• Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Disrupt Land Forces

war crimes start in corporate boardrooms

  • Media
    • November 8 Media Statement
    • Community Letter on Land Forces Policing 
    • September 11 Media Statement
  • About Disrupt
    • First Peoples First
    • Our Commitment
    • The Collaboration
    • Why we disrupt
    • Five reasons to Disrupt Land Forces
    • West Papua Calling
    • Copping the bill
    • Disrupt Land Forces in the Media
  • Resources
    • Weapons Dealers in Australia: A Map
    • Deregister AMDA
    • Community Letter
    • Disrupt Posters
      • Disrupt Posters
      • WANTED POSTERS
      • TW: Weapons impacts.
    • Weapons Companies
      • Thales
        • Thales Factsheet
        • The Arms Dealer, The Activist and the Refugee
      • Boeing
      • Rheinmetall
      • EOS
      • Elbit
      • NIOA
      • Lockheed Martin
      • Hanwha
    • Background and research
    • Song & Chants
  • DLF stories
    • 2024 Disrupt Land Forces
      • DLF 24 part one: Organising
      • DLF 24 part two: Mobilising
      • DLF 24 part three: Resisting
      • DLF 24 part four: Enduring
    • 2022: War Criminals need not apply
    • Disrupt Land Forces 22 Gallery
    • 2021: Thanks but no tanks
    • 2021: Disrupt Land Forces was glorious
    • Disrupt Land Forces 21 Gallery

Zelda Da

Jan 12 2025

DLF 24 part two: Mobilising

Image of people marching in the street to disrupt land forces, holding banners saying "Stop Arming Israel" and "Tell the whole story, Australia was built on genocide"
A backlit silhoutte of a person speaking into a megaphone at Disrupt Land Forces at dawn with the Melbourne skyline in the background

The mobilisation

Wins and highlights

Disrupt Land Forces achieved its tactical goal of disrupting the arms fair and the strategic goal of damaging the social license of the harms trade. By the end of the mobilisation, most TV watchers in Straya were aware that a huge weapons fair had happened, with government support and using our money, and that thousands had risked arrest and cop violence to protest it. The entire MCEC carpark was closed for the duration in anticipation of our protests, costing the war mongers heaps in daily CBD parking fees, and exposing them to our voices as they walked to the expo. A major city street was closed for three days and the DFO shopping complex did not sell anything, engage in commerce, or create waste for a day. The charity status of AMDA, the organising entity of Australian harms fairs, is under investigation due to our agitation. The use of terror legislation to police protest is under investigation. Our resistance was noted in both state and federal parliaments. When we started organising to Disrupt Land Forces, few people in the Free Palestine movement had even heard about it. Post DLF, everyone in the movement knows exactly what Land Forces is. Now that we’ve had a red hot go at disrupting it, we can be better prepared for next time.

A screenshot containing 24 images of news articles about the Disrupt Land Forces protest at the weapons expo in Naarm / Melbourne.
A screenshot containing 24 images of news articles about the Disrupt Land Forces protest at the weapons expo in Naarm / Melbourne.
A screenshot containing 24 images of news articles about the Disrupt Land Forces protest at the weapons expo in Naarm / Melbourne.
A screenshot containing 24 images of news articles about the Disrupt Land Forces protest at the weapons expo in Naarm / Melbourne.
A screenshot containing 24 images of news articles about the Disrupt Land Forces protest at the weapons expo in Naarm / Melbourne.
A screenshot containing 24 images of news articles about the Disrupt Land Forces protest at the weapons expo in Naarm / Melbourne.

DLF was a great victory, history making.

Marigold, 54

We captured the attention of the city and we put the perpetrators under the spot light.

Napi, 32

The disruption and the attention to the issues was successful. It was good to see Palestine and other countries mentioned in the media about Land Forces. We succeeded in linking an arms fair in Naarm to multiple genocides. 

Sebastian, 23

The fact they had to use paramilitary tactics to protect the weapons expo is a major disruption in itself. Weapons makers had to scuttle around and pretend they were not war mongers.

Rose, 30

An activist holds up a sign reading 'Stop Genocide Now' near a street sign reading 'South Wharf PRM', watched by a line of mounted police, during the Disrupt Land Forces protests.
Resisting war at disrupt land forces
A crowd of activitst faces 2 lines of mounted police during the Disrupt Land Forces protests. A person in the foeground holds a hand made sign reading 'Jews in Solidarity with Palestine'.
Resisting war at disrupt land forces
protesters at the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation hold up a red splattered banner reading 'Fuck no to the war expo'.
Resisting war at disrupt land forces
A lone person waves a large Palestine flag in the centre of a blocked city street
Resisting war at disrupt land forces

Disrupt Land Forces was a watershed, a landmark in antimilitarist organising on this continent. Some of our collaborators felt significantly changed by the experience, finding that their vision, networks and understandings had expanded. This was especially true for younger folks, and even more so for those who took an active role in the organising.

The whole thing has changed for me.

Lucia, 22

Those moments of feeling the power of the collective were incredible.

Josh, 25 

A line of people wearing keffiyehs, one beating a drum, stand with arms linked at Disrupt Land Forces with the MCEC and the Crown casino in the background

I witnessed the DLF action through the media, and you all just looked incredibly powerful to the general public. It was a shock to see the police in Nazi helmets and batons, and it was extraordinary to see the passions and numbers and power of the protesters.  Regardless of your shake-down of ‘mistakes’ etc, you were a dramatic action in the history of this country and its ethics and direction.

If you ever need an old lady as a secret weapon, let me know.

Hannah, 75

Image of people marching in the street to disrupt land forces, holding banners saying "Stop Arming Israel" and "Tell the whole story, Australia was built on genocide"
Photo: Matt Hrkac

A central goal of the mobilisation was to push hard for an arms embargo with Israel, following the call from Palestinian unions at the start of the genocide. In tandem with the global BDS movement, we called for Australia to boycott, sanction and divest from the Zionist entity. These top line demands were scaffolded by our existing campaigns to disarm police and to stop training and arming genocidal forces on this continent and in West Papua. Our call for ‘Earth care not Warfare’ synthesises the threefold process we believe necessary for peace and justice: to demilitarise, decolonise and reimagine our world.

During the mobilisation, these calls were drowned out by the sound of the police. We do not expect immediate strategic wins from grassroots mobilisations, no matter how huge or impactful they are. In the aftermath of the mobilisation, however, not one but two weapons industry events were cancelled ‘to avoid possible protests’. (One was a NSW ‘Defence Summit’, the other was a ‘Defence VIP Dinner’ in SA.) When comrades announced a picket at steel manufacturer Bisalloy in Wollongong, the company closed the factory for the day so as not to face ‘Land Forces style protests’.  Land Forces policing cost $60 million, if we believe the government’s figures. Post DLF, weapons event organisers believe they need to factor in a massive security bill to their budgets. The staunch resistance we put up at Land Forces has made weapons industry events much more expensive and far less attractive to run. Big. Win.

Collage of headlines from news pieces about defence industry events being cancelled and defence suppliers being disrupted

Since DLF, the Victorian Labor government has ended its MOU with the Israeli Ministry of Defence and has not renewed its deal with Elbit Systems Australia. These victories belong to the whole movement, including us here at the pointy end. Direct action and grassroots protest can cut to the chase in a way that funded NGOs and government actors cannot; we can call the truth as we see it. We have no doubt that the sight of thousands of people standing up to repression to disrupt an arms fair, while loudly calling out our governments’ complicity in genocide, helped propel the Victorian government towards the decision to cease military deals with Israeli forces.

