Shannon Deery: Why we must listen to protesters’ cries and not denounce them
People are protesting because they feel they are not being heard. Is denouncing their concerns the way to combat that?
Opinion
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The right to protest is fundamental to any democracy.
In Victoria, we’ve a long tradition of taking to the streets to influence public opinion or government policy.
In 1880, 4000 people took to the streets demanding clemency for Ned Kelly.
In 1898, 200 people invaded Parliament House during a women’s suffrage demonstration.
In 1916, 100,000 formed a mile-long march to oppose military conscription.
On a near-daily basis, protesters camp on the steps of Parliament House to highlight the plight of any number of issues.
Again at the weekend thousands marched peacefully in opposition to, or in support of, the government’s stalled pandemic Bill.
Much of our protest history hasn’t been peaceful.
Violence erupted in 2006 when protesters gatecrashed what was meant to be a top-secret visit by two G20 delegates.
Former premier Jeff Kennett routinely found his policies the target of violent protests.
But in recent months there’s been a noticeable increase in violent action.
In September protests turned violent after being infiltrated by anti-vax and anti-lockdown extremists.
Increasingly, MPs are being directly targeted.
Last week, far-right extremists incited violence against politicians in a radical and dangerous escalation of protest action. It was a vile, incendiary and reprehensible development.
To denounce it is a must.
But to ignore it is to ignore the bigger picture. How can we stop this behaviour in its tracks if we don’t understand it?
The sudden escalation in violent protest is not an isolated Victorian issue.
It is a global phenomenon.
A European study published last month found violent protests are on the rise with more than one-fifth of protests since 2006 involving crowd violence, vandalism or looting.
The World Protests: A Study of Key Protest Issues in the 21st Century looked at 2800 movements across 101 countries and found “democratic failure” was the reason for the sharp increase.
It concluded we are currently living in an age of protest with the number of protests around the world tripling since the mid-2000s.
More than half of the protests studied were the result of a perceived failure of political systems or representation.
Almost a third included demands for “real democracy”.
The authors found too many leaders weren’t listening, and people were prompted to protest because they felt powerless about the decisions that affect their quality of life.
People are protesting because they feel they are not being heard. Is the way to combat that by not listening?
To denounce the thousands of protesters who have been taking action because of a minority of extremists is to further delegitimise them.
A key finding from the study was that the increase in protests should be taken seriously by leaders.
Protesters should be listened to.
This is not to excuse the behaviour of extremists.
Trumpian populists and far-Right conspiracy theorists have infiltrated recent protests in concerning ways.
That counter-terrorism officials have been monitoring developments, charging one man accused of encouraging protesters to execute Premier Daniel Andrews, is unbelievable.
The misinformation and conspiracy theories being spread by the extremist minority weaponises fear.
But to ignore the bona fide concerns of the thousands of genuine, peaceful, protesters is a to deny them their voice.
And that poses an even greater threat to any decent society.
AND ANOTHER THING
This week marks one year out from the 2022 election.
If current polling is anyway near accurate, Daniel Andrews will romp in a third term.
Even if the polling is way off the mark, the Premier still won’t need to think about changing desks for at least another five years.
Andrews starts the week with a 58-42 two-party-preferred lead over the Coalition.
If Matthew Guy copped a drubbing in 2018, it is just the entree for what the polls are tipping for 2022. The recent dramas engulfing the Liberal Party won’t have helped.
That Labor remains so popular despite presiding over the worst Covid-19 response in the country is a damning indictment on the state Opposition.
And it’s a problem for Victorians too.
If the polls are right, the Coalition will lose up to seven more seats next year, meaning they would make up just a quarter of the Legislative Assembly.
How can it then properly hold the government to account, engage effectively on parliamentary committees, or scrutinise legislation?
A whopping government majority would only embolden the Andrews government further.
But if a week is a long time in politics, anything can happen in a year.
— Shannon Deery is Herald Sun state politics editor
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