Bring on tlte No Borders Camp Mexicali-Calexico 2007!

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world, that we fight then1 together and learn what we can from previous
Our ir1tention is that we broaden our knowledge of borders across the
could remember (a lesson learnt: thal however insignificant or part of an
apparently obv.ious process things can seem at the time, it's a good idea to
emails to crew in Australia and intensive brainstorming about what we
want you all to know that we are by no means experts in the history of
gave at the Thcson NoBordersCarop Gathering iJ1 February 2007. We
The following texts were produced and reworked from a workshop we

that have happened against it. Much of the info you'll react here xequired
rnandalory detention, nor can we present a holistic memory of the actions

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"If you've come here to helJ) me, you're wasting your
time. But if vou've come here because vour liberation
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16
 BA('.KGROUND & ('.ONTEXT Brief chronology of struggle against
:: l'vfandato,y detention in Australia was inb·oduced in 1992 with 273-day J\landatory Detention since 2000
limit. In 1994, t.ht� Keating government removed the time limit, forcing (hy no means comprehensive)
refugees to suffer indefinite detention. This was supposedly due to a
refugee influx especially from Asian countries such as Viebtam and China. 2000: Refugees breakout of l'ort Headland and Woomera. In Woomera they
The detailed psychological reports of Ma1tiza Thompson done relatively occupy a supermarket carpark demanding to be heard.
soon after the policy of mandatory detention was implemented, the 1997 2001: Jan: Refugees undertake an action in which they sew together their
HREOC reporl, the 1998 UNI-ICR report and the 2001 Flood report and lhe lips, in Woomera Detenhon Cenh·e.
NSW Special Parliamentary Committee Report all recommended partial or
total abolition of mandatory detention on the basis of the policy's extreme 2001: 30-50 refugees breakout of Woomera Detention Centre
nature and the availability of better developed and cheaper conurn.m.ity 200:1: April: 350 people camp at Woomera Detention Centre in protest.
based alternatives. Howeve,· almost all of the recommendations from
those reports !,ave been ignored and those that have been implemented 2001.: Marybynong Detention Centre roof occupied with the banner "free
have been implemented i n cruel and inhumane ways (like house detention the refugees"
in Woomera for families). Indeed Ausb·alia's policy over the same period,
2001: July: SmaII protest at· Port Headland
as these and other detailed reports have covered, has been made more
ptmitive and re1�ressive. 2001: Oct: Tampa Crisis (children overboard scandal)
:: Conditions 2002: jan-feb: Freedom Bus 51 day tour of communities and detention
The conditions in which detainees live ru·e completely tmacceptable, centi:es all over Australia. Setting np communication with detainees and
inhumane and permanently damaging to the individuals and communities indigenous mob, which later proved very important.
concerned. Guards routinely deny visits, prevent detainees from receiving
phone calls or letter .s. Detainees have been forced to engage in hunger. 2002: April: Woomera02 camp (1000 participate) and breakout
strikes as their only recourse, are treated for suicidal ideation with 2003: April, Easter break: Baxtcr03 camp
isolation, receive poor medical care if they indeed receive any, sleep on
floors without blankets and regularly don't have enough food, let alone. 2004: Protests at Perth Detention Centre and at Kiribili house (home of
culturally appropriate food. Detention centres are exh·emely isolated, in the Primeminister)
deserts, on islands offshore or if they are in the city, hidden in the suburbs. 2005: April, Easter break: Baxter05 camp
Baxte,; for example, is in the desert, in South Australia, a days drive from
any major capital, 40-45C degree heat, custom built with 3 layers of fencing 2006: Prntest at Vlllawood Detention Centre in Sydney
preventing detainees from looking out at all, only up.

