REPOST of "Class War At Coogee" - for reasons of accurate reporting
repost for Ray | 12.04.2004 07:04 | Social Struggles | World
article reposted as legal threat to perth imc asked them to remove it... don't you just love the internet?!
Today the Coogee Coalition Action Group (CCAG) held a 3500 strong rally against the insane proposed Port Coogee development. A combination of hired heavies, elitist coogee residents, mafioso and down right ignorant assholes under the banner of "Port Coogee Now" organised a 200 strong rally 30 minutes prior to the CCAG rally at the very same location. At 10:30am (the beginning of the CCAG rally) both rallies clashed. The result was what can only be descirbed as the beginning of a class war in coogee.
But first a bit of information about the development.
Port Coogee is set to go ahead. This will mean the creation of a Port Bouvard style mariner just south of fremantle. It will include:
*Development over the coogee ridge line and 380 metres into the ocean.
*The construction of break waters that will engulf 30 hectares of ocean.
*70% of which will be filled into create a housing estate with canals.
*The destruction of a large marine reef.
This will mean:
*The destruction of the marine ecosystem in Cockburn Sound.
*Severe erosion to neighbouring beaches.
*The loss of 700 metres of beach, which in a region where there is very little beach left is quite a substational amount to lose!
*The area has considerable significance to the Nyungar people and the creation of the Port will mean a part of Nyungar cultural heritage will be gone forever.
*The loss of several Ship Wrecks which will mean a loss of Fremantle heritage.
*The majority of development will be privately owned and there will be limited public access.
There are many reasons to oppose this development.
The CCAG rally itself was a success. There were speeches from Nevil Collard (Nyungar elder and definetly the best speaker of the day), Jim Scott, Carmen Lawrence, Andrew Sulivan and other CCAG organises. Of course all these speeches were accompanied by heckling from the "Port Coogee Now" puppets. The police made a soft line between the majority of peaceful protestors - people interested in a sustainable development that doesn't destroy our beautiful beach, and the idiotic mobsters - the money hungry swine who don't give a fuck about anything outside their day to day American soap opera lives. This didn't stop the hired thugs booing and heckling all speakers though. Not that cops were expected to care.
"Port Coogee Now" is a sham! A small group of realestate agents and elitist coogee residents. All of which have a lot to gain from the development. Front man and head honcho of the Mob Joe Rottendella (yes that is his real name), also known as Anthony Rottendella, is a ruthless mafioso who is set to gain immensely from the development. You see Joey owns the anchorage in Cockburn Sound and is selling to Australind for a lot of money so they can build the Port. Joey is already a millionaire and obviously has a lot of money to throw around. This was cleary evident at today's rally. The majority of "Port Coogee Now" people were hired pawns. The Bicton Waterpolo team was even approached and offered $2000 to support the Port. This is not unusual behaviour for old Joey though.. He is known for his generosity.. At a price of course. For insatnce he will sponsor children in swimming squads - just as long as the parents will come running when he needs their support in such projects like "Port Coogee Now".
Now you may think i'm making this all up because a few idiots showed up to a peaceful rally and tried to turn it sour.. But in all honesty i was glad that the fuckwits rocked up. I think everyone at the rally was. Their moronic chants like "Go Home", heckling, abuse and blatent elitism done nothing but prove who this Port is really for. The rich. They done nothing but strengthen the anti port Coogee campaign. Jesus! They even had an ex navy mine sweeper out to sea, with blatent propaganda spewing from it. CCAG had marked the massive extent of sea fill with boys for everyone to see.. But Joe still had the nerve to sail around blearing stuff like "there is going to be minimal sea fill.. This will benefit all of us". What a tool.
But enough about Joe, the guy is a scum bag.. But what are you going to do.. The earth is full of these swine. Back to the ilegitimacy of the development itself. It is known that atleast 60% of Australind is owned by members of the Singaporean Government! It is suspected that the other 40% is also under international ownership. Why does this matter? Well fuck.. I personally have a problem with foreign investors raping our precious land in the name of big business. I have a problem with anyone doing it.. But it really shows how little this development is going to "put back into the community". It would be bad enough if an Australian company was doing this, but atleast some people would find comfort in knowing that the money made from this development is staying in Australia. I personally don't care where the money is going. I think the point is the beach, the only real beach in the fremantle area, is being sold to elitist whores and fat cats. Just so a few rich men can have a few more million and a few elitist self indulgent whores can live out to sea and play mafioso. What a crock of shit!
