Australia's criminalisation of peaceful protest is a stain on our democracy
'The health of our planet hangs in the balance while those entrusted with legislative power prioritise short-term political gain over the well-being of future generations.'
[...] Disruption is a tool.
But now, disruption is a crime. We’re not climate activists; we’re criminals.
(Article is soft-paywalled, archived link if you need it)
https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/07/24/climate-protest-criminalised-australia/Open linkView original on fedia.io
10 replies
This democracy really needs a bit of bleach, sadly
What do you mean?
To kill all the bacteria
It is a not a peaceful protests. So why complain?
@TheHolm @MHLoppy
You're protesting about this toot? That does not deserve a $20,000 fine and court silence order. Nobody was injured by the protests. Therefore they were peaceful.
Disrupting other people lives and businesses is not a peaceful protest on my book. Fines should be proportional damage they caused and $20K is top you can get, exact sum is up to court.
You don't just get to redefine what peaceful means. Disrupting people without using violence is peaceful.
If it's peaceful it's peaceful. When I check the dictionary under "peaceful" it doesn't say anything about business.
What else is a protest but a way to cause a disruption until politicians care enough to fix the issue you're protesting for? If you're not causing some kind of disruption it's not really a protest cause people can just ignore you and nothing is gonna get done from it.
@TheHolm
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You hit the nail on the head. The anti-protest law was passed to protect business, at the expense of human rights https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/new-western-australian-bill-threatens-protest-rights