Hundreds of BDS demonstrators gathered again yesterday at Melbourne's Central Business District to protest against the attack and arrest of 19 nonviolent BDS supporters on July 1st as reported here by Kim Bullimore. Victorian Police had previously arrested demonstrators at the Max Brenner cafe, owned by the Israeli Strauss Group, which directly funds two IDF brigades, the Golani and Givati brigades.
The 19 protestors now face exorbitant fines of up to $30,000. According to organizers CAIA (Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid), yesterday's demonstration expanded to approximately 500 people, 4 times as many as the rally 30 days ago. Starting at the Victorian State Library demonstrators marched through the city streets first to the Max Brenner in Melbourne Central, and then onto Max Brenner in the QV courtyard to show support for those arrested and assert their legal right to continue protesting against those who support and fund Israeli apartheid.
There were no arrests this time although police were in attendance including 8 mounted officers.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd, visited Max Brenner in mid-July for a photo media opportunity misrepresenting the intentions of BDS in the Australian press as a boycott of "Jewish businesses".
"As an individual citizen - that is me, K. Rudd - I am here because I object to the boycotting of Jewish businesses," he said. Mr Rudd - meeting with Melbourne Ports MP Michael Danby - said anyone with historical memory should deplore boycotts of Jewish businesses. Samah Sabawi from Australians for Palestine said Max Brenner was a legitimate target for the boycott, even though her organisation did not take part in protests. "I think Kevin Rudd has not given Palestinian civil society a good hearing," Ms Sabawi said.
(Hat tip: International Women's Peace Service in Palestine (IWPS) and volunteer Kim Bullimore)
aside from politicians taking an opportunity to pontificate about the past while ignoring the present, what is the basis for the fines? what laws did they break? i am curious… this is insane without a fuller understanding and of course rudds words obfuscate what is going on here… is he another politician beholden to israel like all of them in the usa?
james, hopefully someone from australia will be able to answer your question regarding why they were arrested, specific charges. it could be something like ‘disturbing the peace’. if you’ll notice from the protest july 1 (video) the demonstrators were loudly chanting.
“THIS IS NOT A POLICE STATE WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEMONSTRATE”
is he another politician beholden to israel like all of them in the usa?
my understanding is he may be another israel firster. here’s an april article from the australian jewish news
is he another politician beholden to israel like all of them in the usa?
my understanding is he may be another israel firster.
Obvious doesn’t support BDS, but not a “lover of Israel” either:
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has summoned the Israeli ambassador to “get to the bottom” of how suspected Mossad assassins used Australian passports to travel to Dubai to kill a top Hamas commander.
link to australiansforpalestine.com
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has arrived in Israel with a blunt message: allow international inspectors into your nuclear facility. He has also called on Israel to stop building in Jewish settlements in both the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
link to theaustralian.com.au
Hi Hostage, actually Rudd is very much falls into the mold of being a “lover of Israel”.
During his 2007 election campaign he was widely quoted as saying that “Israel was in his DNA” (he had said this at a gathering organised by a leading Zionist figure).
In relation to incident with the Australian passports, Rudd didn’t really have much choice. As the PM at the time, he could not just sit by and not say anything about the fact that a supposed “friend” had stolen the identity and passports of Australian citizens. To have sat by and said nothing would have exposed both him and his party as weak and pathetic (which in fact, they both are).
In 2008, Rudd also moved a bipartisan motion in the House of Representatives in support of Israel’s 60 anniversary, completely ignoring the fact that Palestinians were ethnically cleansed.
While its true Rudd is not quite in the same league as John Howard (the former PM) as a “lover of Israel”, he is not that far behind.
Its a pity Rudd doesn’t have the guts of his nephew Van – a radical activist and visual artist, who is pro-Palestine and anti-Zionist. Recently Van had a pro-BDS work banned from the Human Rights and Arts Festival in Melbourne. The art work which lampooned Max Brenner, Justin Bieber and Israeli apartheid was originally to be displayed in an art gallery in the QVB centre, the same centre where the peaceful July 1 action against Max Brenner was attacked by the police
link to australianbdscampaign.wordpress.com
link to van-thanh-rudd.net
Hi James,
I don’t know the specific charges that have been laid but this article from the Sydney Stop The War coalition goes into some details:
The peaceful picket was ‘kettled’ by police before leading activists were individually targeted in an unprovoked attack by the police riot squad. The tactic of completely surrounding a group of protesters is called “kettling”.
