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- Who causes the chaos?
Today’s Palestinian liberation protest march across the Sydney Harbour bridge is going ahead. It will start at Lang Park at 1pm. If you are reading this from Sydney, I urge you to join! Many friends of Zee Feed will be in attendance, so if you are attending solo and would like to have a friendly face to walk with, reply to this email and I’ll connect you.
NSW Police tried to stop this peaceful protest, lodging a last minute application to block it in the NSW Supreme Court. On Saturday morning, the judge ruled against the police and in favour of the Palestine Action Group. As part of the ruling, Justice Belinda Rigg explained: “the public interest in freedom of expression, at this time, in the manner contemplated, for the reasons advanced, is very high”.
This is another example of how, in NSW in particular, both Liberal and Labor governments have been working with police to erode the right to protest.
It’s really important we all understand the arguments that police and politicians are using, and make sure our wider social circles understand it too. Public support is essential to protect our the right to protest and freedom of political expression.
First, an important detail to keep in mind as you read on: Palestine Action Group offered to delay the march for a few weeks and work with police on preparing for it. NSW Police rejected this offer, and took them to court anyway.
The public safety fallacy
Police insisted they wanted to block the protest over public safety concerns. These were mostly due to the size of the protest, as it’s expected 50,000 will attend the march.
In court on Friday, NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Johnson raised two issues. First, that there was “not enough time” for police to arrange for the closure of the Sydney Harbour Bridge to allow 50,000 people to “safely” march across.
Secondly, that Lang Park was not a suitable meeting place to start the march: “Fifty thousand people at Lang Park, whether it's authorised or unauthorised, has significant public safety risks, significant. Crowd crush, and I am personally concerned about that."
This is where the definition of an ‘authorised’ protest comes into play. As the laws stand now, the police cannot ‘ban’ protest or make it illegal. Authorisation comes down to the laws that apply to protesters.
An ‘authorised’ protest means that protesters and organisers are protected from being charged with road and traffic obstruction offences. Put it this way: you can’t charge someone with obstructing a road if you told them they were allowed to protest on that road. On the flip side, in an ‘unauthorised’ protest the police are free to charge protesters with road obstruction offences.
As explained in this report on the NSW laws: “A public assembly that occurs without an authorisation order is not illegal … A prohibition order does not prohibit a protest or affect the common law right to assembly; it withholds the limited protection [against these charges] that an authorisation order provides.”
The safety claim used by police cannot legally stop the protest from happening. So, in reality “public safety” means “we want to have more offences available to us to charge protesters with”.
It’s not about public safety, it’s an attempt to discourage organisers and everyday citizens from participating in democratic protests for fear of winding up in court on charges.
Police presence causes chaos and violence
The public safety argument is a peculiar one, because we have many examples of police making protests more violent, more dangerous, and less safe.
In 2020, NSW police aggressively herded Black Lives Matters protesters into Central station, trapping the protesters in an enclosed part of the station and pepper spraying them. A group of protesters took NSW police to court over this, and won.
In 2024, militarised Victoria Police were sent to an anti-war protest outside the 2024 Land Forces military convention in Melbourne. Those in attendance reported mounted police herding activists who had already left the immediate area dangerously close to the Yarra river, using pepper spray on them as they retreated backwards; police trampling protesters who were trying to comply with orders; and shooting rubber bullets at close-range and head level.
And just a month ago, Hannah Thomas was punched in the head by a NSW police officer so hard that he ruptured her eyeball. It was a small protest at 5am outside a business that was not open at the time, with no other members of the public around. What caused a ‘scuffle’ to break out at this small protest? A policeman, who lunges at and grabs a protester calmly asking questions about the move on orders that they have been given. You can watch the video for yourself on the Sydney Morning Herald (behind a paywall unfortunately, it’s the third video on the page).
The police officer who punches Hannah also appears to do so when she is already on the ground, restrained by other multiple officers. NSW Police initially refused to investigate the incident, and they were publicly supported in the media by Premier Chris Minns and federal Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke.
Police only decided to open an investigation into the incident after Hannah’s story got international media attention, and the SMH published the aforementioned video footage.
So when Chris Minns says that a protest march would see the streets of Sydney “descend into chaos”, I have to wonder: chaos caused by who? When NSW Police say that protests threaten “public safety”, who is making them unsafe?
There is a cruel irony that Minns as a Labor premier is so keen to kill protest. After all, the Labor Party is born directly out of a protest and collective action movement. It’s why many in his own party have come out in support of the march, as well as unions including the Maritime Union, the United Workers Union and the Nurses and Midwives’ Association.
Solidarity with all those marching today. Stay safe.
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:
Conspiracy theories have leached into public life. Is it scepticism towards power or a complete worldview? on Guardian Australia
This is an excerpt from Cam Wilson and Ariel Bogle’s book, Conspiracy Nation. Recommend grabbing a copy! “It seems increasingly as though conspiracy theories are not about a singular event but an overarching interpretation of how the world works. They can create a sense of identity and group membership. At the Worldwide Rally for Freedom in 2023, like so many of the events we attended, no one seemed as if they were a single-issue protester – it was vaccines and child-predator cabals and a one-world government that would take all our freedoms one by one. If they hadn’t personally lost something, they were about to. This is a feeling ripe for exploitation.”
Victorians' right to work from home will be protected by law as part of plan from Premier Jacinta Allan on ABC News
“[Victoria Premier Jacinta Allan] has used the state conference on Saturday to outline her government's plans to develop legal protections for workers who want to work from home at least two days a week. Industrial relations is the domain of the federal government, but Ms Allan will ask her cabinet and department to draft laws to enshrine work from home under state law before next year's state election.”
Gen Z Isn't Powerless Against Technology on Reason
“People will say that phones are stopping them [from finding community offline]. And video games. And streaming services. But embracing these diversions to the exclusion of other activities is a choice. If we believe in revealed preference, we might assume that while some folks say they want more community, they actually prefer solitary or at-home pursuits. I think this is somewhat true. When it comes to young people, however, I think some of it might just be ingrained—they have always had these diversions to turn to, so they haven't necessarily learned to flex other muscles. And with so many people telling them they can't—that the allure of tech is too strong—well, why even try?”
And I cannot stop looking at this incredible, disgusting piece of art by Gina D'Aloisio – it jiggles!