaceniks, and Save the Snails activists.

Within a few days, though, it was clear that eight million dollars hadn't bought a very good case. At best, the police had a handful of unlicensed guns and some recordings of Tame and a few mates sounding off about George Bush.

Quite frankly, I'd have been much more surprised if the cops managed to find a couple of licensed guns in the Ureweras. And if they want to find folks expressing a desire to see the untimely demise of America's beloved Commander in Chief, all the cops need to do is drop into one of dozens of internet discussion forums on a rainy day, or tune in to talkback radio whenever a right-wing host like Leighton Smith or Michael Laws isn't working the edit button.

Many of the allegations leaked by 'anonymous' sources to the papers made less sense than Graham Henry after that game at Cardiff Arms park. We were told that terrorist cells were 'poised to strike' in the main centres - but police raids and inquiries in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch failed to net anything more deadly than laptop computers.

We were told that Tame Iti had decided six months ago to abandon all his other projects and 'dedicate himself totally' to building Te Qaeda cells in the Ureweras - yet Tame made a well-publicised trip to Fiji only three months ago.

We were told that Labour's Cabinet was briefed about the seriousness of the terrorist threat before 'Operation Eight' began - yet the Maori Affairs Minister has bluntly declared that he doesn't think Tame is a terrorist, and Helen Clark is refusing to endorse police actions. Ross Meurant, the senior cop who regularly found red and brown terrorists under his bed in the '80s and 90s, has rubbished 'Operation Eight' and declared that the police are 'brainwashed' by racism. Coming from the man famous for having the reddest neck in Northland, that's quite a criticism.

We were told that Clark was the target of an assassination plot - yet no special security arrangements were made for her either before or after the arrests, and it is well-known in the activist community that one of the arrestees is a member of Helen's old Princes Street branch of the Labour Party. A few days before the 2005 election, I had a long conversation with another arrestee during which he urged me to use my vote to get a Labour-led government elected. Te Qaeda clearly works in mysterious ways.

In the months after the invasion of Iraq, Bush administration muppets repeatedly told critics to wait patiently for evidence of Saddam's weapons of mass destruction and links to Al-Qaeda to be made public. Give us time to complete investigtions, they kept saying. All the evidence will eventually be revealed, they told us. Of course, there was no evidence - if there had been, it would have been rushed onto Fox News faster than a Texan can draw a pistol. The requests for time were stalling tactics, designed to take pressure off Bush.

The same is true of the repeated cries of 'we need more time' that we now hear from the Kiwi police. The cops and the spooks have spent eighteen months and millions of dollars trying to nail a terrorist army in the Ureweras, and they've failed - not because they haven't had the time and resources, but because there was and is no terrorist army in the Ureweras. As Maori protest against the antics of police ninjas in Tuhoe Country and activists and high-profile lawyers get behind the arrestees in the big cities, the police are under mounting pressure.

Rather than admit they have blundered, though, the cops are playing double or nothing. By locking the media out of court, opposing bail for trivial firearms charges, leaking vague but lurid inventions to the more excitable papers, and attacking those who criticise them as apologists for terrorists and - bizarrely - P addiction, the cops are trying to buy time and put off the terrible day when they have to return to the real world and admit that Tame Iti is not some Tuhoe Osama.

The police are also lashing out, blindly and in vain, against more and more ordinary New Zalanders, in a desperate attempt to uncover evidence for what does not exist. Last week they followed up their raids on Tuhoe country and activist hangouts in the main centres with a series of house calls on such grave threats to national security as a banking analyst, a group of Maori musicians, an elderly, apolitical man who happened to have a Tuhoe son-in-law, and a middle-aged couple who raise chickens in Taupo. More windows have been broken, more laptops have been confiscated, and more knickers have been sniffed, but those ground to air missile launchers and napalm bombs have remained frustratingly elusive.

The police appear to be responding to these setbacks with a clever little manoeuvre. Since they can't find anything that fits the Oxford English Dictionary understanding of 'weapon', they've created their own definition, and put it to use. That, at least, is the way I interpret the raid the police made on veteran trade unionist and socialist Jimmy O'Dea today. Jimmy O'Dea is well-known for helping to organise trade union support for the epic and ultimately victorious Maori campaign to win back Bastion Point. O'Dea was instrumental in getting Auckland's workers to go on strike in protest at the decision of the Muldoon government to use the army to break up the occupation in 1978. Presumably that's enough to make him an honourary member of Te Qaeda.

