Nine eleven in Nimbin

[Guest 26753]

From the citizens & shopkeepers of the Village of Nimbin to the NSW Police force:

Nimbin is not a war zone! Nimbin is not in Afghanistan ! We are not violent. We are not criminals.


Our village is renowned the world over as a centre of tolerance and good vibes. Nimbin is a beautiful township filled with beautiful people who abhor violence and want nothing more than to be able to live in peace with each other and in harmony with our natural environment.


For nearly forty years Nimbin has been a focus for a peaceful trade in cannabis between serene and non-violent citizens. This trade in cannabis has always been non-violent, peaceful, and ethically sound. We do not find this trade in cannabis to be dangerous. We do not find the trade in cannabis to be something that needs to be policed by packs of heavily armed troopers clad in bullet proof vests and carrying handguns and tasers. The citizens of the village of Nimbin are not demeaned or lessened by the cannabis trade: but we are demeaned and lessened when we are treated like criminals.


The citizens of the village of Nimbin believe the single most dangerous thing about the cannabis trade in our township are the heavy handed tactics being employed by the NSW police force.


We gather today in front of your stationhouse to ask: Why have the NSW Police force declared war on our township?


Why is our main street festooned with spy cameras? Why do packs of heavily armed policemen roam our streets? Why do you import bullet proof vests and taser guns onto the streets of our peaceful village? Why do you issue illegal (general) warrants up to three times a week to search our whole township with sniffer dogs?


We believe that the current policing practices in Nimbin have nothing to do with ‘keeping the peace’. We know that the nine police stationed in Nimbin are not in the township because the local citizens invited them here. We did not invite this huge police presence into our town. The police are here at the bidding of people who live in Sydney and Canberra . The police in Nimbin have come here as an occupying force at the behest of outsiders!


Most importantly, the police are often not here or available for important moments when they are truly needed to protect the safety of the village as ninety percent of their time is occupied in pursuit of the endless and unwinnable war on drugs.


What have we done to deserve to have our beautiful and peaceful township occupied by a heavily armed force of troopers wearing bullet proof vests? Why have you set up spy cameras on every corner of our village? Surely you are not doing it to keep us safe. After all: how many violent offenders have been arrested in the village lately? How many violent crimes have been committed in Nimbin in the last week? The last month? Are there any more than in any small country town in NSW?


We gather today on the 11th of September in front of your station house to symbolically trade cannabis and demonstrate that this is not a dangerous practice. We are here to take our township back. We are gathering as one to demonstrate that we see you as a disruptive force not a police force.


We have come together to jointly declare that you are not acting on behalf of the citizens of Nimbin; we utterly reject any notion that you are acting in our interests.


The huge occupying police force is stationed here in Nimbin for POLITICAL reasons. Your presence has nothing to do with keeping the peace. Your occupying police force is in Nimbin to make sure that the people of Nimbin are forced to live in a way that politicians, who live a long way away from Nimbin, find acceptable.


We have gathered to inform you that the citizens of Nimbin will be lodging a formal protest with the NSW Council of Civil Liberties and the Police Ombudsman to ask that the Government stop harassing the citizens of Nimbin.


We are gathered in front of your stationhouse to ask you to take your tasers and bullet proof vests and go away! You are throttling the business life of our town. You are scaring and terrorizing peaceful citizens. You are importing violence and bully-boy tactics into a peaceful corner of rural NSW.


We are here to ask you to pack up your bullet proof vests and weaponry and STOP THE WAR ON NIMBIN!

Source

 

[Sativa King]

Good on em I say!! I hope it all works out for the best but knowing politicians I highly doubt it will!

 

[orfeas]

I know little of Nimbin, but enough to get the picture...
So here's how I see it.
They had some success (small or big doesn't really matter) in literally slaughtering and eradicating the natives way back in the past.
In the present, they reckon they can commit the same crime on a "bizarre" bunch of Aussies who happen to live by a "different" creed from theirs.
So all I say bludgers is "exterminate " them with your firm willingness and good karma!