Two highly militarised police officers hold the police line clad in all black tactical riot gear featuring studded leather body armour and Captain America style shields. They stand with batons at the ready.
Protesting Land Forces
Protesting Land Forces
Protesting Land Forces

Lest We Forget the Frontier Wars

Large group of people participating in a smoking ceremony around a fire at Camp Sovereignty at dusk, with the Melbourne city skyline in the background

Hundreds turned up to the Disrupt Land Forces launch event at Camp Sovereignty, guided by Uncle Robbie Thorpe and featuring First Nations guests Uncle Coco Wharton, Aunty Megan Krakoer and Aunty Gwenda Stanley. Uncle Chris Tomlin came in via video from Mparrntwe. Honouring First Nations resistance to British militarism and the continued struggle against genocide, we stood in the pouring rain and listened intently for hours. Elders spoke of ancestors, the Frontier Wars and remembrance, while calling us to attend to contemporary campaigns for land back, sovereignty and abolition. 

The opening night at Camp Sovereignty was really great, especially the cross-continent contributions.

Sami, 44

The Frontier Wars event was magical. I will still be hearing those voices for a long time.

Tata, 17

The opening ceremony was beautiful in the pouring rain, I loved the Frontline Stories night too. It felt important to have that truth telling and frontline stories at the top of the mobilisation. Those first two nights helped ground people in the reality of militarist impacts and resistance to that.

Marco, 38

Roaring fire at Camp Sovereignty surrounded by people with the Melbourne city skyline in the background

Anti-military Motorcade

This was the only event we attempted any ‘police liaison’ for – because cops were harassing one of our organisers over it – and this turned out to be disadvantageous for us (who woulda thunk it?). Instead of facilitating our motorcade, in line with the laws around street protests, cops took the opportunity to harass and humbug any and all drivers in the vicinity. People had decorated their rides with Palestinian, Land Rights and West Papuan flags, banners and streamers, which cops decided was unlawful, and they even fined one person for holding a sign up inside the car. However. The turn out and energy for this event were fabulous. The cops were total shite but our people went ahead and visited six inner-city weapons facilities, causing some to close for the day in anticipation of our ‘protest activity’.

Protesters at disrupt land forces raise fists of resistance from inside a car in the antimilitarist motorcade
Photo: Matt Hrkac

I thought there might be four vehicles. There were forty. It was fantastic. But the police were on us straight away, defecting cars and issuing parking fines before we even started.

Turtle, 60

The repression of the Motorcade was shit [police humbugged drivers and defected cars nonstop during the Motorcade] but I have to say, a mega highlight for me coming out of the Motorcade was the invention of Truthy McTruthy.

Caroline, 55

An incredible feature of the Motorcade was the launch of Truthy McTruthy, a satirical character based on right wing shock jocks and ‘media personalities’. Truthy offers an hilarious take on the biases of the mainstream press with regards to human rights and anti-genocide protesters. Truthy McTruthy was a breath of fresh air in the midst of the racist dog whistling and generalised slander of most media coverage of Disrupt Land Forces, and the character has outlasted the mobilisation. Mr McTruthy is recognizable by his blood-spattered white suit; look out for him at a rally or picket near you.

A reporter holds a microphone while wearing a white suit covered in red splatters

Infant shrouds with red colour splashes are on a pavement in front of 4 police, standing guard at the NIOA weapons company office in Melbourne. This action was part of the Disrupt Land Forces motorcade.
Photo Matt Hrkac
Two humans sit holding images of murdered children in front of an Australia Federal Police office in Naarm / Melbourne. There are shrouds around the humans. 4 police stand guard blocking the doorway of the AFP facility. This action was part of the Motorcade to Disrupt Land Forces.
Photo Matt Hrkac
3 humans sit on the ground in front of the doorway to the Australian Federal Police office at Victoria Barracks in Melbourne. The humans are wearing keffiyeh and holding images of some of the children murdered by Israel. Shrouds covered in red splatters are on the ground next to the humans. Four police stand guard in front of the AFP entrance.
Photo Matt Hrkac

Frontline stories

This was an event that held space for impacted communities to share their stories with no pressure, parameters or borders. First Nations and other frontline impacted people were invited to use poetry, song, visual arts, spoken word, or any other mode of expression to address the DLF audience. Activists from this continent, Kanaky, Chile, Colombia, Palestine, the Philippines and Sudan spoke of their experience, their organising and their futures. Hundreds turned up to bear witness to their stories. The room was not big enough to accommodate everyone and we had to spread chairs and sound systems into the courtyard. The high attendance at this event shows a strong appetite for first person narrative storytelling in our movements. The words we heard were fascinating, sometimes horrifying, but above all galvanising. People who have never lived outside of the global north can find it hard to make an emotional connection with anti-militarist and anti-colonial struggle. Storytelling events like these give people an opportunity to relate to struggle in a deeper, more personal way, as they connect in shared humanity with the speaker. We should do more events like this.

This was an intimate event and we did not take photos.

The reds

Image of a red rebel kneeling with hands outstretched protesting against Land Forces
Photo: Matt Hrkac

Central Vic Climate Action’s iconic red rebels contributed a funeral procession to the week’s actions, symbolically mourning for all the lives lost to war. There was great communication and collaboration between climate and anti-war activists, both sharing the perspective that war creates human suffering and is also a huge contributor to climate change (which in turn creates yet more suffering). Both were motivators for those involved.

This was a magnificent work of performance art. It was incredibly powerful.

Duncan, 82

The reds wanted this action to remain open to people who did not want to risk arrest, and they reported that the Extinction Rebellion police liaison gave participants confidence to be involved. This made the action more inclusive for people with responsibilities such as young children.

It was really great to have the space to get changed into costumes and to de-brief afterwards (usually reds get onto costumes in public toilets/ behind bushes even!)

There was great care for us during the action. My throat was getting sore from wailing and someone (from the care team?) gave out throat soothing lollies. We even got fed afterwards!

We wanted to bring attention to the issue, without the media interpreting it as violent in any way. Of course they found a family whose day out was supposedly ruined, but they also said that the public was moved to tears about innocent people suffering.

I (and others) found it very therapeutic to wail loudly about the shitty state of affairs: the weapons fair, the environment and the Palestine war!

Elsie, 52

A set of three photos showing the red rebels, mourners in similar costumes but black, and one protestor in a WWII style gas mask, long black grim reaper like robes, and holding a fake missile - all protesting against militarism at land forces.
Photos: Matt Hrkac
Red Rebels at Disrupt Land Forces protest. A black clad person wails and holds up a baby sized shroud. Red Rebels stand in the background, in front of the Land Forces weapons expo.
Photo Matt Hrkac
A line of red rebels stands with hands outstretched outside the MCEC as part of Disrupt Land Forces
Photo: Matt Hrkac

Imperialism on Trial

Anak Bayan put Imperialism on Trial in a creative rally at the doors of the MCEC. Anak Bayan organisers pitched the idea as a contribution to the festival, organised it internally, retaining creative control, but stayed in comradely communication with the COG throughout that process. This communication allowed their action to be included in centralised comms and announcements, and ensured nothing else was scheduled at the same time. Full credit and gratitude to Anak Bayan for this powerful event.

Filipino activist group Anak Bayan rally to Disrupt Land Forces in Melbourne, with a mock courtroom putting 'Imperialism on Trial'. Organised by and with Frontline communities. hundreds turned out to cheer the guilty verdicts against Biden, Duerte and Netanyahu.
Filipino activist group Anak Bayan rally to Disrupt Land Forces in Melbourne, with a mock courtroom putting 'Imperialism on Trial'. Organised by and with Frontline communities. hundreds turned out to cheer the guilty verdicts against Biden, Duerte and Netanyahu.
Filipino activist group Anak Bayan rally to Disrupt Land Forces in Melbourne, with a mock courtroom putting 'Imperialism on Trial'. Organised by and with Frontline communities. hundreds turned out to cheer the guilty verdicts against Biden, Duerte and Netanyahu.
Filipino activist group Anak Bayan rally to Disrupt Land Forces in Melbourne, with a mock courtroom putting 'Imperialism on Trial'. Organised by and with Frontline communities. hundreds turned out to cheer the guilty verdicts against Biden, Duerte and Netanyahu.