MIGRATION PATTERNS For more information:

:: Where from?
As of January 2007: lrnq (18.5%), Afghanistan (14.0%), the People's Republic http://www.antimedia.net/desertsto1n1/
of China (6.8%), the Philippines (6.4%), and India (5.3%}. Currently 80% of gmat site which has the cybe.r version a woome.ra desert storm, a post
detainees have overstayed visas, of the 561 people in mandatory detention, woomera 02 publication. great diverse analysis and articles in my
14 were unauthorised boat arrivals and 38 were unauthorised air arrivals.
opi.nion.
About 15% of p�ople in mandatory detention are seeking asylu111 or a
merits or judicial review of a decision in relation lo their appHcation for a http://www.engagemedia.org/
protection visa. Tl1ere are 24 people waiting for D [AC to decide a Protection site where you can access small size versions of the dvds and videos we
Visa application. At the peak of the so-called "crisis" in 2001., Australia showed in our workshop. pi us other indy films from australia.
leceived 6,341 asylum seekers by boat. Th.is is the highest numb�r that ·15
 has ever arrived in one year and about half of Australia's annual quota
The Camp - a massive logistical effort for huma1utarian and refugee visas. The Australian quota is about 12,000
i people a year, dramatically less than other countries such as UK and
• Sacred Indigenous Fre • Autonomous Spaces Germany.
• Food Not 13ombs •Communal Kitd,en ::Who?
• Watei� is a huge issue. we have used trucks to bring the water to the Refugees fleeing to Australia are ma.inly men, however a larg,! percentage
site of camps. of womyn and childreJ.1 also. In the late 1990's and up to 2004 there were
many children in detel\tion, including those bom in detention. Though
• Three latrines were built and maintained voluntarily. Most people the impact of detention upon the mental health of all detainees is clearly
chose to wee elsewhere. documented, the effects upon childxen were particularly blatant. Children
Getting People There were seen imitating the violence of guards in theit- play. There are many
records of drawings by child1:en that vividly depict children's' experieJ.\ces
• Sliding scale, • Buses and private transport were organised of violence and abuse. There were high levels_of depre.s,sion, self harm and
suicide. Due to popular dissenl, government was forced to move children
Post Camp - DeaUng with Trauma
out of detention into alternative forms of detention, however in a mannei·
• After a huge build up and intense einotional experience lots of people wluch often left fam . ilies broken up with parents still detained and ki.ds in
burn oul, i. ts really important to organise against Uus happening before foster care.
the camp. :: A note on asylum seekers
• Legal hotline from during the camp converted into a counselling Asylum seekers are legally defined as people who are outside their country
telephone line. of nationality or their ,lsual country of residence and who apply lo the
govenu11e.nt of the country they are in for reco1�nition as a refugee (and
• People were encouraged to write letters and continue visiting for permission to stay when so recog1used). Their application for refugee
detainees in detention. status is based on fear of persecution jn their own (,'◊Ul\ □:y (for reasons
of race, religion, natio11ality, sexualit), membership of a parl:ic1dar·social
group, or political opinion).
ln Australia, asylum seekers form two distinct groups:
- those who ardve in an authorised manner (eg., with visitor or studei,t
visas) and who are generally allowed to remain in the commu1uly while
their applications are ])tocessed; and
- those who arrive in an unauthorised manne!r by plane or boat. People
arriving without authority are confined in dele,.1tion centres until they are
grar,ted a visa to remain in Australia, or they leave the co,mtq, voluntarily
or othe,.·wise.
:: Temporary Protection Visas (TPV)
Since October 1999, asylun1 seekers arriving without authority have only
been able to receive a Temporary Pmtection Visa. U their application for
re(ugee status is successful, they are released from the detention centre,
and their three-year Tl'V gives them access to .Medicare (public health
care), but no entitlement to settlement services, such as English language
dasses or tertiary education. In addition, no family members are n.llowed
to join them here. There are currel\tly over 3700 people nationally holdirig
TPVs. Holders ofTPV have previously been able to apply for a permanei,
14 3
protection visa after 30 months, but as of September 2001 this is no longer Objective: Comunication
available. Unauthorised arrivals will now only have access to recurrent How: Effective Independent Media Stntegy
temporary visas offering them no future ·security or stability, being
constantly at risk of being returned to the country from which they have • lvledia tent
fled. • Croups returned to local centres daily to use the i11ternct
::How Long? Desert,indymedia at Woomera02 consisted of several components:
During 2001 the average was about 9 months, taking into account that
many detainees are British and New Zealanders detained for only days • Indymedia website [the melbourne.indymcdia site was used for
because of overstayed visas. This lowers the average, as many asylum woomera2002],
seekers (particularly non-white, or non-christian) are dcl:aincd fo1· up to • A media-lab was set up - computers, power supplies, noticeboards,
8 years. Currently there are 561 detainees in centres, plus 120 in other re-chargers, etc • in the back of a truck in the woomera2002 camp. This
forms of "co=unity" detention. Many asylum seekers are living with the gave people the opportunity to write up their own stories, edit their
insecurity of"J'PVs or deported into dangerous situations in their countries photos or audio pieces, and save them lo disk for uploading to the
of origin. Indy media website (we used a secure upload station in a near-by town
:: Australasian Correctional Management (ACM) for uploading lo, and maintaining the lndyrnedia website].
ACM was a private company owned by Wackenhut, a subsidiary of • 'media convergences' - meetings where people who planned on
multinational security giant Croup 4 Securicor. From 1998 until 2003 ACM
'covering' woomera2002 as independent media makers could meet,
was responsible detention centres in Australia. ACM attracted slmng
swap information and ideas, and network.
criticism for abuses of refugees detained in its facilities. This climaxed with
the massive Easter 2002 protest at the Woomera Immigrant Reception and • publicising of bothdesert.indymedia's resources and the idea of open
Processing Centre. Perhaps in part due to bad publicity over the refugee publishing to the rest of the camp [done through the daily spokescouncils
centres ACM handled over the running of the Australian detention centres out there, and in materials circulated prior to the ca111p];
to its parent company Group 4 Falck (now Croup 4 Securicor) in 2003.
• a Melbourne based Jndymedia crew that would help to maintain the site
It also ·changed the name of its New Zealand wing to Global Expertise
in Outsourcing NZ ltd (CEO) while it was stiU running ACRP. The CEO • cooperation of the global network in "getting the stories out there."
Group is also responsible for the running of detention centres and prisons
in the US. • Post protest publicatio11 Woomer-a Desert Stonn for reflection/ analysis.