Orfeas

 

[cornflake]

It's one of the reasons I moved from Lismore man, the sniffer dogs are way overboard, back then the cop presence with the dogs was plain clothes but for an average citizen being bailed up to have their person inspected, searched, sniffed, is just evidence that western democracy is nothing more than a very clever advertising campaign, that we are not living in an orwellian nightmare

something I see through

I love the people of Nimbin and miss Saturday night scrabble

now people of Nimbin, nod your head and say yes

the power of yes will see you through these times, say yes to everything they attempt to deny you

yes is your own perfect secret mantra

 

[Guest 26753]

It takes balls to surround a police station like this!!!!

It takes balls to surround a police station like this!!!!

PRESS RELEASE – SAT 9/11 – NIMBIN POLICE STATION – PROTESTORS SELL JOINTS

A midday 9/11 ‘Nimbin is a not in Afghanistan’ protest today attracted more than 200 people crowding into the middle of Nimbin’s one main street. The protest, where many local business owners spoke, was organised in response to a recent increase in police activity in Nimbin.

“Why have we got hordes of cops wearing bullet proof vests and taser guns patrolling a small country town in rural NSW? It’s ludicrous! This is NSW not Afghanistan,” said Jim Moylan from JAG, the Nimbin Justice Action Group. “We all know the absolute popularity of pot will make sure the cannabis trade continues.”

Some business owners, whose shops cater to the tourist trade, talked about very unfriendly police interactions and indicated that they believed their current financial difficulties were largely attributable to the overbearing police tactics currently being employed in the village.

Following the rally in the main street of town the brightly dressed protestors walked, danced, and sang their way to the local Police Station in a procession led by a Ganja Faerie and the Big Joint, where they assembled and held what was described as a ‘Community Protest Theatre’.

Many lit up joints and publicly traded them for $10 and $5 dollar notes – a demonstration to show that the free exchange of cannabis in Nimbin is no big deal. While the joints were filled with legal herbs like damiana and mugwort, the distinct sweet smell, of what Timothy Leary called ‘the hippies favourite vegetable,’ was strong in the air.

The Polite Service from The HEMP Bar kept the roadway clear while a deputation of local villagers presented a letter of protest to Sergeant Peter Bryant for delivery to his superiors.

“The Local Area Commander has been following your protest carefully,” he said. “I am happy to pass the petition on, and I’m sure he would like to sit down and discuss the issue further with you.”

Further info; Michael at the Embassy 0266891842/66890326….a/h 66897525

Jim Moylan 66218419….plenty more photos on www.bigjoint.org

More quotes:

“This is a civil liberties issue. These large scale police actions are entirely unwarranted – by using sniffer dogs out on the streets of Nimbin on a regular basis the Police are targeting a whole village just to punish the perceived indiscretions of a few. Just because the NSW Police Force finds it difficult to target a very small number of cannabis dealers – they have decided to take a whole town hostage! This is entirely unacceptable!” James Moylan, President of the SCU LEXUS Union of Students and co-convenor of the Nimbin Justice Action Group, JAG.

One observation that drew wild applause from a local shopkeeper was that “Community Policing is now dead in Nimbin.” The speaker indicating that the affect of increased alcohol consumption, and even violence, had become markedly obvious on the streets of the village since the policing of cannabis had become the sole focus of policing in the village.

“Common sense says it’s time to trial a legal market place for cannabis in Nimbin. A marketplace, or cafes like in Amsterdam perhaps,” said Michael Balderstone, President of the Nimbin HEMP Embassy. “The huge amount of money being thrown away in this eternal, ongoing policing of Nimbin is making little difference to the cannabis trade. However, it does mean many locals are in gaol, many local youth have criminal records for life, and police are regularly unavailable for important moments when they are truly needed to protect the safety of the village. It’s madness! Ninety percent of their time is taken up with an unwinnable ‘war on drugs’.”