At the “Imperialism on Trial” event I thought that the mock trial was an excellent creative way to capture the crowd’s attention. 

Alan, 63

I went to the rally on the Tuesday organised by Anak Bayan, where they had multiple activists from around the world. That was delivered brilliantly and shined a light on peoples’ struggles around the world and was very symbolic with smashing the effigy.

Pip, 25

The rally organised by Anak Bayan was so great, I appreciated how they platformed frontline activists from West Papua and Philippines. The smashing of the effigy! That was so satisfying.   

Guillaume, 31

Filipino activist group Anak Bayan rally to Disrupt Land Forces in Melbourne, with a mock courtroom putting 'Imperialism on Trial'. Organised by and with Frontline communities. hundreds turned out to cheer the guilty verdicts against Biden, Duerte and Netanyahu.

At MCEC, Sept 11-13*

a wheelie bin with flames and smoke billowing out of it, sits in front of many police.
Photo Matt Hrkac

By Wednesday morning we’d already disrupted them. The massive police operation was a disruption in itself.

Celia, 60

We successfully took away their social license. The conference was poorly attended. And everyone knew that it was happening.

Maria, 70 

The kids blowing bubbles at the police were awesome.

Rose, 30

My best moments were being out on the street with the young people and with the boat. And seeing people keeping calm through the police attacks, and the chanting and the singing. And dressing up.  

Marigold, 54

The Wurundjeri way occupation was great.

Adam, 65

A group of people in black bloc standing on the flatbed of a stationary truck amid the disrupt land forces protests, a person in the foreground holds a sign reading "Arms dealers export terror"
Protesters at disrupt land forces hold signs reading "sanction Israel" and " Killing for profit"
A shot showing the frontline of one of the disrupt land forces protests, the barricades set up by police, and then a line of police officers

Clown suit guy was awesome, and played a useful role, pointing to the police who were raising guns, standing between the gun and the people. He managed to prevent even more shooting. He was arrested eventually.

Rama, 27

A man in costume of blood-stained shirt under black suit with clown-style make up stands in front of police line pointing finger at officers holding rubber bullet guns. This character is known as "Slaughterman"

After Wednesday, there was a big debrief at the mission. Mostly we were tending our wounds, but at the end, every single person put up their hand to come back for Thursday. I was amazed. Our people are so brave.

Caroline, 55

I loved how the skills we practiced for the mobilisation were utilised

Raff, 31

The Quaker sessions during lunchtime were very moving and peaceful, walking along the Yarra with the banner and singing was extremely peaceful & amazing.

Andres, 44

Senator David Shoebridge attending a Quaker vigil held outside the MCEC in protest of the weapons expo Land Forces

It felt great to support arrested people with pickups and after care. So much community care went into the mobilisation.

Emerald, 35

The canoe push from Collingwood to Land forces was an epic effort, but so worth it. It gave the West Papuan people a context in which they felt empowered to speak.

Bernie, 45

It was inspiring watching some of the pods and it was noticeable how people who have been involved in large mobilisations before carry a set of skills in street tactics that help them to orient and make decisions in the space. I enjoyed following the XR pod during the mobilisation. They tried so many different things, it was amazing. We could see their skill, their work helping with different tactics, as well as rolling out a different bunch of tactics across the week.

Celia, 60

Even when the big group didn’t turn up the second day, a small group turned up and did more disruption on Thursday. 

Axel, 19

Uncle Ned’s speeches were beautiful, they touched my heart.

Sandy, 16

I loved being with the elders on the last day for smoking ceremony. I really needed that.

Tati, 28

* The Wednesday morning picket, attended by thousands, is reviewed in greater depth in parts 3 and 4 of this report.

Hanwha rally

A large crowd of protesters gathers and marches down major city streets in Narrm / Melbourne, to oppose weapons corporations, especially Hanwha, receiving our money to help kill people in Palestine. The Hanwha Out rally was held as part of the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation against a massive weapons expo.
Photo Matt Hrkac

The Thursday rally, marching from Hanwha’s HQ in Bourke St to Batman Park across from the MCEC, was a beautiful, inclusive piece of organising by the Elbit out of Naarm collective. While Hanwha don’t export directly to Israel, the Korean mega weapons corporation has facilitated dozens of lethal arms exports to Indonesia; Hanwha weapons are all over West Papua. Having received a $9 billion contract in Australia to build weaponised vehicles, Hanwha is busy building a factory at Avalon, near Geelong. To our dismay, Hanwha offered Elbit $917 million to partner with them on these new weapons. Speakers and marchers were wonderfully diverse in age, culture, gender and ability, representing the breadth of the anti-genocide movement. The Hanwha rally was a significant moment in the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation, focusing on the very real, immediate harm the weapons industry is doing in Victoria, with our money, without our consent.

A large crowd of protesters gathers and marches down major city streets in Narrm / Melbourne, to oppose weapons corporations, especially Hanwha, receiving our money to help kill people in Palestine. The Hanwha Out rally was held as part of the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation against a massive weapons expo.
Photo Matt Hrkac

So many organisations had come on board the Elbit/Hanwha rally that I lost count. This display of a politically diverse united front educated the crowd about the importance of building alliances. The trade union participation at the Elbit/Hanwha rally was important too, because it connected the rally to the mass organisations of the working class. It was clear that this wasn’t just a politically isolated rally of only the Melbourne far left.

Said, 30 

A large crowd of protesters gathers and marches down major city streets in Narrm / Melbourne, to oppose weapons corporations, especially Hanwha, receiving our money to help kill people in Palestine. The Hanwha Out rally was held as part of the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation against a massive weapons expo.
Photo Matt Hrkac

The vigil

At the Vigil for Palestine, held during the anti-weapons protest Disrupt Land Forces, images of children murdered by Israeli genocide are displayed on a screen. 17000 murdered children are represented by paper kites.

The vigil on Thursday night at Batman Park started quietly but gradually filled with those leaving the barricades for the night. They came to read the names of Gazan children killed in the genocide. The names were on paper kites, long a symbol of Palestinian resistance and freedom. The kites were arranged as a large installation, which included lists of the names of all the children sorted by age. There were speeches, poems and songs of resistance sung by Palestinian and Irish artists. Children lit candles to contribute to a shrine on one side of the space, the children played and connected. The event was designed to be a space for ‘collective grief and resistance’. 

On the night across the river [at the MCEC], there seemed to be some kind of celebration of the event, with gas burning torches exploding one after the other with light and colour. I guess the warmakers were networking the heck out of the night. We were holding each other. It felt important as a counter to what we were up against.

 Marion, 71

At the Vigil for Palestine, held during the anti-weapons protest Disrupt Land Forces, images of children murdered by Israeli genocide are displayed on a screen. 17000 murdered children are represented by paper kites.
At the Vigil for Palestine, held during the anti-weapons protest Disrupt Land Forces, images of children murdered by Israeli genocide are displayed on a screen. 17000 murdered children are represented by paper kites.
Walpiri Senior Elder Ned Hargreave keeps watch at the police barricade during the Vigil for Palestine, held during the Disrupt Land Forces anti-militarist mobilisation. Uncle Ned, or Jampijimpa, faces the police line and wears a jacket reading 'Ceasefire / Parumpurru / Karrinjarla Muwajarri'

Zombie rave

This event was controversial, with critics claiming the depiction of zombies during a genocide was insensitive. Some comrades asked us to ‘call it off’. The Canberra pod, for instance, said

We felt that the zombie rave was insensitive. Were Palestinian and West Papuans consulted about this event? We felt worried about that event and we didn’t go.

We note that some Palestinian and West Papuans participated in the zombie rave, and that impacted communities are not monolithic; there will be differing points of view among them just as there are in any community. In keeping with our ethic of non-judgement of tactics, we passed on concerns, but as organisers we see ourselves as hosts, not bosses. It was not within our remit to ‘call it off’. What we did was call the event organisers into dialogue and leave them to make the call. The zombie rave went ahead.

