The mainstream media only covers … protests when someone does something particularly sensational, or when cops start getting rough with people.
We’ve had weeks and weeks of thousands of people peacefully marching in the street, and no significant media coverage. But as soon as someone connected to the movement swears at a cop or graffitis private property or whatever, you can bet the media will be all over it.
Jonathan Sriranganathan, talking about protests in the CBD.
Also, speaking of Jonno, he was apparently at UQ yesterday when this went down and posted live streams of it on FB. Will share the text accompanying the second stream below, because there’s a lot of detail to it.
Post 2 text
Update: Things have calmed down since this video but I just want to clarify what’s happened…
- two Palestinian-Australians climbed onto the roof of a research building and made speeches criticising UQ’s support for the weapons industry and the Israeli genocide
- about 60 or 70 students, staff and alumni gathered on the ground to listen and show support
- the university called the cops, and when the cops got up to the roof to talk to the two men, they willingly agreed to come down
- but then, over the space of about 15 minutes, heaps more police arrived - 12 to 15 police vehicles and upwards of 30 cops
- students contined chanting and expressing opposition to the arrests
- as the two protesters were escorted (without resisting) towards the cop cars, protesters spilled onto the road and continued chanting
- then without warning, police started pushing people from multiple directions
- cops escalated the situation and used far more force than necessary to move the students off the road
- one person was pepper-sprayed without warning, another person was pushed to the ground
- no-one else was arrested though and I don’t believe anyone was injured beyond the pepper-spraying and possibly the guy who was pushed over
This was by far the biggest police presence I’ve ever seen on campus, and a complete overreaction.
It’s important to emphasise though that while the police presence was ridiculously over-the-top, there were no other repercussions (as far as I’m aware) for any other participants. So don’t let the excessive show of police force deter you from participating in and supporting future protests.
The strength of the university’s response suggests to me that they are genuinely worried about the pressure the protests are putting on their relationship with the weapons industry.
Liberation and justice won’t just happen automatically without people pushing for it.
(Personally, I read the posts but didn’t actually watch the videos.)
Most of the media (including the ABC but to a decreasing extent) seems to be pro-Israel, so any coverage will naturally try to make the protestors out to be silly, immature and radicalised. They always seem to treat the 7th of October attack as a surprise committed by crazy terrorists - not the product of decades of suppression and attacks from Israel. I’m not saying the attack was justified - no attack on civilians is justified - but it needs to be viewed in context, especially with the subsequent response from Israel which has been completely disproportionate.
You can’t poke at a snake with a stick and then cry victim when it bites you.