Notes: The Nimbin Station has a permanent posting of nine Police, a sniffer dog squad visits the town regularly, and the main street is festooned with five CCTV cameras carrying live footage of the tiny main street directly into the police station – making this tiny village in Northern NSW one of the most heavily policed areas in all of Australia. Yet despite this huge and oppressive police presence in the village – the size of the cannabis trade has been virtually unaffected.

Protestors exchange weeds for money outside the Nimbin Police Station on Saturday 9/11. No arrests were made!

Video of the day’s demonstration will be viewed on the YouTube Channel.

http://www.YouTube.c...IMBINTELEVISION

Source

 

[Guest 26753]

Fears Nimbin is going to the dogs

Dominic Feain | 11th September 2010

NIMBIN business owners say regular police drug sniffer dog raids in the town are killing their businesses and they are responding with a protest rally today.

After the rally, organisers plan to march on the town’s police station.

Hemp Embassy president Michael Balderstone said tourists were staying away from the hippy town in droves, leaving many businesses struggling.

He blamed it on what he called ‘heavy-handed policing’, with regular sniffer dog raids and foot patrols by police wearing bullet-proof vests and Taser guns.

“The whole concept of community policing in Nimbin seems to have been completely abandoned,” he complained.

“The Hemp Embassy and the Justice Action Group of Nimbin are co-ordinating this action, as both feel strongly about the new campaign to rid the village of its favourite herb.

“This village could easily manage a pot trading area, or market place, where transactions of small amounts of cannabis could happen in a safe and sane environment. Health advice and information could be also made available in such a place.”

However, Richmond Local Area Command duty officer Inspector Gary Cowen was unapologetic, saying that Nimbin was a known area where illicit drugs were used and sold.

“The drug detection dog is a tool used by police to stamp out the use and supply of illicit drugs everywhere, and Nimbin is no different to anywhere in the State in that regard,” he said.

Concerned community members have organised a rally and protest march today at midday, where a petition will be formulated for submission to the NSW Council of Civil Liberties and the NSW Ombudsman, which will be also presented to the Nimbin police.

Mr Balderstone said organisers were hoping for a big crowd to‘reclaim’ their town.

“Just asking these police patrol questions can get a hostile reaction and possibly a ‘move-on’ order that makes you leave your own town,” he said. “Aren’t police are supposed to be working for the community?”

Source: http://www.northernstar.com.au/story...-killing-them/

 

[shroomyshroom]

that is just awesome thank you for sharing Smoking Moose i haven't had a laugh like that for a while

 

[Frosty Buds]

Research Freeman on the land and common law, your need to lodge a claim of right under common law which is above all their (governments) unlawful fraudulent constructs (legislation ,acts, statues, regulations etc which are not law).

When you participate in their system you create enjoinder and therefore contract with them, you need to avoid contracting with them, they actually need your consent to interact with the flesh and blood human being as they can only interact with your person (legal construct, your name on your birth certificate in all capital letters) and if you rebut their claim of consent (silence or argument are both forms of consent) then they have no authority over you.

You have inalienable human rights, a lien is a restriction, inalien is without restriction, inalienable rights are rights that can not be taken away or restricted without your consent.

Look up Mark McMurtrie on youtube and watch his Lessons in Law videos, look up Thomas Anderson (same name Neo had before leaving the Matrix) and watch his videos and then look up Robert Menard and watch his videos, they will show you how fraudulent the system is and what you can do about it LAWFULLY.
Mark will show you how the COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA is a corporation and a corporation cannot be a government, he will show you how the Queen Of England never had any authority over any of the Commonwealth colonies as she did not have the Letters Patent from the British Parliament giving her permission to exercise her authority outside of the UK (England, Ireland and Scotland) so therefore the COA has no authority.

They (the powers that be) don't want you to know this, they don't want you to know that they must provide remedy with anything they do to you or that they are subject to common law.

It's up to you whether you want to keep taking the blue pill and believe what you have been taught by the education system and media or to take the red pill and see how deep the rabbit hole goes in order to find your way out.

It's long overdue for Australia to wake up to the truth that they are being lied to.

 

[High Country]

What was that all about?