And it's getting heavy.. Threats have been made against various CCAG members. Threats such as "we're going to come around and adjust your face with a spade". Not that i think anyone in CCAG should take these assholes seriously. But still any threats of violence shouldn't be taken light heartedly.
Now my point.. The bastards are closing in and although we have the numbers.. They have the dosh. And as we all know in this materialistic, consumeristic kingdom of fear people aint worth shit in comparison to $$$. So what is the low down? What do I think will happen in the near future?? Well in light of such moronic mafioso games i'm still trying to remain optimistic. The development as it stands is so obviously flawed that it doesn't take much for us to convince people that it shouldn't go ahead - in it's present form anyway. If you look at the anti Leighton beach development campaign it was successful because the entire local community was on side. It resulted in a real struggle between the people and the developers. This time around the enemy have the mafia on side.. What isn't a good thing for all of us that have half a brain and enjoy the natural environment. In fact it is getting down right dangerous. But hey.. We may not beat them but atleast we don't have to fade away with apathy. And I'm sure the CCAG will keep fighting and hopefully next rally our numbers will double.
Before i wrap this up though.. I would like to comend the Socialist Alliance on holding a stall at the rally. If their is going to be any real alternative to the bourgeois two party system we endure it will come about through these sort of campaings. The many different individual communities within a society are the heart and soul of that society and the natural environment in my opinion is the heart and soul of any community. So it was great to see SA taking part in a real community campaign. We need the unions on side, sure.. But we also need the whole goddamn community.. So yeah.. Nice work SA..
Anyway i want you all to think a little.. I know it hurts, but try.. What would life be without our amazing coast?? This is the reality the people of Fremantle (and surrounding suburbs) are quite literally facing. The dual development of South beach and Coogee will mean public beach access will almost be compleatly lost. That is not something i want to see and hopefully you agree. So.. I say we fight these swine on every level. As one "Port Coogee Now" whore said at today's rally "this is the rich versus the poor and the rich will always win!". Let's prove him wrong.
"Class war!!"
NB: Sorry.. I'm unsure whether Nevil is a Nyungar elder or not(hell i'm even unsure if i'm spelling Nyungar corectly or not). Ohwell..
Salam,
Ray.
But first a bit of information about the development.
Port Coogee is set to go ahead. This will mean the creation of a Port Bouvard style mariner just south of fremantle. It will include:
*Development over the coogee ridge line and 380 metres into the ocean.
*The construction of break waters that will engulf 30 hectares of ocean.
*70% of which will be filled into create a housing estate with canals.
*The destruction of a large marine reef.
This will mean:
*The destruction of the marine ecosystem in Cockburn Sound.
*Severe erosion to neighbouring beaches.
*The loss of 700 metres of beach, which in a region where there is very little beach left is quite a substational amount to lose!
*The area has considerable significance to the Nyungar people and the creation of the Port will mean a part of Nyungar cultural heritage will be gone forever.
*The loss of several Ship Wrecks which will mean a loss of Fremantle heritage.
*The majority of development will be privately owned and there will be limited public access.
There are many reasons to oppose this development.
The CCAG rally itself was a success. There were speeches from Nevil Collard (Nyungar elder and definetly the best speaker of the day), Jim Scott, Carmen Lawrence, Andrew Sulivan and other CCAG organises. Of course all these speeches were accompanied by heckling from the "Port Coogee Now" puppets. The police made a soft line between the majority of peaceful protestors - people interested in a sustainable development that doesn't destroy our beautiful beach, and the idiotic mobsters - the money hungry swine who don't give a fuck about anything outside their day to day American soap opera lives. This didn't stop the hired thugs booing and heckling all speakers though. Not that cops were expected to care.
