The Demonisation of Antiwar Activists Is Afoot, Explains Wage Peace’s Margaret Pestorius

The Queensland Police Service Counterterrorism Investigation Unit executed five search warrants across Magandjin-Brisbane on 23 January last year, in relation to two nonviolent antiwar demonstrations that had recently taken place in the southeast of the state.

Wage Peace activist educator Margaret Pestorius was amongst five taken into police custody on the day, in relation to two protests that had occurred: the first involved aerospace company Ferra Engineering’s factory in Tingalpa on 8 January last year, with the second demonstration having occurred in the reception area of the Boeing offices in Brisbane city on 17 January 2024.

Fellow activist David Sprigg and Pestorius faced a four-day trial in the Queensland Magistrates Court, which commenced on 5 November 2024. And on 20 December, she and two others, Sprigg and activist Tempest Knight, were convicted.

Pestorius was found guilty on one count of unlawfully entering a premises with intent to commit an indictable offence and one count of common assault. However, the magistrate exercised discretion not to record a conviction for the assault offence, but did impose a fine of $1,000 as, unlike in New South Wales where court-imposed fines for criminal offences must carry convictions, this is not the case in Queensland.

Keeping protesters at bay

Pestorius has a long history of taking antiwar action. And the activist educator has been highlighting the growing use of strategic incapacitation by Australian police forces, which is a technique that involves loading up arrested activists with extreme bail conditions and excessively serious charges, whilst the surveilling of them is enhanced following the laying of offences against their names.

Severe bail conditions being applied to people include names of fellow activists that an individual may not communicate with whilst on bail, as well as restrictions on areas where those awaiting trial may go. And in this manner, these protesters are then prohibited from talking with other organisers or participating in demonstrations that take place in the zones they’ve been restricted from entering.

As Pestorius explains, the loading up of protesters with inflated charges that are then downgraded at the last minute serves to demonise protesters, as the exaggerated charges are not likely to stick, do frame their actions as more serious, extreme and violent in the public eye.

Reframing ardent activism

During Pestorius’ recent trial, the prosecution drew attention to the 2024 trialling of Extinction Rebellion (XR) founder Roger Hallam, which involved him merely addressing a Just Stop Oil blockade of the UK’s M25 motorway, with the climate defender now being made to serve 5 years in prison in respect of it.

The prosecution framed Hallam as a ‘fanatic’ during his trial, and indeed, the Queensland prosecutor attempted to do the same when Pestorius recently came before the courts.

Sydney Criminal Lawyers spoke to Wage Peace activist educator Margaret Pestorius, who was awarded the 2023 World Beyond War international antiwar organiser prize, in regard to her concerns around being framed as a ‘fanatic’, along with the more serious charge she’s facing in the courts in March.

Margaret, during your recent trial, the prosecution asserted that you’re a ‘fanatic’ in respect of the commitment you have to the cause and the nonviolent protest actions you partake in. And they wanted to see you put away for 3 months in regard to the assault charge.

So, considering what these protest actions consisted of, how do you consider the use of the counterterrorism squad and the framing of yourself as a ‘fanatic’, which a quick Google search advises has ‘extremist’ as a synonym?

The prosecutor asked me as the second last question under cross-examination “Are you a fanatic?” There were many elegant responses I could have made, but I was so shocked I just laughed cynically.

Then he asked, “Are you a zealot?” I was flabbergasted.

My shock and concern are related to how I understand counterterrorism squads think and operate these days.

Their main operations appear to be with young people – stopping young people becoming ‘radicalised’ under the radar.

Then we know that counterterrorism uses mental health services. I know that forces connected to counterterrorism have locked up a journalist twice with very minor charges or none using the non-transparency of the mental health system.

According to 7AM’s Jason Koutsoukis, the states abandoned the Albanese government’s planned counterterrorism strategy in favour of figuring it out for themselves because addressing the roots of terrorism lie in having close connections with state-based community services.

Interestingly, the man that arrested me has since been moved into youth crime investigation. So, that all flipped through my mind as I got asked the question.

But the prosecutor had also provided me with Judge Hehir’s sentencing remarks in the 2024 UK case Rex vs Hallam, as a sentencing document.

Environmental activist and one of the founders of Extinction Rebellion, Roger Hallam has been imprisoned for 5 years for speaking at an organisers’ Zoom call. Just Stop Oil had asked him to speak at their meeting before the action.

Basically, he was done with conspiracy to commit public nuisance, when the public nuisance was the organisation of a few dozen people from Just Stop Oil to blockade the UK’s M25 motorway in November 2022.

So, Hallam wasn’t charged with incitement for speaking at the Just Stop Oil online meeting?

No. It was conspiracy to commit.

That’s even though he wasn’t an organiser but was simply giving a speech. 

Yeah. He argued that he was not a part of the group, but he’d just been asked in to give a speech. So, he was surprised that the web was so broad that you could be done for that.

