AUSSIES AGAINST ABBOTT "THE VILLAGE IDIOT": March 2014

Tuesday 18 March 2014

Birth of a progressive coalition: 30,000 attend March in March in Melbourne

Michael Marriott 17 March 2014, 8:00pm 130

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Richard, on the steps of the State Library of Victoria.

The March in March was
a stunning success for the grass roots organisers, writes Mike
Marriott, who says the sentiments shared by the marchers were remarkably
similar.

“I'm devastated by what the Abbott is doing without debate. It's getting worse. The ignorance of science is hard to fathom!”

That's Richard.

He is standing on the
steps of the State Library of Victoria, brandishing a sign in which a
cartoon version of Prime Minister Abbott declares 'Climate Change is Crap'.

He was among the 30,000 Victorians who marched in protest on Sunday in protest.

The March in March was a stunning success for the grass roots organisers — a rival to the Vietnam Moratorium marches of 1970.

This wasn't merely a
small gathering of the disenfranchised. In attendance, one could find a
true cross-section of the community.

Tens of thousands came to march peacefully and express their justified outrage. Grandparents came with their children and their grandchildren. Generations united in disgust at the actions of this government. Climate activists united with those fighting for animal rights. Trade unionists made common cause with environmentalists.

As I mingled with the crowd, I asked people what prompted them to protest.

I asked them:

“Why are you here?What made you come?”

What surprised me was
the uniformity of their response. It wasn't a single concern that
motivated them to participate in this incredible display of people
power.

I asked a group of teenage girls why they were there:

“To lock the gates” said the one holding the now ubiquitous yellow triangle of that grass roots movement.

“There is no planet B!” said the girl with the beanie.

Said the one with the black cap:

“It's... everything! Everything Abbott is doing!”

As the protesters began to make their way down Swanston Street, I asked a family why they'd decided to come.

Said a mother holding a sign declaring her support for refugees.

“It's just about
everything! He (Abbott) is ignoring climate change. He is anti-women. He
is cutting government services to those who need them.”

Again and again I heard the same sentiments and sense of outrage.

Ordinary Australians expressing alarm with the policies of the Abbott lead government. These are people concerned about their children's future. They want a more just society.

This is why this past weekend was an incredible display of authentic people power.

There were no politicians or celebrities there to hog the limelight. Those who marched were people like you and me.

Like us, they are frustrated and disgusted with this present generation of politicians, media hacks and spin doctors.

On Sunday, we witnessed the emergence of something many of hoped for, but feared wouldn't come — the birth of a progressive coalition prepared to embrace civil disobedience.

Perhaps the March in March movement heralds the arrival of a new phase in Australian politics.

Citizens organising themselves in protest and uniting in common cause while rejecting the major political parties.

How this shapes politics in Australia is yet to be seen. Anyone dismissing this past weekend’s events is a fool.

And there is no fool like a News Corporation fool. Andrew Bolt dismissed the 30,000 Victorians who marched as 'barbarians'.

Be careful what you wish for Andrew; barbarians have a habit of bringing down empires.

As the crowds dissipated
toward the late afternoon, I chatted to a group of friends about the
success of the march and what it meant.

Without reservation we all agreed.

We no longer felt alone.

Richard and the
other protesters interviewed kindly agreed to be quoted in this article;
we thank them for their time and willingness to share their thoughts.
You can follow Mike Marriott o n Twitter @WTDeniers.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License

Dear Sydney Morning Herald, re March In March

By The AIMN Network on March 18, 2014 • ( 20 )

As he ran through the pages of yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald, Timothy Pembroke
couldn’t help but notice that Sydney’s March in March – clearly one of
the major events of the weekend – failed to attract much interest from
the state’s second largest newspaper. This guest post from Tim is his
response to the Sydney Morning Herald’s glaring failure:

Dear SMH,

Today my friends and I were flicking through your pages with a
regular Monday morning happiness. As per Monday during footy season, we
are fairly certain we navigated patiently through a double page spread
describing an enthralling Dragons Vs Cowboys match in Wollongong with a
quoted 8,345 attendees, but we may be confused with any week from the
upcoming 26. Normally it’s quite tedious to scroll through the sports
wrap, but we were happy to do so this morning as we reveled in the
excitement of turning the pages and that beautiful moment when we would
finally land in your heart to read about the mighty March In March.
We searched and searched, turned and turned. We soon realized that
there was NO mention of the march. Maybe we’d missed it? Was there a
feature article insert that may have fallen out? It was a nationwide
march, surely there was something? A political movement created by the people for the people
that attracted more than 100,000 + attendees nationwide over 2 days
with another massive day still to come in Canberra. This was not a poor
mans competition to the annual St Patrick’s Day carnival parade as Tony
Abbott more or less described it (St Pat’s we noted had some coverage on
page 5) – this was a big moment for Sydney & Australia. March In March
meant a lot of things to a lot of people, so much that #marchinmarch
was trending nationally on social for more than 2 days – a movement of
national consciousness created by an army of people, mums, dads,
students, kids, ratbags and scallywags, socialists, greens, normals,
hipsters, awakened corporates, teachers, community elders, Irishmen,
tweeters, instagrammers, facebookers, hashtagees and hashtaggers. We
figure your news team would search social media TRENDS for new
content ideas? You must have noticed the fuss? We dressed up, spoke
about truths, communicated compassion and frustrations. We sang with
Billy Bragg and shared stories of why we want changes in Abbott
government policy. It was more than the talk of the town. It was the
talk across the pubs, clubs, dinner tables, beaches, parks, Saturday
morning kids cricket carnivals and garage sales Australia wide.

We understand that it is footy season so your pages are already well
and truly reserved for the “Tahs” who no doubt appreciated your usual 2
page critique of their backline ball movement and scrummaging, and the
mighty swans whose accuracy in front of the goals is always worth a
solid 500 words, especially after a shock loss to the Giants! – and in
future circumstances, we would never want to be the ones responsible for
you having to have “the talk” with Fitzy. Leave that man be. Don’t get
us wrong, we understand all of your commitments to space. Likewise we
noted your extensive coverage of the Tasmanian and South Australian
state elections which pointed out the daunting amount of work Labor has
ahead of it if they are to challenge Abbott at the next election – but
was there really no room for the March In March?
At all? Nothing? Not even a dribble in the socials pages? Actually
there was some disguised mention of Billy Brag performing in Central –
but you needed a diploma in braille to uncover the code: Billy, a hugely
famous political activist with decades of history was performing in
Belmore Park, Sydney – on a Sunday afternoon for the March In March. Is
it that you guys are hard markers, or is that your paper is going
through a crisis due to the decline in readership as the internet and
quality online news content platforms look to eat you alive, that you
couldn’t afford to send a reporter out on a Sunday pay rate? If that’s
the case – our condolences. It’s a sigh of relief to know that the
Internet is creating transparency for the people of Sydney and
Australia, and you will no doubt come to adjust to the changing world
where people want a rounded display of content filled with substance and
truth on a Monday morning. Maybe your team were on the bandwagon of
cynicism like so many others, adding further to the plight of progress.
Billy Bragg spoke of our greatest enemy being not the capitalist world
we so often complain about, but the cynical world. A world where hope is
cut down at the knees. It’s not hard to see where the cynicism develops
when a world class newspaper such as the SMH fails to report on a
movement of the people. Your silence astounds us, similar to the way
Adam Goodes was astounded in a recent piece in the SMH when describing white Australia’s attitudes towards Indigenous Australian history.

If you could do us one favour, please ask your chief what sort of
information you are looking to cover in 2014, because it seems we need
pointers. A couple of tips for you, your team and any aspiring writer
for that matter looking to cut through in this age of constant content;
write articles that people want to read and report on what matters to
the people of Sydney. The SMH do this better than most, more often that
not. But on March 16 and 17 – we say not. Not only was this day
important for the folk who marched, it was the faces and reactions of
the observers and the greater community that was a spectacle and the
real story of the day. Thousands paused their Sunday shopping, tinder
dates, jogs, TAB bets & ‘Sundey Arvo Beers’ to watch the 20,000 plus
crowd – these people suddenly realised that they might have been
“missing the boat” on Abbott’s’ policies of late. Their eyes were
transfixed on EVERY sign. It was beautiful to watch onlookers de-code
the signs – and suddenly feel connected to the issues and to consider
the power that humans can have on each other. Suddenly a compassionate,
considerate and conscious world seemed so much more important to every
individual. We the marchers educated them, leaving them to go home with
new knowledge, sense of self-empowerment, a new interest in Australian
government activity, and most importantly hope.