The majority of those arrested have been charged with “trespass” and “besetting”, while a small number of the demonstrators were also charged with “behaving in a riotous manner”. Video taken of the demonstrations shows that the pro-Palestinian activists were completely peaceful and they were attacked in a violent and unprovoked manner by the Victorian police.
…and then continues on to broaden the issue to wider attacks on pro-Palestine activists in other countries, before coming back to specific Victorian state politics:
The attack on the peaceful BDS action in Melbourne highlights increasing attempts to criminalise BDS and pro-Palestine solidarity activism internationally. Currently in the US, France and Greece, hundreds of pro-Palestine activists are facing criminal charges for non-violently standing up for Palestinian human rights. The attack also highlights the attacks on civil liberties, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in Victoria by the Baillieu government. In June 2011, Bailleu’s Coalition government introduced new laws extending police powers, allowing the Victorian police to issue on-the-spot fines of up to $240 for using “offensive” language. The new laws do not define clearly what “offensive” language is, allowing individual police officers to arbitrarily decide what is offensive or not.
The government has also established a new 42 member “Public Order Response Team”. According to the Melbourne’s Herald Sun newspaper, one of the primary functions of Baillieu’s new riot squad will be “breaking up public protests”.
Civil liberties lawyer Rob Stary in a media release issued by the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid in the wake of the violent police attack on the peaceful BDS protest outside Max Brenner said the attack and arrests showed that “the new Victorian [Baillieu] government is prepared to criminalise legitimate dissent.”
Just to clarify, as far as I have been able to find out the fines total $30,000, rather than being $30,000 each.
At any rate, I hope the Victorian Police see the error in their ways, but I doubt it. Their attempt at intimidation has backfired, many more people turned up for this rally than the one where the arrests were made. That’s the thing about civil society: piss us off and we’ll just use that legitimate outrage to further our cause – more campaigns, louder protests, bigger signs, smarter tactics.
Thanks MW for covering this.
we can also thank hemara who alerted followers to this action last night.
as far as I have been able to find out the fines total $30,000, rather than being $30,000 each.
thank you, i will edit.
thanks sumud and annie..
it seems to me the land of rupert murdoch might be in for a few changes on the political front too if this keeps up…
to me the critical point in all of this is making a distinction between boycotting israel and boycotting a country that is maintaining a practice of apartheid… it is the system of apartheid that israel presently practices that is the reason for the bds movement… until these stooges for the state, including the politicians that work to maintain ignorance are confronted with this distinction, they will continue on in their uninformed ways…. kevin rudd is no exception… does murdoch dictate much of foreign policy in australia thru his bullshit meda empire? i sure as hell wouldn’t want to have to suck up to someone like that…
Hi James,
the 19 activists were charged with “trespassing” (in a public place mind you) and “besetting”. If they are found guilty it is expected that they will have to pay collective fines of up to $30,000 (or perhaps more if they were fined the full amount allowed). All of those arrested will be pleading guilty when they case goes to court on September 5.
Two days before the 29 July rally, I attended the bail variation hearing for 11 of the activists arrested and the police made it very clear during the hearing that the arrests only came after discussion with the Zionist groups, the Victorian (conservative) government, the management of the two shopping centres and Brenner’s management. The police stated that “the protestors had their way for too long” and that they had “decided to draw a line in the sand” and arrest the demonstrators. A lot of the police testimony revolved around the fact that the protests were well organised and coordinated (and therefore effective, although they didn’t use the word “effective”). They made it clear that their main aim in arresting people was to disrupt the ability of pro-Palestine solidarity activists to organise.
In relation to Kevin Rudd – Rudd’s position is reflective both the current Labor government and the previous Liberal (conservative) government. Rudd is currently the Foreign Minister but he was previously the Prime Minister of Australia before he was rolled by his own party and Julia Gillard made the PM. In a speech during his 2007 electoral campaign state that “Israel is in my DNA”. In 2008/2009, Julia Gillard who was deputy PM at the time came out heavily in support of Israel during Operation Cast Lead (she was acting PM at the time as Rudd was out of the country or on holiday or something). Gillard also took a Zionist junket to Israel the following year.
thanks kim, very informative
the police made it very clear during the hearing that the arrests only came after discussion with the Zionist groups, the Victorian (conservative) government, the management of the two shopping centres and Brenner’s management. The police stated that “the protestors had their way for too long” and that they had “decided to draw a line in the sand” and arrest the demonstrators
it would be interesting to read these statements made at the hearing. the police must know the laws of australia. either way, i admire the determination and persistence of the protestors.
thanks btw.
