Sedition in the streets
Tuesday November 15th 2005, 5:44 pm

Don’t worry- it’s just the usual suspects.

Here’s about 20,000 or so, in and around Belmore Park this morning:

 

…usual suspects like your neighbours, your parents, your kids, everyone you work with, everyone who works where you shop…

Nobody special.

-weez

UPDATE:  See more news & images from today’s IR protests, including a few of mine not used here, on Margo Kingston’s Webdiary.

Liam Hogan was also at Belmore Park this morning and posts his own set of pix.

The Age reports that Victoria Police don’t seem to think that individually negotiated AWAs are compatible with the paramilitary structure of their organisation- and want an exemption. If Howard exempts the police, there’s little cause not to exempt all public service workers.

UPDATE II: Lefty was at the Melbourne rally. Check his pix as well. 


15 Comments so far
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I was at Belmore park Weez and next to me were NSW Firemen. They were very concerned about their rights and even the cynic Andrews can’t possibly describe them as the usual suspects. We must have really unnerved the government Weez, to dismiss us as the usual suspects so roundly.

Comment by suki 11.15.05 @ 6:48 pm

I was emblazoned with AMWU logos, and waving a Greens triangle.

I felt out of place in Melbourne’s rally. Odd that.

Comment by larry bonewend 11.15.05 @ 6:51 pm

I’ve heard some rumbling that the NSW Police will be asking for an exemption from the IR laws. Apparently the paramilitary structure and individually bargained AWAs don’t mix. Looking for a news item on that.

Comment by weezil 11.15.05 @ 6:58 pm

Ah- it was the Vic cops that want out of Howard’s IR deforms… Updated. Thanks to Suki for the news tip. 🙂

Comment by weezil 11.15.05 @ 7:30 pm

I have absolutely died seeing the “Crunt” sign. DIED.

Comment by Adam 1.0 11.15.05 @ 9:33 pm

Adam, what’s a little sedition amongst friends? 😀

Comment by weezil 11.15.05 @ 9:35 pm

Now it’s just a matter of making sure that in two years people aren’t thinking “well, the country didn’t explode, let’s vote that nice Mr Howard back in”! I’m a bit worried business might go softly-softly until after the election… and then it’ll be A COMPLETE FREE FOR ALL!

ps – I’ve got some shitty camera-phone photos and a post on this, too.

Comment by MrLefty 11.16.05 @ 7:27 am

Thanks for the comment, Lefty. Your photos don’t look at all bad for camera-phone pix!

Howard’s dismissal of the IR protests rings some very familiar bells. Similar numbers of people went out on the streets in February 2003 over Aussie involvement in the illegal Iraq war- and we were summarily dismissed at that time as well.

Worst, Howard won re-election, confirming his notion that hundreds of thousands marching in the street is something he can safely disregard.

The only thing which is going to shut Howard down is BIG rolling strikes. People are going to have to go to jail in their hundreds. There will necessarily be some public inconvenience. The cost has to be greater than the benefit to Howard.

In the end, we all will pay for Howard’s despotism.

Comment by weezil 11.16.05 @ 7:48 am

Trackback.

My only regret is that I didn’t get to stick around for the speeches at the end.

Comment by Alex White 11.16.05 @ 10:03 am

Good work Weez. Great pictures as well.

Comment by Guy 11.16.05 @ 12:01 pm

Thanks, Guy. We got spectacularly good weather (26C, not a cloud) for the rally, to boot.

Only 90 mins after things wrapped up, it was blowing a gale, temps had dropped to 14C and there were heavy rain squalls over the city. I thought there may have been some divine message for Little Johnny in that dramatic storm blowing in as the unionists left… but I think divine intervention is probably what it will take to stop this rape of Australian workers.

Ready for the rolling strikes?

Comment by weezil 11.16.05 @ 2:06 pm

Crunt. My fave word after Twunt.

Can be idly tossed into polite conversation with barely a ripple…

Comment by cileo 11.16.05 @ 8:05 pm

Wonderful, great turn out in old ‘sleepy’ Adelaide. Rann anounced his government will be ‘first’ in to object to legislation changes. Unusual thing happened to me while I was at the supermarket – the check out operator (female about 17) was asking me which word would rhyme with face, as she was doing a slogan to take with her to the rally. Perhaps the youth of the future are our hope !

Comment by Morgan 11.16.05 @ 9:28 pm

Funny you should mention the supermarket. I was actually pleased to see that our local Woolies had signs up throughout the produce section reading “THIS ITEM UNAVAILABLE DUE TO INDUSTRIAL ACTION.”

I haven’t smiled so broadly at not being able to buy a fresh head of lettuce in my entire life.

Comment by weezil 11.16.05 @ 9:36 pm

[…] The only avenue we have left to let Howard know that we will not comply with the decimation of workers’ rights is to not only go on strike, but for the general public to support industrial action. Mind you, Howard’s IR deforms have put extraordinary restrictions on industrial action, levying heavy fines or even jail sentences against protesters. You occasionally might not be able to buy a fresh head of lettuce every once in a while or your neighbour may go to jail for fighting for a fair workplace in Australia. […]

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