The introduction of a private company into detention centre management PIMP[Phone TndyMedia Patch). The phone patch allowed anyone with a
has had serious implications for how we campaign in Australia. The phone to call a computer 'answering machine' and leave a message. This .
'human containment industry' is considered economically as a "positive message was then converted to an mp3 and automatically uploaded to
growth area" . lt is focussing lobbyi.rig resources 011 securing and defending the Indymedia website. The patch was used by people both inside and
its profit making business rather than looking after inmates. Resources and outside of the camps over the Easter period. We managed to get the phone
services are always minimal to reduce costs. Our campaigning ought to number for the patch into several camps, including Woomera detention
attack this notion strongly as being capitalism in its most brutal and crude centTe, The only detainees who used the system at the time of the camp
form. though were some detainees at the WA Port Headland detention centre.
We still considered the system successful regardless. It broadened the
:: The Pacific Solution range of access points to publishing on the Tndymedia website [so it is
From 2001 the Australian Government sought offshore solutions to its no longer necessary to even know how to use a computer to publish on
in1migration "crisis". Due to increasingprotest inAustralia from within and Indymedia], and allowed detainees to publish directly onto the lndymedia
outside detention centres and also international criticism, the government site. Th�! said, obviously more has to be done to 'disperse' the concepts of
sought solutions that accommodated the growing numbers of migrants, Indymedia and the phone patch out tn a broader audience including the
without necessarily having to accept them into Australia. Conditions in detainees, and to publicise the access details n>ore broadly.
4 13
Objective: Dxenking the silence island detention centres are parliculnrly gruesome as they nre far from
Slrntcgy: Music and noise scrutiny due to their extreme isolation. Journalists, human rights observers
and otl,ei·s can only access lhesc islands if i11vited by the government
Some humanity and agency can be restored through 'jou,t' actions - some and escorted by the Australian marines. lt's an "out of sight out of mind"
'noise' make,� it through the 'line of silence'. But there are also limil:J; solution. When refugees ha vc never innde it to Auslr�linn shores, they can

