By Felix Trenbath
Dozens of asylum seekers, young and old, from around the world, gathered in protest outside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office in Marrickville, Sydney, last year. Chanting slogans and holding placards reading “Albo, Albo stop this limbo”.
The leader of the protest, Arad Nik, megaphone in hand, grabbed the attention of onlookers with a heartfelt speech, letting people know his situation. “How dare you leave 12,000 of us here with nothing?” He said he wanted to raise awareness “for people who are stuck in limbo after 11 years”.
The protest was sparked by a decision from the government to leave 12,000 of the 31,000 asylum seekers out of a bill that was designed to fast track the infamously long wait times to be granted permanent residence. While applicants waited for a visa, they were unable to access government benefits like Medicare, gaining employment proved difficult, and many of them have given birth to children, some of whom could not even go to school.
“That is painful and shameful, painful for us, and shameful for the Australian people,” said Nik.
His protest was just one of many social movements blossoming in Sydney, across Australia and the world. From the climate crisis to war, work conditions to human rights, everyday people have been taking to the streets to make their voices heard more than ever.
The most high-profile issue being the bitter and brutal conflict between Israel and Hamas, engulfing headlines and hearts the world over with shocking stories of war crimes and evil on both sides. People of all backgrounds have been taking to the streets to decry this crisis.
When crises like these occur, it is often caused by forces out of control of the everyday man or woman. Millenia-long religious conflict in the case of Israel-Palestine, cold bureaucratic decisions affecting people like Arad Nik, fossil fuel consumption, deforestation and ecological collapse due to the climate crisis, and a recession and uber capitalism for wealth inequality and poor workers’ rights.
These forces are out of the control of the average Joe and Jane, so the countries’ leaders are often the ones who are expected to make the necessary decisions to deal with them on the people’s behalf.
But it is rather evident that war, human rights violations, climate change and wealth inequality are by no means going away any time soon, and the people in charge of making that happen seem unwilling or incapable of making decisive and meaningful change.
Which is what made Vicky, a university lecturer with a PHD, join Greenpeace at the age of 15 to take part in Australia’s anti-whaling movement in the late 70s. She has since become a veteran campaigner in environmental and human rights movements in Australia, including numerous climate change protests, Stop Adani, supporting WWF, First Nations peoples and anti-war demonstrations, like the recent Palestinian rallies.
When asked what compels her to make her voice heard, she said it is because of “the inability of the people whom we pay to do their jobs. Our governments seem incapable of making evidence-based decisions”.
“I’m incensed by the idea that we have to ask for permission to protest (in a democracy) and that previous governments have tried to silence organisations such as GetUp,” said Vicky. “It makes my blood boil!”
She touches on a point about the relationship between a government and the public, which is important in the context of public protests.
In a democracy a government is expected to act on behalf of its citizens, making decisions most in accordance with the needs of the people, all for the cause of human wellbeing. When a government does not seem to act on that expectation, and when traditional means of making change within the system do not work, men and women come together with their community to hold the government to account.
By causing a scene they grab the attention of both the government and the rest of the public, growing public awareness and support to the point that the issue becomes something that is in the government’s interest to act upon, forcing their hand.
“Protests do affect public opinion (and in turn policy) as many people are not aware of what’s going on, perhaps because they’re not interested or too busy to care or they trust politicians to do their job,” said Vicky.
It can often be postulated that protests do not work, that all they do is cause a racket for a few days and annoy busy commuters.
While not without merit – protests can sometimes fail because of unclear goals like the Occupy Wall Street movement – their tactics can backfire and cause public opinion to decline, such as in the case of the Extinction Rebellion Tube trouble in London. There are many instances of public protests succeeding in their aims, Mahatma Ghandi’s non-violent civil disobedience comes to mind, as well as the 2003 Rose revolution in Georgia.
Even if a protest does not directly influence a policy change, the way that a movement can force a topic into the public conscience, and make a previously unacceptable argument one worthy of debate, is another way that protests can succeed in their aims.
It can be argued that this is the most important right and maybe the only power the people have; to protest. In Vicky’s eyes, it is an integral part of functional democracy.
“Without protests we would be living in a totalitarian world,” she said. “If there’s no pressure from the public those with the most to gain win and to hell with the planet.”
Protests are designed to cause a scene to bring the public, the media and governmental attention to an issue by sheer volume of voices making the issue something that just must be acknowledged
But with that there can be backlash, and one of the risks of getting out there and making one’s voice heard is that it could be heard by characters who do not want to hear it. After taking part in a Palestinian rally and making a comment to a media outlet, an unknown individual found Vicky’s employer’s contact and attempted to get her fired.
“I was surprised and upset that my comments in the press (as a private citizen) resulted in my employer being contacted and asked to deal with me and my ‘support for terrorists’,” she said. “I also worried about the possible repercussions for my wider family as we have an uncommon surname.
“I don’t know who this person was, can’t find them in a search of the internet, but their disgusting accusations left me reeling. It was an obvious attempt to silence me. Fortunately, my colleagues were supportive and understanding and no action has been taken against me.”
Events like these are disturbing, for the subjects of the harassment and for the wider community. But, if anything, it can be seen as a sign that protests can succeed in getting people’s attention, from the undecided to the radical dissenters.
Feature image: Protesters outside Anthony Albanese’s office last year protesting in support for Palestine and Gaza. Picture: Felix Trenbath