Force the Ruling Class to Hold Back Their Cops from Killing Aboriginal People – Unleash Union/Black Action! Palm Island Aboriginal Hero Lex Wotton Joins Brisbane G20 Protests.
More than 500 people withstood over 40 degree heat in Brisbane on November 14 to rally against Aboriginal deaths in custody, including Lex Wotton (Below Right) who addressed the demontration proudly saying, “I don’t regret what happened to myself, and for what I did… it made me stronger, it made me who I am today… anything I can do to be a part of change, for the struggle for our rights, I’m always there.” The protest was held just 12 days before the 10th anniversary of the heroic Palm Island resistance action in 2004 when hundreds of Aboriginal residents of the island responded to the brutal killing of Mulrunji Doomadgee at the hands of Police Sergeant Chris Hurley by burning down the local courthouse, police station, Hurley’s home and police barracks.
Wotton was arrested and, accused by the authorities of leading the resistance action, he faced up to 14 years in jail. However, a defiant working class-centred campaign was organised in his defence arguing that the very same deadly, racist, state power arrayed against Aboriginal people also lines up ready to bash unionists on picket lines when they stand up to fight for workers’ rights. This campaign culminated with a sharp, short stopwork action on the docks of Sydney by members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) timed to coincide with the sentencing of Wotton on 7 November 2008. As a result of this working class pressure on the state, Lex received a relatively light sentence and was released after two years. Nevertheless, any kind of sentence was a travesty against the inspirational Aboriginal leader.