"Port Coogee Now" is a sham! A small group of realestate agents and elitist coogee residents. All of which have a lot to gain from the development. Front man and head honcho of the Mob Joe Rottendella (yes that is his real name), also known as Anthony Rottendella, is a ruthless mafioso who is set to gain immensely from the development. You see Joey owns the anchorage in Cockburn Sound and is selling to Australind for a lot of money so they can build the Port. Joey is already a millionaire and obviously has a lot of money to throw around. This was cleary evident at today's rally. The majority of "Port Coogee Now" people were hired pawns. The Bicton Waterpolo team was even approached and offered $2000 to support the Port. This is not unusual behaviour for old Joey though.. He is known for his generosity.. At a price of course. For insatnce he will sponsor children in swimming squads - just as long as the parents will come running when he needs their support in such projects like "Port Coogee Now".
Now you may think i'm making this all up because a few idiots showed up to a peaceful rally and tried to turn it sour.. But in all honesty i was glad that the fuckwits rocked up. I think everyone at the rally was. Their moronic chants like "Go Home", heckling, abuse and blatent elitism done nothing but prove who this Port is really for. The rich. They done nothing but strengthen the anti port Coogee campaign. Jesus! They even had an ex navy mine sweeper out to sea, with blatent propaganda spewing from it. CCAG had marked the massive extent of sea fill with boys for everyone to see.. But Joe still had the nerve to sail around blearing stuff like "there is going to be minimal sea fill.. This will benefit all of us". What a tool.
But enough about Joe, the guy is a scum bag.. But what are you going to do.. The earth is full of these swine. Back to the ilegitimacy of the development itself. It is known that atleast 60% of Australind is owned by members of the Singaporean Government! It is suspected that the other 40% is also under international ownership. Why does this matter? Well fuck.. I personally have a problem with foreign investors raping our precious land in the name of big business. I have a problem with anyone doing it.. But it really shows how little this development is going to "put back into the community". It would be bad enough if an Australian company was doing this, but atleast some people would find comfort in knowing that the money made from this development is staying in Australia. I personally don't care where the money is going. I think the point is the beach, the only real beach in the fremantle area, is being sold to elitist whores and fat cats. Just so a few rich men can have a few more million and a few elitist self indulgent whores can live out to sea and play mafioso. What a crock of shit!
And it's getting heavy.. Threats have been made against various CCAG members. Threats such as "we're going to come around and adjust your face with a spade". Not that i think anyone in CCAG should take these assholes seriously. But still any threats of violence shouldn't be taken light heartedly.
Now my point.. The bastards are closing in and although we have the numbers.. They have the dosh. And as we all know in this materialistic, consumeristic kingdom of fear people aint worth shit in comparison to $$$. So what is the low down? What do I think will happen in the near future?? Well in light of such moronic mafioso games i'm still trying to remain optimistic. The development as it stands is so obviously flawed that it doesn't take much for us to convince people that it shouldn't go ahead - in it's present form anyway. If you look at the anti Leighton beach development campaign it was successful because the entire local community was on side. It resulted in a real struggle between the people and the developers. This time around the enemy have the mafia on side.. What isn't a good thing for all of us that have half a brain and enjoy the natural environment. In fact it is getting down right dangerous. But hey.. We may not beat them but atleast we don't have to fade away with apathy. And I'm sure the CCAG will keep fighting and hopefully next rally our numbers will double.
Before i wrap this up though.. I would like to comend the Socialist Alliance on holding a stall at the rally. If their is going to be any real alternative to the bourgeois two party system we endure it will come about through these sort of campaings. The many different individual communities within a society are the heart and soul of that society and the natural environment in my opinion is the heart and soul of any community. So it was great to see SA taking part in a real community campaign. We need the unions on side, sure.. But we also need the whole goddamn community.. So yeah.. Nice work SA..
Anyway i want you all to think a little.. I know it hurts, but try.. What would life be without our amazing coast?? This is the reality the people of Fremantle (and surrounding suburbs) are quite literally facing. The dual development of South beach and Coogee will mean public beach access will almost be compleatly lost. That is not something i want to see and hopefully you agree. So.. I say we fight these swine on every level. As one "Port Coogee Now" whore said at today's rally "this is the rich versus the poor and the rich will always win!". Let's prove him wrong.
"Class war!!"
NB: Sorry.. I'm unsure whether Nevil is a Nyungar elder or not(hell i'm even unsure if i'm spelling Nyungar corectly or not). Ohwell..
Salam,
Ray.
repost for Ray