Red Report Back - Week Ending 31/07/2022

Traditional Owners Defend Culture Over Profit

Murujuga Traditional Owners held a protest in Perth last week in response to government inaction over threats to cultural sites. A crowd of First Nations activists and community supporters marched to protest the development of a fertiliser plant on Murujuga in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.   

The site is of great cultural significance not just to the local Jaburara people, but to the whole world, as it contains some of the oldest known rock art, dating back nearly 70, 000 years. If the $4.3 billion development of the fertiliser plant goes ahead, it would seriously jeopardise the integrity of the site and cause irreparable damage to the First Nations people of the region.  

This episode, much like the destruction of Juukan Gorge before it by Rio Tinto, highlights the disrespect that capitalist states and businesses hold towards the cultural heritage of colonised peoples. Many Aboriginal activists involved have expressed dismay at the silence from the government and the dismissal of their concerns, with Josie Alec stating that "this shouldn't be happening to us . . . government is supposed to be there to protect you, to do the right thing by its people. It's not doing anything right by its people at the moment - not one single thing.” 

Politicians engage in tokenistic gestures like Acknowledgements of Country while ignoring the pleas of First Nations communities and signing off on the destruction of their land and communities. This brutal hypocrisy highlights two points. Firstly, the capitalist state will always prioritise profit and exploitation over the needs of working people. Secondly, that if we are to fight against their institutions, we must organise outside of their mechanisms. We only have the power we build ourselves. #saveoursonglines 

Pigs Show No Shame – Coronial Inquest of Gordon Copeland

The coronial inquest into the death of Gomeroi man Gordon Copeland highlighted just how low the police of New South Wales are this week. Mister Copeland, father of three, died in July of 2021 after being harassed and stalked by police who assumed that an Aboriginal man driving a car must have stolen it.

The inquest has been littered with inconsistencies in the testimonies of the police involved, who are of course doing their best to protect themselves from any repercussions in the death of yet another Aboriginal person at the hands of the NSW Police Force. It has since been revealed that police knew Mr. Copeland was in the water following their pursuit, and essentially left him to drown.

What is most shocking (or unsurprising, depending how well you know the police in Australia) is the recordings and footage from the police at the time of the incident. One pig in particular, Nick Murray, can be heard saying ‘fuck this little cunt’ and laughing while police searched for Mr. Copeland along the overflowing river. Mr. Copeland was one of at least 21 black deaths in custody last year.

This is the depravity of the Australian capitalist state embodied perfectly. Armed thugs, harassing innocent civilians to the point of death – laughing as they do it. We hope that the family of Mr. Copeland will find some peace, because it is damn near certain they will find no justice in the Australian legal system. The thin blue line is a dam wall that holds back the spilt blood of black people in this country. So long as these institutions remain, there will be no true justice.

A banner pictured at a Black Lives Matter rally that was held in July of 2020.

The New Stolen Generations 

This week, 17 children between the ages of 14 and 17 were moved from the infamously brutal Banksia Hill Detention Centre for juveniles to the adult, maximum-security Casuarina Prison in Western Australia. The move has been slammed by everybody with a conscience, in particular Aboriginal youth advocates.  

The state government justified the move by labelling the children as problematic inmates. One must wonder what other teenage boys would do if they were locked in a damp cell for 23 hours a day, separated from their families and communities over minor charges. Some of the children were sedated and handcuffed for the transfer, as they refused to be forcibly relocated to the adult prison, an action that occurred without consulting the families of the children.  

This shameful move perfectly encapsulates the capitalist state and its treatment of the most exploited elements of the working class. Rural, First Nations children being forcibly separated from their families by a heavily biased legal system that exposes them to psychological and physical damage, impacting their development and plunging them and their families into cycles of imprisonment and trauma. Once more, we see that justice is not to be found in the institutions of this state for those who are at its mercy.  

CFMEU Launches Breakfast Club Initiative

On a different note, CFMEU Victoria launched an admirable program this week. CFMEU member and Koori organiser for the union, Joel Shackleton, launched the new Breakfast Club initiative.  

Thornbury Primary School, in the state’s north-west region, has a student population that is one-third Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, similar to neighbouring Reservoir East Primary. The new Breakfast Club program provides free breakfast to any child at the school who wishes to enjoy a meal before the school day begins.  

The program serves children who otherwise came to school hungry, late or missed school altogether, due to disadvantage in their communities. One teacher from Reservoir East Primary commented on the situation, stating “its 2022 and kids are still coming to school hungry. It needs to stop and it’s a shame it hasn’t. As a society and government, this country can do better”. 

Since its launch, the program raised attendance rates and classroom performance with 40-50 kids joining the morning program. This example of union and community engagement shows perfectly how working class solidarity, not begging the capitalist system to do something, can solve the problems working people face. 

RAFFWU Wins Another Victory for Retail Workers

Retail workers won a minor victory this week as findings emerged from a legal battle between RAFFWU and the grubby retail giant Woolworths. The outcome of what is known as the Woolworths Union busting case revealed the petty lengths that corporations are willing to go to in suppressing workers’ rights. 

The case initially began over the harassment by Woolworths of RAFFWU Delegate, Lauren Dyer, for raising a dispute about a safety issue in her workplace carpark. It revealed that Woolworths kept a secret RAFFWU tracker to record issues involving RAFFWU. Additionally, it exposed that the Store Manager worked with the anti-worker, right-wing union SDA to suppress the safety campaign at the workplace.  

RAFFWU members involved in the safety campaign at the site revealed that SDA officials had even gone so far as to tell them their jobs were under threat if they didn’t apologise to this manager. As a result of this anti-worker union busting campaign, Woolworths was fined a measly $10,000, while Lauren received a written apology in addition to $3,000 compensation. 

This case exemplifies several key lessons for the Australian working class. Firstly, that right-wing unions will work with bosses to suppress the rights of workers if their control is threatened. Secondly, that if workers join together and fight for their rights, and do so with the backing of a democratic, member-led organisation, then they can take on any bastards that want to subject them to unsafe, unfair conditions. Congratulations Lauren and RAFFWU. Dare to struggle, dare to win.