The following statement was posted on the                                             ASU Victorian and Tasmanian Branch website on the 10th of August.

“ASU supports Tecoma community in opposing site for fast food chain”

The ASU supports the right of the Tecoma community to oppose development.

The ASU is an affiliate of the VTHC. The VTHC resolved to support the rights of the Tecoma community to protest against inappropriate development.

This resolution is supported by the ASU.

In Tecoma, passionate local protestors are committed to preventing what they see as inappropriate development. Their actions affect the development site both in terms of access and egress from the site. It follows that the site would not be a safe environment for workers.

The ASU do not believe that it is reasonable to put workers in the middle of such a heated debate.

The Victorian Government must take a proactive approach to resolving this dispute.

It should convene a meeting of the local council, the local MP, the developer, the VTHC and representatives of the protest group.

The ASU fervently believes the parties should be working towards a resolution acceptable to the overall community.

At least 260 community members assemble with one day’s notice, to unite and vow to continue to fight against a McDonalds in Tecoma on Sunday 11th of August.  We emerged with more determination and passion than ever before, like a phoenix rising from the ashes! Many new and enthusiastic faces who, in the wake of McDonalds outrageous military style invasion of Tecoma this week, are simply compelled to get on board!  As well as sharing our reflections on a hard week we brainstormed and discussed the best way we continue the fight, inspite of the loss of our beloved Hazelvale Dairy buildings. As well as many new ideas the meeting recommitted to maintaining our protest on the site between Monday and Friday 7AM to 5PM and Saturday 7AM to 1PM.

Photo by Sarah Brown

MEDIA : Tecoma McDonalds protestors plan next move

The Mountain Song – a song of struggle

. At the end of the meeting we were lucking enough to be taught the lyrics to the “.Mountain Song”. This is a song inspired by one womans stand against the destruction of her mountain home by coal mining in the U.S. by an artist called Holly Near. The song is becoming somewhat of an anthem to our protest when it was first sung to us from the rooftops by our “Roof Angel” a few weeks ago which you can see in the video below. Here the community sing the song on this video on Facebook.

I have dreamed on this mountain
Since first I was my mother’s daughter
And you can’t just take my dreams away ­– not with me watching
You may drive a big machine
But I was born a great big woman
And you can’t just take my dreams away ­– without me fighting

This old mountain raised my many daughters
Some died young – some are still living
But if you come here to take our mountain
Well we ain’t come here to give it

I have dreamed on this mountain
Since first I was my mother’s daughter
And you can’t just take my dreams away ­– not with me watching
No you can’t just take my dreams away ­– without me fighting
No you can’t just take my dreams away

On August 8^th – McDonalds “Day of Shame” began. Once again under the watchful eye of police, the community was forced to stand by and watch Bernie wield the excavator to destroy the buildings we have fought so hard and long to defend. I

In heartbreaking scenes we watched first Saffron Cottage crumble, to be followed by the rest of the building including the former Hippy Haven.

The day was full of many sad moments including watching the excavator rip through the Aboriginal Art on the walls of Hippy Haven. The artwork were painted by two Aboriginal artists, Pitjanjatjara artist Jonathan Kumantjara Brown and Tasmanian born Max Mansel

Throughout the day, Bernie Rafferty, the  owner of BR Demolition who employed non-Union labor to break the Trades Hall stance to keep workers off site on behalf of McDonalds, seem to relish the distress he was causing the community through demolishing our historic streetscape.

The trauma of the day was also added to by the assault by police on a protestor who dared to take photos of the demolition whilst on a pair of stilts. In a justification given after the event, police claimed the protestor was “attempting to scale the fence” in his stilts which was a literal physical impossibility!

Like every other act of bastardy and corporate vandalism perpetrated by the McDonald’s corporation in the name of their “Family Restaurants”, the destruction of these historic buildings received massive media coverage television and radio.

Poignantly – the Southern Cross Flag flew almost to the end of the day representing our continuing struggle for the rights of local communities to have a voice within our democratic system.

The next morning the community again gathered on the site to hold a candlelight vigil to greive the loss of the Old Hazelvale Dairy buildings. The vigil was also part of a life cross to the Channel 9 “Today” program.

MEDIA

Channel 10 Report with footage of both demolition and police assualting man on stilts