Murdoch students unlike management say #LetThemStay

This photo is from the Students for Refugees photoshoot action at Murdoch Uni on February 24.

The local tertiary education union (NTEU) asked if Murdoch Uni management have lost the plot?

Murdoch academic Kate Fitch tweeted the #LetThemStay photo (see below) and was phoned and told that that action is "incompatible with [the Murdoch] brand".

"Really and truly, words fail us!" the NTEU commented.

Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance also campaigned to #LetThemStay during O-week

#letthemstayRememberer to tag your friends

Posted by Murdoch Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance on Monday, February 22, 2016

I was asked to "edit" this tweet cos of concerns about uni brand & political activity. I said no. pic.twitter.com/ezMAaiJ8ke

— Kate Fitch (@fitch_kate) February 26, 2016

'#LetThemStay' is 'incompatible' with the Uni's 'branch', but leasing office space to Serco, one of the companies making...
Posted by Murdoch Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance on Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Defend the right to protest rally

1000 people rallied on the steps of WA parliament on February 23 to protest against the Barnett Governments anti-protest laws. The "Criminal Code Amendment (Prevention of Lawful Activity) Bill" passed through the upper house on February 16 but has not yet gone to the lower house.

The Barnett government government claims that these laws are needed in order to clamp down on what it claims to be "extreme protest movements". He cited the successful campaign against the James Price Point oil and gas hub.

However these laws have been considered so draconian that three United Nations Human Rights experts have written an open letter to the Barnett government urging that the laws be scrapped.

If passed, the laws would make it a criminal offence to physically block lawful activity or to carry a "thing" with the presumed intent to block lawful activity. It opens the possibility of two year prison terms for peaceful protest.

After giving a welcome to country, Nyoongar elder Uncle Ben Taylor told the assembled crowd that "he had been campaigning on the steps of Parliament house for 30 years and would continue to do so til the day he died".

He was followed by State opposition leader Mark McGowan who denounced the laws, stating “they are too broad" and that they will impact ordinary protests by ordinary people.

"There can be no compromise, there can be no amendment, there can be no fiddling at the edges," he said. McGowan promised that a future ALP government would repeal the laws.

Kate Davis from the Community Legal Centres Association noted that the proposed laws would remove a person's presumption of innocence, which is a bedrock of the legal system. This means that instead of the prosecution having to prove that you're guilty, you have to prove that you're innocent.

The UN Special Rapporteurs stated that the laws are so draconian that they could be considered to be in violation of the implied right to freedom of expression in the Australian constitution. Other legal organisations have come out against the laws.

Father Chris Bedding from the Anglican Church and Love Makes a Way told the crowd that in order to do the right thing you sometimes have to defy unjust laws. He cited the church leaders who were staging a sit in in the Victorian Parliament that very day in support of the 267 refugees in danger of deportation to Nauru.

Photos by Alex Bainbridge














[This article by Alex Salmon was first published in Green Left Weekly on February 23, 2016. Photos and video by Alex Bainbridge.]

Protest Israeli war crimnal Benny Gantz: Thurs 3 March

Join the protest against a key defender of Israeli Apartheid

7pm Thurs 3 March

Perth Convention & Exhibition Centre

Attend on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/events/985013924902002

Organised by Friends of Palestine WA

"We will always live by our sword," declared Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, upon his retirement from the role of Chief of General Staff of the Israel Occupation Forces, twelve months ago.

Gantz should know. For 38 years a career soldier in the Israeli military, he rose to the IDF's top job in February 2011. Gantz led two major Israeli military offensives against the people of Gaza: 'Pillar of Defense' and 'Protective Edge'. Operation 'Protective Edge' killed 2,200 Palestinians, including 500 children, and left tens of thousands of Gaza residents homeless.

Gantz also headed Operation 'Brother’s Keeper' in the West Bank, which arrested and detained 800 Palestinians, without charge or trial, and killed another nine.

Gantz, will be addressing United Israel Appeal fundraisers in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne. The UIA is an instrument of Israel's policy of colonial dispossession of the Palestinians. While half of all Palestinians live in exile, unable to return to their homeland now under Israeli occupation, the UIA funds Jewish immigrants, with no historic connection to the land, to settle In Israel/Palestine.

Let's give the General the welcome he deserves!

[Information from Friends of Palestine WA.]

Defend civil liberties - reject Barnett's anti-protest law: Rally 12noon Tues 23 Feb

*Rally*
 12 noon, Tues 23 Feb
 Parliament House
Harvest Terrace West Perth

*Speakers List*
Mark McGowan MP (Labor Leader)
Lynn MacLaren Greens MLC WA
Kate Davis (Lawyer)
Robert Eggington (Nyoongar leader)
Father Chris Bedding (Anglican Church + Love Makes A Way)
Danny Cain (Maritime Union)
Welcome to Country by Uncle Ben Taylor.

The Barnett Government is trying to push through legislation to curtail our right to protest. They want to make it an offence to carry a "thing" with the 'presumed' intention of impeding lawful activity.

This incredibly vague wording has horrible implications for anybody fighting for what's right in Western Australia.
Read it here

As the United Nations wrote this week:
“The Bill would grant police disproportionate and unnecessary powers to restrict lawful protests. ... It discourages legitimate protest activity and instead, prioritizes business and government resource interests over the democratic rights of individuals.
The statement also warns that “The Bill will have the chilling effect of silencing dissenters and punishing expression protected by international human rights law."

The Bill was introduced in February 2015, passed in the Upper House on Thursday 18 February 2016 without going to commitee, and is now set to be debated in the Lower House. Labor WA and Greens members of parliament oppose this Bill, and Labor have said they will repeal the Bill if they form government in 2017.

Come to Parliament House on Tuesday, February 23 at 12pm and make sure your concerns are heard by our political representatives and the media.
It's our democratic RIGHT to protest.
We will stand firmly against any attack on our civil rights.
Lets show them what democracy looks like.
Bring your THING.

[Information from this Facebook event.]

Fighting misogyny today: International Women's Day forum

Fighting misogyny today: International Women’s Day forum

Tuesday March 8
6pm, Perth Activist Centre
15/5 Aberdeen St, Perth (next to McIver Station)

Women in Australia confront entrenched inequality and sexism in public and private life. As racism and Islamophobia are used for political ends, and with other intersecting oppressions, many women face added challenges. Yet we’re fighting back!

This forum is to celebrate how far we’ve come, take stock, and look at where to next for women’s liberation.

Speakers:
Michelle Bui (Refuge Rights Action Network)
Sarah Nielsen-Harvey (40 days of love pro-choice vigil)
Kamala Emanuel (Socialist Alliance)
Carol Bahemia (Bandyup Action Group)

Attend on Facebook: www.facebook.com/events/1178994782124122

Organised by Socialist Alliance. Ph 9218 9608, 0417 319662