A protester at disrupt land forces wears a Penny Wong mask and a blood-stained suit, holding up bloodied hands
Minister for Foreign Genocides, photo by Matt Hrkac

This was cathartic for me, to express the horror and also to assert our spirit in the face of all the atrocities.

Zazi, 33

I loved the zombie rave, that was a highlight for me. 

Mateus, 41

It felt like a big fuck you to the cops and the arms dealers.

Marigold, 54

One person suggested that greater clarity and a wider deployment would have made the action more effective.

The zombie rave hung around the police blockade for far too long…I thought we were going to go around the CBD immediately with the boat to get people’s attention to Land Forces. The plan and execution made it unclear who the zombies were meant to be – the unfeeling people in the Land Forces expo? Or Palestinians holding (fake meat) dead body parts? … I think it’s a great idea if it’s planned better around public perception.

Kara, 28

A masked zombie crawls across the blocked street in front of the Land Forces weapons expo
zombie uprising
Zombies crawl through mock body parts, covered in fake blood and gore at Disrupt Land Forces
Photo Matt Hrkac
A zombie with grey-green face paint on lies on the street next to a red-splattered placard with HANWHA written on it
zombie down
A number of people dressed as zombies stagger, crawl and lie on the street at Disrupt Land Forces
Photo Matt Hrkac
Protesters in zombie costumes occupy the road in front of police lines at Disrupt Land Forces
Photo: Matt Hrkac
People in zombie make up hold shrouds and one speaks into a banana outside the Land Forces weapons expo.
zombie plea

Obstacles and solutions

We learn from every tactic we try, every idea we run, and above all from our mistakes. Some of the obstacles we encountered were predictable, while others took us by surprise. We had a much bigger core team than in previous DLF mobilisations; even so, core organisers were over worked. During the organising period and then during the mobilisation itself, we noticed a lack of confidence or willingness to take initiatives to Disrupt Land Forces. One person reflected

People were going to people who they assumed were in charge and asking permission to do things. I think we need to offer more training in self-managing and organising, so that more people feel empowered to lead. We could organise a set of decentralised leaders, so that there is a scaffold and a network, and leaders are not ‘out on their own’.

Ahmed, 40

A few people were bearing a lot of weight within the organising structure, and this weakened us. People needed more structure and guidance. 

Yiannis, 35

A person wearing a scarf and sunglasses holds a red, black and white banner that says 'War crimes start here'
A black and white photo showing huge numbers of highly militarised police with gladiator/leather king like body armour, shields, helmets with visors, and many types of weapon including guns, pepper spray, and stun grenades.
A group of people protesting at Disrupt Land Forces during the Hanwa/Elbit rally carry a banner that reads "arms embargo now"

The coverage by mainstream media upset some comrades, focusing as it did on ‘protesters clash with police’ instead of ‘Your taxes are being used to support genocide’. Most of us were unsurprised by the hostile takes of the Murdoch and other right-wing press. While the press invoked the ‘violent protesters’ trope over and over, people could see exactly who was doing the harm on the news reports.

My mate, who is a steel worker, and didn’t end up coming (he has mad fomo and regrets he didn’t go) said ‘You wrenched Land Forces into the spotlight, and made it illegitimate’. People can read between the lines, and everyone who saw that footage was appalled by the cop assaults. This was discussed in his workplace. Picture a bunch of steel shed workers in Western Sydney standing around discussing the fuckedness of a weapons expo on the shop floor. That convo happened because of what we did.

Rose, 30

Within the media team, we were conscious of keeping the core issues – militarisation, dispossession, genocide – in the frame. It was important to us that policing not become the only story. Stop arming Israel is the story. Weapons companies making bank from genocide is the story. The awesomeness of our people is also an important story.

Speaking of awesome, we have to shout out to 3CR. 

3CR was amazing. All the different broadcasters organised to come. 3CR gave huge coverage to the mobilisation,

Celia, 60

The use, or lack of use, of public space was an area many felt needed more development; this issue is also discussed in the picket section. Zazi, who was on the street each day of the mobilisation, expressed

My biggest disappointment was that we continued to predominantly be in the space the police “gave” us to protest. We kept returning to the police barricade to jeer at the few arms dealers coming through. It was better when we took it back around the Normanby/ Whiteman intersection near the Crown cross over. There was lots of access to Land Forces punters there. 

Zazi, 33

A police officer attempts to remove a dumpster from the road
A mounted officer menaces an unarmed protester
Protesters engage an attendee of Land Forces at the picket line

Some were disappointed that we didn’t impact the operation of the weapons fair more profoundly. 

We barely inconvenienced the Land Forces expo and the attendees. There was a whole other entrance that had unimpeded access to the expo which was 40m away.

Sami, 37

It was deflating going back on the Thursday morning and there wasn’t heaps of people.

Sandy, 16 

A crowd of disrupt land forces protesters holding up the peace sign hand gesture and the "hands up don't shoot" hand gesture

Some comrades found it difficult to find information about mobilisation events from day to day. Organisers relied quite heavily on word of mouth to share the happenings of the day, which was limited, of course. One comrade suggested to hold an info session each day at Seafarers, our home base. Another suggested a daily 6am call, and to use Instagram to share action and event news more thoroughly. 

There was no info available about joining the Red Rebel and Mourners action. During the 3 days I was constantly checking Instagram to try and see where the next “event” was, where the big crowds were, which group needed the most people-power. 

Kara, 28

Organisers had planned to use Telegram to broadcast mobilisation updates, however we found that people were not watching that channel. More signage, communications on socials, in group chats and everywhere would have been helpful. We did not have a dedicated team on communications and this was a gap. There were also suggestions about using more media to publicise Land Forces prior to the mobilisation:

I thought there could have been more use of traditional publicity tactics like stalls, stunts, postering, letterboxing and perhaps even doorknocking. I was only aware of posters being distributed to the crowd at the Sunday rally the week before the event. If posters and leaflets had been announced and distributed to the Sunday rally crowd for months beforehand it would have given us a chance to do some solid promotion of DLF in our local communities. 

Raff, 31

A line of mounted police officers guarding the MCEC from disrupt land forces protesters, with a sticker on a glass wall in the foreground reading "how many kids have you killed today?'

It was noticeable that

We went into this mobilisation exhausted. The movement was already exhausted.

Turtle, 60

Fatigue definitely impacted us all, but probably doesn’t explain the slow or non-existent uptake of many of the tactics proposed. Our communications platforms were enabling in some ways but disabling in others. Alongside the limits inherent to digital platforms, ‘security culture’ seems to foster non-commitment, and it is impossible to grow trust within group chats where anonymity prevails. We acknowledge that security culture is important but also wish to highlight here some of the limitations it creates in its current iteration. The movement is constantly renegotiating the balance between security and effective organising, and because technology changes we will never be “finished” finding the right balance. Our offline meetings had a great rate of idea take up and were much more productive than any online conversations during the organising. There is also a cohort in Naarm who follow old school, cold war lefty precepts in their insistence on serious, sombre interventions, and who regard creative, colourful, artistic or fun tactics as counter-revolutionary. 

My experience in the lead up was that there were lots of ideas but not much of a crew to take up the ideas.  The group chats appeared to be maybe too paranoid for fear of judgement, worried about being cancelled perhaps. I noticed that for different types of actions that were colourful or creative there was not a lot of take up. There was a sort of cancelling which stopped creativity.

Bernie, 45

A large crowd of protesters gathers and marches down major city streets in Narrm / Melbourne, to oppose weapons corporations, especially Hanwha, receiving our money to help kill people in Palestine. The Hanwha Out rally was held as part of the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation against a massive weapons expo.
Photo Matt Hrkac

Other comrades noted that

Signal chats have poor culture for supporting ideas. The intense standards of anonymity can create a lack of accountability for what you say, and people are generally meaner when they are anonymous.