O'Dea, who is now seventy years old and in poor health, found himself confronted by eight - that's right, he counted 'em, eight - carloads of police demanding to see his 'hunting knives and trousers'. It's not clear yet whether Jimmy got to keep his pants on, or whether the cops took the weapon away for safe keeping, along with the 'evidence' they pulled out of knickers' draws last week.

I believe that public opinion is turning against the police, and that 'Operation Eight' will eventually be exposed as a very expensive exercise in conspiracy theory politics. The police have gone for double or nothing, and they will end up with nothing. When that happens, I'll have a good laugh at our local Keystone Cops.

I can't laugh yet, though, because sixteen arrestees are still sitting in prison cells. Like many of you, I suspect, I know some of these victims of 'Operation Eight'. I'll be taking part in the Global Day of Action against this coming Saturday. If you're in Auckland, the event gets under away at noon, in Aotea Square. If you can't make it on Saturday, then flick some cash toward the Civil Rights Defence Committee, which is doing a fine job of defending all of us against the police.

posted by maps at 10/25/2007 09:34:00 PM

Urewera 17 Update: Bail Denied, Another Police Raid, Another Activist Named, Wellington Activists Moved

26 Oct 2007

by AIMC

At 12:15 on Thursday, hundreds of people gathered to march in support of 4 of the Urewera 17 prisoners, including Tame Iti, who were appearing in the Rotorua District Court."Flags, drums, banners and a passionate flow of over 700 kaumatua, pakeke, rangatahi and tamariki marched peacefully against the police anti-terror raids which began 15 October." - TangataWhenua.com

Also on Thursday afternoon, the home of 72 year old socialist Jimmy O'Dea, in Bastion Point, was raided by 8 carloads of Police [ Report ]. Jimmy has been a political activist for decades, and was one of the organisers of the union green ban on Bastion Point in the 1970s. Police deny this action was connected to the 'Operation 8' dawn raids but supporters are skeptical. [ Blogs 1 | 2 ]

In Sydney, around 50 people protested outside the New Zealand Consulate-General, with speakers from the local Aboriginal community, anarchists, Maori and socialists. [ Photos ]

On Tuesday independent film-maker Rongomai Bailey was released on bail and his name suppression lifted. On Thursday, another of the Urewera 17 prisoners was publicly named. 19 year old Omar Hamed, an active Indymedia volunteer, faces 3 charges of illegal posession under the Arms Act.

Two of the Wellington prisoners have now been moved to a remand prison in Auckland, where Jamie Lockett was beaten, requiring treatment in hospital. The remaining two Wellington prisoners are still to be moved. The courts decisions to move prisoners from their home areas to remand prisons in Auckland has upset family and friends, who will have to travel long distances to visit and support the prisoners indefinitely, if bail continues to be denied.

Stand in solidarity! Global Day Of Action - Saturday 27th Oct, 12 noon

Organise an event in your centre for the Global Day Of Action now, and post the details here at Aotearoa Indymedia.