So, the prosecutor was ensuring the magistrate noted the word ‘fanatic’ in the sentencing remarks of Judge Hehir at paragraphs 40 to 42. He said, “I’m just pointing to paragraphs 40 to 42.” He was implying that I had crossed the line from concerned campaigner to fanatic.

So, Queensland Magistrate Lisa O’Neill then refers to these paragraphs from this UK judgement – which is under appeal, by the way – when addressing me.

Firstly, she mentioned the suffering of the poor citizens in the Boeing workplace, due to the ‘disruption’. She then hinted at ‘the indoctrination of the young’ in organising these actions.

The magistrate also raised, for no reason at all, that “people are upset with people blocking public roads”, which we did not do. She admitted that she was adding her own thoughts and beliefs.

O’Neill specifically pointed out how concerning it was that I trained ‘young’ people in nonviolence, issues of safe participation and consent, when using direct action tactics to assist people in being actively involved in public political discourses.

So, I’m concerned I’m being cast as a fanatic partly because that is the lens through which the arresting police team see the world, and how their operations work. And partly because the prosecutor is after longer sentences, which he told me were more proportional to the extraordinary acts of disruption occurring.

It’s probably good to remember what was actually happening was that we visited Boeing, 7th Floor, where 1,500 people work on various Boeing military projects.

I brushed past the woman who opened the door to stand next to the door, so that we might communicate into the reception area. Others walked past me through the door. Some people then read poetry, and pasted pictures of dead children on the cabinet displaying aircraft used for war crimes.

Boeing Brisbane manufactures and transports bomb wing kits to the US where they are then shipped to wherever the US wants.

Boeing is the major war profiteer in a genocide. I am being cast as a fanatic, so that in the future if I am effective in having my voice heard, I may be locked up or harmed one way or the other. We were there for 25 minutes in one place and offered to move on when the police arrived.

The situation reminds me of a quote from Gerard Brennan, who became the High Court Chief Justice.

In 1971, in the midst of the Joh days, when he was president of the Queensland Bar, he claimed:

“Law and order are bilateral – if either side rejects law and order the other side is encouraged to do the same. The moral obligation of obedience is diminished. In either case [when] both the rulers and the ruled attack the concept of law and order… is it not time for both to examine their consciences?” 

I feel as if I’ve examined my conscience, but I can see no evidence that either the government or the Magistrates Court have.

You’ve been raising the point that police forces nationwide have been applying the technique known as strategic incapacitation for a while now.

This technique was noted as being applied to climate defenders but since the Gaza genocide commenced, it’s being increasingly used to curb antiwar demonstrations.

This technique comprises of law enforcement loading up protest arrestees with extreme bail conditions and overinflated charges, as well as increasing surveillance of them, in order to immobilise and demonise them.

What part has strategic incapacitation played in regard to your arrest and conviction over the Boeing action?

At the time of arrest, a magistrate gave me ‘minor’ bail conditions. I could not go within 50 metres of Boeing or Ferra at Tingalpa.

However, upon arrest, the police had requested I be locked up ‘indefinitely’ until I revealed my pin number, so they could check my phone.

The police also placed punitive and unreasonable bail conditions, including non-associations orders and 200 metre bans, on one of the young activists who signed without resistance.

More experienced people refused to sign conditional bail, but we had to stay overnight to see a magistrate. These conditions were not even put to the magistrate because the goal was actually to keep us away from an action at Ferra the very next day.

The bail document says, “I suspect, based on the trajectory towards violent conduct and passionate support of Palestinian lives, the defendant may form part of the planned protest, and her presence may embolden others to commit more violent acts”.

I mean what the actual fuck? I had planned to attend and to make a speech and to leaflet the neighbours.

The Boeing action was on the back of other actions. One was on 2 January 2024, which was almost the same as the second Boeing foyer action.

Then there was the Ferra action, which is the one they are really upset about. This is when 30 people went inside the premises and shut the machines off.

However, I was concerned about any bail condition and how it may be used operationally by police for further incapacitation. I presented that in a bail appeal to the Queensland Supreme Court.

So, on the face of it, I got a minor bail condition. But I was concerned about any bail condition and how it might be used operationally, and I presented that in a failed bail appeal to the court.

I was right to be concerned because 5 months later, I was arrested for being at the office of the ALP member for Lilley, Anika Wells. The arresting officer added a breach of bail charge for conduct that supposedly occurred the previous day.

The evidence supplied was a picture of me at a particular place in town, and an assertion that I am at Boeing, breaching a bail condition, even though the place is somewhere else. It is a picture of me at a particular place in Brisbane, but I am not at Boeing.

I have not been able to shift this charge in 6 months, even though it is clearly bullshit.

The arresting officer must have been given explicit encouragement by counterterrorism to place the charge, because he had absolutely no information about me or about the conduct or the place or the history before he added the charge. This is strategic incapacitation.

Obviously, I may win this in court. But in the 6 months, I have already attended court 7 times, obtained a lawyer, and I have now 2 cases – they will be eventually separated – which may go for another 6 months.

No trial dates have been set in 6 months, and no evidence has been provided. This makes my life very difficult to plan. This is the imposition they love.

