Canadian author Margaret Atwood slams Brisbane council over XR library ban

Brisbane City Council banned XR from using council facilities last year claiming the group was using public libraries to plan illegal activities – now the author of the iconic novel The Handmaid’s Tale has something to say about it.

Elisabeth Moss in a scene from season 2 of the TV series The Handmaid's Tale which imagines life under a totalitarian regimen. Supplied by SBS-TV. Picture: George Kraychyk

TWO time Booker Prize winning Canadian author Margaret Atwood has slammed the Brisbane City Council’s ban on Extinction Rebellion meeting in public libraries.

From New Zealand, where she is touring as part of her In Conversation series, the author of the dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and its follow-up The Testaments (2019) said banning the group from meeting in a public library space “is the first step towards a totalitarian government”.

Ban could be unlawful

Grey Power locked out of City Hall over XR ban

“Unless you have free speech and unless you have the right to peacefully protest you have an authoritarian government and you are one step away from totalitarianism. So why do they think these people are so dangerous?”

Joint winners Margaret Atwood and Bernadine Evaristo during 2019 Booker Prize Winner Announcement in London, England. (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)

Brisbane City Council banned Extinction Rebellion from using libraries and other council facilities in October 2019 after an urgency motion was put forward by Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner at a council meeting.

Cr Schrinner said the council facilities “are not suitable meeting places for organisations that advocate or incite illegal activities”.

A month later he confirmed he would “not tolerate the disruptive activities of Extinction Rebellion and will not lift the ban” after a group of Extinction Rebellion Grey Power activists were locked out of City Hall.

Responding to Ms Atwood’s comments a Council spokesman said “Brisbane City Council supports the democratic right to protest”.

“It does not support groups that undertake extremist actions that are illegal and disrupt the rights of the general public,” the spokesman said.

“Council’s long-standing library policy clearly states that meeting rooms are not suitable for activities which advocate for, or incite illegal activity.”

Council did not respond to questions about what illegal actions XR had undertaken.

The Handmaid's Tale television adaptation based on Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel of the same name. Picture: supplied

XR Grey Power spokeswoman Miree Le Roy said the group, of 50-70 protesters, were locked out of City Hall soon after they arrived and prevented access by a security guard.

“They shut the doors on us which I think was a bit over the top,” Ms Le Roy said.

“We were clearly no threat and it was a peaceful protest.”

In an interview with Brisbane News, Ms Atwood asked “why isn’t the ban on Extinction Rebellion unconstitutional”.

“To whom are they dangerous? What sort of society are they dangerous to? I would say it is pretty dangerous to society if you are on a collision course with total human extinction.”

“And who is on that Council and when is the next election?”

Extinction Rebellion and council have been contacted for comment.

Ms Atwood spoke to Brisbane News ahead of her In Conversation appearance at Brisbane’s QPAC on February 22.