If you are coming from out of town, come and camp over night in Eureka Park on Friday and Saturday 3 December.

Gallipoli is militaristic bullshit. Let's reclaim Eureka as the people's celebration of nationhood.

Download the Sedition Sunday! flyer (pdf 400Kb)

.
a href="http://www.melbourne.indymedia.org/news/2005/11/99152.php">Taking the Eureka Oath outside the Old Melbourne Gaol during the commemoration of 11 November 2005

Publicity Events for Sedition Sunday

Media Release 30 November 2005 Sedition at Queen Victoria Statue

Eureka rebels sexed-up the Queen Victoria statue in Sturt Street, Ballarat today.

In the tradition of the Eureka uprising, they seditiously excited disaffection against the sovereign who reigned when 25 miners were massacred while fighting to defend their rights and liberties in 1854.

Queen Victoria wore a feather boa, a red nose, glitter wig and waved a Eureka flag whilst holding up a sign stating, "Sedition is Sexy".

Photographs of Queen Victoria commiting sedition are attached to this e-mail. Digital photographs of this protest can also be sourced from Ballarat daily newspaper, The Courier, taken by their photographer, Jeremy Bannister. Editorial: (03) 5320 1261

Queen Victoria's statue was enlisted in the fight to seditiously excite disaffection with both our government which is currently passing democracy-destroying anti-terror bills and our lame constitution which unlike every other Western country doesn't even have a bill of rights like-charter.

Local Ballarat councillor, Cr Wayne Briggs witnessed Queen Victoria's sedition and even helped with the act. City of Ballarat Ordinance Manager, Andrew Bellingham threatened to prosecute the protesters with interfering with council property.

This action took place as a lead-up to Sedition Sunday, which will be a speak-out against the Howard government's Terror laws and will take place in Eureka Park from 11am on 4th December, Eureka Park, Ballarat as part of the offical 151st commemorations of the Eureka rebellion.

A sensational Sedition Competition will be part of the program.

"The Government is passing these so called 'anti-terror laws' to grab power and criminalise dissent aimed at it's illegal wars and domestic repression. If you read the fine-print of Ruddock's 'baby', the Sedition laws, it is obvious that they are designed to squash non-violent civil disobedience," said protest organiser, Marcus Neofitou of People of Civil Liberties.

"We will not stand still whilst hundreds of years of legal protections such as 'due process' and 'innocent until proven guilty' are swept away in the name of tyranny, fear and lies. In the tradition of the Eureka rebels and their oath, we intend to 'fight for our rights and liberties'."

Further information
Graeme Dunstan 0407 951 688
Marcus Neofitou 03 5348 3679

Report 23 November 2005

Employers Flee Eureka Rebels!

A Eureka rebel picket disrupted a briefing for local Ballarat employers by Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The purpose of this briefing was to explain to employers how to shaft their employees using the exciting new tools provided by the Workchoices Reform Act.

The action was organised by People For Civil Liberties and Peacebus.com as a lead-up to Sedition Sunday, a speak out against the Howard government's assault on civil liberties which will take place as part of the Eureka151 commemorations on the site of the Eureka Stockade on Sunday 4 December starting at 11:00am.

The event will be held in the Eureka spirit that has inspired countless union/worker campaigns. The world-first 8 hour day was achieved 16 months after the Eureka uprising.

When they were informed about the picket, VECCI in a statement to the media on the day denied the purpose of the briefing was a briefing about the new IR laws.

This was contrary to their own press release which was put out on the 31 September and which stated:

"The Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry, VECCI, is holding a series of briefings for employers around Victoria about the Federal Government's WorkChoices reform package. The two-hour briefings will be held during November and early December."

VECCI General Manager - Workplace Relations, David Gregory, has urged employers to attend these briefings saying:.

"These are the most comprehensive and significant changes to industrial regulations in more than a century. It is vital that employers attend so that they understand the impact of these reforms on their businesses", says Mr Gregory. See report.