• Everywhere: Any letters emailed to lettersforprisoners[at]riseup[dot]net will printed out and distributed to arrestees. Obviously don't write anything that could negatively impact on you or anyone else! If you can help with processing these letters, please email the crew on the same address. For more information, see http://www.civilrightsdefence.org.nz.
• Auckland: Demonstration Saturday Oct 27th at 12 noon meeting in Aotea Square. [ Poster ] "Waha Nui" fundraiser for whanau of prisoners, Sunday 28 Oct at 6pm @ Te Karanga Gallery, 208 Karangahape Rd; films, music, korero, koha entry.
• Hamilton: Protest Oct Sat 27th, meet 12 noon @ Garden Place.
• Whanganui: Rally and march Saturday October 27th at 12 noon. Meet at the River Traders Market on Moutoa Quay (behind Taupo Quay).
• Palmerston North: Protest Saturday Oct 27, 1pm @ Corner of the Square and Church st.
• Wellington: Protest Sat 27th, meet 12 noon @ Midland Park. Bring noisemakers and rage [ Poster ] [ Press Release ]. Fundraising gig, Sat 27 Oct, 9pm, Happy, Tory St, featuring Upper Hutt Posse, Mr Sterile Assembly and more. A range of solidarity events are happening over the coming days. [ Upcoming events ].
• Christchurch: A solidarity rally and march will be held in Cathedral Square at 12noon on Saturday Oct 27th, followed by a picnic with live music [ Posters: 1 & 2 ]. A benefit gig has been organised for Thursday 1st November at the Wunder Bar in Lyttelton.
• Dunedin: Picnic on Sunday Oct 28th to discuss the Terrorism Supression Act, Tuhoe history and Parihaka. 12 noon - 2:30pm, Otago Museum Reserve.
• Melbourne, Australia: A solidarity demonstration will be held Saturday 27th in Federation Square, 12noon.
• London, England: Solidarity protest Saturday 27th, 12 noon @ NZ High Comission, 80 Haymarket, SW1Y, Westminster.
• San Francisco, AZ, USA: The Black Mesa Water Coalition and Native Movement Collective have organised a solidarity protest/fundraiser on Oct 27th, 7pm-12pm at 113 S. San Francisco Flagstaff, AZ.

Donations can be made to the defence fund. See the Civil Rights Defence Committee website for details.

London Protest in Support of Urewera 17

#file_1#
please forward to everyone you know in London.
(looks like we're competing with an anarchist book fair, but people might take a break for lunch?!)

Article posted on UK Indymedia:
indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/10/384288.html

Demand release of Aotearoa/NZ Political Prisoners
Free the Urewera 17! Global Day of Action

Date: Saturday, October 27, 2007
Time: 12:00pm - 3:00pm
Location: NZ High Commission London
Street: 80 Haymarket, SW1Y, Westminster
City/Town: London, United Kingdom

17 political activists in Aotearoa/New Zealand are being held in jail and threatened with charges of terrorism. What they have in common is supporting tino rangatiratanga, Maori claims to self-determination. These arrests are political (new tougher terrorism laws are coming up for debate in parliament) and aimed at creating a climate of fear. Therefore we see these arrests as state terrorism and demand the immediate release of the prisoners. This event is in support of a global day of action called by supporters of the prisoners.

Meet at the New Zealand High Commission in London, 12 noon on Saturday 27th. Bring banners, placards, noise makers and friends!

send the call out far and wide. If not in London, have your own protest in your city!

background:
In a wave of massive state repression, 300+ Police, in many cases armed, raided houses around Aotearoa / NZ on October 16th making 17 arrests. Search warrants were carried out in Auckland, Whakatane, Ruatoki, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington and Christchurch. Police are also seeking up to 60 people for questioning. The arrestees are all activists in the Tino Rangatiratanga, peace and environmental movements.

G20 Solidarity protest at Melbourne Magistrates' Court 31 Aug 07

The Ongoing G20 Solidarity Network (Ogasn) organised a show of solidarity outside the Melbourne Magistrates' Court during the latest hearing - an event disrupted by police over-reaction to a totally unthreatening action ...

Produced: 2007/08/31
Duration: 4 minutes 29 seconds
http://www.engagemedia.org/Members/pc/videos/engage-31aug.avi/view

Those on APEC black list 'know who they are'

Edmund Tadros
June 19, 2007

INDIVIDUALS do not need to be told they are on a list of "excludable persons" from this year's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Sydney - they should just know, says the office of the NSW Police Minister.

The extraordinary response came as a collection of left-leaning groups criticised the proposed laws around APEC as draconian and an unreasonable curb on the right to protest.

The APEC Meeting (Police Powers) Bill 2007, which will be debated in the lower house this week, would allow the Police Commissioner to create a secret list of people who are excluded from APEC security areas.

Asked how an individual would know if they were on the list, a spokesman for the Police Minister, David Campbell, said: "Those who have been involved in violent and disruptive protests in the past will most likely be on this list. They won't need to be informed - they know who they are," he said.

The Greens upper house member Sylvia Hale said: "The worst aspect of the APEC bill is this notion that police will compile a list of people and possibly organisations, which without any fundamental justification can be listed as excludable persons," she said. "It's frighteningly reminiscent of what happened in communist East Germany."

The Greens, the NSW Council for Civil Liberties and student activists from the main APEC protest group, the Stop Bush Coalition, are united against the APEC laws.

