By Peter Robson and Nick Everett
BRISBANE — Around 1000 people rallied against the Pauline Hanson One Nation party's "Prosper Australia" meeting in Festival Hall on October 4. The protesters were peaceful. The same cannot be said for the Queensland police.
At a rally in Queens Park, participants were addressed by Auntie Ruth Heggity, an Aboriginal activist. She outlined the problems faced by the Aboriginal community and how they are exacerbated by the policies of PM John Howard and the racism of Pauline Hanson.
Ngoc Tran from the Vietnamese community declared racism to be "an out-of-date concept". She stated that, "as refugees, we have already experienced living with discrimination. We strongly believe that racism in any form will never offer happiness but instead lead to war, social disintegration and poverty".
Bob Carnegie, branch president of the Maritime Union of Australia, declared that Hanson pretends to stand up for workers, "but where was her opposition when Howard passed his Workplace Relations Act? She has nothing to offer workers."
After marching to Festival Hall, the crowd faced more than 180 police. Members of the International Socialist Organisation (ISO) urged protesters to close down the meeting.
Police started to push people back and jumped the barricades. One protester had his shoulder dislocated and arm broken. He and seven others were pushed into police vans. The ISO continued to call for the crowd to enter the meeting and close it down, to which the crowd responded with the chant, "Peaceful protest! Peaceful protest!"
Protesters began to move back, and some left the rally. Democratic Socialist Party member Bernard Wunsch told Green Left Weekly: "We then decided to establish an open platform across the street away from police barricades to draw participants away from confrontation with the police and give them a chance to discuss tactics."
The platform was moved to the front of the rally because a variety of anti-racist activists wanted to address the crowd. They spoke about the need for a peaceful protest to build the largest possible anti-racist movement. One speaker was shouted down by members of the ISO as he argued that the government and Hanson, not just the police, were responsible for the intimidation of anti-racist activists.
Lou Gugenberger from the Anti-Racism Campaign (ARC) spoke on the link between the rise of Hanson and increasing attacks on Asian migrants and Aborigines by racist groups and the far right. Speakers described Howard's 10-point Wik plan as "the final dispossession for Aboriginal people".
On October 6, ARC met to assess the rally and plan future actions. The meeting passed a motion condemning the violence of the Queensland police, expressing support for the people arrested and noting that: "attempts to invade a meeting of One Nation supporters, heavily protected by police, will only serve to distract participants in needless scuffles with police and will inhibit the building of the largest possible anti-racist movement".
ARC is currently preparing for a protest at Hanson's October 25 rally.