[Green-Activist] APEC protesters should turn their backs on Howard's violence

Sun Aug 26 08:00:16 EST 2007

Dear activists,
After reports this week that Howard government departments are altering  
entries in Wikipedia that are unfavourable to the Government, it is not  
surprising that Sydney Indymedia is still off-line, "under  
maintenance".  The following entry should be of interest to you.

<p><b>APEC protesters should turn their backs on Howard's  
violence</p></b>

<p><a  
href=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/wet-v-wild-riot-squad-shows- 
off-its-700000-weapon/2007/08/20/1187462176707.html>A $700,000  
anti-riot squad water cannon that can knock protesters off their  
feet</a>; jails cleared of periodic sentence prisoners in preparation  
for <a  
href=http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22299043-29277,00.html>
mass arrests</a>; those arrested to be <a  
href=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/24/2013746.htm>
denied the presumption of bail</a>.</p>

<p>Which banana republic, I hear you ask.</p>

<p>Australia—Sydney 2007 APEC summit.</p>

<p>Besides the boost that Howard hopes the APEC end-of-conference photo  
will give him in the eyes of voters, he's also hoping that an all-in  
brawl with protesters will enable him to throw more mud at Rudd: "Look,  
these are the sort of people who support Labor, they're really no  
better than terrorists", or words to that effect.</p>

And one of Labor's premier states has handed this to him on a 
platter. Without state government approval for the conference—which is 
definitely not a commercial opportunity—Howard would probably have been 
forced to choose Canberra for the summit site.

Had the security assessment for Sydney been serious, responsible 
authorities would never have allowed it. Perhaps such advice was 
given, and perhaps Howard's minders rejected it. The emergency 
response to a possible terrorist attack on delegates or even a 
conventional disaster at the time of the summit has seen the city 
subjected to a level of security never before encountered in 
Australia.

<p>The site of the summit will be cordoned off with a 2.8 metre-high,  
five-mile long barrier, and extensive areas of kerbside throughout the  
city will be cleared of parking, stretching to suburbs remote from the  
city centre.</p>

<p>Authorities say this is to allow access for emergency vehicles, but  
hospital authorities say Sydney is ill-prepared to handle a disaster,  
and that many more casualties could be expected in the event of such a  
disaster.</p>

Organisers of the <a 
href=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/route-change-angers-apec- 
marchers/2007/08/20/1187462176704.html<
anti-war protests planned for APEC</a> are still at loggerheads with 
state police over the proposed route of their march, which has been 
overshadowed by dire threats against individual protesters caught up in 
previous protests. (The online version of the story of the route of 
the protest march does not include the map published in the 
hardcopy.)

The Sydney Morning Herald 8 August reported "Activists and unions 
expect more than 10,000 to <a 
href=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/apec-protest-group-swells/ 
2007/08/08/1186252741570.html>protest during APEC</a>. The main 
student protester organisation, the Stop Bush Coalition, had originally 
estimated that 5000 people would march on Saturday, September 8."

If ever there were a time of danger for the anti-war movement, it is 
now. Considering this danger and the cynicism of the Howard 
government, any attempt at direct action must be very seriously 
reconsidered.

ABC News reported 25 August that Prime Minister Howard <a 
href=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/08/25/2015063.htm? 
section=australia>
blamed violent protesters</a> at an earlier protest (the Melbourne G20 
summit of international finance ministers) for severe security measures 
for APEC, but denied these measures 'might actually incite violence.'

Howard was quoted as saying: "That is a common excuse by those who 
seek to take the law into their own hands". This is typical distortion 
of the truth from a prime minister who makes his own law on the run and 
has scant regard for history. A report on the 2006 Melbourne 
demonstrations by the <a 
href=http://www.greenleft.org.au/2007/710/36868> Federation of 
Community Legal Centres of Victoria</a>, accused police of using 
excessive and unwarranted force against protesters and bystanders—a 
repeat performance of the 2000 S11 <a 
href=http://home.vicnet.net.au/~gcforum/ 
BarrettReport.htm#7.1>unprovoked baton charge</a> on by the Victorian 
Police Response Unit which had been approved by then Victorian Premier 
Bracks.

