The Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Nick Coatsworth, summed up how I suspect many Australians feel this morning on ABC radio: Now is not the time for Black Lives Matter protests to go ahead. Importantly, he added that when the time is right, he’ll be there protesting as well.
Sydney organisers indicating they plan to proceed with the protest tomorrow is beyond stupid. Yes, the issue is important. It is more than important, action and change are overdue. But witnessing what Melbourne is going through, and the fact there is community transmission in Sydney which risks escalating, now is not the time to increase the degree of risk.
I can hear the howls of protest as I type these words in some quarters. Let me be clear: I realise there are inconsistencies in the application of COVID rules. I realise that previous BLM protests haven’t been proven to have caused spreading of the virus. I also realise that the protest organisers are dutiful in the distribution of hand sanitiser and masks, all of which help ensure that risks are downgraded.
But so what. Now is not the time to add any degree of risk to the current situation. We need to avoid what is transpiring in Melbourne taking shape in Sydney, and stopping this protest going ahead is about putting caution first. Like Coatsworth, when the time is right I’ll be there protesting too.
The fact that previous protests haven’t seen proven community transmission is no guarantee that future protests won’t. Especially now that there is more community transmission in states like NSW than there was at the time of the previous protests. The hypocrisy of ongoing attendance at sporting fixtures in NSW is no reason to support the protests going ahead either: two wrongs don’t make a right. I think government’s should curtail mass gatherings at sporting venues in NSW to reduce the risk of community transmission of the virus at this time.
The NSW Police Minister, David Elliott, has described the protest going ahead as “the most dangerous act during a pandemic”. Elliott is better known for his failures than his successes in public life, but he’s dead right on this issue.
Just as it is possible to walk and chew gum at the same time its possible to support the BLM movement but be deeply concerned about tomorrow’s protest going ahead. The risk for the movement is that if organisers do proceed, they do their cause more harm than good. Causing resentment at their actions among people who might otherwise be on board with the messages. That may not be rational, but its human nature.
I hope the organisers see sense and withdraw their plans to proceed with tomorrow’s protests.
Peter van Onselen is a professor of politics and public policy at the University of Western Australia and Griffith University
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