Rose, 30

There are limits on the signal chats as an organising methodology. Group chats tend to thrive on cancel culture, plus there are problems around trust and anonymity. Our group chats form a kind of community, but relying on one communications platform can be a hindrance. 

Turtle, 60

A large crowd of protesters gathers and marches down major city streets in Narrm / Melbourne, to oppose weapons corporations, especially Hanwha, receiving our money to help kill people in Palestine. The Hanwha Out rally was held as part of the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation against a massive weapons expo.
Photo Matt Hrkac

A wave of angry criticism came at us after the mobilisation, as people sought to make sense of the repression we had experienced. Those of us who have been through similar harsh waves of repression recognised this as a stress response; it was still hard on us, however. 

The backlash has been emotionally hard. Perfectionism splits us and divides us.

Tati, 28

There were genuine concerns expressed in that wave, most of which we’ve tried to address in this report. Even so, it is a notable and unfortunate pattern on this continent that the broader movement tends to attack a group when that group experiences heavy repression. Attacks range from blaming the group for police behaviour to claims that the group has ‘damaged the movement’ or ‘made it harder’ for other activists. In some cultures, activists can look forward to generous offers of support after a police ‘crackdown’. Here in the Australian colony, our solidarity praxis is in sore need of stronger foundations.

Security culture is debilitating in some ways and protective in others. The anti-trust nature of encrypted group chats was noted by many. 

We need to remain in contact with people to build relationships and grow. Security culture makes this hard.

Kyra, 27

A person wearing business attire, with evil clown make up on, covered in red paint splatters, raises a fist in front of a line of riot cops.

The issue of black block – is it good for our movement? or not? – came up several times in feedback sessions, as both obstacle and possibility. (Black block involves a group wearing all black clothing, shoes and face coverings, so that identities are hidden, and it is hard to tell individuals within the group apart.) We noticed that use of black block is rising in Naarm, and that our own social media has promoted black block as a protective measure. The ‘no face no case’ idea is strong, in that police can only prosecute a person if they can identify them. With cameras now ubiquitous in public space, and many workplaces hostile to activism, covering the face seems logical. If everyone uses the same, ie black, clothing and face coverings it becomes difficult for security forces to distinguish between us at events. Still, in the DLF feedback sessions, some wondered if black block does in fact serve a protective purpose, or conversely, does it make the wearer a target?

I question the obsession with black block. Maybe it has gone too far and potentially it doesn’t make people safer. Maybe people need to be out and proud of taking action, and own our positioning: this is my face, this is who I am. 

Bernie, 45

Police and Nazis use black block to infiltrate. 

Marigold, 54

Shooting someone in a costume has less social license and can tell a better story, for instance having Free Palestine across your chest, or dressing as a faery. 

Raff, 31

We could have used our messages and flags and colours.

Zazi, 33

I felt like the black block made us too stealthy and undercover and anonymous.

Celia, 60 

Activists take shelter behind large green dumpsters in front of the Melbourne Convention Centre, during a protest to Disrupt Land Forces.
Photo Matt Hrkac

Comrades offered reflections about when, where and how to use black block judiciously, rather than ruling this tactic in or out. Sometimes obscuring a person’s identity is necessary because of their work, family or visa circumstances, although block doesn’t need to be black to achieve this.

I think it might be good to troubleshoot a sort of mobile safe zone, for actions where we hopefully are better able to hold space for longer. If we can create privacy screens so black block people at the front lines can eat and drink water without being identified.

Nour, 27

Whether it’s black block, grey block, tradie block or silly block, block is a tactic, and like any tactic there are spaces where it works and times where it doesn’t. It’d be great to have those conversations around strategy. 

Turtle, 60

A woman marches against land forces weapons expo holding a sign reading "war pigs and baby killers"
A protester at disrupt land forces holds up a sign reading "this is toxic"
A small group of protesters at disrupt land forces standing at the police line in drizzling rain, one holding a large Palestinian flag

There are good reasons for using bloc. Some of us can’t afford to be identified while protesting because we are members of over-policed communities, are on visas, or because of our work situation. This is where ‘no face no case’ is pretty important.

It’s not that we are not proud of who we are politically, it’s more that many of us don’t want our faces plastered all over media while doing something potentially arrestable. For those of us doing anti-fascist work it’s even more important, because the far right are always looking to mark us out for violent attacks.

As a tactic, black bloc can backfire when used on a very small scale, but I think it definitely has its place. I think it works well in larger numbers, particularly via a network of affinity groups, backed by a decent, disciplined comms strategy.

Judith, 45

The solutions offered by comrades all revolve around increasing the time we spend together offline. Trainings and workshops are vital for community and for successful actions yet are notoriously under-attended. To have the time and space to freely exchange ideas and build collective knowledge feels almost impossible, but this is the key learning many of us took from Disrupt Land Forces. We need to be able to think together, train together, rehearse tactics together and have the deep conversations that bring vision into being. As global capital and the military industrial complex accelerate in the wholesale dispossession of First Peoples and destruction of our world, we will need each other. The more time we can find to grow understanding, solidarity and tactical skill, the stronger we can be when mobilisations like Disrupt Land Forces come around. 

Read more:

  • Part 1 – Organising
  • Part 3 – Resisting
  • Part 4 – Enduring

To comment on, edit or add to this report, email disruptwars@proton.me

Written by Zelda Da · Categorized: 2024 Disrupt Land Forces, Uncategorized · Tagged: human rights, war, weapons

Jan 10 2025

DLF 24 part four: Enduring

a wheelie bin with flames and smoke billowing out of it, sits in front of many police.

The violence

When spray paint on a window is diagnosed as ‘violent’ in public discourse but the beheading of toddlers is constituted as legitimate ‘defense’, we feel that the term ‘violence’ has lost its meaning. Regarding protest, the ‘peaceful’ versus ‘violence’ frame is a narrative trap set for us by mainstream power holders. The more we use time and energy disputing what is and isn’t ‘violence’ amongst ourselves the more successful their trap has been. At DLF we choose not to step into this trap. 

Rather than ‘peaceful’ versus ‘violent’ we use a frame of ‘harm’ and ‘care’ in our organising. We foster an ethic of community care and we centre this in all our spaces. We ask that comrades ‘do no harm to life’. We ask that comrades engage with each other with maximum respect and – stretch goal – in a spirit of revolutionary love. Even at our most vulnerable, such as during the extreme policing of the Land Forces expo, we saw a community praxis of care that was extraordinary. The way people stepped up to protect, assist and look after each other during the police assaults of September 11 gives us hope for our future.  

Many of the acts police referred to as ‘protester violence’ were in reality part of a spectrum of care that was selfless, tireless and ultimately very effective. Leaning in to the protester tactics described by media outlets as ‘violent’ we discover acts designed to protect community from police attacks. People placed their bodies or bread crates up against the horses to prevent trampling or enable safe movement. Rubbish bins were set on fire to deter a police charge with those horses. None of us hurt a horse or another human. Not one. Throwing soft projectiles like eggs or tomatoes, verbal heckling, setting fires and using our bodies as a barricade to protect our comrades are tactics some people don’t relate to, and this was reflected in our evaluation sessions. Our ethic is one of non-judgement of other people’s tactics; discussion is great, cancellation not so much. We only note, here, that none of these tactics caused harm to life. Any injuries to police were self-inflicted, with officers accidentally spraying each other, hitting each other and falling over themselves.

No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption

Meanwhile, deals to displace First Nations peoples, destroy their lands and murder en masse were going ahead inside the weapons expo. The most egregious harm at Land Forces was the genocidal commerce taking place within the concrete box that is MCEC. 

The police brutality on Wed 11 Sept showed how determined the State of Victoria was to enable this lucrative murder trade to take place.

