<nettime> woomera: post-rhetorical politics

[Ben Hoh <jebni@bigpond.com>]

A first impression of my experience of the protests at Woomera, an
Australian concentration camp for asylum seekers. Largely analysis-free.


Ben



------ Forwarded Message
From: Ben Hoh <jebni@bigpond.com>
Reply-To: antiwar_thirdspace@yahoogroups.com
Date: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 14:08:04 +1000
To: antiwar_thirdspace <antiwar_thirdspace@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [antiwar_thirdspace]
Re: woomera protest


Nadya wrote:

> been watching the TV news coverage of the protests.. every news network is
> reporting and focusing on the violence.  the ABC which i thought had the best
> coverage, reported that there  are  splits among the organising groups.
> 
> can anyone who is there/ in touch with people there give us an account of
> what's gone on?
> 


I'm back from Woomera, and will be writing a much fuller account when I
get time, as I suppose will others on this list who were there.

The Woomera 2002 action was one of the most inspiring and emotionally
wrenching events in which I've taken part. People from all over the
country came to work together in a remarkable spirit of goodwill -- often
practically full time as legal advisors, as medics, as cooks, roadies,
etc. This commitment often left me speechless. The basis of the event was
that many diverse groups with different approaches were going to come and
act together, in different ways. For some, there was some frustration in
coming to grips with a structure that didn't involve getting the numbers,
but for the most part there was a distinct lack of meaningless or
disengaged rhetoric -- the material situation was overriding, and the
imperatives involved meant that the flaccid demands that have for so long
demobilised radical action in this country basically evaporated, however
briefly. It was the politics of the concrete. It was refreshing. So there
was diversity and inevitable disagreement, but no "splits" within a fake
or homogenised "unity".

Most of the media coverage has been of the activities of Friday afternoon,
so I'll give my perspective on that.

The only violence that we had to really think about that day was visited
on the asylum seekers inside the concentration camp during the night. As
attested by those in long-running contact with those inside, the asylum
seekers were beaten, handcuffed, locked in their rooms and canisters of
tear gas were thrown in. Contrary to many conservative commentaries, this
was not a consequence of our "irresponsible" actions, but "merely" the
latest in a long line of violent actions against the asylum seekers. Often
it's particularly in response to their protest actions, which was why we
were there that day -- to show solidarity with an already existing action
-- to have a positive repsonse rather than the endless negative ones.

So we marched to the centre to join an existing protest, to create some
solidarity, dialogue, freedom. Many of us climbed up the perimeter fence
to wave to the refugee protestors inside. After a few shakes it fell down.
We did the obvious thing: we took advantage of the situation to get closer
to the people who've been facing the most barbaric isolation and violence.
These fences are there to be broken down. They must be. Some people
weren't personally comfortable with breaching the perimeter in the
immediate situation, and they stayed clear, which is fine. Obviously it's
not enough to just break down this particular fence, but I think breaching
the perimeter in this case was a key part of a much bigger movement to
dismantle all of the camps.

When we got to the inner fence, we were greeted by asylum seekers who were
chanting "ACM: immigration mafia!" [Australian Correctional Management is
the private corporation that runs the camp], "Where is human rights?", and
"Freedom! Freedom!". We joined in. I shook hands with people who stretched
their hands through loops of razor wire. One man told me that they were
grateful to find that there were people in Australia who cared about their
situation. Another told me that he'd been there for two years, and was
desperate to get out, and that our government was rotten. I told them that
I was glad to meet them and that people all over the country supported
them, and would do all we could to help their cause. Most were from
Afghanistan and Iran. We were all crying.

Then the cops came. I suppose a bunch of protesters, advancing resolutely
to shake hands and speak with asylum seekers through the fence can be
*made* to appear violent when a bunch of cops are trying to disperse them
with riot gear and horses. When a horse came out of nowhere, pushing me
aside, and the mounted cop lightly kicked me in the head, smashing my
glasses, I just said, "What are you doing? I'm only trying to say hello!".
This kind of stuff was generally the extent of it as far as the visiting
protestors were concerned -- it was all quite mild, because we were
largely Australian citizens who were able to disperse, unlike the people
inside (who live with the obverse of our citizenship, whose relationship
to authority, in the last instance, I resolutely refuse to celebrate or
attempt to extend to others -- the whole relation needs to come tumbling
down).

[Meanwhile, on the front page of the Canberra Times there was a photo of
me amongst a bunch of other people trying to avoid being trampled by
horses, under the headline "BLOOD AND URINE THROWN AT POLICE". It's the
same kind of bizarre fiction that has fueled so-called "moderate" groups
to either condemn the protest out of hand or to imply that in contrast to
our "violent" protest, any "real" movement to free refugees from the camps
needs to somehow be "peaceful". Such extremely leading distinctions are
nonsense. Those who participated in civil disobedience were simply
resolute in our challenge to the authority of the refugees' confinement.
Objects were broken in order to do this. Laws were broken. They need to be
broken. Smearing this as "violence" is to fall into waiting hands of the
State.]

Anyway, in the middle of this confrontation, asylum seekers were suddenly
attempting to scale the fence. Banners were thrown to stop their hands
being cut by the razor wire. The bars were being wedged apart. I saw the
fence suddenly break, and people jumped through, disappearing into the
crowd. I won't say much more on this matter except to delcare that we all
felt it was our duty to help these people do whatever they had decided.
Some said that they would rather die than return. Others chose to simply
enjoy what short freedom they had, and to face the consequences after
recapture. In any case, away from any metropolitan resources, our options
were limited. I have no details of what went on next, except that many
visiting protestors showed remarkably fast thinking, respect and courage
in helping these people do what they wanted. We never expected any of
these events, and coped as best we could. I wish the best to those still
at large.

+  +  +

I think Woomera 2002 was a watershed in the radical politics of solidarity
and resistance in Australia. I'm thankful to everyone involved, especially
the asylum seekers who gave the rest of us the example of resolute action,
for the opportunity to have participated in a small way.

More later.

In solidarity,

Ben


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