,�,l:�f�J-:,� ·'.·,
imposed by 11,e 'form' of the hack - limits of circulation, on the ability lo be easily deported to their original countries or offloaded onto a third party
produce and propagate, on the 11bility for people to 'participate' in Lhe hack such as New Zr.ala.nd or Canada.
- they do not leave the tradilional media format of slory-tcller & audience.
lt must be remembered that silent'C does not just mean stopping the flow of
information across the border, but also stopping the people on cither side
from even allempting to speak to eac.h other at all: propagating a myth of � t" · ...,.J
':'"l>,\1111"'1
isolation and alienation. If the story-teller & audience remains intact, if a 0 ' ✓��jt' �", ,
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'conversation' cannot start, the border will never be fully lom down. ()
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A socialist party (in typical fasld<,,,) organized a concerl (rock for freedom, i�.
l think it was called) for lhe detainees at .Baxter03, although in the end �,\,
they put it on 3km from the centre due to police restrictions. This was a
hotly debated issue, many argued that it defeated the point of the gig if the
detainees eouldn't even hearit. But they put it on anyw•)� and I.his divided

;;
ow· numbers as some people stayed al the camp and others returned to lbc
cenb·e.
Objective: Constructing a dialogue with the other side 1),

..
How: Visual contact wiU, detainees :: Protest �
There is a history of strugg.le from within detention centres si11ce their
• Balloons • Gifts of toys lo detainees. introduction in the eady 90's, including actions such as hunger str·ikes, sclf­
• Candles and late night vigils. harm, people sewing their lips togethe1.; escapes, riots, fires and suicides.
By the late 90's protests inside delenlion centres were becomi11g more ru,d

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• Gianl pape,· machete puppels and props. more frequent.
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• Passing stories and drawings .
throug hlhelences.''Thepassin1; (c
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The Refugee Action Coalition (RAC) and othe1· public campaignu1g arow,d
the detention of asylum seekers started as a result of a refugee breakout
of notes, children's stories, and �'. './; , ••�•.,, 1 . 1 from Woomera Detention Centre in 1999. The small group of refugees
objects from within the camp •.; ; ·1 . I , ·:, I ' • protested in lhc nearby town also called Woornera. Until theJ1 the media
. .l �
to people 01.1 tside is a stronger •. ••• •ir• · : · · ,.·:/ :', completely ignored the situation of detainees and our protests and il was
�fP,,,�·J(t;ij;,,,·••·. jL:r·
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tactic - the objects, notes and • • .. .. . i .- ' '-,. ·�' \ � extremely difficult to find information on the conditions for refugees.
pictures can be taken fron1 ';k,.f•. r· • ,:,. 1 J11,
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the site and deployed widely I/ ·;.,ff.l J!!(lJtr}Flr,s WI�'I � <:. • There were many positive outcomes frorn the protesl5 within detention
r,t ,jV;.i;..�,Jv?.Y} centres. The manager at Port Hedlancl was replaced as a resu1.t of action
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across both the country and the
. taken by people inside detention and the centre was finally closed. Juliet
globe,e1lhertluoughtr·ad1honal • ,,l. .. ,,,,., '1
4

media la limited option) or • Iii{:!