In his Quarterly Essay, <a 
href=http://www.quarterlyessay.com/qe/currentissue/>
His Master's Voice: The Corruption of Public Debate Under Howard</a>, 
author and journalist David Marr recounts the 14 March 20007 dawn sweep 
to arrest G20 demonstrators in Sydney: "Between fifty and sixty police 
from NSW, Victorian and Federal squads" raided homes around Sydney and 
arrested five students. "The police themselves allude to the real 
driver behind the raids ... [APEC] ... One of the arrested students 
says he has been told several times by senior police: 'If you guys turn 
up to APEC, we'll smash you'." (Marr, 2007, page 33 ff.)

<p><b>Readers should make no mistake about this: anyone advocating  
violent confrontation at APEC will be as good as an <i>agent  
provocateur for Howard</i>.</p><b/>

A mass protest meeting in the Domain or other inner-city venue would 
still send a strong message to the nation and internationally, and deny 
Howard fuel for his reactionary agenda. After all, in two months time, 
we can be rid of him at the ballot box.

<p><b>Update on over-the-top spending</p></b>

More detail emerged this week on the Howard Government's security 
spending. The Daily Telegraph reported Thursday 23 August ('Jihad 
drugs stockpile') the government "has secretly approved tens of 
millions of dollars ... to stockpile emergency drugs to treat victims 
of a terrorist strike".

<p><b>Twisting the truth: Howard's departments caught editing Wikipedia  
entries</p></b>

<p>Media reports Friday 24 August reveal the Departments of Prime  
Minister and Cabinet, and Defence  "have been <a  
href=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/government-caught- 
wikiwatching/2007/08/23/1187462438744.html>
editing Wikipedia</a> to remove details that are potentially damaging  
to the Government."   According to the report, "A new website,  
WikiScanner, which traces the digital fingerprints of those who make  
changes to entries in the online encylopedia, points to the department  
as the source of 126 edits on subjects ranging from the "children  
overboard affair" to the Treasurer, Peter Costello."</p>

<p>But the Defence department was identified as "the most prolific  
Wikipedia contributors in Australia", with "more than 5000 edits to  
Wikipedia, including the Australian Defence Force Academy and even  
Vietnam-era Pentagon Papers."</p>

<p>And it's not only Wikipedia.  In a particularly <a  
href=http://www.news.com.au/sundaytelegraph/story/0,,22214631 
-5006009,00.html>
perverse promotion on YouTube</a>, reported in the Sunday Telegraph on  
9 August, Howard ties to persuade students to spend their so-called  
"gap year"—a year of deferred studies, taken last year by 9.75 per cent  
of students—in the Australian Defence Forces.  I accepted the  
invitation to leave a version of the following comment on the site:</p>

"With the cries of anti-Vietnam war protests still ringing in his 
ears, Howard wouldn't dare attempt to reintroduce conscription, but 
this perverse man is attempting to seduce students away from a gap year 
finding themselves, finding love, travelling, or just chilling out, 
into a year "serving their country"—learning how to kill and be killed. 
 Well, here's a slogan from the archives: Make Love, Not War. Or is 
that too complicated to fill the gap between your ears, old man."

<p>Not surprisingly, this comment disappeared in cyberspace.</p>

<p><b>Leaked copy of APEC leaders statement on climate change</p></b>

Greenpeace website has published a leaked copy of the <a 
href=http://www.greenpeace.org.au/blog/energy/?cat=7> <APEC leaders 
statement, apparently from an unidentified Australian Embassy.></a> 
Greenpeace comments: For a minute, it sounded like APEC might actually 
do something good on climate change. A quick read through the document, 
however, confirmed our suspicions: that APEC is being driven by the 
John Howard and George W Bush anti-Kyoto agenda."

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