'Violence was directed by police'
By Nikki Ulasowski
WOLLONGONG — Since the rally in Canberra on August 19, there have been many accusations about who caused the violence outside Parliament House. Paul Matters, secretary of the South Coast Labour Council, attended the rally and spoke to Green Left Weekly about it.
"The rally on August 19 was very powerful and strong; it demonstrated the anger from working people towards the Howard government", Matter said. "The violence was directed by the police, who tried to stop Aboriginal petitioners.
"August 19 was very similar to the rally of steelworkers and miners in 1982. At the time of this rally, John Howard was treasurer, so it is interesting that Howard has sparked two of the most powerful demonstrations in Australian history. We are entering into a change in Australian history, where riot police and police violence will become more common.
"We are continuing to be demonised. This has been a theme since white settlement: that is, to isolate and punish those who fight."
Matters explained, "I saw police hold demonstrators to the ground and push and kick them. I personally was detained and beaten by the police. This is a level of violence that we haven't seen in ages."
Matters commented that the opposition at the rally was broad, consisting of youth, aboriginal people, unemployed, public sector workers building and metal workers. "There was a wide sympathy amongst the rank and file for what happened on August 19. Howard's strategy is to marginalise large sections of Australian people and to crush the union movement.
"If the trade union movement is going to survive and get stronger, it needs to be a grassroots movement, based on the needs and directions of the rank and file." He explained that the union movement may want to be respectable and included in official politics, but that it needed to go broader.
Matters said it was symbolic that the opposition on August 19 happened outside Parliament House, not inside, and was broadly based.