SMH, we write with the best of intention. We seek truth. Yesterday
was a big day and you blatantly ignored it. Even the ABC gave us some
airtime despite obvious pressures on them. Without trying to sound like
bitterly disappointed children, we wish you all the best in your slow
descent to the thin air of online content and the minds and memories of
paper loving Sydney journeymen such as ourselves. We have sincerely
appreciated our relationship with you over the last 20 years – the
unforgettable experience of being able to walk out to the front door
step of our Grandma’s house, unwrap you, feel your soft smooth texture
and that fresh smell of ink of a morning. You offer so much. You’ve
taught us a healthy portion of the things we know about the world, arts,
culture, politics, sport, crosswords and life. Your pages will never be
forgotten by us, but we’re putting you in the sin bin for a little
while. Like Abbott, if you work with us, the people, we will work with
you. We are all in this together. We want everyone on the field at all
times working together, as after all we are all one. We’re sure that you
don’t need Nostradamus to point out the way the new generation are
already consuming media with online content certainly being the way
forward – and we noted your inclusion of Jacqueline Maley’s little piece – so your URL has been added to our favourites,
but if you are going to go to the efforts of printing to the streets,
at least pay attention to the real news. We needed you yesterday. More
than anything it would have been a great symbol of respect – honouring
the hard work done by thousands of people whose hands and feet moved
purely with the intention to compassionately care for their treasured
country.

In case you wanted to see what you missed – here is a beautiful video from the Melbourne march: http://vimeo.com/89244643

Sincerely

Timothy Pembroke
Annandale

Why we march!

By The AIMN Network on March 19, 2014 • ( 2 )

Anybody who saw the above interview with March in March
co-organiser Tim Jones would have felt dismayed that the media had so
much difficulty in grasping the concept behind the March. How can they
have so much trouble in understanding a simple message? In this guest
post William Rattley spells it out for them. If the
media wants to know why people marched, then they really need to start
listening to and engaging with everyday Australians.

Dear Mainstream Media Outlets:

Over the past twelve hours I notice from many television reporters
and journalists a reoccurring question in regards to the March in March
movement that demonstrated in over thirty locations around Australia in
which over one hundred thousand people, young and old, participated in.

That question of course is; “Why are you marching?”

It has come to the attention of a vast number of the Australian
population, that our system is failing the people. Whilst it is true
that the attention at most demonstrations were focused on the current
Abbott-led Governments, and the disastrous decision making by the
Liberals, the issues drawing people to march, are much bigger than the
political playground.

At the base level people are marching because they are sick of being
treated as a number, as a cog in a well-oiled, well-conditioned machine.
People are sick of their health, security and happiness being taken
from them simply to make a quick buck. People are sick of the
environment being disrespected and destroyed.

Yet perhaps most profoundly, is that people are sick of everything
being politicised. The people feel disempowered, they feel as though
with every election they have to choose between the lesser of two evils,
that the system of supposed “choice” really gives very little choice at
all.

Issues like the environment, healthcare and education should not, as
myself and others feel, be the chew toys of the politicians. Nor should
human dignity be defined by how much money our Governments are willing
to save for themselves. The people want the truth, not pre-scripted
garbage designed to trap everyone in one lane.

People march because they feel that their fellow men and women are
being denied basic human rights (marriage equality) or are being treated
as less than human (asylum seekers). People are calling for a return to
a sense of community . . . a sense of inclusiveness, compassion and
respect. Instead of the fear, the divisiveness and the exclusiveness
preached by a majority of the political playground and mainstream media.

Image courtesy of https://www.facebook.com/isthatthetruth

People feel as though Australia has become cold, apathetic and
xenophobic, in regards to the way we treat people who come to our shores
to seek aid. Yet there is a sense that the apathy also includes the way
we relate to the indigenous population… and truly the people are sick
of being told who they should like, and who they shouldn’t like. In the
end . . . we are all human.

Many demonstrators marched over the weekend (15-17th of March)
because they are concerned with Christopher Pyne’s attempts to introduce
a heavy Christian influence into our public schooling system. Australia
is a land that is home to people of many different faiths, theistic and
non-theistic, agnostic and atheist alike . . . they feel it is invasive
for Mr Pyne to even consider enforcing his own Christian beliefs upon
the majority of public school attendees.

