Australia’s Rulers Are Clamping Down on the Right to Protest
As we face a mounting ecological crisis, combined with racism and violence against First Nations people and refugees, Australia’s state and federal governments are ramping up anti-protest laws and even harassing the media. We need an organized fightback.
A man is surrounded by police as he attends a protest for Australian Aboriginal rights in Brisbane, 2014. (Daniel Munoz / Getty Images)
As we face escalating social, economic, and ecological crises, the Australian authorities are ramping up police powers and restrictions on the right to protest. Community support for Aboriginal sovereignty has grown, but indigenous-led movements have been met with harsher restrictions and increased police harassment, including fines and arrests.
While it is the Aboriginal sovereignty movements that have borne the brunt of this, the attacks are broad-ranging. Journalists have also found themselves under fire, as have movements supporting refugees and opposing the Adani mine in Queensland.
This forms part of a long-term assault on freedom of speech and the right to organize, backed up by the conservative media. We urgently need to mobilize in response.
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