They have also criticised police over allegations detailed in yesterday's Herald that an officer tried to blackmail an activist into spying on his fellow protesters.

Daniel Jones, 20, said he was asked to to spy on his fellow activists with the expectation police would "help out" with charges he was facing over his protests at last year's G20 in Melbourne.

The NSW Council of Civil Liberties said it was not surprised police were attempting to recruit informers. "There is a long, long history in NSW of police harassing legitimate protesters," the secretary of the council, Stephen Blanks, said.

A spokesman for the Stop Bush Coalition, Alex Banbridge, said he had heard of stories from other activists who felt they had been directly intimidated by authorities to stay away from any APEC protests.

Mr Campbell's spokesman said "police use any number of methods to gather intelligence about individuals and organisations".

Protest, Politics and Policing

Excellent article by Victoria & Shane. We are all back in the Gubba Court this Friday .

Victoria Stead and Shane Reside

This article is in the current issue of Arena Magazine (April-May 2007)



In the aftermath of last November’s protests against the G20 summit in Melbourne, Victorian Police have conducted a massive operation against individuals allegedly involved in the three day mobilisation. Under the banner of Taskforce Salver, dozens of houses have been raided, undercover snatch squads have been used to grab people from the streets, and photos of individuals deemed ‘persons of interest’ have been published in newspapers and on Crime Stoppers. At the time of writing, over 35 people have been arrested and charged with offences including riot, affray and conduct endangering persons. Some of these charges carry sentences of up to ten years imprisonment.

The Police operation over the last few months suggests disturbing shifts in the policing of protest and dissent. Particularly, the response to the G20 mobilisation highlights the dangerous relationship between ‘community policing’ and more authoritarian tendencies within the Victorian Police force.

Compared to the policing of the demonstrations against the World Economic Forum in Melbourne in 2000, the police response to the G20 protest has been markedly different. When tens of thousands of people converged at the Crown Casino five years ago to successfully disrupt the summit of the World Economic Forum, police responded with a massive display of violent force. Unprovoked charges, overhead baton strikes and outright brutality left scores of demonstrators injured, many of them seriously. In the lead up to the G20 protest, Police Chief Commissioner Christine Nixon publicly made it clear that the policing operation this time was not going to be a repeat performance

. Instead, she employed a range of tactics including: a centrally controlled and staged increase in police force ‘appropriate’ to the context; low barriers instead of high security fences around the summit site; and the use of ‘crowd safety officers’ whose role was to circulate amongst demonstrators handing out cards recommending the suitability of alternate protest venues which were, not surprisingly, out of sight of the G20 delegates, inner-city businesses, and pretty much everyone else in Melbourne.
Nixon’s ‘softly, softly’ approach fits within the model of ‘community policing’ which has been advocated by the Victorian Police command since the early 1980s while facing ongoing resistance from the bulk of the Police rank and file. Studies conducted in the 1990s showed that community policing continued to be viewed by the majority of officers as primarily a public relations exercise.

Instead, rank and file officers have tended to support the more authoritarian approach advocated by the powerful Police Association. The tension between these two approaches – community policing and authoritarian policing – is in turn deeply rooted in the ongoing power play between the Police Association and the Victorian Police command.

The recent policing of protests such as the G20 needs to be seen within the context of this struggle within the Victorian Police force. Increasingly, the approach to the policing of political dissent is being shaped by a dangerous combination of elements from both of the tendencies within the force.

As Jude McCulloch has argued, community policing has become the ‘velvet glove that covers the iron fist’ of increasingly repressive and authoritarian policing in Victoria. While this has long been evident in over-policed Indigenous and working class communities across the state, the G20 mobilisation and its aftermath provides a case in point of the dangers of this twin-bladed approach.

Based on a community policing framework, Nixon’s ‘softly, softly’ approach hinged on containing the mobilisation. Protest was to be allowed, so long as it remained non-contentious, passive and preferably out of sight. Given these parameters, a confrontation between police and protestors was always going to be highly likely.

While there is a wide diversity of opinions amongst protestors regarding tactics, a belief in the need for direct action has long been a hallmark of progressive social movements. And the space for action offered by the community policing approach simply does not allow this.

