Important: Lex Wotton's campaign - His trial was to have started on
7th April, 2008, but has been adjourned till 6th October, 2008,
April 2008 National Day of protest demands:
Drop the Charges Against Lex Wotton NOW!
A campaign to throw out all charges against Palm Island Aboriginal leader, Lex Wotton, is gaining momentum. Wotton participated in the November 2004 protest against the killing of his friend Mulrunji, a respected community member and father, while in police custody. Singled out in the crackdown that followed, Wotton faces charges of “riot with destruction” — a charge that could lead to a jail sentence of more than ten years. A National Day of Action will coincide with the start of Wotton’s trial in early April. Support is growing in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and parts of the trade union movement. Late last year, the Sydney Branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, which is backing the national mobilisation, hosted a function for Lex Wotton to broaden support among its members.
No justice, no peace. A blatant cover up of what happened to Mulrunji in the Palm Island watch house enraged the community.Responding to yearsof racist state violence, and now Mulrunji’s death, they demanded justice. What triggered the angry protest was the release of the first state inquiry into Mulrunji’s killing, which, while noting that he had suffered a ruptured liver and four broken ribs, concluded that his death resulted from a “scuffle.” A second coronial inquiry in September 2006 confirmed what everyone already knew: that on November 19, 2004 at the Palm Island police station, Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley had struck Mulrunji with such force that it caused the Aboriginal man to die.
Four hundred people took part in the 2004 Palm Island rebellion — over 10% of the entire island’s population! The large demonstration marched on the police station and courthouse — the symbols of racist injustice. Queensland authorities retaliated with vicious repression and targeted individuals for persecution. On March 22, 2007 a jury acquitted four Palm islanders charged with “riot” in connection with the November 2004 demonstration. But the state continues to scapegoat Lex Wotton, whom they allege was the leader of the protest.
Far from being a “riot,” the Palm Island protest was an act of anti-racist resistance. This struggle, like that of Redfern after the death of T.J. Hickey nine months earlier, brought the racist hounding of Indigenous communities across Australia to international prominence. The resistance on Palm Island revitalised a national movement to expose the causes of Aboriginal deaths in custody and stop the ongoing death toll that amounts to genocide. This resistance is a big factor in why Senior Sargent Chris Hurley was brought to court. His acquittal once again confirmed how stacked the legal system is against Aboriginal Australians and how justified it was for the people of Palm Island to stand up to the institutions of this racist system in November 2004.
We will not be intimidated! By jailing Lex Wotton, the state hopes to head off future opposition to racist persecution. The Queensland government is trying to scare people away from responding to the whitewash of Mulrunji’s killing and resisting Canberra’s draconian invasion of Northern Territory Aboriginal communities.
This subjugation of Indigenous Australians is another form of the repression being unleashed against trade unionists who stand up for workers’ rights. The Australian Building Construction Commission has spied on, intimidated and threatened to imprison several building workers for organising strikes and other resistance against exploitation. (For more information see page xx)
Coordinated national protests planned for April 4 in the lead-up to Wotton’s trial, will demand: Stop the Racist Political Persecution of a Palm Island Aboriginal Resident! Defend the Right to Oppose Racist State Brutality! Drop the Charges Against Lex Wotton!
The Queensland government continues to urge Aboriginal people and their supporters to have faith in a system which acquits Senior Sargent Hurley but threatens to jail Lex Wotton for at least 10 years. The “justice” system exists to protect the rich and the powerful. It is a system where, to quote legendary singer songwriter, Kev Carmody, Aboriginal people can be “executed without trial” while held in custody. It is a system that hunts down opponents of racism, like Wotton, who protest against this injustice. We demand Lex Wotton’s freedom, now!
To help organise the National Day of Action call:
Sydney — Jenny Munro on 0413 188 907
Melbourne — Indigenous Social Justice Association – Melbourne on 9388-0062 or 0401-806-331
This article is republished from Freedom Socialist Bulletin # 38. To subscribe send $12 for 2-years to Feminist Education Association, PO Box 266, West Brunswick Vic 3055.
Wednesday 19 March — Solidarity Benefit for Lex Wotton. For details click here
Saturday 5 April — Drop the Charges against Lex Wotton Rally. For details click here
Brisbane convergence — Friday 4 April - Monday 7 April. For details click here
On Friday 13 April 2007 the WA Aboriginal deaths
in Custody Watch Committee (DICWC-WA) held a rally to demand justice
for Carl Woods.
Click here copy of the rally flier. But we must warn you.
Before you open the link , please understand that it shows two graphic
photos of the deceased after a beating by the WA police.
The family has given permission for the use of these photos.
The family and the DICWC-WA are seeking written messages of support to read
out at the rally so that they can show the WA government and police that
they are not alone.
Here you will find the solidarity message sent by Radical Women and Freedom
Socialist Party. ISJA (MSG) will also send a solidarity greeting to the
rally on Friday. We'll discuss a draft on Wednesday night.
You are all encouraged to ask organisations to which you belong to send a
solidarity message. Send me copies of any messages sent and I will share
them to this list.
