Norman Brewer, Sydney
On January 30, Will Saunders and Dave Burgess will face their second sentencing hearing at the Sydney District Court. These anti-war activists are charged with "malicious damage" for painting "No War" in five-metre-high blood-red letters on the Sydney Opera House on March 18, two days before US President George Bu$h, British PM Tony B.liar, and Aussie PM John HoWARd launched the war on Iraq.
The image of the Australian icon-turned-protest-symbol was beamed across the world. Their support was indicated by the 200 people who turned up to support them in their first hearing on December 11.
Now, the NSW state is trying to make an example of Saunders and Burgess to frighten others from contemplating direct action protests. They are facing possible five-year jail terms, and a "clean-up" fine of $151,000.
91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly spoke with Dave Burgess about what Judge Blackmore called "their very real prospect of going to jail".
I heard you were not allowed to defend yourself. Why?
We wanted to do everything we could to non-violently prevent our country's involvement in an illegal war. A banner-drop off the Opera House the previous month gained no media coverage whatsoever. Ours was an eleventh hour, last resort action and we did it without any malicious thought in our bodies.
We were attempting to defend ourselves under Section 418 of the NSW Crimes Act, which takes in what is called "self-defence", whereby a person may not be guilty of a crime if they perceive they were attempting to prevent injury, property damage, liberty deprivation towards themselves or other people, and also criminal trespass on their own or other people's land. We think the Australian government is guilty of all of those crimes.
However, the court ruled that the law did not apply extra-territorially and also that the "nexus" between the Sydney Opera House and Australia's war on Iraq was not a strong one and ruled all our evidence inadmissible. We still pleaded "not guilty".
Why is wiping off five letters so expensive?
The banner drop only six weeks previously had sparked an outcry about a lack of security .... So for people like NSW Premier Bob Carr, who was four days out from a state election at the time, Opera House representatives and anti-terrorism officials, the whole thing was a huge embarrassment.
I've noticed that the mainstream media consistently refers to what we did as an "attack". Now, to me, 9/11 or an invasion of another country based on false pretexts is an "attack", but certainly not painting a building.
The Opera House dropped the clean-up costs to $151,000 at the first hearing because they "suddenly realised" that they don't pay GST. It also emerged that the abseilers, who were probably paid about $25 an hour, were hired out for about $90. But then the hiring company was sub-contracted by another one at $150 an hour who then simply "marked up" the price to $190. This money is by far the largest component of the bill we face.
What response and support did and do you get here and internationally?
When being escorted by the Rescue Squad through the inside of the sail, over the top of the Concert Hall, the orchestra came out applauding us as we were taken into the paddy wagon. I've also heard that there was animated discussion by staff members about blockading the clean-up operation.
The response was amazing and quite overwhelming. To see or hear of the image on the front pages of newspapers in Japan, Syria, China and Bolivia and the stories on BBC, CNN, everywhere, plus the interviews was quite beyond what we had envisaged.
The crucial thing were the captions saying that most Australians were opposed to the war and our country's involvement. We got letters from everywhere thanking us, and a few, mainly from the US military, saying "fuck you!". But the main message of support we received was from ordinary people saying that we had made them smile on a very sad day.
In terms of the charges we face, obviously my three pro bono legal reps are fantastic, as is the Stop the War Coalition for all the organising and mobilising, and the Greens have been great on the parliamentary level. We could still do with some help from other potent organisations like the unions and other peace groups in this country.
After all that trouble, do you regret your action?
I knew that once we started climbing, that there was no going back and recriminations would follow. I felt the world needed to see that message written there to know how this country's people felt about the whole situation. So no, I don't regret it at all. Having said that, the feeling in my heart as we approached the Opera House was one of immense sadness for what was about to happen in Iraq.
The only thing I regret now is that having spent all of my adult life working for community, environment and social justice issues, to many people now, I am only known for an action that took less than an hour to complete. And I am forced to spend nearly all my time protecting myself from some pretty nasty characters. It's time lost from issues I am really passionate about that bothers me most. But in the scheme of things, it's important to fight this case, too.
[You can support Saunders and Burgess by joining the protest on January 30 at 9am at the District Court, Downing Centre, corner Elizabeth/Liverpool streets, Sydney. To help or for information, visit <www.SydneyOperaHouseNOWARCleanUpFund.org>.]>
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, January 28, 2004.
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