Tent Embassy negotiations on for another month.

I wasn’t serious about the A-10 Warthog either; a Huey Cobra would be much more effective. 😉

violence and a 5 am raid by the police arent the same thing.

the whole point of that type of raid is to minimse violence.

having seen previous tent embassy squatter reactions to any form of intervention, i think its safe to assume that violence comes from them to others – usually officers of the law going about their duty.

as to the attacks on them by members of teh public. i dont condone that, but if you set yourself up as a a target, you have to expect a reaction. thats why they have chosen the place, the style and the longevity of their protest.

they engineer the situation and then react.

quite frankly, i dont give a shit about their ’cause’ because i dont know what their cause is. its a message diluted long ago.

Let me clarify that first statement about violence; I don’t advocate violence against any group that has peaceful intent. As for people who won’t move out of the right lane… well, I think most of you know how I feel about that.

Fair call JB, I think we missed each other in the middle; I wasn’t really paying attention to gung-ho postings. I don’t advocate violence against any group, however I reckon the time has come for a decision to be made as to how best resolve this issue.

My comment about the riot squad was aimed at the potential troublemakers (Mael has ponted out various other factions are now residing in the area) who would resist any attempts to move them on to another more appropriate venue.

Even the Ngunnawal tribe have stated that the tent embassy is inappropriate.

As the cultural custodians of the land in question, I believe that their words speak volumes.

As Indigenous people, saying that the tent embassy no longer represents them, I think that their words should have been heeded by the squatters at the embassy several months ago.

The tent embassy has lost track of what it’s meant to be supporting, I won’t even go into the schematic of them being outside the wrong bloody building in the first place.

I think it’s necessary to apply a scalpel to the situation however, contained within the embassy are several factions, I think that the Indigenous representatives are the minority group however.

There seems to be a few other groups in there, such as the Republicanists (anybody remember the Sovereignity sign without a G), a few independent nation people, the usual deadset psycho’s, and a few people who’ve actually put in a garden.

It should be made distinctly clear that I believe that they have a right to protest, however they also should have been moved along to an appropriate place and not allowed to bandwagon another cause.

I’m reminded of Tasmanian politics where there’s a white circle outside their parliament house, apparently you’re allowed to smoke marijuana there because it’s a designated protest site.

It was mighty cunning of them to designate a small spot where (presumably) only one person can stand at a time wasn’t it ? (aka no squatting)

Now I’m going to rebut a previous statement, after consideration.

If the indigenous people want to protest at the Government, they should do it at Parliament House. At OPH, the only people who take any notice of them are the people who attend Plastic Friday, and the odd foreign tourist.

Since the Government has moved on, the protest should follow them.

On a side note, it’d make an interesting headwave into the revised post 911 terrorist reaction process by NPH staff.

My point Bulldog was just that I was unhappy about incitements of violence against people who suffer serious deadly violence in a real, honest to god fashion.

Having been down there and talked to them I don’t agree with their cause.

But their personal safety remains more important to me than their removal.

The guys were joking about A-10’s and grenade launchers.

But to people who get firebombed several times a year those jokes aren’t funny.

Roland, surely you know that in this day and age it matters not whether you appear to be aboriginal; you merely have to identify as being aboriginal (or torres straight islander).

Furthermore, as coming from european descent, when I open my mouth, I don’t speak for anyone but myself. Why are these folks different from me?

Finally, neat or not, I believe they are there unlawfully. That’s the bottom line.

I could pitch the neatest damn tent in the world anywhere else in the parliamentary triangle and I would get my ass kicked. Now, let’s have some equality.

JB – I have no doubt that they might be really nice people. However if they are legitimate in their claim for an embassy I’m sure I’d heard the offer for a real structure had been tabled many years ago – could be wrong about this so feel free to correct me. In any case, they would only have to petition the Federal Gov’t to have one built.

neat as in orderly . Not that neat is good in itself, buit people do get their knickers in a twist of things that are messy, and the embassy site at present is neat.

Of course there are people living there in tents and a caravan or two. They mostly appear to be aborginal to me.

Looks neat, compared to what? I think it looks bloody horrible, and I think they have lost their way and don’t necessarily represent the people they say they do.

Site looks neat to me right now, and residents are friendly.

The shed (originally anti-apartheid embassy) was firebombed recently don’t forget.. so it is interesting to wonder where all the agression comes from, and why.