Sasha, 64 

We forced the State to show its hand. Its hand looks like 2000 paramilitary goons firing projectiles, trampling and beating us. This is the reality of militarism, revealed in its all its gory expenditure.

Caroline, 55

The structural harm playing out inside the Land Forces expo was complemented by the material harm police inflicted upon our people. Police used batons, capsicum spray, hard foam bullets and stun grenades to attack activists who were seated or who had fallen down, who were in wheelchairs, holding children, administering first aid to other activists, or who were simply present at the protest. Some of us felt that police used the Land Forces event to conduct a real time training session, to ‘road test’ weapons and combat-style policing.

 A disheartening and gross feeling was the reality that we kinda became part of the expo with the deployment of those weapons, we became an on the ground showcase of crowd control.

Rose, 30

Police used it as training practice, deploying their riot squads and projectiles.

Napi, 32 

There is no way in which we contributed to the assaults. I was on the road and I saw different groups doing different things. I stand by everyone’s actions. They put on all those extra cops so that they could use military weapons and practice against civilians. Even with all the attacks against us, it was incredible and amazing to be there. I’m proud of our people. 

Marigold, 54

A Vic Police badge has been altered to read 'Protect Profit' and has blood dripping on it.

The brutal actions of police at Land Forces left hundreds injured and everyone shaken. The anger and grief continue to rise in us two months later. September 11 has become a watershed for repression and also for resistance. We have had many conversations and will have many more to evaluate the tactics used on that day. Activist aftercare continues, with emotional, material and legal support crews all held in the powerful embrace of the grassroots antimilitarist movement.

The violence was horrendous. It was hard to notice how much it affected me until the next week.

Sebastian, 23

I’m really angry about the terrible cop violence.

Ahmed, 28

The police violence was really scary for me and my friends, it was overwhelming. I feel sad about it. I was worried that the violence on Wednesday may have deterred people from turning up. I don’t think it will deter people from turning up but it may encourage people to be more strategic about how they turn up, and how to reduce harm. 

The heavy repression felt overwhelming. There were so many cops. They want us to feel that it’s not worth it, they are punishing us so that we give up. Being at the Seafarers was an amazing counter to that repression. The the coming together of community is beautiful.

Sandy, 16

A composite image shows people protesting against police

Going into the mobilisation, DLF organisers knew that police would attack us at the Picket event on September 11. People did not expect the array of weaponry and military tactics police deployed, however; nobody expected the coordinated shield advances, baton charges, grenades and shootings that occurred. We were appalled as we watched and experienced the police harming our community over and over again. Organisers had attempted to mitigate police harm by suggesting deployment in ‘pods’ and to stay away from police lines. The pod tactic was somewhat successful (see part 3 of this report), however the level of cop brutality set the agenda for both the picket and its representation. The mainstream media, predictably, normalised the militarised policing operation while dehumanising us.  Back in the real world, dealing with the extreme policing and heightened surveillance took and continues to take a lot of activist time and energy. This is an intended effect of policing-as-repression. 

Organisers considered engaging in liaison with police prior to the mobilisation but decided to leave that decision up to the various event organisers. A few comrades suggested that marshals or police liaison people may have been effective in mitigating police attacks on September 11.  

Not doing liaison contributed to this over reaction by the cops on the Wednesday. Police liaison is an obligation. You have to carry the police with the movement; change has to include police. To walk away from it is dangerous. They got to use the event to try out crowd control weaponry. 

Duncan, 82

Some responses to this point:

In other pickets I have seen police liaisons get pepper sprayed. Their ability to mitigate police attacks is very limited.

Bella, 44

I think police liaisons can be very helpful but in some circumstances like Wednesday it would have made no difference to the brutality, it just would have made the police liaisons vulnerable.

Yiannis, 35

DLF organisers liaised with police about one event, the Motorcade on Monday 9th, hoping that liaising would mitigate police harassment along the route. Our liaison was completely fruitless. Police harassed and humbugged every single set of wheels on the road or off it. All our liaison achieved was to give them a heads up about the route, resulting in heavy police guards at all the weapons corporations of inner city Naarm. A police liaison / bunny buddy was the first person to be arrested during the mobilisation, in relation to the Lizard car block of the Westgate Bridge. We do not believe that deploying police liaisons or marshals would have led to a reduction in police brutality. 

An altered Victoria logo reads 'Victoria, Complicit in genocide'

There are upsides to the harmful repression we experienced. First, the multiple expressions of mutual aid both on site and ever since September 11 have created and cemented bonds within our community and demonstrated how beautifully we are able to support each other.  The practice of care as solidarity was exemplary throughout the DLF mobilisation; more on this below. Secondly, our picket forced the state to reveal its commitment to corporatism and militarism through its vicious defence of the Land Forces expo. Last and not least, the deployment of thousands of militarised police in the centre of Naarm was in itself highly disruptive. 

Working smarter, not harder, is the challenge we face at future arms expos and other large targets. The successes and failures of the four hour picket on Wednesday 11th are fertile ground for activist learning and planning. We will never outgun the police, nor would we try to. We can, however, outsmart them, and we frequently do.

After the brutality of Wednesday September 11, it felt like we had more traumatised people than we had arms to hold them. At that point, we hoped that others in the broader community would step up to care for the injured and distressed; many did. One comrade asked,

How could we have even bigger arms to catch all the people who were in distress? We didn’t quite manage to hold all the people. 

We needed to prepare people for the repression. At other mobilisations we have held sessions to prepare people. Maybe that would have helped.

Celia, 59

As often happens after an episode of police brutality or state repression, some people looked for a person or collective to blame, holding other activists responsible for the harm instead of directing anger at the authors of the harm, the police. This was extremely disheartening for DLF organisers, who were ourselves injured, arrested and distressed by the police overkill. We invite community to reflect on our responses to brutality, study ways of resisting repression, and use crisis as an opportunity to double down on solidarity. We expect state repression to increase as climate impacts worsen and wealth disparity passes ever more ridiculous extremes. Let’s be ready to hold each other. We are going to need those ‘even bigger arms’ to survive end stage capitalism.

No Caption
No Caption
No Caption

The care

A core goal of DLF was to foment communities of care. We met and exceeded this goal. The level and degree of care offered by everyone to everyone was the most heartening and hopeful facet of the mobilisation. Deep respect and radical altruism were present on the streets, at rallies, at Camp Sovereignty, in our homes and at our basecamp at the Mission to Seafarers. We welcomed new activists and established campaigners alike to eat, learn and mobilise together. We worked together to solve problems with humility and grace. It was a joy to be in our spaces. It is affirming to see that despite the shit and violence and chaos of the world, we know how to put community care into practice and foreground revolutionary love. 

I found it easy to connect with people. It was easy to come in as a sort of individual.

Drew, 50

Seafarers was an amazing space, where relationship building was enabled and happened.

Cass, 22

Seafarers felt like home, our community’s home. I loved being there.

Tati, 28

People were peaceful and caring and contained. Seeing that sense of community has really affected me.  It’s what I want to be doing. It has drawn me into wanting to be doing this, making this work my focus.

Sebastian, 23

The kitchen! Every time I entered the kitchen a different crew was in there chopping and cleaning and stirring. 

Nour, 27

We built nice connections with new people, full of care and nurturing.

Sandy, 16

The kitchen team managed to feed a hundred people twice a day for seven days. Meals were tasty, nutritious, plentiful and 100% vegan. DLF organisers prioritise eating together as a foundation of all other work. Sharing food energises and bonds us. Sharing food during meetings and mobilisations is normal in much of the global south and across diasporic communities in the north. We want to normalise sharing food as a protest essential here in Straya. The kitchen team did a vast amount of work prior to and during the mobilisation. Their work anchored us in daily shared spaces of rest, recovery and sociality. The kitchen team deserve every kind of celebration.

Another team we need to single out for major gratitude is Naarm Frontline Medics. This crew was already beloved by the movement, having shown up again and again to care for people injured by police. When the police went ballistic on September 11, Frontline Medics were there to hold, treat and comfort us. Here, we quote from the Medics’ own reflections on the mobilisation.

