Bothering politicians publicly who rudely suggest to Aboriginal Australians that they might abandon the means of their struggle through the 40 year old Tent Embassy is unacceptable to white colonial Australians and their housies who demand politeness from those whom they oppress. Protesters from the Tent Embassy at the Pork Barrel Cafe were angered by Tony Abbott’s comment that it was “probably time to move on from that”. In the context of Invasion and Survival Day, nationalist white colonial chest-thumping and the ongoing criminal Northern Territory Intervention whereby the basic human rights of Aboriginal Australians are withdrawn, Abbott’s comment predictably was offensive.
Mr Anderson said the comments were disrespectful.
“He said the Aboriginal embassy had to go; we heard it on a radio broadcast,” he said.
“We thought no way, so we circled around the building.”
He said the protesters wanted the leaders to clarify their position and whether Mr Abbott was serious about removing the embassy.
“You’ve got 1,000 people here peacefully protesting, and to make a statement about tearing down the embassy – it’s just madness on the part of Tony Abbott.
“What he said amounts to inciting racial riots.
Barbara Shaw, who told Aboriginal Tent Embassy protesters the whereabouts of Opposition leader Tony Abbott at the Pork Barrel Cafe, said she did not realise Prime Minister Julia Gillard would be present at the restaurant which protesters later picketed.
Ms Shaw says she couldn’t predict what would happen.
“I don’t regret it at all because nothing came of it,” she said.
“People wanted to make a little bit of noise and that is what they did.”
Ms Shaw says she did not realise the Prime Minister was with the Opposition Leader until after the restaurant incident.
But she says she does not regret telling people where Mr Abbott could be found.
“I basically informed the crowd of his whereabouts and they went,” she said.
“So I’m not responsible for people’s actions.
“It is up to people to do what they want to do.”
An eye witness relates the affair at the Pork Barrel Cafe.
A contingent of about 100 protesters made their way up the road to The Lobby and surrounded it. Though they were loud and noisy they were non-violent. Security blocked the protesters from getting close to the restaurant for a while but it didn’t take long for a few protesters to break the line and soon the rest had gotten close up against the restaurant’s walls. As the walls of The Lobby are made of glass the protesters could look in and see Mr Abbott and the others pretending not to hear them and, after about ten or fifteen minutes Julia Gillard’s white jacket was recognised and the protesters realised that she was in there along with Mr Abbott.
The aim of the protest had been to get Mr. Abbott to come out and talk to the crowd – now it wanted to get Ms. Gillard to come out and do the same as well. Yet they continued to ignore the protesters, drink champagne and take photos of one another while their constituents tried to get their attention.
A short time later a contingent of riot police and protective service officers arrived at the restaurant. All up there were about 50 to 60 officers there and protesters watched on as a group of about 20 riot police hurtled past them in V-formation, bursting into the restaurant and then locking themselves inside.
When I spoke to Sam she said that the protesters thought the riot police were arranging to form a sort of guard around the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader so that they could come out and talk to the crowd but, as the rest of the media has shown, the riot police’s real objective was to ‘escort’ the Prime Minister and Opposition Leader to their cars.
As more protesters made their way to the restaurant, the riot police charged out the doors, practically dragging Ms Gillard along, while the onlookers began to shout “where are you going?” and “why won’t you talk to us?” As the cars drove off, some people threw plastic water bottles and water at the cars.
At this point things began to get fairly nasty; one protester was knocked into the rose bushes and one gigantic cop started brandishing a can of tear gas or capsicum spray (reports differ on this point) in people’s faces and shoved Sam, another girl and a female photo-journalist in the head. When Sam told him to calm down he reportedly bared his teeth and grinned so widely his eyes nearly popped out of his head; to many on site it was fairly clear that the officer was barely under control.
Then the police began to link arms to form a line against the protesters and the protesters followed suit, ending up with a Mexican standoff. Some of the Indigenous Elders called for the protesters to return to the Tent Embassy but a female Elder began a non-violent sit-down protest in the road just down from the café and soon a line of Indigenous women, female Elders and non-Indigenous women had been formed across the road.
The women declared that they were not going to be intimidated by the police and that they would not move until the police stood down. While some of the other protesters returned to the Tent Embassy, a large group (including some of the Occupy Melbourne contingent) remained to watch on and support their fellow activists until the police eventually gave in and stood down.
As the remaining protesters made their way back to the Tent Embassy they were greeted by applause and the female protesters went through a cleansing smoke ceremony.
Several eye witnesses in the report above confirm there was no violence amongst the protesters, and it was the police who were violent. The white colonial Gubbahs have failed to sanction their own, instead blaming the protesters.
John Passant, another eye witness says:
The cops reacted as they always do when confronted by angry Aboriginal people.
The riot squad and the Prime Minister’s protection unit brutalised the crowd to clear a path for Gillard and Abbott, the two politicians of the Northern Territory invasion, the two politicians of hate, the two politicians of dispossession, the two politicians of aboriginal genocide.
