Melbourne Protest turns to Thug-Fest

For at least twenty years, our Civil Liberties have been systematically eroding. Governments, including the US and Australia, have imposed surveillance on their general citizenry through social media and other nefarious means. We've lost our privacy. Since Covid 19, these civil liberties have been further jeopardized with lock-downs and the closure of businesses. In Australia, we see a ""Military State"" manifesting before our eyes. This has been particularly evident over the last week with the Construction Workers protests in Melbourne. However, these were not protests but a thug-fest across the board.

Anyone could see the numerous images of violence displayed across our TV screens. The police responded in kind with violence and went mad. Whether you are against or for vaccine mandates, and protesting is your means of showing this belief, violence will defeat the entire purpose. This has been proven time and time again.

In fact, the State desires violence to label the protesters' thugs and lowlives, unpatriotic or Enemies of the State.

The people are out of control! Put them all away in camps for our safety. They don't belong in our society anyway because they are merely criminals.

When violence erupts, our current militarized police will act as though they're on the battlefields of Iraq. They've been trained that way, and this is no accident.

I was raised in a democratic, socialist-leaning, civil rights, antiwar family. I attended my first anti-Vietnam protest as a Year 9 student on the streets of Denver, Colorado. We had another antiwar protest in our local town. All peaceful. As part of the Victoria Teachers Union, I helped organize several strikes and street protests to gain a higher wage for teachers. I remember sitting in an old church, rugged up in a winter jacket, to vote after the government gave us only a 3% raise over 3 years. The ""yes vote"" barely passed, but the negotiations had come to a stalemate. All peaceful. In Melbourne, the citizens came out in droves to protest the second invasion of Iraq. Thousands of people hit the streets, and there wasn't a shred of violence. All peaceful. So what happened this week?

It is our democratic right to protest. However, we do not have the right to reek violence in the name of our particular cause. Once violence erupts, the game is over, and the establishment has won.

There were whispers of a rent-a-riot crowd creating all the violence in Melbourne this week. The violence was certainly not the intent of the Union leaders.

An infamous image is making the rounds of an anti-mandate protester savagely punching a police horse in the mouth. I'm sorry, but this is unacceptable no matter your political leanings. This type of thing will shut down all protests, no matter the cause, throughout the western world.

If you've gotten this far in this piece, you should realize my point: violence is anathema in any protest in the name of any cause. And when the reptilian head of violence does appear in a protest, the reason is lost immediately.

The State will only come down harder, label you, and make your specific cause insignificant.

Don't give the State the excuse for military action, removing what Rights we have left.