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tlu·ough alternative cha11nels [ilie nel, commu11ity and alternative radio,
k �.i �,,_.. Block was also closed clown. The Afghani people in Woometa finally had
their case assessment started after years of waitin(�, also tht, outcome of
newspapers, magazines, etc]. Interviews with detainees (either video, their protests. It is still an unforltmale reality tl1at prcM.st actions continue
audio or p1fatl taken at woomera2002 by independenl media makers with the ongoing mru,datory dclc1'lion regime. The conditions may have
work in much the same way.'' improved, but the incarceralion remains a reality and we won't stop our
12 struggle until all detention o( asylum seekers ls abolished. 5
 BAXTER03 ('.ALL TO A('.TION About the Woomera02 Breakout
• Some detainees that escaped during the Woomera02 protests are yet to
National borders shifted to restrict .immigration. Offshore processing and be recaptured (and hopef-ully never will be), but maoy were caught. 16
detention. Forced deportations. No new reco1:ded arrivals in over a year. protesters were also caught and charged in relation to aiding l:he escape
The gradual phasing out of current onshore detention centres, and the and harbouring detainees.
relocation of those who have spent months and years in imprisonment.
• The nature of smuggling people out of the camp demanded people
Australia is not alone in fortifying its borders. All over the world govern­ work in a decentralised and self-organised capacity.
ments erect walls of concrete and razor wire, install high tech security
equipment and employ computerised surveillance systems to protect their • The fact that the break-out was largely spontaneous means that
power and privilege from those seeking a better life. In an increasingly Woomera2002 will not happen again. You cannot plan for spontaneity
globalised world, Capital moves freelj• but not people. and as such it should not be fetishized. Similarly all the tactics used
should be seen as merely that.
A new state-of-the-art militarised centre at Baxter. In order lo reverse the
negative t'Ommunily perception of mandatory detention, gone is the razor TesHmonjes from Woomera 2002:
wire. But the barriers sti.11 remain. An electric fence secures the border.
, "We originally went to the fence to see and be seen, but it quickly became
Solid fences within the camp are erected not for containment but to an exercise in architectural relocation. The fence came down, and the bars
increase isolation. From the inside all that can be seen is the sky. Separate were bent. Around 50 detainees escaped - an action initiated by them -
compounds divide friends and family. through a hole in the final.'metal-bar' fence."
The invisibility of those inside is made possible by locating the "detention "People first !Tied to climb it and it bent and then people jumped on it
facility" in the desert. Information barriers are strictly policed b)' the state to bring it down. The inner fence which actually enclosed the refos 1vas
and the private corporation that profits from incarceration. Letting the broken by the people inside while we all stood around and watched...all
irnprisonrnent of those inside go unchallenged will only strengthen the people r&n back to the camp we had set up outside the exclusion area and
forces that control the lives of people on both sides of the fence. hid people and then smuggled them out. So many funny stories. Two of the
women i W<!S in lockup with tried to smuggle the guy out in a taxi. They
l·Iaving risked their lives in coming here seeking freedom, many people called the taxi from port augusta paid $150 or something in advance and
inside the camps risk further imprisonment, deportation and even death • then held up a blanket while he got into the car so the taxi driver didn't see
in challenging their detention. They join thousands of people world-wide him and then hid him under their things on the floor! They totally almost
who riot, self harm, light fires and destroy compounds in protest against made it t.oo!"
and in defiance of their incarceration.
"Protesters ran to meet those
As the people inside escalate their sll'llggle, so shall om struggle escalate behind the inner fence with
in solidarity. flor we are part of a global movement, fighting for the right of cheers, messages of support and
aJl people to move and to stay. chants for freedom. At the fence,
This Easter we will converge at Baxter. We will take action in solidarity detainees spoke with people on
with our brothers and sisters inside the camps. Through civi I disobedience the other side. A hole was cut
we will make contact and challenge the barriers that divi.de us. Join us. into the inner razor-wire fence
that separ!lted protesters and 50
·Ours will be part of many actions that are planned for the Baxter protest detainees escaped. Many were
from April 18 - 20. Direct actions, media, radi.o, vigils, workshops, music. quickly recaptured by the police
For more information www.baxter2003.baxterwatch.net but m.any others made it to the
No One Is illegal protest camp."
Febrnar)' 2003
6
 "Autonomy'' often gets used to mean "unaccountability", like "I can do
·whatever r want cause I'm autonomous". This was evidenced at Woomera
NOTES ON STRATEGY AND LOGISTICS
where the spokescouncils often had no meaning, as there was little General Lessons Learnt
