By Steve Painter
Protests before and during the Aidex '91 arms bazaar recorded a number of successes. Weeks before the event the ACT government decided it would not approve future exhibitions of this nature, and the federal government was on the defensive to the extent that defence minister Robert Ray included in his introductory message to visitors a protestation that this was not, in fact, an arms bazaar.
There's little doubt the Hawke government was severely embarrassed well in advance by public exposure and discussion of its drive to increase armaments exports. Few members of the government were prepared to vigorously support its position, and it seems Senator Ray chose to be lifted into the National Exhibition Centre by helicopter for his opening address rather than face the protesters outside.
The exhibition was much smaller than expected, with only 140 exhibitors compared to the 234 at the previous Aidex in 1989. The organisers had expected a 25% increase over 1989. During the event, some European companies said the international publicity had been so bad they were unlikely to come back. The protest picket/blockade, which was endorsed by the ACT Trades and Labor Council, ensured that the organisers were able to move in their exhibits only with big police escorts and the assistance of club-wielding thugs.
Whether it was Aidex business manager Bob Day's wild responses to the demonstrations, thugs swinging sticks from the back of trucks entering the exhibition or the hired bully boys patrolling the grounds with baseball bats, the armaments industry certainly dropped its slick public relations image and presented its true, very ugly face to the world.
Including all the events organised by different groups over two weeks,
the Canberra protests involved up to 3000 people, says Di Ingram, one of the Sydney-based organisers. The largest protests probably involved around 600 people at any one time.
The protests probably ensured that this will be the last Aidex, but of course the arms trade will continue, if more discreetly. The government made no commitment to drop its arms export drive, and no companies have promised to stop producing armaments. The Aidex protests were one episode in a long struggle.
= Police violence
Pax Christi activist Dennis Doherty, who has participated in many non-violent protests, says the protesters, mostly young people inexperienced in demonstrations, faced one of the most violent police operations he has seen.
"The Australian Federal Police are not trained properly in dealing with non-violent protests. They use excessive violence and they need to have a negotiating team as the police do in other states." The protesters made a negotiator available, and she sat in a police station throughout most of the actions, but the police ignored her except to abuse her, at one point calling her a "maggot".
At least two protesters suffered broken arms, one suffered a spinal injury when three cops jumped on her, and other injuries included broken wrists, fingers and feet, bruising and abrasions. "This is a much higher rate of injuries than might be expected in most protests", says Doherty. Bruising to genitals (in both men and women) occurred much more often than might normally be expected, adds Di Ingram, and many people suffered gravel rashes when they were deliberately thrown to the ground. There are accounts of police turning dogs loose on isolated protesters.
Many of the injuries were inflicted by police spear-tackling protesters into the ground. Police also reported an unusual number of injuries, and Doherty believes many of these may have been caused by their own tactics. Charges into tightly packed groups of sitting protesters inevitably led to heavy falls, as did rugby tackles and other rough-house tactics.
One cop suffered a broken arm when he was hit by an exhibitor's truck. Exhibitors' vehicles were often driven recklessly, and at least one protester was run over, while about 12 were pinned to gates or fences by vehicles.
Even after the protests were over, cops harassed those who stayed behind to clean up, firing a flare into the protest camp, broadcasting amplified sounds of machine-gun fire in the early hours of the morning and walking through the camp kicking people asleep in sleeping bags and harassing those in tents.
Doherty and other protesters have lodged complaints with the Commonwealth ombudsman and the Federal Police commissioner over the police conduct.
Some eyewitnesses say there appeared to be divisions within the police, with some at times appearing to hold back others who were out of control. In particular, the Tactical Response Group seemed to be kept on a short lead, though there is a strong possibility that this was merely theatre with the aim of intimidating the protesters.
= Tactics
Responding to police claims that the protesters were violent, Dennis Doherty says there were different interpretations of non-violence, but all the protesters stuck to non-violent tactics. "When you're sitting on the road and you're surrounded by police and you know that if you do anything violent you're going to be totally outnumbered and overpowered, it's crazy to engage in any violence."
Sydney activist Dave Wright, arrested and bashed during one of the early non-violent sit-downs, agrees with this assessment, though he adds that activists might devote more thought to their tactics at future protests. "The police caused all the violence, there's no doubt about that, but it's important that we always remember that the issues come first.
"Sometimes, I think there was a tendency to lose sight of that and focus on the cops too much. That was understandable, but it's part of the cops' role to do that, to get attention away from the issue and onto false questions of law and order — to try to discredit us by t and undemocratic. We have to make it as difficult as possible for them to do that.
"Things got pretty chaotic at times, and there were good reasons to be angry. Some of the cops appeared to enjoy hurting people. But we were there to protest against the arms race, not to play one-sided games with cops.
"I also think people who stood behind sit-down protest groups shouting abuse at the cops, and then were safely out of the way when the cops charged, might reflect on the courage and morality of such acts. Of course, the cops should be trained not to let abuse get to them, but the abuse was not necessary; it did nothing to change people's opinions about the arms trade.
"There was a lot of discussion of tactics, and I think that when we have such a broad range of people with different approaches it's very important to be democratic and respect all views. That didn't always happen, particularly with those whose pursued deliberately divisive tactic such as calling for walkouts from democratic meetings in the belief that this would 'distil a militant minority'.
"All in all though, these are fairly minor points. While we didn't stop this Aidex, we probably stopped the next one, and we did help to increase public consciousness about the arms trade and the Australian government's militaristic policies."
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Torture in the ACT
Sean Kenan, a Canberra youth worker who has often clashed with local police in the course of his work, claims to have been tortured after being arrested during the Aidex protest.
Kenan was seized after alerting protesters that police were about to enter the protest camp. He says the police knew him, and said, "Sean, it's been a long time, but we've finally got you".
He says they punched their fists into their hands and said he was "dead meat". They later said they would "leave me at the bottom of Lake Burley Griffin for the water police to worry about".
After being punched and kicked in the police station, Kenan says he decided to go limp and make no resistance or response. The cops responded by covering his mouth and pinching his nose so he couldn't breathe. This lasted until he went into spasms; then the cops tipped a bucket of water on him. He suffered other physical abuse and was later stripped naked and photographed.
Protesters attempting to trace Kenan were given false information before being told he had been taken to a psychiatric hospital. Kenan was eventually taken to this hospital in an ambulance, but not before the ambulance driver forced a resuscitation tube down his throat even though he was breathing normally.
He was released the next day after pleading with a magistrate not to send him back to the cells because he feared for his life.
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The Canberra Program for Peace is holding many belongings left behind by participants in the Aidex protests. It will keep these for about a month for owners wishing to claim them. Those wishing to retrieve belongings may phone (06) 247 2424 (Peace Centre) or (06) 249 7951 (Barbara Meyer), or write to PO Box 1875, Canberra City 2601.