There was about a dozen people at the picket which wasn't bad as it was only organised at the last minute. The Ballarat Regional Trades and Labour Council helped to send along some union reps from the ASU, AMWU, CEPU and CFMEU.

The Eureka and Anarchist flags were flying proudly as was the Eureka oath banner: "We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other and fight for our rights and liberties." This oath was honoured as people did just that this day.

The VECCI and the Bell Tower Inn where the shindig was being held organised a couple of security guards and a couple of local cops turned up.

The Bell Tower Inn manager got a bit physical (grabby) when we started handing leaflets to people driving in.

The protest was short and sweet but didn't end before we saw the VECCI official's vehicle and one employer vehicle speed off about 6:00pm. The gig was meant to go from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.

151 years ago the Eureka diggers took a brave and defiant stand for their rights. With a list of broad demands for democracy, their own flag and an Oath reflecting their ethos, this was truly the start of a real spirit of independence and the so-called 'fair-go'.

It was this event that transformed the Victorian penal colony into something a bit more like a democracy.

The diggers utilised Direct Democracy, Direct Action, Solidarity and Internationalism. In this time of creeping fascism and a US empire gone mad, it's time once again to draw on the Eureka Spirit!

Eureka rebels attended the huge ACTU Melbourne rally in protest at the Howard governments industrial relation reforms. They brought flags and leafletted the crowd with Sedition Sunday flyers.

The rally was estimated at 140,000 and many were the Eureka flags.

Impressive as it was in terms of numbers participating, it was a disappointment in terms of movement building.

The assembly in Federation Square was around giant TV screens with talking heads and pre prepared speeches. The crowd divided between screens and facing different directions. Rally by telly, it was a media driven event which lacked both poetry and participation.

Although there was a good feeling of camaraderie, it was never allowed to come forth on any large scale. Televised oratory is cool and distancing and it cannot draw forth the fervour of the direct speaker to audience experience.

There were some subdued murmurings of support for Senator Bob Brown when he spoke from the screens. When Opposition Leader Kim Beazeley came on all decked out in dark business suit, standing in front of law books and looking like a fat cat barrister, he promised to tear up the IR legistalion when he wins government. But the crowd received this with wooden disbelief.

The truth is that no one has any faith in Beazley as a leader. He might as well be serving as a Minister in the Howard government for no one would know the difference. This man would not tear up toilet paper without first asking the US ambassador.

At the end of the TV speeches and after waiting agreement from the media, the crowd paraded up Swanston Street to the Exhibition Gardens. There another PA was waiting for them, but the crowd quickly dispersed. Even as the megalomaniac on the mike was boasting of the crowd size, participants had turned their backs on him and were streaming away.

The bitter truth is that the Union leadership does not trust its foot soldiers.

It was apparent they do not have the where withal to lead a bunch of piss busters to toilets. There were no toilets available to the marchers!

Of the ten Eureka banners put out, six did not arrive in Exhibition Gardens to be returned. All the Anarchist A ones came back. What does that say about unionists wearing Eureka flag patches? May they serve somewhere else to remind folk of Eureka spirit.

Peacebus.com and flags in Exhibition Gardens, Melbourne, at the end of the ACTU rally, 15 November 2005

Report 11 November 2005

Eureka Rebels Celebrate 11 November 2005 outside the Old Melburne Gaol

The 11 November has lots of historical resonances for the people of Australia. It was the day that the Ballarat Reform League decided on a list of demands for democratic reforms at a monster meeting on Bakery Hill, Ballarat in 1854.

It was the day outlaw Ned Kelly was hanged in 1880 in the Melbourne Gaol while 6,000 people protested outside that he had been wronged by the police that he be spared.

11 November is also Armistice Day and remembrance of the success of the popular movement against conscription for more slaughter in WWI. The movement was initiated and driven by radical activists calling themselves the 'wobbles', the Industrial Workers of the World.

The day is also remembered for the sacking by Governor General of the radical reforming Whitlam government in 1975.

Dr Joe Toscano organised the event. See Anarchist Media Institute

Eureka rebels taking the Eureka Oath outside the Old Melbourne Gaol 11 November 2005