That little epithet ‘rabble’ tells you all you need to know about what our rulers and their friends in the media think of democracy and of us.
It refers to the 12 foot high steel and concrete barrier blocking off central Sydney to ‘protect’ 21 world leaders attending the Apec conference from actually hearing what their voters think:
Sydney fenced in for Apec summit
‘Rabble-proof fence’ Landmarks such as Sydney’s Opera House are in the protection zone
A concrete and steel fence is being built across the centre of Sydney amid a massive security effort for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders next week.
More than 5,000 police and troops will also be deployed as part of Australia’s largest security operation ever.
The 5km (three-mile) barrier is intended to protect the 21 leaders attending the meeting from thousands of protesters expected at the summit.
Major landmarks such as Sydney’s Opera House fall inside the protection zone.
The world leaders – including US President George W Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin – will attend the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (Apec) meeting for talks on climate change, regional security and free trade.
Police say they expect protests to be violent and have warned demonstrators not to march near the venue.
They expect it to be violent? Why – do they have something provocative planned? Something like Canadian police have been up to recently?.
Some sort of underhandedness by the police seems distictly possible, given that they’ve already tried to block legitimate, peaceful protest by peaceful citizen antiwar groups and have refused to compromise at all on an agreed protest route or area. In fact they’ve actually blacklisted 29 people and banned them from Sydney for the duration.
NSW police and activists are on a collision course during next week’s APEC summit after failing to negotiate an acceptable protest route through Sydney’s CBD.
The Stop Bush Coalition and NSW Greens said the police had been unreasonable in denying their proposed route for the September 8 protest, which would pass the US Consulate at Martin Place and include Macquarie Street.
They are threatening legal action if the route is not approved.
The escalation of the dispute came as unprecedented powers allowing police to target unruly protesters during the APEC week came into effect.
The laws, which will remain in place until midnight (AEST) September 12, allow police to search and detain people within restricted zones, set up check points and prohibit certain items.
[…]
The Stop Bush Coalition, who joined the NSW Greens protesting outside the NSW government offices, said the only people mentioning incidents of violence next week were the government and police.
[…]
Spokesman Alex Bainbridge said the group was standing firm on its proposed route for a peaceful protest, and would take court action in order to legally gain permission to march it.
“The option for the police if they don’t like the march route that we’ve taken (is that) they can take us to the Supreme Court,” he said.
“We have said we are more than happy to meet them on that ground. We believe our march route is reasonable and we would like them do that quickly.”
Mr Bainbridge said a student protest march arranged for Wednesday, September 5, had also been ruled out, even though it would be five blocks away from a declared area.
The NSW Greens have also been told they are not permitted to stage “street theatre” in Martin Place during the APEC summit.
“When you add up all of these things, it seems like a clear and systematic ban on the right to protest during APEC and we reject that,” Mr Bainbridge said.
Greens Senator Kerry Nettle said she had not been informed if she was one of the 29 excluded from the CBD, but said it was inappropriate for the police to blacklist people from their own city.
Will the Australian police; like so many others have, play the usual, war on terror, security theatre – dress up as an anarchist, throw a few rocks at fellow officers then run away – thus enabling their riot squads to wade in against peaceful protestors? Well, they’ve got previous form and some of the preparations they’re making for potential protests might tend to lead one to think so.
Even prisoners will get a holiday – weekend detention has been cancelled to free up 500 spaces in the jails for any overly enthusiastic protesters.
Police have their eye on who they’re after and they’re taking preemptive action. The list of 29 excluded potential protestors was leaked to the media ahead of the conference in an attempt to intimidate.
Police warn ‘troublemakers’ to stay away from APEC
New South Wales police say they are continuing to identify people they suspect will cause trouble during next week’s APEC summit in Sydney.
The names and photographs of about 30 people on an APEC black list have been published today in a Sydney newspaper.
The head of APEC security, Chief Superintendent Peter Lennon, says an internal review has begun into how the names were released to the media.
He says police have contacted people on the black list to tell them to stay away from the meeting.
“We are also continuing to identify further potential troublemakers and we’ll continue to engage with those to make sure that they don’t come to Sydney,” he said.
I’m not at all familiar with .au law but I wasn’t aware that Australians had lost their freedom of movement and speech just yet. I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong, please do.
What this is all about is the combination of George Bush’s overweening arrogance and paranoia and .au PM Hoard’s desperate desire to be seen to be a big swinging dick on the world stage. He’s got his international manhood to prove and a massive chip on his shoulder. Sydney’s new police chief also has something to prove too. Anything US Homeland Security can do, a larrikin can do better.
But back to the BBC report. With chimperiial ungraciousness Bush has apologised churlishly to his hosts:
I’m looking forward to the beautiful city and to the extent I inconvenience [Sydney residents], I apologise
George W Bush
US president
66 million quid to pay for the doubtful pleasure of his company is a pretty big inconvenience:
Australia’s government has spent A$169m (£68m, $138m) on security for the event over six years, with media dubbing the barrier the “rabble-proof fence”.
Fighter jets and police helicopters will patrol the skies above Sydney, while Australia’s navy will deploy ships, divers, water police and special forces in Sydney Harbour.
If the police are planning for trouble, even though protestors are not, what the hell are they expecting? A horde of parachutists with badly-painted banners? Greenpeace-trained suicide dolphins? Quakers armed with ground-to-air love missiles?
Or are they just having hella fun playing with and showing off all their shiny new kit and big weapons, and looking forward to breaking a few hippy heads with the government’s tacity approval? It’ll be like a gala for the poor dears, I bet they’re all polishing their big old batons in anticipation.
But hey never mind, Sydneysiders, at least your’re getting a day off, eh?
There is plenty to grumble about, says the BBC’s Phil Mercer in Sydney, with commuters and tourists facing more than a week of disruption.
Parts of Sydney’s rail network will be closed, along with many roads.
But residents have been given a sweetener, our correspondent says – next Friday has been declared a public holiday to coincide with the start of the meeting.
I wonder how many of the proud Australian citizens that their rulers and media are so democratically referrring to as ‘rabble’ will use that day off to try and take down the fence that’s excluding them from their own city while all the rich people play at politics in hermetically-sealed luxury.