Australians have become outraged by the Liberal Government’s decision
to scrap the science portfolio, to abolish the climate commission, to
dump on the Great Barrier Reef, and to begin revoking the protections on
the Tasmanian forests. I understand personally why Mr Abbott does not
believe in climate change, and I can respect his beliefs as a
God-fearing Catholic.

However, as a God-fearing Catholic, Mr Abbott should then understand
that as the earth is a gift from God, he has a responsibility to treat
it with the utmost care and respect. As it looks Mr Abbott perhaps
wouldn’t have just eaten one fruit from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, he would have stolen the lot… and then tried to make God
buy them back off him.

Humanity needs to learn moderation . . . and that is what people
would ask of Mr Abbott, to think about the future, about his
grandchildren, and our grandchildren and make lasting choices for the
preservation of our society and our planet. That also means we need to
learn to get along with our neighbors and many of the demonstrators are
horrified by the image of Australia that Mr Abbott is presenting to the
international community.

Humanity cannot afford to continue taking and taking. Our actions
shape the world, and whatever we dish out, will have consequences. I
personally do not feel that Mr Abbott, or his party, are equipped to
take responsibility for the consequences of their actions, and need to
be called into account before their indulgence becomes our lack.

Though there are many other issues that people marched for, I wish to
touch on one final topic. Australians are sick of getting biased media
accounts of what it occurring in politics. Australians are sick of
opening their morning paper to see declarations of Mr Abbott as the
Messiah, by that self-serving multimillionaire Rupert Murdoch.
Australians are sick of the criticisms leveled by the Liberal Government
towards the ABC.

We want the truth . . . and if the major media outlets will not give
us the truth, we will find it ourselves, and broadcast it ourselves. The
Australian people are marching because they are sick of being stuck
with second or third best. We want to put the “luck” back into the lucky
country. We want to aim for an Australia we can be proud of again, and
that others can visit (or seek asylum in) without feeling like
second-class citizens.

We want a country of equality, where love, acceptance, empathy and
the value of human dignity forms the foundation of our aims and
achievements. We want a country where money serves the people, instead
of people serving the money (or the corporations with all the money).
Finally we want a nation that respects our natural resources and doesn’t
destroy them, a nation that is not afraid to research and fund
renewable energy resources.

We want our country back, and we’ll keep marching till we get it back. THAT is why we march!

Sincerely,

William Rattley

This article was first posted on Facebook.

Monday 17 March 2014

March In March protesters take 'statement of no confidence' to Abbott Government

Date: March 17, 2014 - 3:17PM

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Henry Belot

Reporter

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Scenes from March in March rally in front of Parliament House in Canberra. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

Hundreds of protesters have converged on Parliament House as
part of a nationwide March In March protest against the Abbott
Government and its policies.

Rally participants gathered at Queen Victoria Terrace and began their march to Parliament House about 10.45am Monday.

Numbers at the rally peaked at up to 1500 about 11.30am, before dwindling again early afternoon.

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March In March Canberra

Scenes from March in March rally in front of Parliament House in Canberra. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen

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National administrator Craig Batty said the rally showed Australians did not believe democracy ended at the ballot box.

"They're prepared to come out, join together and talk about the issues that concern them," he said.

"There's going to be people who try to minimize this and spin
it in terms of how many people are here, but you've got to remember
it's a work day."

Earlier, Canberra organiser Loz Lawry said public servants
had likely been hesitant to take a day off for the protest, especially
given the government's cuts to public sector jobs. However, he was
happy with the attendance.

"People are protesting more issues than I could mention in
one breath. There's the issue of our forests in Tasmania, the damage
to the environment, the dumping of material in the Great Barrier Reef,
social justice issues, the attacks on wages and entitlements," he
said.

"There are many things that have got people upset and we just
feel that the politicians aren't listening to the people and that's
why we're all here today. To send a message to this government that
they're not governing for the people but instead for vested interest
and to tell them that we're not happy about it."

It was an eclectic mix of people, with representation from unions, conservation groups and others.

They delivered a "statement of no confidence" in the Coalition Government, handing it to Greens MP Adam Bandt.

Priest of the Anglican Church Parish of Gosford Father Rod Bower spoke to the crowd on compassion and refugee rights.