Please send solidarity both of the addresses as listed below.
marcv@eoc.wa.gov.au
newbone@bigpond.com
And send a copy to ISJA (MSG) C/- alison.thorne@ozemail.com.au
If you wish to send the attached flyer out to your networks, please do so
but please preface it with the warning about the two graphic photos.
Hope to see you at the meeting on Wednesday night where we will also advance
our organising to support Russell Moore and demand justice for Mulrunji, TJ
and all who have died in police of prison custody
The facts about the murder of Douglas Scott.
Letty Scott, an inspirational Aboriginal woman, has fought for 20 years to prove her husband Doug was murdered in jail. Support her call for a new inquiry.
Letty Scott is an inspiration and a role model. For the last twenty years, she’s fought to prove that her husband, Douglas, did not commit suicide in Darwin’s Berrimah prison but was murdered by prison officers. Letty has built support for her campaign for justice and patiently gathered evidence.
Earlier this year, she had Doug’s body exhumed for a new autopsy. A Brazilian forensic expert, Dr Jorge Vanrell, found evidence that lesions on the body were consistent with torture. Another internationally respected forensic expert, Dr Tohru Oshima supported the findings. This evidence was part of a civil case in which Letty, and son Nathan, brought before the Northern Territory Supreme Court.
On June 16, Justice Angel ruled against Letty and Nathan’s claim. He ruled in favour of three prison officers — Barry Medley, Michael Lawson and Harold Robertson — who Letty Scott holds accountable for the murder of Douglas 20 years ago. Angel ruled “the plaintiffs have not established to my satisfaction that the deceased was murdered by the defendant prison officers.”
However Angel also said, “on the evidence before me I am unable to be satisfied that the deceased took his own life.” He noted that the prison officers had “ample opportunity to murder the deceased in his cell in the manner alleged.” He further ruled that “the evidence of witnesses Bindai and Percy cannot be dismissed out of hand.” Geoffrey Bindai and Laurie Percy, two I ndigenous prisoners housed across from Douglas’ prison cell, have given evidence that they witnessed four prison officers enter his cell. They heard Doug calling for help and t he next morning Bindai and Perry, who were subjected to threats, had to clean the blood up in Scott’s cell.
Angel criticised the police investigation as inadequate and said, “ the crime scene was not adequately secured.” He dismissed the claim, not because he was convinced by the suicide alegations but on the technical ground that Letty and Nathan had not met the onerous burden of proof required.
Justice Angel ’s ruling — taking the new evidence presented into consideration — that he could not conclude that Douglas Scott took his own life, is a vital breakthrough. Both the original inquiry into his death and the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody accepted the story of the prison officers.
The campaign to find out the truth about how Douglas Scott died has a long history.
Doug was jailed a fter an argument wit h Letty in a Darwin pub in 1985. He was arrested and sentenced to 60 days in Berrimah Jail , even though Letty refused to press charges. He was incarcerated on May 31 and died on July 5.
There are many criticisms surrounding the investigations into the death. Dr Kevin Lee , who concealed matters , did the first autopsy. Researcher, Dr Meryl exposed that Lee served in the racist Rhodesian government as a senior pathologist in the 1970s. Nass also exposed that Lee had misled the court with claims that he received his degree in Britain. He graduated in Rhodesia. These facts fueled charges that racism impacted the findings.
Ever since her husband’s murder , Letty and her family have been continually harassed. For example, the local KKK from Katherine painted racist graffiti on her home.
In 1999 Letty reached out to the international community, and with the I ndigenous Pequot Indians in the U . S ., she was able to testify before the United Nations.
It took 20 years and $20, 000 raised by Letty to have Douglas’ body exhumed for the re-autopsy this year. As Letty stated to Justice Angel in legal proceedings: “ m y son Daniel and I have had to carry this for 20 years alone, with no help from the Australian authorities or the Australian medical and legal fraternities.”
Letty is an inspiration to all people fighting for justice and change for a better world. Her strength and determination to see this fight right to the end should be supported.
On 23 July 2005, Letty called for the inquiry into the death of her late husband, Douglas Bruce Scott to be re-opened. There are many questions that remain unanswered, justifying a new inquiry.
Every action counts. By signing and helping to circulate the Indigenous Social Justice Association petition supporting Letty’s call for a new inquiry, you are a part of the solution to the problem of injustice, not just for I ndigenous people, but for all of us.
The petition — which can be signed by anyone in Australia or around the world — will be concluded on 10 December 2005, which is International Human Rights Day.
You can support the campaign for a new inquiry into the murder of Douglas Scott by:
• signing the petition
• asking others to sign the petition
• publicising the campaign
• passing resolutions of support and sending them to Greg Cavanagh, Coroner for the Northern Territory and Clare Martin, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory
• sending a personalised letter supporting Letty’s call
• sending a donation for this campaign to the Indigenous Social Justice Association Melbourne Supporters Group
Issued by the Indigenous Social Justice Association Melbourne Supporters Group with the support of Letty Scott.
PO Box 266, West Brunswick Vic 3055 Australia. Phone: 03-9388-0062