“the case was pursued by the government on grounds so narrow that the war was effectively excluded from consideration.” – Noam Chomsky.
Put Boeing on Trial! Daily Court Reports
Day Two 06/11/24
Day two, once again began at Boeing, where a smaller group of approximately fifteen protestors discussed Boeing’s weapons manufacturing with those passing by, and serenading employees with anti-war songs on their way to engineering war for the day. Despite having a smaller posse than yesterday, the energy amongst the crowd was enthusiastic and energetic, being rather pleased with themselves that they had made the morning’s Courier Mail.
Court resumed for the day at 9 am, although this resumption was short lived, as defendant David Sprigg began proceedings by vocalising his frustration at the magistrate stating witnesses didn’t know answers to questions prior to them answering them the previous day.
This resulted in the magistrate taking approximately 45 minutes deliberating whether she had to recuse herself from the trial (she decided she did not).
Finally, at 10:52 am, the first witness of the day took to the stand. Detective Jayce Gilchrist is the lead investigator of Operation Whiskey Clever, the taskforce set up in response to another protest that took place at Ferra Engineering 9 days prior to the events at Boeing on January 17th. During Dave’s cross-examination, Gilchrist stated that the individuals in question first came to his attention as a result of a daily scan of incidents pertaining to “political and religious motivated violence”.
Gilchrist went on to define violence according to an internal police document as any damage to property or persons, and that therefore, David Sprigg attaching paper to glass is an act of violence.
Interestingly, this was contradicted by the magistrate, who interrupted Dave’s explanation of the politics of non-violence by stating he was “not accused of an offence of violence”.
Once co-defendant Margie Pestorius was given her chance to cross-examine, it was revealed that Gilchrist was aware of the defendant prior to January 17th and had known she had previously attended Boeing on January 8th.
Furthermore, Gilchrist admitted to personally responding to the complaints at Boeing on the 17th because of Margie’s suspected presence, and that he believed Margie had played a key role in both the Boeing action and the Ferra one nine days earlier.
This was brought out in an extended grilling served up by Margie to the detective, an impressive feat of amateur lawyer work. Detective Gilchrist’s testimony was followed by another cop witness. During cross-examination, the defendants asked whether the police were aware of their obligations under international law (this did not result in a satisfactory answer). Shortly after, whilst discussing the police overreach throughout the investigation, Margie humorously lifted her feet up onto the table to show the shoes outlined in the police warrant.
This resulted in Margie receiving another warning for “entertaining the gallery”. Whilst I’m not sure this was her primary objective, as someone in the gallery, I was certainly entertained. This was the final prosecution witness, and the prosecution closed their case at 3:14pm.
Prior to the defence giving their evidence, the prosecutor asked for contempt of court charges to be given if the defendants kept comparing Queensland Police and Boeing employees “just doing their job” in facilitating genocide, to other people who “just did their jobs” carrying out another genocide from a certain European country during the 1940’s. The remainder of the day saw defendant Sprigg take to the witness stand. He had originally requested two hours to give his evidence, however, this was reduced to half an hour by the judge.
Dave spent his half an hour explaining that he is an everyday person who is empowered to undertake non-violent direct action by his Christian beliefs, and strong desire for equality and peace. He went on to highlight Boeing’s war crimes across the world, including Palestine, and that this influenced his frame of mind the day he decided to protest the Boeing building.
Whilst Magistrate O’Neill didn’t seem to think this was the most strategic use of his time, I personally found it quite admirable that this was how he spent it, rather than minute legal matters such as whether glue or paste was used to attach the posters to the glass cabinet.
To quote Noam Chomsky “the case was pursued by the government on grounds so narrow that the war was effectively excluded from consideration.”.
Once again, the community around the defendants has been an important part of the trial – from holding banners and handing out flyers in the morning, to offering moral support and gathering over lovingly home-cooked meals. It makes sense, given that ultimately it’s not just two individuals on trial here but the ability of any conscientious citizens to take action against a horrifically unjust war.
But it also speaks to how, while the court is fixated on specific legal wordings and procedures, we activists hope for society to be radically transformed by courageous and creative acts of truth-telling mixed with caring acts of mutual support. Court will resume at 9 am tomorrow, where Dave will be cross-examined by both the prosecution and other defendant, followed by the continuation of the defence’s evidence and witnesses.
Day One 05/11/24
On January 17, with Israel two months into a sustained slaughter of Palestinian lives in Gaza, a dozen or so Brisbane locals got together and decided they couldn’t remain bystanders in a genocide. They traced Israel’s weapons back to the source, and found Boeing’s office in Brisbane’s CBD – where Israel’s extensive use of their weapons was turning out to be very good for the company’s bottom line. So the group walked into the office; holding banners, reciting Palestinian poetry and pasting pictures of dead Palestinians over Boeing’s display cabinet of model aeroplanes.
For this the group were detained and charged. And now, ten months and many court appearances later, Margie Pestorius and David Sprigg are defending themselves in court and attempting to put Boeing on trial. The day commenced with a crowd of around 40 people gathering at the scene of where heinous crimes had been committed by people speaking at court today. It also just so happened to be where our defendants were charged for their alleged offences.
The defendants and some of their supporters gave testimonies discussing Boeing’s facilitation of genocides across the world, giving special mention to Hind, a 5 year old girl murdered by the Israeli Defence Force in what was described as a “planned execution”, by the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor.
The group then marched to the court where defendants spoke to press, before heading into the courtroom for the day’s hearing. Prior to the magistrate entering, the prosecutor threw a couple curveballs to our two defendants pleading not guilty: One being a previously unknown plea deal (which they did not accept), and a sneaky additional particular to a charge, which, without boring and overcomplicating the matter, was dismissed by the magistrate and described as a “duplicitous” move. The remainder of the morning had the court pre-occupied overcoming a number of tedious complications about how to proceed with the trial.
Finally, at 11:52am, the first witness was called to the stand; a victim of the alleged assault. Though even by her account the alleged assault was more a soft brush on the arm as protesters walked past her and into Boeing’s reception. She also mentioned the events of January 17th had kept her up at night, although, I sadly suspect she did not spend these sleepless nights reflecting on her role in ongoing genocides around the world.
When cross-examined, this witness, along with every other witness today, admitted that the protestors act in a peaceful and orderly manner. It was hard, however, to draw out any depth of understanding at all of the politics of the importance of people powered political expression – or the politics of nonviolence. Two more witnesses followed – a young police officer, who further confirmed that all protestors acted in a calm and compliant manner and a particularly moody Boeing employee. Throughout the cross-examination of witnesses, our defendants tried several times to make the point that their actions were performed to prevent the violation of international law. However, this was dismissed repeatedly by the magistrate. Additionally, the two Boeing employee witnesses, who had worked for the company for four and five years respectively, were ‘unable’ to recall simple facts about Boeing, such as what the company makes, and the contents of their glass cabinet. If only staff were this forgetful when it came to sending arms shipments to bloodthirsty regimes. It was a long day, and a huge effort by Dave and Margie self-representing in the unfriendly environs of the court. The support of friends and comrades I’m sure kept them going, and we will all be back tomorrow to do it again.
Court will commence again at 9am, or stay tuned for another report from your loyal court reporters. Footer info@wagepeaceau.org tel: 0403214422
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