"If we don't start with compassion we can end up in the place
we are now, torturing refugees, abusing the integrity of the natural
world. Unless we have compassion we find ourselves in a destructive mode
and that's where we are at the moment," he said.

He was treated with a standing ovation from the crowd, which heard from several speakers and bands.

Protester Frances Corkahill, of Canberra, said she was upset
at too many things to list them all on one sign, but ranked attacks on
the ABC and on asylum seeker rights as chief among her concerns.

Meantime, Mark Selmes travelled from the Southern Tablelands
and was dressed in a koala suit, to protest the destruction of forests
and the habitat of wildlife.

The march follows protests in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane over the weekend. Melbourne organisers estimated crowds of 30,000 people on Sunday.

About 20 police officers were on hand to watch over the rally
and organisers repeatedly told the crowd to respect "the thin blue
line" of police. The crowd was peaceful, although one young man did
cause some concern for officers.

He was wearing a mask and carrying a prop Molotov cocktail
filled with water. When confronted by police, he drank from the bottle
to prove it was safe.

When asked why he had brought it, the protester said it
"looked cool". Police smelt the bottle and deemed it to be water,
telling him "you can obviously see why we are concerned". The bottle was
returned and the young man departed.

Lea O'Brien, 59, of Canberra, was at the rally.

"[Mr Abbott] is an ignorant, arrogant and misogynistic man
and there is no way in the world I would have voted for him," she said.

"I didn't give [this government] any mandate to do what it's
doing. I didn't give any mandate to destroy the environment, to reduce
jobs, to make our future so bleak."

Another Canberra woman, November, said she was upset about
too many things to list. When asked what she wanted to achieve, she
said, "I want to see Tony Abbott lynched."

Mr Bandt accepted the statement of no confidence around 1.30pm on the laws out the front of Parliament House.

"This is what Australia really looks like," he said. "There
is at the heart of this country a generous, compassionate, egalitarian
heart that beats."

Sunday 16 March 2014

March in March: Tony Abbott, Gina Rinehart cop blasts in Sydney protest

Date: March 16, 2014 - 6:01PM

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Jacqueline Maley

Parliamentary Sketch Writer for The Sydney Morning Herald

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UNDER THE FLAG

Protesters deliver a statement of no confidence in the current Australian Government.

Thousands rally in Sydney's March in March protest. Photo: Dean Sewell

Socialists, it seems, are not made of sugar.

Thunderstorms followed by drenching autumnal showers did not
deter a loose collection of anti-Abbott government activists from
gathering at central Sydney's Belmore Park on Sunday to protest Prime
Minister Tony Abbott’s stance on asylum-seekers, the environment,
industrial relations, free trade and gay marriage.

The gathering, which was matched by similar events around
Australia, was a left-wing echo of the infamous ‘‘Convoy of No
Confidence’’ rallies held against Julia Gillard's former Labor
government, at which Mr Abbott and other Coalition MPs appeared
alongside offensive signs, to much public criticism.

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Sydney's March in March protest

Protesters deliver a statement of no confidence in the current Australian Government. Photo: Dean Sewell

The signs at the rally ranged from those comparing Mr Abbott
with Hitler, to placards calling him ‘‘gutless’’ and one simply
portaying a pair of Speedos with a giant red line crossed through them.

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Another referred to Mr Abbott’s history as a boxer, reading: ‘‘To a pugilist, every problem looks like an un-protected head’’.

Seven speakers addressed the crowd before marching began, a number which seemed a little cruel given the inclement weather.

March in March protest. Photo: Dean Sewell

Emcee Matt Wakefield, a Sydney comedian, warmed up the crowd
with a reference to the ‘‘shameful, racist, homophobic...f--king a--hole
that is Tony Abbott’’.

British singer Billy Bragg, currently on tour in Australia,
was a surprise guest. He sang a song and lamented the recent remarks
mining magnate Gina Rinehart made praising former British Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher.

All mentions of Ms Rinehart’s name were met with booing.

Cat Rose, the convenor of Community Action Against
Homophobia, said that ‘‘it’s pretty clear that Tony Abbott’s homophobia
alone disqualifies him from government’’.

March in March national convenor Tim Jones said according to
initial reports from ‘‘news sources’’, 112,000 people had attended about
20 marches around the nation, with 12,000 turning up in Sydney.

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