When they silence activists, they silence volunteers

 

“All activism is volunteering in that it's done above and beyond earning a living and deals with what people really care passionately about. Remember, no one gets paid to rebel. All revolutions start with volunteers” Susan J Ellis

Writing for a Sydney Lawyer firm Author Paul Grogoire writes that in Australia the New South Wales government “passed some of the most draconian protest laws on the planet in early April with the aim of stamping out unauthorised climate protests. 

Two years inside and/or a $22,000 fine now apply to nonviolent direct actions that obstruct roads, bridges, tunnels or major facilities.

The chilling effect of these laws has been palpable. Since their passing, the NSW police has been able to take its overreach just that much further. And Labor swept the laws through as swiftly as the Liberal Nationals could put them on the table.

Unsurprisingly, the UK is in the midst of doing the same thing, as the unspoken plan is, rather than attempt to deal with the climate emergency by preventing further fossil fuel expansion, western governments, like ours, have decided to simply lock up those who get in the way of “progress”.”

According to Bloomberg “Prime Minister Rishi Sunak plans to strengthen anti-protest legislation, giving police additional powers to clamp down on demonstrations even before they’ve caused any disruption. The legislation is aimed at strengthening the police’s ability to deal with protests such as those in recent years from environmental campaigners at Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion.”

The Prime Minister of the UK has stated “We cannot have protests conducted by a small minority disrupting the lives of the ordinary public: it’s not acceptable and we’re going to bring it to an end,” Sunak said in the statement. “The police asked us for more clarity to crack down on these guerrilla tactics, and we have listened.”

Liberty, UK’s largest civil liberties organisation has stated that the bill is an attack on people’s ability to stand up to power - “Protest isn’t a gift from the state - IT’S OUR RIGHT!”

The Guardian reports that Human Rights Watch called on Australia to address its own “alarming deficiencies” when the organisation on Thursday published its annual reports on the performance of nearly 100 countries.

It specifically raised alarm about New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania introducing “new laws targeting peaceful climate and environmental protesters with disproportionate punishments and excessive bail conditions”.

Human Rights Watch is calling on all countries to “apply a human rights lens to the existential threat of climate change”, given that the most vulnerable pay the highest price for inaction. It argues the climate crisis poses a threat to the right to life, the right to health, and the right to a safe and healthy environment.

Government tactics around the world are concerning me deeply. I myself have marched with Extinction rebellion. As a father I am concerned that the leaders of our world are not tackling the climate emergency seriously. I have also protested for the rights of refugees and marched with millions across the globe in our futile attempt to stop the war on Iraq!

I agree with the late and great Susan J Ellis when she proclaimed that all activism is volunteering. Volunteer activism has a long history.

The Suffragettes were beaten, arrested and imprisoned for the right of women to have a vote. As were Vietnam War protesters. As were civil rights campaigners in the USA, Ireland, India and many countries around the world. 

New laws in the UK are targeting frontline workers – from nurses and paramedics to firefighters and rail workers – threatening to take away their right to strike.

I believe the citizens of our world do not want continuous wars and do want real action on climate change. They also want equal rights for all their citizens. They want Governments to spend their money on fair pay and conditions. They also demand their right to protest.

We are living in dangerous times when whistle blower, journalists, civil rights and climate activists are locked up behind bars. And where to from here if we don’t shout “Enough is enough”. Jail time for bloggers who write articles such as these?

They’ll tell you they love volunteers who are the “Lifeblood of our society” But only the volunteers who don’t cause them trouble and speak to power about inaction and injustice.

They will clap for our frontline workers but stop them striking for better pay to help them in the cost of living crisis that they, the Governments have created!

What does Human Rights Watch World Report of 2023 got to say? Plenty!

In 2022, several Australian states introduced new laws targeting peaceful climate and environmental protesters with disproportionate punishments and excessive bail conditions.

Human Rights Watch research found authorities in New South Wales were disproportionately punishing climate protesters, and that magistrates were imposing harsh disproportionate penalties and bail conditions on climate protesters in violation of their rights. New anti-protest laws passed in the states of Victoria and Tasmania also invoke severe penalties for non-violent protest.

Australia is among the top 20 emitters and one of the world’s biggest per capita emitters of greenhouse gases responsible for the climate crisis. Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of coal and gas and Australian fossil fuel companies benefit from significant tax breaks. In the 2021-22 budget period, Australian federal and state governments’ total fossil fuel subsidies are estimated to have cost A$11.6 billion (US$7.4 billion), up A$1.3 billion (US$830 million) compared to the previous year.

The UK government in 2022 adopted laws that violate rights and proposed significantly weakening human rights protections in domestic law. The government signed an agreement to transfer asylum seekers who arrived irregularly in the United Kingdom to Rwanda, putting them at risk. Rising food, rents, and energy prices, and inadequate social protections threatened the rights of people on the lowest incomes, including to food and housing. The government failed to take meaningful steps to address institutional racism including in policing. Although the UK government worked with partners to press other states failing to uphold their human rights obligations, it did not consistently prioritize human rights in its foreign policy agenda and undermined international standards. Rule of Law and Human Rights Four laws adopted in a single week in April raised grave human rights concerns: an immigration law that dismantles key aspects of existing asylum and refugee protections, replacing them with a discriminatory system; a police law that restricts and increases penalties for protests; an election law requiring voter identification, likely to create disenfranchisement based on race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, and reducing the independence of electoral oversight; and a law limiting people’s rights to judicially review social security, and immigration tribunal decisions.

In June, following a flawed consultation process, the government announced legislation to repeal the Human Rights Act, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights into domestic law, replacing it with a weaker Bill of Rights. The proposals sought to diminish the influence of the European Court of Human Rights on domestic courts, to reduce public authorities’ obligations to protect rights, and to limit the responsibility of the UK authorities to protect rights outside UK borders. The proposed legislation attracted widespread criticism, including from domestic civil society groups, United Nations experts, and the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights.

Read the full report here: Human Rights Watch | Defending Human Rights Worldwide (hrw.org)

“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”

-Martin Luther King Jr.