 

[Ironeek]

Tale of the township by Neil Pike
Site of the annual "First weekend in May" Nimbin MardiGrass, Nimbin is unique. Once a sacred initiation site for the Bundjalung tribe, it was originally "settled" by white Europeans in the very late 19th Century. Basically that means we clear-felled as much of the forest as we possibly could, fenced it off from the local Kooris and proceeded to wipe out any of them that objected to being uprooted, brain-washed and totally cut off from their traditional lands and way of life... It's a familiar story.

Within a couple of decades the white guys had pretty much run out of trees and so they started looking around for a NEW way to turn a buck. Sticking a whole bunch of heavy-footed European cows on the recently cleared slopes seemed like a good idea at the time, and so within ANOTHER few decades the once pristine forests surrounding this area had been transformed into an expanse of denuded, eroding cow pastures. Meanwhile the arse was busily dropping out of the international market for Australian meat and dairy produce. Ho-hum...

By 1973, Nimbin was almost a ghost town. Luckily for the local real estate agents, a bunch of long haired student radicals from the Australian Union of Students arrived seeking a site for a national student counter culture life style event called the Aquarius Festival. They had taken a left turn at Mullumbimby, chose Nimbin promising the village residents that Aquarius would "recycle the town".

Cut to 1993 - the same deserted dairy town has been transformed. The building and shop fronts are a garish yet somehow compelling collage of full blown psychedelia and traditional Bundjalung art. There's more cafes, craft shops and backpackers than you can wave a traveller's cheque at and the stinky sweet smell of ganja is positively enveloping the street. This definitely AINT Byron Bay.


Down the centre of the main drag of this tiny, tripped out tourist town, there's a huge throng of people, laughing, drumming, chanting, DANCING towards the local cop shop.

Dozens of them are helping to carry a huge smoking joint with "Let It Grow!" painted in 4 foot high letters on the side. Others are holding banners and placards calling for change - an end to drug prohibition, the legalisation of cannabis, an end to the drug war.

Many are openly smoking pot as they drum, sing and humba their way towards the suddenly vacant-looking police station. One dude is on stilts, wearing a huge cardboard helicopter he's made in mockery of the annual pot raids that Nimbin has suffered for more than a decade. Paradoxically, not one person looks angry.

What the f*ck is happening here?

Why, it's the first annual "Let It Grow!" Mardi Grass Fiesta and drug law reform rally.

A thousand local "alternatives" (the politically correct way to say "hippies") finally spitting the dummy, coming out of the closet and in true 60s in-your-face street theatre style pointing out to the jaded apathetic mainstream that the drug wars just aren't working.

That night on the national news the Australian general public was faced with the bizarre spectacle of a bunch of aging hippies, their off-spring and an ever-growing army of young and old recruits joyously breaking the cannabis laws en masse and demanding a change to the drug laws. Not only has the war on drugs left a deep and unpleasant impression on our idyllic, lotus-munching existence (the hippies seemed to be saying) but these days it's seriously f*cking with YOUR way of life as well.


Ever since the '73 Aquarius Festival, Nimbin has had a strong tradition of civil disobedience of the drug laws. The cops tried to bust someone for pot in the middle of the festival, but were quickly (and peacefully) overpowered by the crowd and the "criminal" disappeared into the seething hairy melee. This was nothing new at the time.

The same kind of spontaneous rebellion had happened at the Sunbury rock festival the year before, and was of course a regular ingredient in the Vietnam protest movement of the sixties and early seventies.

By the late 80s however, people's willingness to take these kind of measures had markedly diminished... even in a place as supposedly pot-soaked as Nimbin. The U.S.-driven "War On Drugs" was in full swing. In the cities, the psychedelic, sacramental dealing circles of the sixties had long ago been replaced by more commercial, well-oiled interests. Smack was available everywhere in Australia. Hope was extremely unfashionable.

Those in Nimbin still clinging to their hippy ideals were pretty much trying to keep their heads down... at least as far as drugs were concerned.Regular invasive police helicopter raids were just a fact of life. The general wisdom seemed to be that showing an interest in drug law reform was as suicidal as walking into a police station smoking a joint.