As it happened, there were attempts by demonstrators to breach the police cordons and disrupt the G20 summit meeting on the first day of the mobilisation. Clashes with police ensued, and it quickly became clear that the Chief Commissioner’s approach did not enjoy the support of the rank and file officers who were there. Nixon had been scheduled to appear at a fundraising dinner that Saturday evening, performing a rendition of ‘It’s Raining Men’, no less. Instead, she was forced to cancel her appointment and rush to the barricades to appease her surly troops.

It would appear that in the face of rank and file unrest, a green light was given for police to utilize all the force at their disposal for both the remainder of the mobilisation and the days and months following. Certainly, there appears to have been a significant and rapid turn around in police tactics. When a small group of protestors gathered at the Melbourne Museum the next day – where G20 delegates were enjoying a little cultural respite from the hard work of summit negotiations – police launched without warning into an unprovoked baton charge. One woman was so badly injured that she required hospitalisation.

The authoritarian policing tactics have continued since. A round up of protestors began on the morning of the 18th, with snatch squads grabbing people off the streets. One man, Drasko Boljevic, was snatched by unidentified men, thrown in the back of an unmarked white van and held for hours. Not only did he have no idea who his assailants were, it later transpired that he had not even been present at the protest. Dozens more have faced intimidation and harassment, regardless of their degree of involvement in any violence. In the backlash against Nixon’s approach, the Police Association has decryied the ‘lack of appropriate resources’ given to officers, and the ‘grave OH&S; dangers’ they faced. And in a style that ex-Queensland Premier Joh Bielke-Peterson would be proud of, it has even gone so far as to suggest a blanket ban on the right to protest. Unsurprisingly, mainstream media commentators and politicians have jumped into the fray, bemoaning the decay of law-and-order and going all out to demonise those involved in the mobilisation as violent thugs.

Regardless of the debate over the use of property damage, the policing of the G20 and the continuing actions of the Salver Taskforce should be a cause for concern for everyone who believes in the need for grassroots movements to organise in opposition to the neoliberal agenda being pushed by institutions such as the G20.

The twin-bladed approach of community policing and authoritarian tendencies, arising from the tensions and power struggles within the Victorian Police force, has potentially grave implications for the right of ordinary people to dissent. The space for protest is shrinking for us all. As we come up against the barrage of neoliberalism, militarism, environmental destruction, racist border controls and draconian IR legislation, the right to protest is something we all need to defend.

Public Forum on Anti-terror legislation and the G20 arrests

Report from ORGASN/CRD solidarity meeting

It was a big turnout – I counted a few over 70 people. Good mix of ages.

Anita from ORGASN gave a fantastic speech encompassing the history of the G20 as it developed from the G7. She reiterated the ridiculousness of the claim to representation of the G20 (cos governments don’t represent the populace) and defended the attacks on the police van as an important step in confronting the fear that people have over the police, whose role is to enforce submission to capitalist social and economic relations. Anita invited people to be part of court solidarity actions and to join us in calling for the charges to be dropped.


Marcus Banks from Austudy 5 talked about the history of diverse, militant actions in the lead-up to the Austudy 5 cases in 1992. From the AIDEX Arms Fair in 1991 (3 day demonstration involving 3,000 people, including students, the Food Preservers Union, Domestic Violence and Incest Survivor activists) at which the Defence Minister Robert Ray was forced to cancel his speech because of the tripods, demonstrations, etc. The Arms Fair organisers actually asked the government to declare a state of emergency, and activists were accused of bizarre things like hurling oranges with syringes stuck in them at police, and covering themselves in shit. The Anti-Bush (snr) demos in early 1992 followed.

Marcus put the Austudy demonstrations in the context of the ALP/Keating neo-liberal assault, and the Gulf War. He gave an entertaining description of the Melbourne National Day of Action on March 26th, which was described as a”riot” in all the dailies. 4 people were de-arrested from a police van which was surrounded, rocked, graffitied and had its tyres let down. Those in the van were released. The day before the next action, 5 members of the ISO were raided and charged with unlawful assembly, releasing people from police custody and a number of other charges. These raids were co-ordinated with the media for maximum negative exposure. Marcus passed around a newspaper article in which the police declared the establishment of a new police unit to destroy the ISO. Marcus talked about the support he got from his trade union because he had gone to the demos in his role as delegate. Police claimed that they arrested the ISO activists because they couldn’t find the people from the police van – one of these, an NUS Education officer, issued press releases informing the cops that he’d been in the van. He wasn’t arrested. At the trial by jury that eventually ensued, a deal was struck by which all charges would be dropped except lawful assembly, and all would 5 would cop a 2 year good behaviour bond. Marcus emphasisied that the language of the defence campaign was frame in terms of rights, but rights that were political, social, economic – not framed in terms of limited legal rights.

