Melbourne rally to defend Wikileaks declares "You're the Voice!"

A crowd of 1000 plus people attended a Melbourne rally in support of Wikileaks held on Friday 10th December. An array of speakers included criminal laywer Rob Stary and barrister, Indigenous activist Robbie Thorpe, Brian Boyd and Jacob Grech from Trades Hall, Greens politicians Brian Walters SC and Adam Bandt amongst others . An impromptu march through the CBD following the rally disrupted peak hour and included a number of sit-ins on CBD street corners. (Related reports: Rallies around Australia)

Videos of Melbourne Rally: Robbie Thorpe, Indigenous Activist, Rally, Rap news
Photos: Flickr photostream -- Photos on Facebook

The march was accompanied by the radical musical sounds of 'the conch' and a reggae band, adding to the good vibes of the rally. After returning to the State Library, someone gave the march the inspired idea of trying to crash the Oprah Winfrey filming that was occurring at the time in the city. Another march to Collins St ensued and outside the Block Arcarde were Oprah supposedly was the crowd had animproptu singalong to Your the Voice by John Farnham. This was probably the first time protestors had sung this song in Melbourne since it was the adopted anthem of the S11 demonstrations of 2000! What a great anthem it this would make for all of the Wikileaks protests around Australia and the world! Throughout the march, despite the traffic disruptions the feedback form the public watching was pretty positive

A website has now been set up to help promote and record demonstrations for Wikileaks around Australia and the world called www.rally4wikileaks.com

Mainstream Press Coverage

Sydney Morning Herald - Rally in Melbourne over Assange
ABC Online - Hundreds Rally in Support of Assange
Herald Sun - Julian Assange protest sparks peak hour commuter chaos

Just for fun - here is the full lyrics to Your the Voice. It really does fit the cause of fighting for free speech and internet freedom!

We have
The chance to turn the pages over
We can write what we want to write
We gotta make ends meet, before we get much older

We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?

Chorus:
You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!

This time
We know we all stand together
With the power to be powerful
Believing, we can make it better

Oooooooh,
We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?...

You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!

{Instrumental[Bag Pipes(Tin Whistle)]}

Ooooooh
We're all someone's daughter
We're all someone's son
How long can we look at each other
Down the barrel of a gun?...

You're the voice, try and understand it
Make a noise and make it clear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
We're not gonna sit in silence
We're not gonna live with fear
Oh-o-o-o, whoa-o-o-o!
(repeat until end of song)

Photograph of banner by Wardenclyffe Photography
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