Also unusually, Magistrate O’Neill did not drop the 50 metre bail condition after the Boeing case – she just reattached it to the next case.

These are some of the arguments I attempted in my self-representation. It would be great to find lawyers interested in proportionality and human rights, but it is new territory and it’s difficult to find lawyers who will risk their relationship with the court.

Since the Gaza genocide broke out there has been an attempt to suppress and block information about it. That is what your demonstrations were also countering. There also appears to be a marked rise in antiwar actions across the continent.

Would you say the policing of protests like yours has changed over that same time period? And what do you think about the uptick in antiwar demonstrations?

There has been a massive increase in anti-militarist actions. But mobilisations, so far, have been limited to Disrupt Land Forces (DLF), so much of the information is cross-movement.

So, the policing goes in waves and in slightly different flavours from state-to-state, with the UK being like an extension of the federation of Australia, in a court perspective.

The Australian police share information about operations across jurisdictions, having an intrastate police “protest” drive – the “P Drive” – where they share names and photos of people doing politics that they think they should contain.

We know they held a conference about three years ago regarding this. They co-train across jurisdictions. For example, police horse people move back and forward between Victoria and NSW.

NSW special forces were in Victoria for Disrupt Land Forces. They used similar harassment techniques at mobilisations in NSW and Victoria. For example, at both Rising Tide and DLF, they stopped vehicles mercilessly: stopped, checked licenses, booked hundreds of cars, so, presumably, they can identify who is present.

We assume they are being trained by Israelis and SAS in military operation techniques, because we understand that training in military techniques goes with the use of weapons, and they’ve had an increase in weapons.

We know that the special operation squads, such as police rescue, operate closely with counterterrorism. And counterterrorism forces, who covered their faces when discovered, were brought in for surveillance and raids of the Blockade Australia crews in 2022.

We have had a big blast in Victoria following the activist disruption of the Land Forces weapons sales fest. We can see how they used weapons for the 4 hours of that event with militarised formations.

We know they had up to 2 days of weapons training. They escalated the force, for just 4 hours, and then have increased the charges based on people’s responses to that force. Some people have up to 10 or more charges. One hundred and twenty-two different people have been charged.

The strategic incapacitation in Victoria involves a nominated ‘taskforce’, identifying people after the fact from surveillance and police body cameras.

Police visit people’s homes to arrest and charge them, leaving people feeling fearful. But these people are staunch and connected.

We are fortunate to have a set of well-coordinated lawyers in Naarm, many of whom see themselves as part of the activist community.

The lawyers are representing and supporting arrestees. Many charges are being challenged and dropped. MALS (Melbourne Activist Legal Support) is an important cultural organisation in Naarm.

We are on the pushback phase in Brisbane. We have few lawyers interested or experienced.

Foreign minister Penny Wong initially asserted for months that Australia had not been exporting weapons to Israel. However, in the second half of 2024, she changed this to only exporting “non-lethal parts” of weapons to Israel.

However, Greens Senator David Shoebridge’s questioning during Senate Estimates in November revealed that, of late, the government “has ‘lapsed or amended’ 16 military permits to Israel from Australia, due to in part the ‘very high number of civilian casualties’ in the ongoing conflict”.

So, what is your current take on how the Albanese government is acting in regard to the Gaza genocide and the Israeli state right now?

Well, Penny Wong was lying and the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) strategy is working. APAN is holding out for continued action against the weapons dealers, which deal against international law.

Dr Shir Hever from the BDS military embargo says, Israel is a mess, struggling to receive what it ‘requires’ for further genocide.

Israelis have had enough. Many are fleeing. Israel is a mess. People are now refusing to turn up for military service. They are having to disband platoons.

Albanese has been identified as someone complicit in the genocide and there is a case against him. He’s scared.

But he is not the only one in Australia: Rheinmetall executives are responsible for the transfer of thousands of 155mm shells. Robert Nioa is looking to arm the next genocide.

War criminals are in every weapons company, especially Boeing, which is sending wing kits to the US. Thales and Rheinmetall are making bombs.

Australia sells against the spirit of the embargo to the US and Germany. Both countries are the key providers of necessary munitions and component parts.

And lastly, Margaret, you’re facing a more serious charge on 6 March for refusing to hand over the PIN to your phone despite a warrant, which is in relation to the raid.

This crime is more serious because it carries five years inside, while the act itself is hardly very hazardous to the public.

How are you feeling about standing trial over this charge?

I’m feeling concerned about that charge. I’m seeking a lawyer to run it for me, because I’ve discovered there is a limit to my capacity to self-represent. But it is difficult to find someone you can truly collaborate with, because lawyers are busy.

I’ve been implicitly warned by the prosecution that he will be seeking a gaol term, because he suggested I ought to get legal representation.

But I’m proud that I didn’t snitch. I’m proud that, even though they downloaded my mobile phone, it took them three days to do so, rather than having immediate access.

And I’m supported by a community that understands the issues. My Christian faith sustains me, and my radical Christian community sustains me.