klward

"

"They're handing out signs over there," said the suited woman to her companion, "You don't have to bring any!"
"What do they say?" he replied, unconvinced.
"I don't know - stuff! About this!"

I hope she won him round. The crowd gathering in cathedral close was in need of suits. We had serious-faced twenty-somethings in Wikileaks T-shirts, serious-faced fifty-somethings in Stop The War T-shirts, men in waistcoats, women in headscarves, a placard-supporting six year old, a bubble machine, a guy wearing a red wig and giant "peace" glasses, and one waving a Che Guevera banner. But suits add an air of, what is it? Presumption.

The Greens had brought along exactly the same signs they had four years ago when I was an active member: they're expensive to print, I grant you. The one I liked best overall was improvised by a cheery middle-aged lady, that said WE ARE ALL WIKILEAKS! Stalls manned by the Green Left and the Socialist Alliance among others lined George Street, collecting signatures and selling badges, and attempting to distribute The Chronicle to confused passers-by. An impressive outdoor speaker system materialised around the side steps of the Town Hall, next to the squinting lion. All was relaxed, with the general air of a reunion - how nice to be out with the old gang on the International Day of Human Rights, and in such lovely weather! But as soon as the first "Hello?" came through the mike, the protest coalesced.

It was then that the number of police attending became apparent. There was an near-solid line along George Street with cars and an ambulance, and a formation of gorgeous police horses guarding the door of St Andrews.

Antony Loewenstein, journalist and author of Blogging Revolution commenced proceedings with an impassioned call for commitment. "We live in an age seeking honesty and courage. What do we find? Not a lot." He compared the case of Julian Assange to that of David Hicks and Dr. Mohamed Haneef and called out the Federal Member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek, for her cowardice in not attending. But to my mind, the most interesting thing he did was underline that Wikileaks is a media organisation. They, in fact, a publisher being targeted by the governments of first world democracies for publishing and distributing political material. Mr. Loewenstein conducted the duties of MC during the event while negotiating with police over the question of our marching to the US Consulate.

Professor Emeritus Stuart Rees, Director of the Sydney Peace Foundation at the University of Sydney, also spoke of courage and cowardice, contrasting the heroism of Private Bradley Manning with our Prime Minister Julia Gillard "desperately hiding behind Oprah Winfrey." For anyone who has somehow escaped this fact, the US talk show star is currently touring Australia. He compared this to one-time Labour leader Kim Beazley's support of the Howard government during the Tampa crisis. All the speakers constantly placed the plight of Assange in the context of other moments when Australia had the opportunity to take a stand on the world stage. But Professor Rees received the biggest laugh of the evening when he pulled out a packet of "courage pills" he claimed to have picked up at a local pharmacy. While not naming the company that produced them, he noted that the fine print defined them "Wikileaks stimulants." He recommended them to all members of the government and opposition, to be taken twice a day on a strong stomach.

The steps were next commanded by Wendy Bacon. So nice to hear her again! I've been listening to this redoubtable writer and activist since my student days at UTS, where she currently heads the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism. Her first announcement was indeed that this body has offered Assange an honorary membership. She also confirmed that we had been refused permission to march on the grounds that we would obstruct people and traffic inside the city. This, as she pointed out, was after Oprah Winfrey had spent the weekend doing nothing if not that! "Freedom of expression is not a cliche," and "Enlightenment is not enough." These are the lines that lodged in my mind. Action is required. Wikileaks is actually achieving something. Perhaps we should ask Oprah to give her opinion. That got cheers.

Marcus Strom is Vice President of the NSW branch of the Media and Arts Alliance, which he emphasised is a union. A union proud to call Julian Assange a member. It is the bravery of people such as him that allows the corporate media to perform its function, which is at best to "shine a light down the dark corridors of power." This is not a fringe issue, he reminded us and anyone who might be passing, it is a mainstream issue on a global scale.

I know David Shoebridge MLC from my time in the Greens. He made the interesting point that what the Wikileaks controversy demonstrates is that there is no distinction between the online community and the real community, and that online access to information is changing our planet like never before. Picking up on the points made by the journalists, he proclaimed that what the US government is conducting is nothing less than an attack on the basic freedoms of all media. If an online publisher falls today or is muzzled by law, then the traditional venues will be next.

It was at this point that the news was confirmed; we would not be permitted to march. The chant began, "Whose streets? Our streets!"

Next, Rodney Serkowski introduced both himself and "the pirate party". A motivating force behind the rally, the "pirates" are a burgeoning global movement who maintain servers and mirror sites propagating Wikileaks.

The chant changed: "We demand free speech! Support Wikileaks!"

Another organiser, Kiraz Janicke ascended next, to say something that I cheered at. Something I think should be repeated again and again, as loudly and widely as possible. "People ask me why, as a feminist, are you coming out in support of Julian Assange who has been charged with rape in Sweden? Because this rally is not about that! It is about the right to a fair trial! ... We must never, never let them use our struggle against sexual assault for their struggle against freedom of speech!"

Lastly, we heard from organiser Patrick Langosch. "The greatest fear of the people who rule our world is that they have to rely on us to do everything." He told us that the police claimed that due to Oprah's visit, they did not have the resources to close down George Street for the half hour the march would take. Given the number of police who had turned up to ensure we did not march, he wasn't convinced! And the chants rose and fell, mingling, evolving and finally settling on "Our city, our streets! Support Wikileaks!"

Ms. Bacon explained the legalities of protest permits and the history of how they were brought in during the seventies. Mr. Loewenstein made it perfectly clear that we did not have permission, and that any progress made would necessarily be down the footpath. He called for a vote.

It was at this point that I switched from participant to observer. I make no apology for this: I do not trust marches. A large body of moving people inevitably passes from the control of its organisers to the purely physical laws of motion. A friend of mine was once caught like that at a rally against Pauline Hanson and the court proceedings were long, expensive and ultimately ridiculous.

And this is exactly what I saw happen when the march had to cross the road at the intersection of George and King. I have heard that this was to channel them away from the glass frontage of the Apple store but cannot confirm this. I state that neither the police - those I saw were all extremely polite and doing an excellent job at keeping everything flowing - nor the protesters - whom I overheard thanking the police - were doing anything except attempting to get a large number of people across a busy road. From what I saw, it was inertia that made the front rank of marchers impact the front line of police. Everyone seemed to take it in fairly good humor: the arrests had an air of ritual.

The march made it to the steps of the MLC Centre and here the police did lock them down into a tight square, with the cavalry formed up on the rise. Chanting ensued and bulletins from other protests now building momentum in cities around the globe. The big, big one is scheduled for January 15 everywhere.

I sat down on the curving wall that runs down to the MLC Food Court. Next to me was a nicely-dressed old lady with a armload of Christmas shopping. She turned to me in bewilderment. "I thought perhaps Oprah was coming."

Perhaps if we were wearing suits, dearie. Still, you do what you can.