Meet the Ballarat Protesters. Eureka Two

Michael And Damien interview the crowdShow more

On 30 November 1854 miners from the Victorian town of Ballarat, disgruntled with the way the colonial government had been administering the goldfields, swore allegiance to the Southern Cross flag at Bakery Hill and built a stockade at the nearby Eureka diggings.
Early on the morning of Sunday 3 December, when the stockade was only lightly guarded, government troops attacked. At least 22 diggers and six soldiers were killed.
The rebellion of miners at Eureka Stockade is a key event in the development of Australia’s representational structures and attitudes towards democracy and egalitarianism.
Eureka leader Peter Lalor, December 1854:
The miners, leader, Charismatic Irishman Peter Lalor had them all swear this oath
It is my duty now to swear you in, and to take with you the oath to be faithful to the Southern Cross. Now hear me with attention. The man who, after this solemn oath does not stand by our standard, is a coward at heart … We swear by the Southern Cross to stand truly by each other, and fight to defend our rights and liberties.
And while they were defeated on the day, at today’s protest in Ballart the Eureka Flag that these Minors created was flying everywhere.
The numbers of protesters will always be argued, it’s like the authorities can’t risk allowing the truth to be released, unchallenged. The real questions is, why is the mainstream media so committed to propagating the same lies?
Every week they call us far right extremists, white supremacists and even neo nazis. This should offend us, for all they are doing is trying to portray us as dangerous, but instead, within protesters, it is a running joke that’s ridiculous punch line never stops being funny.
Two of the movement’s stars, the powerful speaker Sudanese born, Jerry and our world famous journalist Rukshan, usually can’t stop giggling as we ask them if they are White Supremacists.
But today the entire City of Ballarat, the home of the Eureka Stockade, decided to join in this lie. In order to portray us as a threat to public safety, they closed all the stores, and even the Eureka Museum, established to celebrate this fight for freedom, that led to the Suffrage for men in 1857, which in turn, established our democracy.
Yet today, even as we were driving back to Melbourne, the main stream media were working overtime, making sure the closure of the town was justified, and they even interviewed locals who stated they were outraged that the protesters, by protesting on the anniversary of the Rebellion, were publicly stating that the two events were linked.
But they are. If the Miners wanted to work then, they needed a license. A piece of paper that cost 30 shillings a month. A piece of paper that had to be produced when requested by the authorities. Today, many can’t work unless they are able to produce evidence of their vaccination status.
But rather than challenge the mainstream narrative with words, I’ll do it with images.
Notice that not only are the protesters diverse, but many appear happy. Why? Lots of them have lost their jobs, worse, they have been ostracised by their family and friends. Yet despite the pain of this, every time they come together, like a tribe or the parishioners of a forming church, they discover their communal bond soothes their wounds and gives them strength.
Or is it deeper than this?