Eeeps! Sorry I accidently left a word out . All the arrestees will be pleading NOT GUILTY at the September 5 hearing! Sorry for the confusion!
Hi Annie, what was very clear from the bail variation hearing was that the attack on the protest was completely politically motivated and had nothing to with any actual violence on behalf of the protestors.
The police and the media have tried to make out that we and the protests are violent but the police were forced to admit at the bail variation hearing that there was absolutely no property damage and there was no record of police or any of the public being hurt (The media has been reporting that 3 police were injured, but the police admitted in the court hearing that the injuries were insignificant, things like bruised shins from the police dragging the protestors and such).
As mentioned they made it clear they wanted to disrupt our ability to organise. At one point in their attempt to paint us as nefariously well organised and dangerous, they cited the fact we had been able to organise helium balloons for the action. I have to admit, I had to stop myself laughing out loud in court a couple of times.
helium balloons? that’s hysterical. as i am sure you are aware there is a massively funded apparatus designated for the purpose of framing and smear. own the message! just keep being real and telling the truth. i have a lot of faith in the brains of australians. thnx again for everything.
“exorbitant fines” The genius of the Reptilian Order: no need to waste bullets or poison on the Obstreperous, just impoverish ‘em and let nature take its course.
Some people just won’t give up.
Militants attack gas pipeline in Egypt’s Sinai
By Agence France-Presse
Saturday, July 30th, 2011 — 10:33 am
link to rawstory.com
i can see why they don’t… israel should not get a drop of gas from egypt while she continues settlement expansion and the occupation; let alone get gas at below the market rate. when are all states (but especially arab/muslim states) going to condition any normal relations and trade with israel on an END to the occupation?
oddly, i had just left egypt 2 weeks before the revolution, and was in the west bank when a pipeline was first hit…. THAT attack was almost assuredly done by the mubarak regime, or with their consent (mossad/israeli agents? the israeli support for mubarak was intense before he fell, and as is the way of israel, likely took on some unique methods; israel also wanted to stop the spread of the arab spring in egypt). interestingly it was on the pipeline that goes *through* israel, and supplies jordan (not the other one, which supplied israel).
link to politisite.com
first the attack was cited as a “major terrorist attack” and order was needed (on egyptian state TV; my egyptian friend in giza even bought most of the mubarak BS as he created disorder in order to crack down and make “order”). w/in 48 hours it was clear mubarak was going to fall, and the story switched to an “accident”.
i have to say, given israel’s current unbearable reality, i cannot fully condemn the sabotage of the pipeline going into israel….
the tipping point is near
this is what is so maddening to so many of us to whom it seems so obvious
that zionism is a failure and is going into the ashbin of history:
the public tide has turned and the spontaneous Australian demonstration in reaction to the draconian response by the police force on behalf of israel against BDS protesters bespeaks of a deep and wide sentiment among people of the world that israel is an out-of-control MONSTER
israel thinks that being more ruthless, more aggressive, more cruel, more controlling is the way for their mafia apartheid state to maintain its power – they don’t see how the tighter they squeeze the more it slips away
israel has tightened the screws on the US and Greece and Turkey and host of other countries in recent months to stop the 2nd Gaza flotilla and to blackmail and in-debt other nations prior to September’s unilateral Palestinian declaration of statehood to be rightfully recognized my most at the UN
israel doesn’t see that when their web of lies and manipulations falls apart it will fall apart utterly
… if only reasonable leaders had power over there and the majority of the populace had not been turned into zionist thugs
yrn,
>> I guess a month Ago “Gilad Atzmon” had an interview with ”
Philip Weiss”, I raised up the real Character of Atzmon.
Please find an article that was released today by David Duke.
The thirtah cent smear job!
I, for one, await an intrepid reporter coming up with The Secret Letters of Anders Breivik, wherein he writes to Daniel Pipes and praises him as the “towering intellectual figure of our time.”
You know it is coming… -N49.
-N49.
N49
That’s your wishful thinking, but at the moment, we got the KKK grand Wizard “David Duke” towering the figure of our time “Gilad Atzmon”
“As you have pointed out so well with the Jewish corruption of the so-called Anti-Zionist Movement, please understand that for these radical Jews, destruction of European heritage and loyalty is a weapon they use to divide and conquer. Multiculturalism is a weapon for Jewish supremacism. Immigration is means to divide and conquer ,and they are already using its bad effects to garner support for Israel from unsuspecting European people.”