Despite this generalised paranoia, a few brave souls were consistently stirring the pot.

Beginning in 1988, a series of public demonstrations, press releases and politically motivated events kept emanating from Nimbin, all of them hammering the same basic point ... the drug laws are a miserable, socially destructive failure.

At first, these words of wisdom only seemed to be coming from one person, Bob Hopkins, a nimbinite who conducted a vigorous and extremely effective one-man campaign against the drug laws.

Gradually other folk began to get involved. Michael Balderstone (the owner of the local "hippy" museum) and David Heilpern (a lawyer and activist who later became a magistrate) were among the early ones.

By 1993, a small but dedicated bunch of folk had coalesced around the name "The Nimbin HEMP Embassy". Their press releases and activities had consistently kept the issue of drug law reform in the spotlight of the local media and more and more people were coming out in support of what they had to say. The time seemed right for a larger display of local public feelings. Hey presto, the first annual Let It Grow! MardiGrass and Drug Law Reform Rally was born.

The first MardiGrass attracted a crowd of about 1000 people and much publicity. The day went off without a hitch. It was a huge success. By the next year, many more local people were openly supportive of the event. That year, the MardiGrass rally was preceded by a conference and seminar which attracted politicians, academics and health professionals from all over Australia. In a tradition that has continued to this day, the crowd doubled over the previous year's numbers... 2000 people paraded through Nimbin calling for an end to the madness, prejudice and social chaos that masquerades as drug prohibition.

In 1995 the first MardiGrass Cannabis Grower\'s Cup was held.

The year 1996 saw the beginnings of many events that have since become intrinsic to the Mardi Grass. The HEMP Olympix had it\'s inaugural year, as did the Kombi Konvoy and the Hemp Traders Trade Fair. The now-legendary HEMP Olympix comprised pothead contests around joint rolling, bong throwing and, for the more physically-minded, a Growers Ironperson competition. For this contestants pitted themselves against the odds in outlandish tests of strength such as crawling through lantana tunnels dragging large bags of fertiliser.

The Kombi Konvoy opened the 96 Mardi Grass and has done ever since. A procession of variously decorated Kombi vans winds its way from nearby Lismore, arriving at dusk in the crowded lantern-lit streets of Nimbin. Led by the Olympix torch-bearer, the Kombis eventually park in a circle and the crowd forms for the opening ceremony.

Thus begins a weekend of song, dance, speeches, workshops, poems, pot art exhibitions, hemp trade and fashion shows, drug law and drug health information exchanges, seed swaps, magick, myth and joyous, stoned civil disobedience and political demonstration.

Finally on the last day, a lucky few settle down for the Cannabis Cup.

Based (very loosely) on the Amsterdam event of the same name, the Nimbin Cannabis Cup is a nice mellow wrap-up to the heightened chaos of the previous few days. A rather broad selection of the best local buds is tasted, toked and tested by a smattering of card-carrying "expert" judges, eventually choosing a winner. If you don\'t make it as a judge however it doesn\'t really matter. Just like in Amsterdam, there\'s so much good pot everywhere that anyone that does make it to judge status is usually too stoned to tell anyway.

The Mardi Grass has grown stronger and larger every year and the Nimbin HEMP Embassy has continued to stay at the forefront of drug law reform activism worldwide. Several large scale smoke-ins and demonstrations have been held outside police stations and courthouses, political candidates have been run (and polled quite highly), a television ad campaign was run requesting people to dial-in to a safe number and report any cases of police harassment or corruption. All this plus maintaining a high-profile drug education outlet in Nimbin\'s main drag.

One of the more interesting actions was the helicopter blockade in January 1997. Finally sick of the annual hippy-bashing helicopter raids that the police had been mounting every year, the HEMP crew and friends decided to do something about it. With a little ingenuity, they found out where the chopper squad was staying and where they'd parked the chopper for the night. Early the next morning, the cops awoke and opened their motel room door only to be greeted by the rather unnerving sight of one or two hippies chained underneath their wagons, a whole bunch of hippies waving and laughing at 'em from across the carpark and a veritable swathe of camera-toting press all clicking and whirring and taking notes right next to those goddamn hippies.

