Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 18:49:24 +1000 (EST)
From: donna <donna-AT-anarki.net>
Subject: AUT: Lorenzo Komboa Ervin - Press Conference - Melbourne 24/7/97 (fwd)



What follows is the transcript of the Press Conference given by Lorenzo
last Thursday, the day before leaving Australia.

--------------Statement begins--------------------------------------------

I want to make a statement before I leave this country to explain where we
are right now in terms of this process but also in terms of explaining
what I think about what's happened, including being exposed to police
brutality, illegal arrest and having my rights stripped in a fashion that
I haven't had done since the days of the old racist south.
What's happened to me is what happens routinely to blacks and other
peoples of colour in this country.  I've spoken to black Americans who
have been arrested, thrown in jail, tried in courts.  I've talked to the
families of Aboriginal people who have had family members die while in
police custody, I've talked to Aboriginal leaders in all the cities I've
been to and a lot of people have expressed that this is a racist country,
a violent country and that they have no rights.

So I walked into a situation in this country that has been a debate -
Pauline Hanson, an issue that has been a great source of distress.  So
what happened to me was almost foredoomed to happen because of the
political instability of this country.  

Let's start from the beginning.

I was only here for a day or so before I was labelled as this
"terrorist" who has hijacked not one but several planes, a person who had
brought guns and violence to the Aboriginal people and that I was
inciting terrorism, racial ferment, etc. by the conservative politicians
in Queensland and also by the media.  This whole affair has been driven by
the media; certainly the Sunday Mail and Channel 7 which irresponsibly
editorialised what I said and contributed wholly false statements to me,
whichled us down the road to where we were in terms of a major crisis for
this government and to some extent myself because I was imprisoned in this
process.

What had happened to me proved to be a blessing in disguise because it
showed the rest of the world how intolerant this country is.  How in fact
its human rights record is no better and in my opinion even worse than the
country it defeated to get the Olympic Games - China.  How it doesn't have
a democratic process to the degree that it postulates to the world.  So my
coming here, my having been arrested and subjected to this has shown
millions of people but also the government that in fact when they arrested
me and threw me into prison that there were people all over the world who
had heard me speak, had been touched by me and who took action - 17
countries - to demand that I be released, that I be allowed to continue
my tour.  And we have gone ahead with this tour and against all  odds.
I'm most thankful of Angry People who sponsored the tour in Australia.

Now, where we are now is that the government has brought back Mr Ruddock
to take over the Immigration Department and handle my affairs and an
ultimatum has been issued to me in that if I stay in this country beyond
the two week period of reply, I would then most likely be arrested and
then deported outright or put in prison.  I have no desire to leave before
the period of which my visa stated but the reality is that a gun has been
put to my head and I will leave, but I'll leave under protest and saying
that the original action/prosecution brought against me was politically
motivated and the evidence is that the government knew months in advance
that I was coming and that complaints were made by Australians Against
Further Immigration to the Immigration Department about my coming.  So how
does it then become an issue that I had framed or falsified documents?
That never happened.  I've been a scapegoat in this affair from the
beginning.  I don't think it was an accident.  What I didn't think anyone
considered was that we would fight back and I promised that I would go to
the High Court and fight it to the fullest and I kept my word.  But I
can't in realistic fashion prevent my further incarceration and although I
feel I've got my rights, the reality is that the power of the state
amassed against me as an individual has stripped me of whatever remaining
rights I have to remain here to speak.
I would have liked to meet with the Nyungah Circle of Elders in
Western Australia who had invited me, and with many other Aboriginal
peoples I have been in contact with since my arrival here.  I have also
been prevented from visiting one of my brothers, Denis Walker, one of your
own political prisoners, incarcerated in Cessnock Prison.