com,nitment to canying out collective decisions.
• There is J\O such thing as a model for action.
Whal People in th,, City of Brisbane Did: The form of coordination at
the actions was along an affinity group spokes council model. This sort • Plan to succeed and be prepared for what that could mean.
of. non-decision making structure aims to ensure the autonomy of the • Assume that we are big and diverse - this will make it easier to involve
different groupings involved, allowing communication, but not enforcing people later.
conformity. Following this intention, the main organising grouping for the
city of Brisbane distributed leaAets explainint; that their group intended It should be stressed that the actions have been owned just as much by
to operate prior to the action to coordinate the logistics of getting people the detainees as othe.i· pxotcsters and that there were active functioning
• there. Howeve.i; it also explained that the group anticipated dissolving into communication channels that were a product o( consistent and longterm
affinity groups and working through a spokes council as soon as Brisbane relationships between organisei:s and detainees as well as the detainees self
people arrived · at the action itself, ending the localion of thei� group as an organisation.
authority at the protest. Police Tactics and Our Responses
BorderHacking Tecniques • Roadblocks: identity checks. Our strategy was to pass roadblocks on foot.
Objective: Breakout/Attacking the Detenl'ion Centre • Police set up in the space prior to the camps Baxtcr03 and Baxter05,
How: Direct Action
• lv!aps and knowledge of ,
• Attempts to 111.a.ke us camp ,,
further and further awa)'
• -l1 ..i: ':
the geognphical r�gion is from the Centre (an attempt to
essential. defeat the purpose of making
• Strength in numbers: Stay contact with Detainees).
together, avoid snalchings. , Ever)' )'Car it is a stand off
between cops and crew to
• Planned affinity group claim the camp's space
actions (although we have
found that its one thing lo • fn Woomera, the APS
organise in an affinity in (cops) dismanl'led l'irst Aid
urban space and entirely and Indymedia tents on the first day. (tactic was to hit what was most
another lo orgaoise with important to the camp)
that same affinity group in the desert. Unde.i·take direct action training • Police attacked the camp at night at Woomera02, attempting arrests.
before hand and educate yourself about the desert) Re.sponse was to encircle the camp with cars, to prevent horses or cars
• Element of surprise is not to be underestimated. charging the camp, and ofcourse a24holll' guard. Although its important
to note that its ha.rder to perform a raid on a camp than it is to put up a
• Simple tactics to delay the cops: Rocks on the road to block the free .road block. The lesson here is that its easier to protect a camp or l:o leave
passa1�e of police vehicles and horses. camp on mass after a consensed decision, than to bit by bit abandon a
camp if its attacked, leaving it open to further attack and more chauce of
• Organised and well cooxdinaled teams of legal observers, who
getting fucked over by the cops at roadblacks).
actively took names and numbers of witnesses to arrests, and people
with footage. • IJse of Private and Military Land to attemp to limit us: At Woomera
Eight people were arrested for trespassing during the three hour walk
lO 7
 around the inner perimeter fence of the detention centre. The eight wete separate the people in the Woome.ra detention cenh:e from the people
snatched by police during the march and later released on bail. This outside (Goodman 2003).
strategy was repealed at Baxter03. Baxter has military land on one side
for the Centre, it is also a no fly zone. (Trespassi.n1� be.ing an easy charge Incorporating D9D•autnomous p<>Htics? Some Socialist 01:garusing for the
anti Detention Centre camps: The protests aimed to be inclusive and true
laid against protesters.)
to the fact that many diverse political and social groups have Ol'ganised
• Using as a bail condition that for the duration of the protest people around refugee issues. l.n the case of some socialist gi:oups, like Socialist
could not return to the camp. Alternative, we found their general building strategy to be the same as
usual. Some socialist groups general buildillg strategy was unlike their
• Follow up raids (on Barricade Books, an anarchist bookstore in
usual: pamphlets and more pamph.lets. lt has been criticised for lacking the
Melbourne post Woomera02, for example).
information and. education that people need in order to empower active
• Police called upon local com.munilies and truckers to report activist participation. A desert camp is not like a marcl1, people need to be well
whereabouts. prepared and organise their own di.r11ct action.
• Consequences for detainees in the Detention Centres: Chemical Organisational Models
retraints such as tear gas, and beat.irl1 �s used against detainees. So its
really important to consult and work with detainees, if the protest may • Affi,:,ity Gi-oups - for direct actio11 a.nd rnpport
potentially negatively impact upon them. To the credit of the Australian • Buddies - pai. ring up to look after one another
organisers there is a long history of solidarity work with detainees, and
coordinated actions. • Spokescouncils

