Anti-fascist Occupation of Newtown Square

indonesia / philippines / australia | anti-fascism | press release Sunday September 19, 2010 19:29 by Anonymous

Newtown square/The Hub was occupied today by anarchists, anti-authoritarians, antifascists and people in solidarity to make a demonstration against the Sydney Fascist Forum happening this weekend in Tempe.

Newtown square/The Hub was occupied today by anarchists, anti-authoritarians, antifascists and people in solidarity to make a demonstration against the Sydney Fascist Forum happening this weekend in Tempe.

Texts were distributed and banners were hung around reading "NO BORDERS", "NO NATIONS", "SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON, WAR AGAINST THE WAR OF THE BOSSES", and "NO COMPROMISE WITH FASCISM".

Cops immediately tried to stop the people gathering in the square, they threatened to arrest people for swearing, hindering police, playing amplified music, obstructing the footpath, sitting in a tree, and gathering in public without a permit. They ordered that protesters would be arrested if they used their sound system.

They tore down the "NO COMPROMISE WITH FASCISM" banner and stole it. The police were also telling the passersby that the occupiers were violent but when the public opinion started to overwhelmingly turn against the police Sgt Vincent Azzopardi backed off. For hours a whole squad of police remained right in front trying to intimidate the demonstrators to leave.

They even started bringing xeroxed police files down to the squad in the square where they compared photos, and made snide menacing remarks using the demonstrators names (sourced from police surveillance/records) in an effort to further harass and intimidate people.

The police actions are a clear attempt to prevent people meeting together in public space and communicating. This kind of police tactics must be met with strong social resistance.

Below is the text distributed today.

NO COMPROMISE WITH FASCISM

The annual Sydney Forum of Fascists is happening for the 9th time down the road in Tempe this weekend. It is the biggest fascist gathering in Australia and is held at ‘the bunker’ where Jim Saleam the fuhrer of the Australia First Party lives.

Reactionary, right-wing and anti-immigrant politics have become more mainstream again with the political parties and the media outbidding each other with their appalling spectacle. This has given confidence and created a space for the fascists and the far-right to organise. The groups that gather there this weekend, proselytise vile anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric, and have their histories in Hitler/ Nazi- worshipping anti-semitism.

They are racist, homophobic, and are apologists for colonialism and Aboriginal genocide. One of the other fascist groups, the Australian Protectionist Party also recently came here to promote themselves and to hand-out flyers in Newtown under the ‘I Have a Dream Mural’. They were driven out by locals who would not accept their racist presence.

Fascists have also insidiously taken control of the Humanist Society and their building over in Chippendale. Which has been met with strong community opposition. We want a community that practices solidarity intrinsically in daily life. We want to live in a place that welcomes diversity and that refuses to accept the isolation and atomisation of those that live and struggle in our community.

A place where people aren’t complacent or afraid to stand up to racism, sexism and homophobia, and don’t allow the fascists a platform for their hate. In a country that has been built on the violence of colonialism and genocide we must recognise the continuity of these practices and demonstrate our solidarity with Aboriginal struggle.

Our capacity to actualise this support, solidarity and resistance is under attack by the gentrification and commodification of all public space, alienating and removing us from our communal reality.

The police act in their role of ensuring that this process runs smoothly for developers and business interests - they are the defenders that uphold the laws and interests of the powerful in this racist and exploitative society.

This is our community- these streets and squares don’t belong to the fascists or police. By occupying these public spaces to meet and talk with each other we make visible our potentiality to oppose the authority of those who would attempt to dominate us.

SOLIDARITY IS OUR WEAPON

WAR AGAINST THE WAR OF THE BOSSES

- Anarchists and Anti-authoritarians