Un manifestant anti-guerre arrêté à Brighton

Glenn Williams arrêté pour "nuisance sonore" : il chantait  « And the Band played Waltzing Matilda »...

Hier en fin d'après-midi, la police de Brighton a arrêté Glenn Williams, 50 ans, qui participait à une protestation devant l'usine d'armement EDO MBM, indique un communiqué de la Campagne contre l'activité d'EDO MBM à Brighton.

EDO MBM fabrique des éléments essentiels d'armes sophistiquées (missiles guidés par lasers) utilisées massivement en Irak, au Liban, en Palestine et en Somalie.

La Campagne de protestation est active à Brighton depuis le début de la guerre d'Irak et organise une manifestation hebdomadaire devant l'entreprise d'armement chaque mercredi entre 16h et 18h.

Malgré une plainte pour « harcèlement » qui n'a pas abouti, et une quarantaine d'arrestations, la campagne, réunissant des étudiants, des Quakers, des militants solidaires de la Palestine, des anticapitalistes et des enseignants, continue de se renforcer.

C'est au nom d'un arrêté des autorités locales contre les nuisances sonores que la police a arrété Glenn Williams (et saisi son matériel de sono) alors qu'il jouait « The Band played Waltzing Matilda », une chanson contre les horreurs de la Première Guerre Mondiale, reprise notamment et popularisée par Joan Baez au moment de la Guerre du Vietnam.

Glenn Williams a déclaré : « J'ai été emprisonné pour m'empêcher d'aller à Home Farm Road. Je suis donc consterné après avoir été presque chaque semaine aux manifestations depuis quatre ans de ne plus pouvoir faire entendre ma voix. La Municipalité de Brighton est-elle à ce point décidée à réprimer la liberté de parole? »

 

voir le dossier complet en anglais sur le forum d'expression locale de Brighton & Hove

 

 

 

  AND THE BAND PLAYED
  WALTZING MATILDA
  
  When I was a young man I carried my pack
  And I lived the free life of a rover
   From the Murrays green basin to the dusty outback
  I waltzed my Matilda all over
  Then in nineteen fifteen my country said Son
  It's time to stop rambling 'cause there's work to be done
  So they gave me a tin hat and they gave me a gun
  And they sent me away to the war
  And the band played Waltzing Matilda
  As we sailed away from the quay
  And amidst all the tears and the shouts and the cheers
  We sailed off to Gallipoli
  
  How well I remember that terrible day
  How the blood stained the sand and the water
  And how in that hell that they called Suvla Bay
  We were butchered like lambs at the slaughter
  Johnny Turk he was ready, he primed himself well
  He chased us with bullets, he rained us with shells
  And in five minutes flat he'd blown us all to hell
  Nearly blew us right back to Australia
  But the band played Waltzing Matilda
  As we stopped to bury our slain
  We buried ours and the Turks buried theirs
  Then we started all over again
  
  Now those that were left, well we tried to survive
  In a mad world of blood, death and fire
  And for ten weary weeks I kept myself alive
  But around me the corpses piled higher
  Then a big Turkish shell knocked me arse over tit
  And when I woke up in my hospital bed
  And saw what it had done, I wished I was dead
  Never knew there were worse things than dying
  For no more I'll go waltzing Matilda
  All around the green bush far and near
  For to hump tent and pegs, a man needs two legs
  No more waltzing Matilda for me
  
  So they collected the cripples, the wounded, the maimed
  And they shipped us back home to Australia
  The armless, the legless, the blind, the insane
  Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla
  And as our ship pulled into Circular Quay
  I looked at the place where my legs used to be
  And thank Christ there was nobody waiting for me
  To grieve and to mourn and to pity
  And the band played Waltzing Matilda
  As they carried us down the gangway
  But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared
  Then turned all their faces away
  
  And now every April I sit on my porch
  And I watch the parade pass before me
  And I watch my old comrades, how proudly they march
  Reliving old dreams of past glory
  And the old men march slowly, all bent, stiff and sore
  The forgotten heroes from a forgotten war
  And the young people ask, "What are they marching for?"
  And I ask myself the same question
  And the band plays Waltzing Matilda
  And the old men answer to the call
  But year after year their numbers get fewer
  Some day no one will march there at all
  
  Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda
  Who'll come a waltzing Matilda with me
  And their ghosts may be heard as you pass the Billabong
  Who'll come-a-waltzing Matilda with me?