Objectives and how they were reflected in Propaganda Aspokescouncil is a method of organisation by which each working group,
organisation or af:fu1ity group sends a delegate or 'spoke' through which
The action at Woomera was called a 'festival of freedom' by organisers. they pMti.cipate in decision making and coordinate with other groups. As a
Secondly, the politic lhal the action at ·woomera was organised Lmder structure they were popularised by the anarchists during the Spanish Civil
was 'no-borders,' which is not a demand that any government would War and again as part of Lhe peace, feminist and anli-n1.1clear movements.
conceivably meet, as it negates their existence. Sometimes only spokes attend meetings, other times the affinity or working
group will sit behind the spoke and discuss and decide on proposals.
6DQther world is possible: Autonomous politics .
There was emphasis placed on self organising, creativity. The action was. This is seen as a more egalitarian and cooperMive structure than typical
organised with particular attention to non-hie.rarchi.ca.l, non-dominating mass meetings and was the method employed at the Woomera2002
forms of 01-ganisation. This engendered a sense of ownership and protests. It enco1.1rages greater self-activity, participation and ownership of
spontaneity. The majority of organisation was done via networking struggles than mass meetings where only the loudest and most confidant
through Internet activity. Each state, and significant groupings within usually speak and others are often relegated to a position of spectatorship.
each state organised autonomously. On leaflets distributed to build for the Spokescouncils are a more sophisticated decision-making structure and
aclion people were encouraged to self-01-ganise through existing groups demand much more of participants in terms of self-organisation and
that tfo:y were part of or in groups specifically formed for the action. The initiative. The difference in structures could be seen as a network, web, or
downloadable leaflet from the Woomera 2002 website declares, "we wiII rhizome ve.rsus a hierarchical and static pyramid.
not mimic what we go to abolish, but instead wish to open a multitude of
paths towards a different world." Spokescouncils are relatively new i n austrnlia. Desert camps have been
where they have mostly been developed. People lacked prior training in
At Woomera02: In propaganda, an organising t;toup characterised this as facilitation of spokescounci.ls, and response to unconslructive participation,
"disrupting the present to create the future." Rather than appealing to an ie. the intervention of socialist groups non-respectful of lhe spokecouncil
authority to end the confinement of refugees, the participants in Woomera mode.I. Sp_okescou.ncils and affinity groups are not the correct organising
2002 physically broke down the fences enclosing asylum seekers. In doing method for every si.lual:.ion but should be applied as the terrain demands.
0, people at the action actually and symbolically broke the borders that
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