Content warning: This newsletter discusses violence and threats, and may be sensitive for some readers.

What’s the acceptable way to respond to a death threat? On Thursday, Twitter was forced to remove a video of neo-Nazis burning an Aboriginal flag – Thorpe was tagged in it. Understandably enraged, the Senator spoke in front of Parliament House, revealing she’s been receiving death threats and has not been able to stay at her own house for security reasons. “I’ve been in exile for four months… because people want to kill me out there.”

Of course, people don’t like the way she said it. This is absolutely typical of the way the Australian establishment treats every marginalised person who speaks up against the violence and disadvantage they face. Still, it’s galling how quickly Thorpe’s safety was downplayed, politically weaponised and tone-policed.

Let’s unpack the responses, shall we?

Not long after this all happened, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked what he thought of Thorpe’s statement that the referendum is part of the ongoing genocide of Aboriginal people. The focus of the question was firmly on Thorpe’s choice of words – ‘genocide’ – instead of the fact that neo-Nazis had just threatened to kill a Senator. Albanese’s response was as fucked as the question. When a co-worker shares the violent threats made against her, the first thing you say cannot be: “I think that people need to be respectful during this debate. It is important that people are respectful with each other.”

The public referendum debate has been shockingly disrespectful, but this is far from being a question of respect. Conceptually linking ‘respectful debate’ and ‘neo Nazis’ completely minimises what happened. A debate takes place between equals who discuss ideas in good faith – this incident is none of those things. Whether or not it is what Albanese intended, his language invites the public to put the blame back on Thorpe. The implication is that if she had been more respectful in the way she speaks about the Voice, colonisation and the oppression of Indigenous people, then the Nazis wouldn’t be threatening to kill her.

There was more minimisation from other politicians. Bill Shorten weighed in, calling the man in the video: “a bloke”, “joker”, “gutless”, “lame brain”, “man-baby”. He said the “guy can’t even remember his lines, he has to read it off a phone.” These comments made my stomach turn. This isn’t about a kid doing some dumb-but-harmless thing, it’s about hate crimes.

Unsurprisingly, Peter Dutton’s response was scariest of the lot. The only thing worse than minimising is politicising, which Dutton did immediately: “I’m really worried at the moment because as we know the prime minister has got us and parked on a path which divides our country.” He said this straight faced, as if he isn’t The Main Guy fanning the flames of new age fascism in Australia. As if his leadership of the Coalition is not actively promoting culture wars that empower neo-Nazis. He’s not worried – a country where marginalised people are too afraid to speak up is what he wants.

Their responses leads to high profile political journalists like David Speers and Samantha Maiden calmly discussing on national radio whether or not it was fair for Thorpe to call out Albanese in her statement. Whether or not she’d been given ‘enough’ protection by the AFP (with no consideration for whether it is an appropriate safeguard for an Aboriginal woman, given we know some police officers are themselves white supremacists.)

And that informs the public discourse. Which is why we always end up with people refusing to hear demands for justice, for equity, for human rights unless you ask nicely. Even if we ignore the fact that nice requests for these things are usually ignored anyway… how does one nicely ask to not be threatened with violence? How would you measure you emotions when someone tells you they want to kill you?

It’s not an entirely rhetorical question for me. When I was younger, a man I knew who was about 20 years older than me got into an argument with my friend in a bar. He walked out in a huff. We laughed. Then, he came back in and told me he’d shoot me and my friends and everyone in the bar. He looked serious, he was furious but not yelling. I was very sure he was not going to shoot a bunch of strangers in a bar in Perth, but less sure that he wouldn’t do something violent to me or my friend. I lived alone, nearby the bar.

I remember responding with sarcastic antagonism, driven by my own emotions in that moment. It was imperfect, probably not advisable, and definitely not nice. Predictably, when his peers found out, they minimised his threat and criticised the way I responded.

Regardless of whether you align with Lidia Thorpe’s politics, you cannot deny that she is sacrificing a lot more than the typical MP. You do not have to agree with her or like what she has to say, but the absolute least she is owed by her co-workers, the media, and the public, is to not nitpick her emotions or word choice or tone when she tells us the truth about racist violence in Australia today.

– Crystal
Founder & Chief of Everything at Zee Feed
Follow me on Instagram or TikTok

Good stuff on Zee Feed rn:

Super interesting piece exploring why some psychologists and mental health professionals want to abandon clinical diagnosis for mental illnesses – claiming it’s at best unhelpful, and at worse causes more harm. CLICK HERE TO READ.

Smart stuff on the Internet 💭

All the stuff I found on the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Spend your Sunday reading them – you'll be better off for it:

‘The older I get, the younger I was’: What’s it like to be the subject of News Corp coverage? on Crikey
Go off Grace Tame! “To put it plainly, News Corp regularly engages in perpetrator tactics. It creates chaos and then positions itself as the saviour. Cosmetically, the context had changed from The Mercury front pages in 2011 to 2019, but I was still and always will be exploitation material in the eyes of the Murdoch press.”

Narges Mohammadi: Iranian woman jailed for rights work wins Nobel Peace prize on BBC
“Ms Mohammadi's son Ali Rahmani, whom she has not seen in eight years, was in class when he found out. ‘It took a few moments for me to come to terms with it so in the beginning I was just very happy and proud of my mum just like I am always, like yesterday and the day before that. This award belongs to the Iranian people. It is because of the protests.’”

Real mindfulness would transform the economy on Vox
“Calm Business’s landing page reads: “The future of work relies on a mentally healthy workforce.” What if a mentally healthy workforce isn’t a workforce at all and people were simply free to do something other than exchange most of their lifetime for work they don’t particularly enjoy?”

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