A thorn in the side of the prison system

In reference to your “Prisoners protest for better conditions” item in GLW #648, Stuart Highway — the person, not the road! — was one of the prisoners alleged “responsible for organising” the 40 inmates’ sit-in.

Any activist/GLW reader who’s been to Darwin would have met Stuart, a renowned anarchist human rights troublemaker. From campaigns for East Timor, Indigenous rights, anti-electoral politics, and most recently against Martin and Howard’s draconian laws, this one-man Highway has been a thorn in the side of injustice.

As a result of a community smoke-in, in October 2002, opposing the Martin government’s “drug house” laws, Stuart was sentenced on 19 October 2005, to three months’ jail. Apologies for continuing the same pun, but can you imagine a Highway being found guilty of unlawful damage to a government car: namely, a police vehicle’s broken windscreen?

As you can see, Stuart is not taking it quietly. And while he’s in there for us, we can be there for him from out here: join the campaign to “bury Stuart in an avalanche of weekly postcards/letters”. Letting the NT government know that the “whole world is watching” is the best way to protect Stuart, and support his being a thorn in the side of the prison system.

Please write to Mr Stuart Highway, Berrimah Correctional Facility, PO 1407, Darwin 0801.

Peter McGregor — Newcastle

Newshawk: http://www.napnt.org
Pubdate: Wed, 07 December 2005
Source: Green Left Weekly
Author: Peter McGregor (letter to the editor)
Website: http://www.greenleft.org.au
Email: glw@greenleft.org.au