Needless to say the hippies had a very articulate and convincing press release ready about the waste of public money inherent in sending a bunch of gung-ho cops on double-pay in a very expensive helicopter to circle and swoop above the local communes and come back with a pathetic payload of what could only be described as personal stash.

Meanwhile on the other side of Lismore another couple of Hempsters were slowing things down by chaining themselves to the chopper. The press loved this story, and the cops?

Well, the cops just shook their heads, got in their little, blue wagon and went away. To this day, the helicopter squad has not returned to Nimbin.

All of these events lend colour and strength to the Mardi Grass.

Last year's was a huge success and this year promises even more. As time goes on and the crowd grows, it's interesting to watch the demographic changing. These days, the old-school hippies are well and truly out-numbered by the whole array of society's archetypes. Many of these are just as counter or sub cultural as the hippies (punks, ferals etc). The vast number of them however are just plain, ordinary suburban working people. Many of them are there with their kids. Not all of them smoke pot, but they all know someone who does and they all agree that it's time for the drug laws to change.

It's ironic but somehow typical that the drug law reform movement should find it's most
vocal and public face in a place like Nimbin. The Mardi Grass gives voice to frustrations and problems that are vexing the whole of mainstream society, but most people aren\'t quite brave enough to express this to their neighbours. In the anonymity of a "freak-fest" like Mardi Grass, many people are quite prepared to stand up and be counted. This is vitally important as a first step, but it\'s only when there\'s a Mardi Grass happening in every town and when every pot smoker puts their hand up that the laws will change. It\'s too easy for the mainstream to ignore protest when it just happens in Nimbin.

So come this year to Mardi Grass, but remember that it\'s a drug law reform rally and not just a pot party. We're there to make some points not just to get out of it, and remember to take some of the magick, idealism and commitment home with you when you go, there's enough to spare.

 

[rubbanutz420]

Sounds like a cool place, and very beautiful place to live.... Im jealous, except for the asshole cops that are on patrol there.....hopefully this will work out for the peole of Nimbin.....i'd love to visit someday...

Good Luck, I hope it works out....

 

[bushweed]

Research Freeman on the land and common law, your need to lodge a claim of right under common law which is above all their (governments) unlawful fraudulent constructs (legislation ,acts, statues, regulations etc which are not law).

When you participate in their system you create enjoinder and therefore contract with them, you need to avoid contracting with them, they actually need your consent to interact with the flesh and blood human being as they can only interact with your person (legal construct, your name on your birth certificate in all capital letters) and if you rebut their claim of consent (silence or argument are both forms of consent) then they have no authority over you.

You have inalienable human rights, a lien is a restriction, inalien is without restriction, inalienable rights are rights that can not be taken away or restricted without your consent.

Look up Mark McMurtrie on youtube and watch his Lessons in Law videos, look up Thomas Anderson (same name Neo had before leaving the Matrix) and watch his videos and then look up Robert Menard and watch his videos, they will show you how fraudulent the system is and what you can do about it LAWFULLY.
Mark will show you how the COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA is a corporation and a corporation cannot be a government, he will show you how the Queen Of England never had any authority over any of the Commonwealth colonies as she did not have the Letters Patent from the British Parliament giving her permission to exercise her authority outside of the UK (England, Ireland and Scotland) so therefore the COA has no authority.

They (the powers that be) don't want you to know this, they don't want you to know that they must provide remedy with anything they do to you or that they are subject to common law.

It's up to you whether you want to keep taking the blue pill and believe what you have been taught by the education system and media or to take the red pill and see how deep the rabbit hole goes in order to find your way out.

It's long overdue for Australia to wake up to the truth that they are being lied to.

There may be something in this; 20'Thai also spoke of this scenario as being true and had himself made a successful claim of rights..

 

[Seth Davis]

There not much Police could do if they rallied all the time, especially if there is alot of people doing these things. The truth will always win.