They don't want to issue a formal deportation order to seize me because of
the international furore that would erupt.  But they can accomplish the
same thing by utilising it behind the scenes so that they don't have to
file a formal complaint, but they can pressure me nevertheless to leave.
And that's what's happening.  I'm being forced out, I don't have a choice.
Legally, I've been advised by my attorneys that we do have issues about
the original detention but as far as the government's attempt now to
claim natural justice, we could argue that, but we may argue that with me
being in a jail cell and I don't see any reason why I should continue to
be a martyr in this country just so that some racist, self-satisfied
politician like Pauline Hanson or John Howard can take comfort in me being
in jail.

I think this matter was motivated by racism to a large degree.  There's no
question about that.  I think that the officials from the beginning have 
looked at this as a case of a black man first of all, and a person who'd
been a member of an organisation, the Black Panthers, which they obiously
know very little about.  I've never shot and killed whites but I've
certainly fought the KKK and I don't apologise for that.  I think the KKK
is a racist, terrorist organisation and I also see the KKK has now come
here to Australia and the irresponsible government officials continue to
deny they're doing anything wrong and that they are just a group of kids
out on a prank.  But they are here !

When I came here one of my main missions was to talk to the indigenous
people and learn their condition.  I had been approached by people in
England about a boycott of the Olympic Games.  I was one of the primary
organisers of the protest in Atlanta.  The issue of that was that the
state flag of Georgia was essentially the KKK flag and it was being 
denounced over the state, and it split the state along black and white
lines.  We burned the state flag and as a result of that there were people
who heard about this and contacted me.  So I came here to find out about
what people wanted to do and also to have the speaking tour.  I've been to
75 cities before coming to Australia, 20 countries.  There's never been
any doubt what I've been speaking about, who I was etc.

Where does that leave us ?

I intend to take legal action against the Australian government.  I don't
know if they are talking of suing the Prime Minister for slander or libel,
I can't say.  I do know the incarceration will be addressed in court.
Other matters, such as the challenge of the nebulous regulations for
"persons of character", that is up in the air, but I think it should be
challenged.  We should challenge the Australian government's attempts to
prevent persons from having access to the High Court or any other court
outside of the regulatory authority of the Immigration Department.  I
think that should be challenged.  And I am one of those working on the
boycott that is starting to be organised.


BOYCOTT OF THE SYDNEY 2000 OLYMPICS

The Olympic Games were awarded to Australia over China because of a better
human rights record.  But is this so?  You be the judge.  Here is a list
of crimes by the white racist regime:
- mass murder of millions of Aborigines and continued theft of their lands
- the rise of Pauline Hanson - the white racist politician who is against
Asian immigration, the rights of Aboriginies and who is for the return of
a white Australia restricted immigration policy which discriminates
against non-whites.  The rise of her One Nation party, a white supremacist
electoral movement is a serious development
- the imprisonment of black activist, Lorenzo Kom'Boa Ervin, when he was
attempting to speak to Aboriginies; who's tour was cut short by being
forced out of the country
- the deaths in police custody of numerous Aboriginal persons, yet no
criminal prosecution or impartial inquest which would establish their
deaths as homocide instead of suicide
- one of the highest levels of police shootings of civilians in the world
and a reputation for police brutality
- no policies for civil rights or liberties including lack of tolerance
for freedom of speech or unpopular/controversial persons.  The government
routinely spies on and represses activists
- immigration policies which allow the political banning of speakers out
of favour with the government in violation of international law
- engaged in military and political intervention in Papua New Guinea which
cost the lives of over 10 000 in the recent civil war in Bouganville

Because of these and other actions by the Australian government we call
for the creation of a Boycott 2000 Coalition to create a world-wide
protest against the Sydney Games and especially an economic boycott.
Australia is an outlaw nation whose racial policies are little different
from apartheid South Africa.  We call on all persons who believe in human
rights and oppose racism to join us in this protest.  We must expose the
racist Australian state to the world and tarnish their false image of
democracy and tolerance.


-----------End of statement--------------------------------------------





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