Colin Mitchell and Lisa Farrance from CRD spoke of the victimisation of Jack Thomas and the Barwon 13. Colin emphasised that the Barwon 13 are being treated as guilty before being charged. He also talked about the truly terrifying case of Faheem Lohdi. Lohdi, a Sydney architect, was convicted in June 2006 of preparing for a terrorist act, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He was convicted on the basis of downloading photos of various “sensitive sites” some of which he had worked on as an architect, of making enquiries about obtaining chemicals that the prosecution alleged could be used to make explosives [note: for those who want an example of what kind of chemicals can be hypothesised by cops desperate for a conviction as “potential explosives” please see the cases of the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven – people might know the movie “In the Name of the Father” based on these cases…], and of having “radical” Islamic views – whatever that means…


Rob Stary – now, I don’t like lawyers as a general rule, but this guy was great. He publicly acknowledged the work of Civil Rights Defence in defending Jack Thomas, and gave us a bit of a reminder of the history of the persecution and then failed prosecution of Jack Thomas. Stary, Mark Taft and Lex Lasry are now being called as witnesses by the prosecution to prevent them from representing Jack.

Rob talked about the flimsy evidence against the Barwon 13. Basically, that they have been charged with being members of an unnamed terrorist organization, of which they are members (and which bears a striking resemblance to their prayer circle), then of financing and supporting this unnamed organization. And they have been charged with “possession of a thing”. A thing can be anything that is connected to “terror” a computer with naughty documents on it, for example. It seems unclear exactly what the “thing” that they possess is. But, they did go camping together, and this apparently seals the case against them. The trial judge is the same Public prosecutor in charge of pursuing the Austudy 5, Bernard Bongiorno. Rob reminded people of the crazy charges used against anti-Nike crew and the Austudy 5, and against forest activists, and that the new National Security Information Act means that people can be tried in their absence and the absence of any legal representation.

Rob talked about being swamped with DVDs and evidence and that this is a tactic to make the legal reps lives very difficult.

There will be a mention this week of the G20 case. But Rob indicated that the May 11 court appearance would only go ahead if people pleased guilty. So its not that likely….


Discussion centred around the desire to get unions on board, and the need to get together some simple info to spread around (i.e leaflets) so people can hand out the info at workplaces. People also talked about the importance of APEC organising, and the direct link between the intense pressure on Sydney arrestees in particular, and APEC organising.

At the pub, we talked about fun ideas for organising APEC proxies, for those who can't leave the state cos of bail conditions...





by K Flat Friday April 27, 2007 at 01:31 AM

http://melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2007/04/144091.php

Article relating to public forum at Fitzroy Town hall last night on the G20 arrests.

Last night at the Fitzroy Town Hall a crowd of around 50 people attended a public meeting organised by the G20 solidarity network and Civil Rights Defence. Speakers discussed the current political climate in regards to anti-terror legislation and the charges facing the G20 arrestees.

The first speaker, Anita Thompson, discussed the tactics used in the stop-G20 movement and the media representations of both the protests and the subsequent arrests. Forty people have now been arrested in relation to the G20 protests.

Thompson said attempts by protesters to breach police barricades were a challenge to the G20 system - a system which sustains a world order whereby "twenty percent of the world's people control eighty percent of the world wealth".

Thompson argued that protesters "embraced a diversity of tactics" and they were far from the "apolitical thugs" that the media had portrayed them to be. She stated that "capitalism is inherently violent" and the police should not be viewed as "a neutral body". Thompson further stated that the crackdown on those involved in the G20 protests should be seen as an attempt by the state to demonise protesters and delegitimise the right to demonstrate.

