Reportback on Civil Disobedience
By Jano Gibson
Despite allegations made by Police Minister Michael Costa that it would be
used clandestinely to promote violent behaviour against police, organisers
of a civil disobedience forum held at Parliament House asserted that their
key message to activists was the maintenance of peaceful behaviour during
demonstrations.
"It's absolutely vital that people who get out on the streets, take your
costume rig, take your musical instrument, take your attitude of fun and
light heartedness. But don't mix it in a way that the police state would
really desire, and that is to allow a cycle of violence to generate into a
situation where the police are given a legitimacy to go in and break
heads." said Greens MLC Ian Cohen.
Dr James Goodman, who chaired the discussion, lambasted the Police Minister
for misrepresenting the objectives of the meeting.
"This forum is about civil disobedience. It's not about violent protest.
All that Michael Costa needed to do was pick up a dictionary", the
University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) lecturer said.
Organised by a UTS think-tank known as the Research Initiative on
International Activism, and hosted by Greens MLC Lee Rhiannon, the low key
forum received extensive publicity after the Daily Telegraph ran a front
page story titled: "PARLIAMENT HOUSE USED TO PLAN ANARCHY". Dr Goodman said
that he had submitted a complaint of wilful misrepresentation to the Press
Council about the article, and that an investigation was underway.
Academics and activists spent three hours in the historic Jubilee room
exploring contemporary issues and traditions of the civil disobedience
movement. Dr Sergio Fiedler, a UTS lecturer of politics, emphasised that
the right to disobey laws was a vital mechanism in democratic society.
"The right to rebel is not simply another human right, but the most
important human right we have," he said. "Its full exercise, therefore,
becomes the only effective avenue of political defence when those rights
are under attack by conservative forces." He listed the war on terror,
neo-liberalism and multinationals economic organisations as instruments
suppressing democracy.
Dr Fiedler explained that the object of civil disobedience was not simply
to break the law, but rather to reveal obscured social problems entrenched
in society. "When demonstrators blockaded the ACM (Australasian
Correctional Management) offices last year and denied people entry to it,
they were not about promoting violence but signifying in both a physical
and symbolic way the violence of incarceration suffered by thousands of
refugees in Australia.," he said.
Kanhti Lewis, Co-convenor of the National Union of Students' Queer Network,
sighted the Woomera 2002 protests as an example of the justifiable
utilisation of civil disobedience.
"Often racial injustice will require civil disobedience simply because
marginalised groups have been restricted or excluded from the normal
channels of politics," she said. "In the event that injustice is occurring
under the law, then surely the laws are redundant and not serving their
purpose, and other action is required."
Civil disobedience activists predicted that should violence erupt at next
week's World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Sydney, it would be the
result of aggressive police tactics.
"In my experience everyone organising these things across Australia
endorses non-violence," said anti-globalisation activist Jesse Wynhausen.
"The only group which doesn't endorse non-violence, which comes to the
protest, is the police."
Wynhausen said that participants of civil disobedience willingly accepted
the arrest-able nature of their unlawful actions. "What you are not saying
is that you are willing to be beaten; and you are willing to have horses
trampled on you; and you are willing to be sprayed in the face with
capsicum spray. They are taking away the moral force of our activities and
turning them into these media friendly scuffles that we end up seeing on
the news."
UTS Journalism lecturer, Penny O'Donnell, outlined the dilemma of gaining
attention for marginalised political causes. "Ordinary legal protest
actions such as street marches are just not newsworthy any more," she
explained. "Mainstream TV news will give airtime to violent or disruptive
protests but such coverage is more likely to damage rather than promote the
cause."
O'Donnel said that the extensive coverage of civil disobedience events on
independent web-based news sites, such as Indymedia, was challenging the
agenda setting of mainstream journalism. "The competition is generating
pressure on journalists to reform the ways they report political dissent."
Lee Rhiannon expressed her disappointment that only two MP's attended the
forum, herself and Ian Cohen. "It would be partly attributed to the beat up
Mr Costa has engaged in," she said.
However there were signs that tepid support for the meeting existed in
parliamentary ranks. Former Opposition Leader, Peter Collins, said, "While
its an odd one, while it may be a first, maybe in terms of those who do the
demonstrating, understanding the process and the limits on how far they can
go, maybe it's a good thing there are more lectures like this."
The retiring Member for Willoughby revealed that he had been involved in
civil disobedience in the 1970s against the touring Springboks rugby union
team. "I'm glad to see that that has been resolved favourably and that it's
been a human rights win," he said. "So I think that well managed,
responsible protest has a role in modern society."
The WTO meets at Homebush Bay in Sydney on November 15 for an informal
ministerial meeting. Civil disobedience has occurred at almost all WTO
meetings since anti-globalisation protesters attempted to shut down the
Seattle meeting in 1999.
Federal Trade Minister, Mark Vaile, has insisted that the meeting is aimed
at addressing important issues facing developing countries, such as access
to medicines.
He stressed that the meeting would be inclusive of all perspectives. "I
will be providing an opportunity for a number of NGO representatives to
share their views with ministers," Mr Vaile said.
The "noWTO" collective has called for a convergence of protesters to
participate in civil disobedience activities in central Sydney on November
14 and at Homebush Bay on November 15.
[ Discuss | NoWTO network ]
http://sydney.indymedia.org/
Michael Costa is a self diagnosed and medicating maniac depressive,'Bi Polar.'
