26 Jan – Following the huge Invasion Day demonstration from the Block in Redfern to Australia House in the CBD, a dozen anti-colonial banners were tied to various highway bridges across Sydney.
Month: January 2016
Cambodia: Workers block SEZ over back wages
22 Jan – Unpaid workers from the shuttered, Turkish-owned Weibo garment factory blocked the entrance to the Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone again yesterday after the heavily indebted firm failed to pay their full salaries this week.
The factory, part of the Istanbul-based Weibo Group, ceased all operations on January 9, the day before December salaries were to be paid. Following protests, Weibo promised to pay the salaries in two equal instalments.
While the first instalment was successfully paid, Weibo failed to pay the second one on Wednesday, prompting about 80 workers to gather at the zone’s entrance yesterday morning, blocking traffic into the facility.
“We are demanding full pay now,” said Prak Sreynich, a 19-year-old garment worker who worked at Weibo for three years and said she was owed roughly $100 by the firm.
The workers, who also claimed to be owed severance pay, may have to keep waiting, however.
Irsat Kanca, the managing director of Weibo Cambodia, said Weibo missed its second instalment because of a lawsuit from a former supplier temporarily blocking the firm from selling off its machinery.
“We have debts of $580,000 to suppliers and $270,000 to the workers,” Kanca said in Weibo’s deserted headquarters.
While Kanca claimed that workers’ severance pay had already been doled out over the past three months, he vowed that their salaries would eventually be paid in full.
“The process will take a maximum two weeks [from now].”
Australia Day: The Main Event in the National Sport of Denial
Note: The following text was written by some unknown activists who redecorated several ‘ADSHELL’ corporate advertising spaces in the city of Melbourne, in so-called Australia on 26.01.16 in protest against the ‘Australia Day’ national public holiday and it’s accompanying ‘official’ celebrations.
Australia Day: The Main Event in the National Sport of Denial
Today, advertising across the city of Melbourne has been replaced with messages that confront “Australia Day” for its inherent celebration of invasion and the genocide that continues to be perpetrated against First Nations Peoples of this land.
This act of protest seeks to highlight that so-called “Australia” was invaded under false pretenses, and that the sovereignty of its First Nations was never ceded, whilst simultaneously reclaiming public spaces from commercial entities for use as a public forum.
For many Indigenous people, today is a day of anger and mourning. In the wars that followed the initial invasion 228 years ago…
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7 Days of Resistance
This is a blog about decolonising. It is a place for collating acts of resistance. In the lead up to Invasion Day, 26 Jan 2016, join the resistance!
If you have contributions for this blog, you can email them to 7dayresistance@riseup.net
All photos of actions will be added to this blog with as much security as possible to protect those resisting (including activities that would be deemed unlawful by the dogs of the state) , but security on your end of the line is your own responsibility.
DISRUPTING SOUTH BANK CELEBRATIONS
REMINDER OF GENOCIDE
On Invasion Day (“Australia Day”) 2016, the water in this South Brisbane feature turned red as a reminder of the attempted genocide of more than 200 nations that have called this land home for over 60, 000
years. This particular feature was used due to its close vicinity
to the South Bank police station on Glenelg St, to mark the ongoing unjust and
excessive incarceration, abuse and murder of First Nations people at
the hands of the police.
This action was undertaken by non-indigenous people in solidarity with
First Nations’ struggles.
BANNERS FOR INVASION DAY
RADICAL STREET ART IN BRISBANE’S WEST END
GRAFFITI ON AUSTRALIA FIRST PARTY OFFICE
WHAT’S THE DAY? INVASION DAY!
Australia Day = Invasion Day
SOLIDARITY
Solidarity from Amuzgo brother
PAINTING THE STREETS
Painting the streets
Melbourne: Solidarity actions against the French consulate and VINCI owned companies
Disruption of VINCI and French Consulate
To the defenders of the ZAD,
Solidarity from anarchists in so-called ‘Melbourne, Australia’- the never-ceded indigenous land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, stolen and occupied by the genocidal settler-colonial state.
In response to recent threats of violent eviction by the French State, actions were taken at several locations in Melbourne, the city built on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, in colonised Australia. The actions targetted the French consulate and offices of companies of the VINCI corporate-family linked to the proposed destruction of land at the Zone-A-Defendre.
The French consulate was attacked with paint and its locks were stuffed and glued.
The Offices of Menard-Bachy and Fressynet (both companies owned by VINCI), had their windows broken and slogans in support of the ZAD painted on the facade.
The Melbourne office of Electrix (a company owned by…
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Border Fascist Update
According the the Operation Sovereign Borders December Update there were no so called illegal maritime arrivals transferred to Australian Immigration authorities.
And no illegal maritime arrivals were transferred to regional processing centres. This doesn’t confirm whether any people attempted to seek asylum in Australia by boat.
The report also mentions the 2 year anniversary of the policy to turn boats back to their country of origin. It claims 695 people on 23 boats have been returned to their country of origin (the country the boat left from most likely Indonesia).
Of course they claim this is saving lives at sea. But this logic is nonsensical.
How can you save lives at sea by keeping boats at sea? Do they know what happened to the people when they returned to Indonesia? Did they even get back to Indonesia?
