A protest organized by Occupy Sydney took place on Saturday slamming the ongoing corporate greed in Australia. Speakers slammed the repression of the occupy movement both in Australia and overseas, particularly in the US.
The occupation protest which established itself in the center of Sydney's financial hub, was raided by police and shut down. While the occupation was dismantled, protesters say the movement will continue and that Occupy Sydney is here to stay - 20 November 2011.
The protesters then marched through the city for a so-called corporate tour to highlight growing economic inequality in Australia, in light of job insecurity, housing stress and rising living costs.
The first stop of tour was outside the Coles supermarket city store which was heavily guarded by police. Coles is the biggest seller of Baida, a poultry company. Baida workers have been on indefinite strike in Victoria because of unsafe conditions in the factory. One worker was killed last year after being forced to clean a machine that was still on. The strike is also aimed at the use of contract labour and paying workers below the minimum wage. The Baiada company is worth $495 million dollars, protesters say there is no reason its workers are not given enough to live on.
The second stop on the tour was the Commonwealth Bank in Martin Place. CEO Ralph Norris is the highest paid CEO in Australia. Protesters expressed outrage at that while the bank's CEO earns nearly the average wage of a full time, permanent employee in Australia in just one week, bank workers are pressured into selling more debt to struggling families. One in ten families in Australia face mortgage stress as they struggle to pay back the banks for their homes.
Next door to the Commonwealth Bank lies the US consulate where protesters slammed Australia's commitment to strengthen military ties with the US, contrary to public opinion.
Following Julia Gillard's agreement with Obama to open a US base in Darwin and extend "co-operation", and with the ongoing war in Afghanistan, protesters say they want to draw attention to the profits being made through what they describe as the war crimes committed by the US-Aus alliance.
Protesters say that the invasion and war in Afghanistan and Iraq was driven by profits through control of the region's oil resources - a war which has cost the people of Afghanistan and Iraq countless murder of innocent people and destruction of their country's infrastructure.
Outside the consulate, protesters also expressed their solidarity with the Occupy protests in the US, particularly in Wall Street and Oakland, who were evicted in what protesters described as a co-ordinated assault on the Occupy movement over the last week.
Lastly, the tour ended at the NSW Parliament were speakers discussed planned cut back by the State's Premier Barry O'Farrell. O'Farrell plans to cap public sector wages at 2.5% despite inflation figures which stand at roughly 3% annually.
Across Australia, corporate profits are booming. After campaigning against the mining tax, BHP posted the biggest Australian profit ever, at $24 billion. Qantas announced they made $550 million just before CEO Alan Joyce locked out the entire workforce for fighting to protect their jobs. Westpac made $6.3 billion.
Job insecurity, unaffordable housing, rising living costs and the exploitation of the environment as well as traditional indigenous lands have never been worse in Australia. That is what the protesters say. They also say that they will continue to highlight and protest the growing inequalities until the 1% are made to pay for their role in the rising poverty and environmental destruction both in Australia and around the world.
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President Obama in a Land Down Underby TheObamaDiary6,522 views
good on them
111CountDooku111 3 months ago
Give em hell Sydney!!!!
1boysinblue 3 months ago
America's 99% is with you, Occupy Sydney!!
wildnette 3 months ago