By Bernie Wunsch
LISMORE — On February 3, Prime Minister John Howard was forced to run a gauntlet of protesters outside the Lismore City Hall during his tour of rural Australia. Four hundred people protested outside the meeting, Howard's main public event on the NSW north coast.
An assortment of environmentalists, indigenous people, activists for the legalisation of hemp, students, teachers, single mothers and other concerned members of the public set up their own platform. They spoke, sang songs and chanted. "The big [marijuana] joint" made an appearance, as did many placards and banners on various issues.
Only 100 members of the public were allowed into the meeting. Some who came to ask questions were not allowed in and joined the protest outside.
Inside, Howard got a grilling. However, many questions were not answered and Howard would only allow give "sound-bite" answers.
Protesters surrounded all entrances, blocked the driveway exit, and invited Howard to come out and speak to them. Finally he emerged and federal police cleared the driveway of protestors. Some chased Howard's car down the road screaming, "Keep going Howard! Run, Howard, run".
One protester, deposited in the back of a police "divvy van", was released after the van was surrounded by hundreds of protesters. By noon, the protesters had packed up and the corporate media roadshow drove on to Howard's next rural tour disaster.
Howard's tour through regional Australia has limped from bad to worse. Many people are angry about the government's privatisation and welfare cuts. Howard has had to continually dodge confrontations about racism against Aboriginal people, "no tolerance" drug prohibition, cuts to the education system and the goods and services tax.
He has also had to dodge an ever-growing number of protesters. If the industrial campaign at BHP in the Pilbara and the closure of National Textiles in the Hunter valley are any indication, the PM may be on the run for a while.
[Bernie Wunsch is the chairperson of the Students Representative Council at Southern Cross University Lismore, and a member of Resistance.]