I’ve read reports of boats washing up on remote islands and people…
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Solidarity and strength to R94 & all the Rebels of Rigaer strasse! (Australia / Germany)
As the bitter news of the attacks on the emancipatory structures and projects of the Rigaer kiez reach us, we extend our whole hearted solidarity and strength to all the rebellious inhabitants of Rigaer strasse.
We find it entirely unsurprising that within the context of a dramatic rise in attacks against refugees, rents rises and evictions, we witness this bloated and vicious assault on a hot spot of anti-gentrification and anti-fascist activism in Berlin.
For in the crass and plundering acts orchestrated by that armchair warrior Henkel and his hired gimps in uniform the facade of social democracy is exposed and we see to the heart of the issue at hand.
The violence of poverty, exploitation and dispossession is a daily lived reality for the many marginalized (and therefore considered beneath dignity) under this system. The countless acts of brutality that emit from and resonate with the flow of…
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Anti-Election Action – Baliwag Bulacan Philippines
20 January 2016 – the anti-election campaign initiated by Local Autonomous Network (LAN) was hosted by Food Not Bombs (FNB) crew in Baliwag Bulacan. Anarcho punks and FNB volunteers of the said locality conducted series of activities from food preparation, food sharing, inter-action with street children and homeless people. Due to lack of materials, T-shirt printing was cancelled LAN volunteers provided silk screen to the local volunteers for them to continue the activity in their convenient time. While FNB crew was busy distributing food, Mag-isa collective installed its Radyo Kalye facility; host of volunteers from Safehouse Infoshop and street children conducted spontaneous program which effectively catched public’s attention.
After the event at the park, the group proceeded to the venue of anti-election discussion. The ideas, opinions and experience had been tackled were consistent to the discussions in Dasmarinas Cavite last December 20 which hosted by local FNB crew and anarcho…
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Townsville: Vandalism suspected as historic colonial ships sinks
5 Jan – A 120 year old sailing ship has sunk at its moorings in north Queensland.
People arriving to work in Townsville this morning were surprised to find the 35-metre tall ship Defender submerged at a wharf on Ross Creek in the city’s CBD.
The hull of the vessel was completely submerged, while its rigging remained above the water. Maritime Safety Queensland has cordoned off the site.
Ship owner Les Dick, who is based in Tasmania, said it had been “gut wrenching” to hear the news this morning.
“We do suspect it’s been an act of vandalism or such leading to the sinking of the vessel,” Mr Dick said.
The Defender was built in 1895 and used as a trading vessel between the colonies.
In 1923 the Defender entered the history books with a record-breaking crossing of Bass Strait, and in World War II it was used to transport troops and supplies.
Mr Dick bought the vessel in 1982, and it was restored to take part in the bicentenary re-enactment of the sailing of the First Fleet into Sydney Harbour in 1988, as well as the Bicentenary Tall Ships Race from Hobart to Sydney.
“[It’s] a bloody beautiful boat, a beautiful boat and it was restored with a lot of love and care and a lot of Tasmanians helped, donated to get it going in 1988.
“I think it did Tasmania proud in the bicentenary and it’s been a representative for Tasmania wherever it’s gone in Australia.”
Mr Dick said the boat’s future looked grim.
“The last thing we would want is for such an historic vessel to end up going to the tip. It would be an absolute tragedy.”
Cambodia: Road blocked, protester freed
People gather outside the Preah Vihear Provincial Hall yesterday afternoon to demand the release of a community representative who was picked up by the authorities and detained.
A community representative for villagers embroiled in two separate land disputes in Preah Vihear province was detained by police yesterday morning but released hours later after protesters blocked the road in front of the provincial hall with 10 two-wheeled tractors.
About 100 victims of two land disputes in the province’s Tbeng Meanchey and Rovieng districts have teamed up since December 28 to protest every day in front of the Preah Vihear Provincial Hall.
According to Lor Chan, provincial coordinator for rights group Adhoc, 48-year-old Vong Sok Khengly, a representative for villagers in the Rovieng case, was arrested at 8am yesterday while he went to buy food at the market, but was freed at 2:15pm.
“The authorities arrested him, which is intimidation against the people who are just protesting peacefully for their rights without using axes or machetes or rifles to confront the authorities,” he said.
In reaction, protesters assembled the tractors and blocked the road. However, Preah Vihear Provincial Deputy Governor Su Serie said the authorities just detained the man to “educate him” for taking part in the protest outside the provincial hall.
“It was not an arrest, we just called him in for questioning since he disturbed officials during their meeting,” he said.
The situation de-escalated, however, after authorities promised to inspect the land dispute in Tbeng Meanchey today, pledging to look over the border and have the courts issue an order resolving the situation. Authorities have not yet addressed the land dispute in Rovieng, however.
Following the agreement, protesters left for their homes, though Adhoc’s Lor Chan said that they would resume their protests if a speedy resolution was not found.
According to San Reb, a local man who helps coordinate the villagers’ actions, the Rovieng district villagers are protesting against two companies that promised to build a road but have instead logged their forest since 2014.
Meanwhile, the villagers from Tbeng Meanchey district are protesting two Chinese companies, Lan Feng and Rui Feng, for allegedly clearing their lands.
Nuon Mun, who lives in Tbeng Meanchey’s Brame commune, said the villagers had kept urging authorities to solve the land dispute without success, characterising Sok Khengly’s brief arrest as “unjust”.
“He had been protesting since the 28th [of December], but the provincial authorities arrested him at the market after I sent him there to buy some food,” she said.
