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On April 4th, a couple of weeks ago, I attended the counter-rally to Reclaim Australia (RA). For those that don't know what RA is all about it comes down to fear-mongering and bigotry. They oppose the "take-over" or "Islamification" of Australia by Muslims, they want Halal certification banned, and want Islam banned from being taught in schools, amongst other narrow-minded, and fear based demands. They don't let facts get in the way of good-olde scapegoating, and would rather stir up xenophobic sentiments instead of realising Muslims compose only 2.2% of Australia's population. If this is a taking over Australian culture, I'm not exactly sure what Australia they are living in.

In anycase, I attended the counter-rally, organised by some Lefty organisation, alongside a bunch of other anarchists, about 25-30 many of whom formed part of ANTIFA. We congregated at the George St end of Martin place from 10am onwards, and watch many people walk to the meeting point of the RA rally in a center square of Martin Place. It was hard to tell who was part of RA and who was an ordinary citizen as individuals, couples, or small groups walked pass us, but there were some that made it obvious where they intended to be. These people had Australian flags draped over their backs, or Australian flag hats, or shirts, or handheld Australian flags. I don't like to make assumptions, but I'm pretty sure these people were heading to the RA rally.

The Redfern Aboriginal Tent Embassy was established 10 months ago to oppose the removal of Aboriginal people from Redfern. Jura supports the Embassy their campaign for affordable housing for Aboriginal people in the area. We support justice and self-determination for Aboriginal people; being pushed out of inner city areas to make way for wealthy non-Aboriginal people is not justice.

Today marks the 3 year anniversary of the initial massive, violent dawn police eviction of Occupy Sydney on 23 October 2011. Up to Monday, 11 people still faced criminal charges ranging from ‘camping’ to assault police primarily from this eviction. The hearing of these matters was continuously adjourned due to an Occupy Sydney constitutional challenge to the ‘camping’ charges i.e. that the implied right to the freedom of political communication in the Australian Constitution should have protected the political occupation that occurred at Martin Place as part of the global Occupy movement. Sadly this case reached the end of its road last Friday when it was considered by the High Court of Australia in regards to whether special leave should be granted for the case to be heard in the High Court. Leave was refused.
 

This guest contribution to the Jura blog is by Daisy, a high-school student from Blacktown. For her year 12 Personal Interest Project (PIP), Daisy explored notions of freedom, human needs, authority, power and the relationship between freedom and happiness. She drew on her own research, a survey, personal reflection and an interview with Jeremy Kay of the Jura Collective. We congratulate Daisy on her hard work and welcome her thoughtful consideration of the issues.