We were involved from the very start, so we had very established relationships and were able to help with decisions and thinking things through. This was a great thing for us. There was some well organised decon [decontamination]; the medics appreciated being brought in early. And it’s good to see a genuine commitment to aftercare and reflection. 

On the Wednesday there was a second self-organising group of medics not doing real well in the space. We’ve encouraged [Salt] medics to get training but the collaboration is poor. One thing we learnt is that the best thing for us medics is to not change our plans when there is a clash between others and our own organised crew. 

There were some real problems with the way the other medic team was working.  A big thing was people were spraying saline on peoples’ faces, which spreads the OC spray as the water washes it down the body (potentially hitting incredibly sensitive areas).  You need to wipe OC off, not squirt it away.

People were also spraying peoples’ eyes without properly opening them, which spreads the OC around the eyes more and also pushes it around the face.

And another big thing is that we always encourage people to remove casualties from the area where they were hit, to reduce the trauma and also prevent further harm from taking place.  But too many people were left at the front, very close to horses and violent cops, instead of being moved a little further back for safer care.

There’s more, but those are the big things that can have a really negative impact on protesters and create additional work for medics.

Cam 44, representing Naarm Frontline Medics

The care team were limited in number but boundless in their offerings. The main role played by the care team was collecting arrested people from custody and taking them wherever they needed to go. We can’t overstate the importance of this work. Exiting the cop shop to find a friendly face offering hugs, treats, a lift and a chance to vent or cry mitigates the harm of being detained and sets us up to recover well.  Some of the care team mobilised at our events also:

I was acting as part of the care team. I didn’t really process what was happening emotionally at the time, but reflecting later it was very powerful to have been standing in front of police lines handing out snacks and water, and making sure everyone had the watch house number. It felt like it sent a strong message to the police as well as providing community care.

Naomi 37

Whatever else we did or didn’t manage to do, our caring praxis was exemplary. Some of the care was coordinated, through the kitchen, medics or care team. Then there were multiple spontaneous acts of care. Picking up an injured person, showing another activist a new skill, ensuring that wheelchair users were not trampled by cops, sharing all that we own and all that we know: these actions show us who we really are and what we are capable of. This was a major success story of the DLF mobilisation.

Acknowledgements

This written work was made on Gadubanud, Wadawurrung and Wurundjeri lands. We acknowledge the sovereignty of First Peoples on this continent. We lament the harm caused by ‘the British Empire’, its military invasion and its continuing colonisation. We are grateful for the support and radical perspectives of Senior Elders on this continent. We thank Mob in Naarm and across this beautiful, tortured land for staunch, ongoing resistance to genocide. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

Kokatha Elder Sue Coleman-Haseldine speaks into a megaphone at a rally.
No Caption
Arabunna Elder Kevin Buzzacott gives the cops a talking to.
No Caption
Walpiri Elder Ned Hargreaves giving a speech at a picket of the harms dealer NIOA
No Caption
Uncle Coco Wharton protesting at a weapons expo
No Caption

Organising the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation involved hundreds of carers, cooks, creatives and co-conspirators. Visual and performing artists gave freely, coders and writers used their words, people took time off work, some people even skipped school to join our resistance community. We aimed to spark communal connections, to prompt interrogation of militarism on this continent and to smash the social license of the weapons industry.

We aimed high and we reached higher. Our resistance was represented by media outlets all over the globe – Japan, the UK, Colombia, Lebanon, Argentina, the US, India, France, etc etc – and dominated national news here in the colony called Straya. The weapons trade survives on secrecy. The harms dealers do not want their existence or their fortunes exposed to public scrutiny. Thanks to our resistance, every social or traditional media reader in Straya learnt that a large weapons sales event was taking place in Naarm, and that thousands came out to vehemently oppose it.

No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption
No Caption

Media coverage is one type of ‘success’. The torrent of learning, listening, dialogue and exchange that flowed from our June 21 launch has not stopped flowing. Bonds forged in shared struggle and resistance work will endure far beyond the bank balance of a weapons dealer. The anti-genocide movement in Naarm were joined by activists from many other towns and cities; we were a national mobilisation. The astonishing warmth of the space we held at the Seafarers was, for many, the highlight of Disrupt Land Forces. To be at Seafarers was to experience a constant state of becoming, transforming, creating and exchanging. Our temporary mutual aid community established trust quickly and held it firmly. The speed with which we developed this solidarity economy is possibly a more significant ‘success’ than any of our ‘actions’. Seafarers gave us a glimpse of life beyond capitalism. It is a world worth fighting for.

No Caption
No Caption
No Caption

Read more:

  • Part 1 – Organising
  • Part 2 – Mobilising
  • Part 3 – Resisting

To comment on, edit or add to this report, email disruptwars@proton.me

Written by Zelda Da · Categorized: 2024 Disrupt Land Forces, Uncategorized

Sep 11 2024

September 11 Media Statement

Community brutalised while protesting against Land Forces

Organisers of today’s picket and rally at the Land Forces weapons expo are appalled at the level of violence directed against community members protesting for peace. Over 50 community organisations have collaborated to create the Disrupt Land Forces mobilisation, based on a deep shared commitment to ending the genocide in Palestine and preventing future genocides. Land Forces is a one stop genocide shop, where weapons change hands in deals worth billions. Immense human suffering and planetary damage result from the deals done at Land Forces. 

We were three times injured by police today. Firstly, police were deployed to protect the profits of weapons manufacturers instead of protecting the people. Secondly police attacked us with blows, kicks, boots on our throats, tear gas, pepper spray, flash bang grenades and rubber bullets. Thirdly, we pay for all this police violence through our taxes.

Hugh, speaking by phone from police custody, said “I was holding a placard to protest the weapons trade when police threw me to the ground and kneed me several times in the back, causing large bruises. The degree of police violence we saw today clearly demonstrates how invested our government is in supporting arms dealers, at the expense of all life” he said.

The protests were successful in delaying the VIP breakfast and the opening of the Land Forces expo, despite a heavy police presence that included mounted police, helicopters and drones. At the time of writing, picket lines are still forming as mobile pods of protesters deploy around the Convention Centre. Some protestors have created barricades in an attempt to keep people safe from mounted police and riot squad shields. Butyric acid, a food additive derived from dairy products, was also deployed. 22 people had been arrested as of midday today.

“We are expressing community anger in the only way that is available to us – on the streets” said Caroline Da Silva, speaking for Disrupt Land Forces. “Directly acting to prevent harm is in the DNA of all people of conscience. Direct action is a bedrock of democracy” she said.

“Change seems impossible, until it happens. We are people who know that change will come, through our hands, and in our lifetimes. We will never give up on Gaza, because we feel the truth of the slogan ‘We Are All Palestinians’. 

“None of us are free until all of us are free. The genocide in Gaza, atrocities in West Papua, slavery in Congo, forced starvation in Sudan are all a result of militarism. The anti-militarist movement on this continent has grown and matured very rapidly since Israel’s attacks on Gaza began. We are deeply committed, and we are growing stronger. Change will come” added Ms Da Silva.

More than 50 groups have united under the banner Disrupt Land Forces to take a stand against this trade in weapons.  Disrupt Land Forces schedule of events is available here. The mobilisation is calling for an end to weapons sales to Israel and a two way arms embargo with the rogue state.

Disrupt Land Forces next events are a rally and march on Thursday 12 September from Hanwha’s headquarters at 550 Bourke St, then a Vigil for Gaza at Batman Park on that evening from 6.30pm.

Written by Zelda Da · Categorized: Media, Uncategorized

Aug 20 2024

Disrupt Land Forces was glorious

That. Was. Glorious.

We disrupted a massive arms fair.

