Chilean Death Ship "We cannot forgive and forget, nothing has been resolved. I have seen no justice." Such was the emotion that was present the week that the Chilean naval training ship docked at Station Pier in Melbourne. Activists in Melbourne were aware that this ship, the Esmeralda was coming to town, but because of busy schedules the idea of doing an action seemed a remote possibility. The ship docked at 8:00am Monday 22nd of July, there was a large group from the Chilean community, who were there in support of the ship. There was also a group of about twenty Chileans, from various Chilean solidarity groups, who were opposing the ship's arrival. That night myself and another activist were having dinner and discussing the arrival of this ship. We both decided that we would like to act in solidarity with the Chilean community, but were unsure of what our role would be. At 6:30pm on Tuesday 23rd of July, various members of Melbourne's business community, had been invited to have dinner on the ship to discuss Australian and Chilean trade links. When they stepped out of their cars, they were greeted with placards that stated hard facts. "Esmeralda: Ship of death" Slowly the truth was beginning to emerge, the real history about this ship was being discovered. For some of the Chileans the ship had a long and illustrious history. It had been instrumental in victorious battles against invading Peruvian forces at the turn of the century. But during the military dictatorship, that began in 1973, the ship had been used as a floating prison. When the jails had become too large and overcrowded, political prisoners were placed on the ship. Regular torture and beatings occurred, death became all too frequent. After some solid networking with a small group of Chileans on Tuesday night, a planning meeting was arranged, to organise an action on the coming Saturday which was the day that the ship was leaving Melbourne. The next day four activists met with three members of the Chilean community. For two hours we listened to the facts about Chile and asked many questions. Perhaps more importantly it forged some very strong links between the two groups and I know that I began to understand the significance of the ship and the sadness that it had evoked for the Chileans. We talked briefly about proposed actions, the Chileans were interested in doing a water based action, and had approached RAG for some support. On the Thursday night, twelve Chileans and three members of RAG met to plan an action for Saturday. Although I really wanted to be involved I was feeling very uncomfortable or perhaps more unsure of what my role would be. I had been thinking a lot about travelling to Central America to do solidarity work, but felt that it would be very arrogant of me to take any preconceived ideas to that planning meeting. At the meeting it became quite clear that the group wanted to have a water based action, so I felt a lot more comfortable in sharing our collected experience with the group. Various tasks were quickly set, however there was quite a deal of dissatisfaction when we mentioned our open and honest relationship with the police. We assumed that everyone would be happy with this. Later on I realised that these people had come from a completely different background to me. They had every right to be afraid of the police. This debate continued within the Chilean community and some decided not to take part in the action. However on the day I strongly believe that a lot of mystification that surrounded the police was broken down. Their relaxed attitude and for some their strong interest in the issue, dispelled that age old debate that the police are merely vanguards of the state. However, some solid and concrete plans were set for the action. We decided that we would stick photocopies of a list of contraventions to International Law that had been broken through the gross human rights abuses, on the bow of the ship. It would be people's choice to do this action from the pier or from the water. We also organised some chants and some music to further demonstrate our opposition to the visit of this ship. As we arrived down at Station Pier there were quite a few people there already. It was hard to distinguish who was there to support the ship and who was there to oppose the ship. The pier authorities felt the same way. They closed the pier to all members of the public. This had the potential to create a conflict of its own. Some of the Chileans felt annoyed that we had told the police about the action, because now we didn't have access to the pier. They felt that the action wouldn't be able to happen and that it had been a waste of time. This had a strong potential to undermine the trust that had been built up between the two groups. So three activists entered into a dialogue with the police. After a lot of talking an idea came up, for us to send a small delegation in to give the Captain the indictment, but under no circumstances could we enter the pier en masse. We took this choice back to the group to decide our position. The choice of tactic by the police is one that we had encountered many times before. They feel by sending in only two people, it lessens the impact and I feel their responsibility in the situation. It also decreases the likelihood of arrest. Nevertheless the group decided to send in only two people, to serve the indictment. But interestingly enough the Chilean community insisted that there be a representative of each the Australian and the Chilean community, to serve the indictment. This was important because it forged the already strong links between the two groups. It was a definite mark of solidarity, which always makes these types of nonviolent actions more powerful. The group which was now perhaps one hundred strong, gathered in a focussing circle, where the logistics of the action were clearly outlined. A member of the Chilean community spoke about why we were there and other Chileans talked about their sense of anger and outrage of the ship being in Melbourne. As a group we had decided to send in two people with the indictment, which was perhaps the best tactic on the day. Many people had come on the day not willing to be arrested and we hadn't provided information on the legal implications of arrest. We also agreed that the people who were going to serve the indictment on the ship from the water, would do so after the indictment had been served on the Captain. This would ensure that everyone would be able to see the action in the water, and that the media wouldn't have to choose which action to film. The two people representing the group made their way towards the ship. An interesting dynamic had emerged, the person who had been liaising with the ship's Captain had been assured that the Captain would receive the indictment. Once at the ship, the Captain refused to come out. This frustrated activists, the police and Port Security authorities. However frustrating this was, many people had been drawn into the conflict, and I'm sure each were thinking about the issue and feeling the overwhelming amount of emotion that was present on the day. As we were leaving, a member of Port Security, told us that he "would have liked to have seen us have a real go at the Captain." This demonstrated a big shift in this person's emotional involvement in the issue, over the course of the day. The focus then turned to the six crazy and very cold activists who were planning to serve the indictment on the ship from the water. We entered the water after being told that we would be arrested, if we swam anywhere near the ship. We had talked briefly about our strategy, i.e. how to avoid the police, but it was difficult because there were three people who had never been involved in a water based action before. So basically we swam for the ship, which was made quite difficult, because people on the pier were throwing eggs, rocks and lemons at us. Everyone one of us was able to stick a copy of the indictment on the bow of the ship without being arrested. This indicated that the police had made a conscious decision not to arrest us, so it was obvious that they had a choice after all. The action continued when the authorities made the decision to make access to the pier open to the public. We released black balloons, which trailed over the ship and the water. The balloons were there to symbolize death. Then as a positive image we sang chants and songs in Spanish and English, which celebrated our freedom in a democratic country. We left the action with a very unique feeling. A sense of solidarity with the Chilean community, a trust between the two communities, with the promise of more networking and future actions. Important lessons did emerge for me as a comfortable, first-world, nonviolent activist. Western activists have much to learn from our third-world sisters and brothers. Our motivations for change are very different, for the Chileans it is a personal survival mechanism, for me it is a feeling of sadness and despair and anger that these human rights abuses had occurred. I felt that an important link was merged between two very different communities, and that each of the communities had learnt so much from each other. An interesting dynamic that I observed on the day, was the absence of any real open conflict between the Chilean community. There was a real conflict of feelings, emotions and ideologies and yet no open hostility. A member of the Chilean community stated that the reason for this was because everyone knew each other and they did in fact socialise together. It made me realise how disconnected our community was, and how it is often very difficult to overcome frustrations, that we feel for others who have differing philosophies and ideas. Finally I realised that there is little or no practice of other languages in the nonviolent community in Melbourne. This is a real hindrance in effective communication between grassroots groups, and makes truly effective grassroots networking almost impossible. The week that the Esmeralda was in town was both exhausting and very worthwhile. We learnt about another culture, we shared our experience and our knowledge, we appreciated our freedom and we celebrated life and our sense of community. And perhaps the most rewarding knowledge was that our action appeared on television in Chile. It was the first time I was a media celebrity overseas. Bernadette McCartney