We say it's murder!
Mulrunji Doomadgee was a young man in perfect health. He was arrested, supposedly for public drunkenness. He never left the police station alive! Amongst the serious injuries he received whilst in custody was a broken liver. This is not likely to happen by accident or by an attempt at suicide. It takes a hell of a lot of force to break a healthy person�s liver. Only the cops on duty had access to his cell. They are therefore responsible for his death. We call it murder.
The Coroner�s Report was a damning indictment of police practices in relation to Doomadgee. For a start, according to the royal Commission into Black Deaths in custody, Black people are not supposed to be taken into custody merely for being drunk. Yet Doomadgee was! The Police Association is crying foul! They claim that the coroner is politically correct and biased, out to get the police force. They don�t have any other explanations though for her findings. The only explanation for a healthy person such as Doomadgee suffering from a broken liver is serious physical violence. The only force capable of doing this with access were the police on duty.
We consider that the Palm Island Murris were totally justified in rioting and burning down that police station. They should have the full support of the workers movement also. We do not believe in Royal Commissions. There can be no justice under this racist capitalist system. We certainly have no faith in the Beattie Government which has sided totally with the racist police force.
The workers' movement in Queensland has remained silent and this is bad. Working class submission to the system has led to massive attacks from the government and the bosses such as the Accord from Labor and Work Choices from the Liberals.. Silence means consent and consenting to the ruling class agenda when it attacks Murris means accepting a system which attacks working people and oppressed. We must not be party to this system. We must defend the Palm Island Murris.
The only way forward is force. We respect the militancy of the Palm Island Murris. We think that they have a right to fight the racist system anyway but the findings of the coroner prove that their insurrection was well and truly justified. But to win they need active solidarity from the organised working class. To galvanise this solidarity, all racism must be fought.
SUPPORT AND DEFEND THE PALM ISLAND INSURRECTION!
BUILD WORKERS DEFENSE AGAINST RACIST POLICE ATTACKS!