During seven days of creative, ingenious, staunch, peaceful, collaborative actions, over three hundred people spoke truth to the power of the war makers at Brisbane’s Land Forces weapons expo. Our Festival of Resistance unfolded in a whirlwind of humanity discovering itself, as we supported each other to take risks, make art, experiment and disrupt the military industrial death machine that is wrecking our planet and her peoples. There was rage, there was grief and there were moments of despair, but above all, growing by the day, there was joy. As we took action together to Disrupt Land Forces, as we planned and played together at our base in Jagera Hall, something extraordinary and alchemical happened. Solidarity transcended ideology or intellect or politics and became, simply, love. It was exquisite. There was a buzz running through our collective spaces; we were all high on the magic of our making. The community we created over those seven days provided a glimpse of the future we hold in our hearts and it is magnificent. 

Please donate to help with legal costs

Thanks but no tanks

Disrupt Land Forces got off to a spectacular start on May 27 with a tank blockade action disrupting the bump in at Brisbane Convention Centre – a day before the Festival of Resistance’s planned launch. Two of us happened to be in the neighbourhood when a Rheinmetall Unarmed Combat Warrior and a Ripley cannon mount came rolling around the corner headed for the loading dock. And … go! The sugar glider spirit was with us as two of us ran, jumped and climbed onto the moving weapons and quickly messaged the rest of us. We ran! Within a few minutes fifty of us had surrounded the weapons and one person had locked on to the Ripley machine. Within an hour, a hundred of us were dancing in the street. After four hours of disruption to the weapons industry, four of us were arrested and all of us were elated with the people power we had raised together. It was a glorious start.

Lighting the fire

On May 28 we held our planned launch event, lighting solidarity fires simultaneously at the Brisbane Sovereign Aboriginal Embassy in Musgrave Park and in the highlands of West Papua. Aunty Karen, Yuggera elder, had proposed lighting the fires to echo the distress fires that people in times past have sent to warn each other of the incursions of police and soldiers in these lands. Karen’s idea was to connect us in Kurilpa (aka South Brisbane) with our friends in West Papua, to signal that we recognise their distress and to pledge our support. We would connect the fires via zoom, in a fantastical merging of ancient and contemporary communications methods. We never thought in a million years that we could make it happen. What with Indonesia throttling the internet in West Papua, the vagaries of weather and the difficulties of even routine contact with people in West Papua, the vision seemed almost impossible to bring to life. To our astonishment, the vision became reality. The Zoom connections were made, the fires were lit and there we were inside a breathtaking communion of First Nations peoples sharing stories and expressing solidarity. By firelight. And by Zoom. We were launched.

Fever Pitch

The solidarity grew as we explored tactics, exchanged ideas and planned together through our workshops on Saturday 29, and was amplified through dance during Saturday night’s concert. Sunday morning, May 30, one hundred of us were on the doorstep of two weapons companies in the heart of Brisbane’s (literal) military-industrial complex in Redbank: Rheinmetall and DB Schenker. The police didn’t like our poles, but they didn’t seem to mind that the street signs now read “Fascist Way” and “War Crimes Drive” – references to the millions made by Rheinmetall and DB Schenker from the persecution and murder of Jewish people under Nazism. Sunday night we disrupted the bump in for a second time, with a Grim Reaper figure atop a ‘Sensitive Cargo’ truck and a solid circle of arms around the base. Uncle Kevin Buzzacott gave a memorable speech calling for the wisdom of the elders to be heeded: “We know the way home”. The truck-jumpers and arms-linkers held up bump in for hours. Monday we visited SkyBorne (killer drone manufacturers) and Thales (exporters to Indonesian Special Forces Kopassus), where two of us were arrested to the sweet sounds of Black Brothers performed by Uncle George and Aunty Irene Demarra. Tuesday June 1, the opening of the Land Forces expo, we created a cacophony. This really was a carnival of chaos, with slippery blood spills blocking one entrance, the Quakers for Peace blocking another and total aural and visual mayhem going on at the third. It was a long, hard walk into the Convention Centre for the war makers that day. Our Vuvuzelas (plastic horns), our Cazerolazo (banging pots and pans), our rape whistles and our voices were all at fever pitch. We set out to make the Land Forces participants uncomfortable. We succeeded. Please pitch in to help with legal costs

All ages, all cultures, all genders

The creativity, once unleashed, became a raging torrent. We are stunned, thrilled and just incredibly impressed by all the ways people took action, and by the spirit of radical respect people extended to each other throughout the Festival of Resistance. (Radical respect = accepting and allowing divergent styles of protest even when, or especially when, we find them hard to understand.) This respect for difference was empowering and enabled a vast range of people to participate in ways they found meaningful. Tuesday saw Butoh Hauntings, hardcore heckling, a citizen’s arrest of Christopher Pyne – again, invoking the spirit of the Sugar Glider with a stunning leap onto a moving car – poetry, story telling and a deeply moving ‘Say Their Names’ ceremony for the children recently killed in Gaza. On Wednesday the Quaker Grannies set up a 24 hour vigil, Climate Angels shed blood on the threshold, twenty of us stormed the expo and climbed onto a tank (hi Rheinmetall! It’s us again!) and a raucous, theatrical ‘Dinner of Death’ parade ruined the schmooze fest of the war makers down at South Bank. We were having fun. Thursday June 3 kicked off with a singing installation at the main entrance and at midday, exhausted after seven days of actions, we still had energy for a dance party to smash the patriarchy. 

The solidarity is strong with this one

We have to talk about the kitchen. Thrown together, last minute, no budget, no resources, still the kitchen served us two plentiful, tasty, nutritious meals a day, on time, with smiles, with hugs even. Our kitchen and our logistics team were beyond science; they may have created a breach in the time-space continuum. Our minds were blown. Not only did the kitchen feed us and the logistics team equip us every day, they did so in multiple locations (e.g. at the barricades, the solidarity fire, the watch house) without skipping a beat. Brisbane locals are off the charts for solidarity.  The hospitality of our Brisbane people extended to supreme street medicine, legal observing and to rock solid watch house and court support. We highly recommend Brisbane as a place to hold a week long Festival of Resistance. Brisbane folks are up for anything, and can do everything. To all our Brisbane people, we heart you very much. ❤ 

Please donate to help with legal costs

37 of us were arrested

while standing up (and sitting in) for humanity. Inside the building, the planners and facilitators of crimes against humanity plied their killing trade. Outside the building Queensland police arrested us for actions such as: blowing a whistle, sitting on the ground, tweeting, performing Butoh, sugar gliding, holding a wok and dancing. None of us used violence, none of us manufactured or sold weapons that will maim human beings and decimate the biosphere. 37 of us will face court. The war criminals were protected by hundreds of police to carry on their ‘legitimate business’ of exporting terror.

We will never stop

The people who came together to Disrupt Land Forces were empowered and elated by the experience. We came away inspired and buoyed by the love and solidarity that flowed in from around the world. We will not stop resisting until the oppression has ended and we are travelling together on the path of healing our planet and her peoples. Click here to kick in for our legal costs to show you stand with us. Stay with us for more beautiful actions for peace and justice in a city or forest near you.

For our future and for each other

Zelda, Margie and Cate

Check out some of the photos

Written by Zelda Da · Categorized: Articles

Aug 13 2024

Our Commitment

All are welcome to join the mobilisation to disrupt Australia’s massive weapons expo in Naarm in September. Here are the logos of some of the 50+ collectivities already connected to this campaign. We share a fierce commitment to immediately end the arms trade with Israel, and ultimately to demilitarise this continent. Our mobilisation to disrupt land forces will run from 8-14 September. The principles of our collaboration can be found here. Add your name or organisation to the open letter below, and/or hit the button to come in person.

I’m coming to the mobilisation

ADD YOUR LOGO

Written by Zelda Da · Categorized: Uncategorized

  • Page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Footer

Join the mobilisation

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter

Donate to Disrupt War

Copyright © 2025 Disrupt Land Forces