You will have to be satisfied by that now.
YRN, give up your smear of Atzmon — that is the typical Zionist approach to debate and discussion — smear the messenger. Atzmon in other articles he has written states his belief that such a strategy runs very deep in Jewish culture.
YRN, you are probably aware that amongst Norman Finkesltein’s ‘fans’ are a number of questionably unsavory characters such as Lady Renouf and other fringe ‘personalities’ I won’t mention — does that mean that by association, we should also smear Norman Finkelstein now?
Atzmon has a strong message, that it seems people like you and Max Ajl and others on Mondoweiss want to silence — why is that?
Atzmon has said reprehensible things about Jews, all Jews, and about Judaism. That fact stands by itself independent of any aspect of I/P debates.
tokyobk, enough already with the Gilad Atzmon smears — we are adult enough to read his work and decide for ourselves what is actually ‘anti Semitic’ in his writing, and what is of worth and value.
Why is that so many Zionists ( and Jews ) try to scare people away by the smear by association tactic? It is tired by now, and easy to spot, so it doesn’t work anymore. Give it up.
Five hundred protestors? For a boycott demo? At one store? Holy cow.
And they keep telling us this isn’t working.
I think it’s in part the format Chaos: a public rally, a march through busy city streets on Friday night with lots of chanting and signs – which always picks up more people as the march progresses – and then a specific endpoint which relates to BDS. Still, the numbers were already pretty large before we left the State Library.
I woke up this morning thinking about how impressive a huge flash mob would have been in the QV courtyard, something along the lines of the great Philly BDS action and numerous others we’ve seen. But I guess that’s a lot of coordinating to do for a group of people sized in the hundreds!
Should we bring up those Zionist forefathers who commiserated with the Nazi regime? That’s on topic now, thanks to you.
Early in July 2011, two prominent Russian neo-Nazis, Ilya Lzrnko and Alexei Shirofayeb met MKs Arieh Eldad and Ayoub Kara. Lzrnko believes the Holocaust is a myth.
link to news.nana10.co.il
You couldn’t make it up!
The fines were for the usual crap, trespass/public disorder/obstructing police. The sorts of stuff cops use to arrest people they don’t like much. Same stuff they used at the S11 protests years back. BTW there was quite a few more than 500 people there. The arrests swelled the protests significantly, this last action had far more people than the one that the arrests occurred at.
Australian politicians love of Israel (and it’s both major parties and a majority of the Greens who are now the third party) is purely and simply and extension of American foreign policy. We have NEVER had an independent foreign policy, for the first 150 years we were a client of the British Empire (Australia entered both world wars the second – literally – the UK did) and since the end of WW2 we have been purely beholden to America. We will continue to fight in Oz but the plain truth is without a change in US policy there are limits to how successful we can be. It’s not really about changing the minds of Australian politicians it’s about educating the public.
Isn’t it nice to know that every BDS related topic must be skipped by Israelis like eee?
…now eGaurd do be fair! eee regularly comments on BDS articles, to tell us how useless the movement is and how we’re not making any progress and never will.
I think one or more of eee’s significant adult role models must have repeatedly told him as a child he was destined to fail whenever he tried anything new or challenging, because that’s all he seems to be able to say about BDS. He presents himself as perfectly comfortable in the decaying morass of Israeli zionist apartheid, whether he really is only he knows.
Then, just for stirring the debate on BDS, someone can claim civil damage in Israel! eee meeting justice.
Sometimes I think this country is socially stuck in the 1950′s. Then I read things like this!
Props to all the hundreds who stood in solidarity with BDS campaigners, this must have made the lobby here wobble. Good to see at least some people care about something other than AFL and masterchef.
Labor has been carrying the water for Israel for decades so Rudd’s grubby little comments are no surprise. And as for the Liberal party and their war on free speech and extension of police power in every state they hold office- well, they’re just a bunch of fascists, obviously.
YRN, on a further point, I know almost nothing about David Duke, but I would have thought that his ethno centric ‘self preservation’ consciousness would be very familiar to many right wing Israelis and Jews, many of whom seem to consider assimilation or intermarriage to be a curse and ‘bad for Jews.’ So, I am not sure why you consider David Duke holding similar views about his own people to be offensive? As the old saying goes, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
Secondly, however bad you assume Duke’s views and stance to be, at least he hasn’t robbed another peoples country, forced them off their land, beat, clubbed, tear gassed and harrassed them, as the people you support, the Israelis and Jews have done.