Marcus Banks then spoke regarding his experiences with Austudy 5. Banks said that like the G20 arrestees, these protests resulted in dawn raids by the police and a "cascade of charges". Banks said the police tended to use militant actions as "an opportunity" to arrest and repress unpopular groups and individuals. He said the affect of this was "to make people feel fearful" causing actions to become less militant. Colin Mitchell of Civil Rights Defense supported this sentiment, saying that the charges against the G20 arrestees were symptomatic of the "demonisation for political purposes" that is a characteristic of the war on terror.

Rob Starry, the lawyer who is defending some of the G20 arrestees, Jack Thomas and the Barwon 13, then gave an update on these cases and how they can be viewed in light of recent anti-terror legislation.

Starry stated that the case against Muslim convert Jack Thomas is currently being adjourned after a number of trials and retrials. Thomas is charged with possessing a falsified passport and receiving funds from a terrorist organisation. Starry also spoke of the charges against the so-called Barwon 13, who are facing multiple charges in relation to allegations that they attended terrorist training camps.

Starry said that since July 2002 the Commonwealth Government has passed forty pieces of anti-terror legislation almost unanimously. He said that the most worrying piece of legislation inducted was the National Security Information Act, which allows court proceedings to be conducted in secret, in the absence of the accused or the legal representative.

In regards to G20 arrests, Starry said that charges like riot, affray and criminal damage were "an incredible overreaction" by the police to "a bit of property damage" and they will "cost the community literally millions of dollars".

The case against the G20 protesters is listed for mention tomorrow. However, Starry told the audience rather emphatically "we're not pleading guilty."

There are meetings at Trades Hall on every second Friday (I think?) in solidarity with the G20 arrestees.

Thanks to Food not Bombs for supplying the lovely nibblies.

Dog used in strip search, accused say

This is yet another disgusting breach of these mens human rights. Their treatment has alot in common with how the Irish community were treated during Thatcher, Birmingham 6, Guliford 4 anyone?

Dog used in strip search, accused say

Ian Munro
March 28, 2007


A VICTORIAN Supreme Court judge has suggested that 13 men facing terrorism charges could be released on bail after claims of mistreatment, including that a German shepherd guard dog sniffed the genitals of a naked prisoner during a strip search.

Another prisoner is alleged to have received bruising when grabbed by his beard and hands as he left a prison van and others were ill after being returned to Barwon Prison in a reportedly unventilated vehicle in extreme heat on Thursday.

Lawyers for the men claimed that one of the vans was left parked in the sun for more than an hour with the defendants inside after a morning court appearance. They say prison guards refused the men water during strip searches before the men were returned to their cells.

After being confronted with the guard dog, Bassam Raad was forced to stand naked for 10 minutes, lawyer Peta Murphy said she had been told, in an affidavit filed with the court.

Justice Bernard Bongiorno said if the allegations were true they reflected "a most unsatisfactory situation, which will need to be corrected".

He said if this was likely to happen again, the case for granting bail would "seem to be looming on the horizon".

The defendants have made numerous unsuccessful applications for bail since late 2005. But Justice Bongiorno said similar treatment might constitute the exceptional circumstances the men must demonstrate to be released on bail.

A spokeswoman for Corrections Victoria said the prison van's air-conditioning had broken down but it could not interrupt the trip for security reasons.

The spokeswoman said the prisoners were seen by nursing staff on arrival. "Their condition was monitored and checked the next morning and they required no further medical assistance."

She said strip searches were standard for prisoners entering a high-security unit. But she said that Ms Murphy's affidavit was the first time that Corrections Victoria had heard about the use of the German shepherd in strip searches. This would be investigated along with any other claims.

Ms Murphy, of Rob Stary and Associates, said the men sweated profusely on the journey. They were dehydrated and feared for their wellbeing. One of the men, Ezzit Raad, vomited several times in the night.

She said the prisoners claimed to have told the prison officers about the failed air-conditioning in the van before the return trip.

In a separate affidavit, Marie Costa, of Galbally & O'Bryan, said she had been told her client, Izzydeen Atik, had difficulty breathing in the smaller of two vans and he was kept waiting for more than an hour after arriving at the prison.

"Once removed from the bus, (Atik) still shackled, was manhandled forcefully by prisoner officers. (Atik) was grabbed by his hands and his beard whilst being thrown around (and) states that there is bruising to his right arm," Ms Costa said.

http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/27/1174761474938.html