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The US embassy in Canberra secretly assessed Australian ethnic minority groups, Indigenous prisoners, the Socialist Alliance, anti-war protesters, Cuba and Palestine solidarity activists and Amnesty International for links to political violence and terrorism, an embassy cable released by WikiLeaks on August 29 has revealed.

The cable, titled , was sent to the FBI, the CIA, the US Defense Intelligence Agency and the Secretary of State in Washington on March 2, 2009.

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Under a section titled “Political Violence” and subtitled “Demonstrations” the cable said: “Yes. There are significant Greek, Malaysian, Lebanese, Serbian, Indonesian and Pakistani communities and there are growing Ethiopian, Somalian, and Sudanese communities in Sydney and Melbourne.

“Both of those capital cities have seen demonstrations numbering 10,000 to 15,000 during the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict. Should an issue providing sufficient motivation arise, these communities would be capable of mounting very large scale anti-U.S. demonstrations.”

It said most “anti-American” demonstrations in Australia take place “near US facilities”, but mentioned the peace protests against the “joint Department of Defense/Australian Defense Force exercise ‘Talisman Saber’” as an exception to the rule.

The cable included a list of protests that had taken place in 2008 and 2009, mostly in Canberra, Sydney and Perth.

In Canberra, the embassy reported on a “February 24, 2008 pro Serbian demonstration with approximately 70 protesters”; “July 4, 2008 Amnesty International demonstrators with approximately 12 protesters”; and a “January 10, 2009 pro-Palestinian demonstration with 300 protesters.”

In Sydney, the embassy noted protests by Amnesty, Kosovo independence supporters and Sri Lankan Tamils. It said a November 11, 2008 protest by the Sydney Stop the War Coalition had 12 protesters, while a December 29, 2008 protest against Israel’s military assault on Gaza had 1500 protesters.

In Perth, the embassy reported on small protests organised by the Socialist Alliance, the Australia/Cuba Friendship Society and Friends of Palestine WA.



The cable said Australia’s protests were “generally peaceful”. It also said protests directed against the Australian government “include farmers, blue-collar workers, Indigenous Australians and other issue motivated groups” and that “the typical issues are environmental concerns and Indigenous rights issues”.

Under a section titled “Indigenous Terrorism”, the cable said there were “none to date; nevertheless, there have been incidents of extremists with an anti-western agenda coalescing into cells that intended to strike Australian interests”.

But in the next sentence, the cable admitted: “Such cells could just as easily decide to attack US interests, but there are no indications that any such cells currently exist.”

Bizarrely, the embassy also assessed rumours that Australian Aboriginal prisoners that convert to “radical Islam” could pose a terror threat. It said: “It is also worth mentioning that although only anecdotal evidence exists, there are indications that incarcerated Indigenous persons are adopting a brand of radical Islam while imprisoned.

“To date there is no evidence that once released from incarceration these groups continue following these beliefs, indicating it may be a method of obtaining favors while incarcerated.”

The cable then returned to discuss “ethnic and religious groups in Australia”. The embassy concluded: “In most instances, Post does not believe these groups would take up arms for this cause, but would not necessarily condemn those who would.”

Socialist Alliance national convenor Peter Boyle told �鶹��ý Weekly: “This cable is a rather shallow and hysterical assessment of supposed ‘security’ threats from a wide range of legitimate organisations and movements, including trade union, Aboriginal, environmental, anti-war and left organisations.

“But what is disturbing is the tagging of various Middle Eastern, Asian and Aboriginal communities as possible sources of ‘terrorist’ threats. Little evidence is offered in the report, especially of the alleged recruitment of Aboriginal prison inmates by ‘radical Islamists’.

”The US embassy and its associated spooks should produce the evidence before slandering entire communities.”