The Melbourne Anarchist Communist Group has endorsed the mobilisation called by the Campaign Against Racism & Fascism against the “Make Victoria Safe Again” rally.
11:30 a.m. Sun 17 September
State Library
328 Swanston St
Melbourne 3000
See the following link for details:
https://www.facebook.com/events/157897641434932/
As it cannot be guaranteed that neither the police nor the Fascists will engage in violence, please come prepared, be aware of your security and look after the safety of yourselves & other comrades at the mobilisation and as you disperse.
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Hi Comrades,
Bit late to the party on this one, but was wondering how this event went from your perspective. Was it successful? Here is a recent action over here: http://www.awsm.nz/2017/11/02/wellington-anti-nazi-demo-report/
OK. Here’s my take:
1. The Fash made an attempt to broaden their appeal, but failed. While there were more women on their side than normal, they were mostly in TBC & SOO gear. In organisational terms, it was just the usual suspects, with total Fash turnout about 60.
2. TBC & a deputy leader of the UPF turned up, but kept to themselves. They are more straightforward Nazis & didn’t feel happy at the rally being called by a Jew.
3. Yemeni’s rally was ostensibly about crime. At one stage, to maintain the fiction, he tried to start a chant, “Black or white, straight or queer, we refuse to live in fear”. It went down like a lead balloon on his side, with all the Fash around him just staring open-mouthed at him.
4. Our side had 350-400, about double what we’ve had for most of our mobilisations, so we outnumbered them heavily. However, the organising group had voted to meet up half a kilometre away, rather than at Parliament and then march there. Previous anti-Fascist mobilisations have tried to take the space of the Fash by arriving at their announced space earlier & defending it against them. As a result, it was easy for the cops to keep us apart and facilitate the Fash having their rally.
5. That day was the first event to be held under the new anti-mask laws. Coppers arrested an anti-Fascist at the Library, the initial assembly point, and charged him under summons (i.e. they released him after charging him, instead of taking him to the cop shop) for allegedly concealing his face. Another anti-Fascist was arrested on “assault police” after giving the cops a piece of her mind over the initial arrest.
6. The majority CARF post-event evaluation was entirely positive, concentrating on the size of the turnout and good reviews from first-time participants. A minority evaluation balanced that with disappointment over the lower objectives for the day; poor post-arrest support; the coppers blocking our sound truck from getting up to Parliament; and a big mistake when the allegedly masked anti-Fascist was mis-identified from the stage as a Fascist infiltrator.
7. CARF opposed the anti-mask laws before they were introduced. Discussion is occurring within CARF about how to respond now they are in operation. The MACG has its own view & will be arguing it vigorously.