Why is non-violence never expected of settler colonial oppressors?
Abbott now claims he was misconstrued yet his words retain the implication that there is no longer a need for the Aboriginal Tent Embassy.
Mr Abbott said he never suggested it was time for the Aboriginal tent embassy itself to “move on”.
“I was asked a question (and) I made the point, a lot’s happened in 40 years and I think we have moved on from the issues … that caused the Aboriginal tent embassy to be setup,” he said
However, the goals of the Tent Embassy are far from being met.
According to Channel 9 hyperbolic reportage, Australia’s leaders were “shoved” and “pushed” “in a mad dash” to safety.
The only ‘violence’ was caused by police, captured below as police assaulted protesters, despite the reportage playing up a ‘security threat’:
Aboriginal Australians have a long, proud and often ignored tradition of resistance to white settler colonialism.
‘Aboriginal Australians have been no different from the Palestinians in fighting back against ethnic cleansing and settler-colonisation. Our people actually carried out an extensive armed resistance to European settler colonialism. This resistance began the moment Cook set foot on Australian soil in 1770 – the Gweagal people attacked Cook’s landing party with spears and woomeras. From that moment on Aboriginal resistance never ceased.
Prior to Invasion Day 2012, Michael Anderson, the “last survivor of the four young Black Power men who set up the Aboriginal Embassy in 1972″ said he had “received intelligence that there is a move to destroy him personally and the Aboriginal sovereignty movement in which he plays a large role”.
Recently, during a visit by my mother and sister to Goodooga, my mother warned me that I need to be very well protected, because the government will find Aboriginal people to cause disruption to the sovereignty movement and threaten my life.
I have a very good idea of where the trouble will come from, as police intelligence is aware of the threat to my life and the sovereignty movement and that the people involved will commence a campaign to first character assassinate me to win support to reject me, thereby nullifying the sovereignty movement, by creating enormous divisions; which would permit the Australian government to say publically: Aborigines will never come together as a united body to fight for their sovereign status.
The First Nations Parliament wishes to return Julia’s shoe, lost during the rush to her vehicle.
Paul Coe, spokesperson for the First Nations Parliament, an organisation which has been re-established as a result of the anniversary celebrations, said Embassy activists were disgusted at the behavior of police.
“We’re appalled at the violence we saw today directed against the Prime Minister, and the tactics police employed to try and intimidate members of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, who were peacefully protesting at a family gathering.
“There was no need for that number of police to be there, or to have that level of menace or intimidation.
“They overreacted without assessing whether or not there was any risk to the Prime Minister. The only violence came from police.
“There was no risk to the Prime Minister of Australia. No-one here would have hurt the Prime Minister. Even the Opposition leader was safe.
“I’d remind the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader that in 1972 the then leader of the Opposition Gough Whitlam and the late Lionel Murphy came and met with us in the tents. They never felt threatened.
“We wish to return the shoe to her as a gesture of friendship and in the spirit of cooperation. We hope she will turn up here tomorrow to accept it in the same spirit.
“It’s to show we mean no harm and will not tolerate any threats or intimidation against the Prime Minister of Australia.
“I am appalled that the Prime Minister felt intimidated or threatened in any way because the Prime Minister of Australia should not have to endure or tolerate any of those kinds of behavior directed at her, be it from police or anyone else.
“The shoe is now a symbol of trust between two nations of people.”
Mr Coe said the First Nations Parliament would be established with a year.
“We’re sending letters out to our lawmen and women asking them to meet with First Nations to convene our parliament and to draft our constitution.”
The organisation came about after meetings at the Tent Embassy celebrations.
“We have re-asserted our First Nation sovereign rights through the re-establishment of the First Nations Parliament (the AP was first formed in 1972),” Mr Coe said.
Julia may have lost a shoe, but Tony lost everything, with his fearful, racist paternalism exposed.
UPDATE
Julia’s shoe has been returned to her via a security guard at Parliament House.
Related Links
After Ms Gillard was bundled into a waiting car and whisked away, a protester displayed one of Ms Gillard’s blue high-heel shoes, which had fallen off during her hasty exit, and shouted: ”Gingerella, come get your shoe!”
A day for celebration, not a day to dwell : vacuous patronisation by a Gubbah or migaloo sharing Abbott’s mindset
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White supremacist alert – Darrin Hodges touting housie Mundine as a valid representative of Indigenous Australians.
It is right to be angry; it is right to protest – land rights now!
Abbott says Tent Embassy should remain
Senior indigenous leaders such as social justice commissioner Mick Gooda and Warren Mundine are dismayed at what happened on Thursday,
but a tent embassy organiser called them “handpicked puppets” who did not represent grassroots Aboriginal people.
Michael Anderson, the last surviving member of the original four that established the tent embassy in 1972, denied the ugly protest had set back the indigenous movement.
“You fellas can … dwell on that and stay there, but right now we’re passed that,” he said.
“We’re over it, so get over it and move on.”