You know YRN, you have some chutzpah – you stand up for,represent and support a European people, who turned up from Kiev, Poland and Moscow, and robbed a land from weaker dark skinned people, and yet you sneer at Duke’s views.
The hypocrisy is staggering.
MB, dragging gilad and david duke, neither of which has anything to do w/this post, into the thread is a favorite diversion tactic of the hasbies
Indeed, Annie, and since he hasn’t returned to continue the ‘debate’ and support his point of view, he is clearly a troll.
Annie and all the readers.
I never returned to continue the debate, because MB = Gilad Atzmon.
He is sure everyone can be fooled by his know games, at least change the style of your “English” .
Gilad Atzmon cannot accept being kicked out of this blog and will try all his famous pathetic infantile acts to crawl back.
Not this time Atzmon Troll.
MB (or Gilad Atzmon) says ‘I know almost nothing about David Duke’ but that ‘however bad you assume Duke’s views and stance to be, at least he hasn’t robbed another peoples country, forced them off their land, beat, clubbed, tear gassed and harrassed them, as the people you support, the Israelis and Jews have done.’
Presumably Atzmon (MB) hasn’t heard of the March to Alabama and similar civil rights marches where the demonstrators were indeed tear gassed, had dogs set on them, clubbed etc.
David Duke is a former Grand Wizard of the KKK, who of course lynched hundreds if not thousands of Black people in the South of the USA.
But David Duke is also a great fan of Gilad Atzmon. In his ‘Letter to the Courageous Former Israeli Gilad Atzmon’ link to davidduke.com Duke begins his letter
‘Dear Gilad,
As usual Gilad, you write such fine articles exposing the evil of Zionism and Jewish supremacism.’
One neo-Nazi to a fellow soul.
And on his main page Duke demonstrates where his politics are at when, underneath the extract of his letter to Atzmon he has an article
‘Teachers Pressured to Help Blacks Cheat in School
link to davidduke.com
Being a faithful son of the KKK, Duke doesn’t like Black people either.
As for Gilad Atzmon (or the various pseudonyms he uses – MB/Yocheved etc.) you can find all you need to know here in a short guide to some of Atzmon’s finest writing:
link to azvsas.blogspot.com
You could try his essay ‘Truth, History, and Integrity’ where he makes it clear that the holocaust is a myth:
‘If, for instance, the Nazis wanted the Jews out of their Reich (Judenrein – free of Jews), or even dead, as the Zionist narrative insists, how come they marched hundreds of thousands of them back into the Reich at the end of the war?’ ‘If the Nazis ran a death factory in Auschwitz-Birkenau, why would the Jewish prisoners join them at the end of the war? We should ask for some conclusive historical evidence and arguments rather than follow a religious narrative…’ ‘Why were the Jews hated? Why did European people stand up against their next-door neighbours? Why are the Jews hated in the Middle East.’
See the sleight of hand. Jews were victims of anti-Semitism in Europe (little things like anti-Semitism being a useful safety valve for the different repressive regimes) and now they are hated in the Middle East. Except that Jews in Europe weren’t colonisers, didn’t drive anyone off the land. But to Atzmon it’s all about ‘Jewishness.’
But people shouldn’t be surprised. In his ’1001 Lies About Gilad Atzmon’ [everyone tells lies about this pure soul] he confesses that:
‘I must admit that I have many doubts concerning the Zionist Holocaust narrative. Being familiar with many of the discrepancies within the forcefully imposed narrative, being fully familiar with the devastating tale of the extensive collaboration between the Nazis and the Zionists before and throughout the Second World War, I know pretty well that the official Holocaust narrative is there to conceal rather than to reveal any truth. … ‘
As for Duke doing no more than right-wing Israelis (in fact Zionism generally) in opposing assimilation/mixed marriages etc. There is of course a difference between a religion not wanting people within to marry other religions – Catholics used to be the same. What is wrong when it becomes state practice and defined by law or when, like Duke, you would want to institute a system of apartheid to enforce it.
But regardless, as a Jew who did indeed marry out, I consider Zionist views about ethnic purity as obnoxious as Duke’s. That is why Atzmon’s views are detestable, whatever name he posts under!