Something disturbing is happening in Victoria and has been happening for a while — a growing extremism, a more active far right and, now, open death threats toward politicians. We know from the US and UK experience that death threats to politicians eventually turn into the murder of politicians; we know from the US experience that growing extremism leads to violence and anti-democratic insurrection.
The same disease is at work in other states, but it’s in Melbourne that some particularly pustulent tumours have been on display.
To prevent us from tracking the same path toward greater extremism and more political violence as seen in the US and the UK, understanding what’s happening is crucial.
The first step is to reject the stereotype of all protesters are part of some monolith. The argument of Labor trolls like Van Badham that every single protester against the Andrews government is a fascist or Nazi is both self-serving (if you don’t vote Labor, you’re a fascist) and self-defeating; it guarantees no rational engagement with the motives of protesters and therefore no way of addressing the causes of growing extremism. It’s in fact recklessly irresponsible to demonise all protesters that way.
It is the very diversity of the protest movement that must be recognised, reflecting the ideological fragmentation and consumerism inflicted by decades of neoliberalism. And that diversity is deeply attractive to those who want to harvest the discontent that is the one unifying characteristic of different protesters.
What’s happening in Victoria, and to a lesser extent elsewhere, is a deliberate effort by different groups to harvest and monetise the discontent and anti-government sentiments of anti-lockdown/anti-vax/anti-Andrews/anti-waddya got movements.
The far right and white supremacist groups are working hard to cultivate, groom and recruit from the ranks of protesters. The same phenomenon has been observed elsewhere. Lockdowns and confusion about vaccines are an ideal opportunity for fascist groups to circulate conspiracy theories, anti-Semitic propaganda and calls to violent action in the name of freedom.
The Liberal Party is also seeking to exploit the movement. Much criticism has been leveled at right-wing Victorian Liberal politicians for joining the protests and for failing to condemn death threats, links to fascism and violent rhetoric, but that somewhat misses the point that they are engaged in the same process as fascist groups — trying to cultivate and groom protesters for their own political ends.
The tragedy of Victoria is that the very discontent and anger that swirls within the ranks of protesters is partly the result of the complete absence of an effective opposition party. Daniel Andrews and his scandal-plagued government — branch-stacking, misuse of taxpayer resources, links to Crown, the red shirts outrage — should be easy meat for any opposition worthy of the name after the 2020 COVID outbreak, but the Victorian Liberals are utterly worthless, and are now in effect trying to ride on the back of a more authentic and effective source of opposition to Andrews.
It’s not confined to the Victorian Liberals. Scott Morrison is keen to exploit the protest movement as well. After some pro forma condemnation of violence this morning, Morrison went on to make his main point: “Over the last couple of years, governments have been telling Australians what to do. Now, there has been a need for that as we have gone through the pandemic; the time is now to start rolling all of that back.”
It would be generous to call this a dogwhistle — in fact it’s an explicit appeal to protesters that Morrison understands them and agrees with how they feel, even if he must offer some token criticism of the more extreme amongst them.
Other political parties are looking to exploit it, including Craig Kelly, who inexplicably for a Sydney MP showed up to address Melbourne protest rallies on the weekend, as his current boss Clive Palmer looks to tap into more explicitly anti-vaccine sentiments within the community.
The other group looking to exploit discontent is News Corp and a growing clutch of online activists who have effectively monetised the clicks of protesters and the disgruntled. News Corp has persistently demonised Andrews while failing to apply anything close to the same standards when the NSW government has done exactly the same things, while online activists pose as citizen journalists filming and commenting on protests.
Both seek to create a virtuous revenue circle in which they exploit, goad and energise the discontented into action, then cover that action and support it, and use it to expand their reach and potential sources of revenue, with a wider audience in turn encouraged into further action.
All of those looking to exploit the protest movement are relying on the fact that it isn’t a monolith, but contains a wide variety of ordinary people who can potentially be groomed to become fascists, Liberal voters or Sky News viewers and Herald-Sun readers.
There’s a lot of anger and energy out there to exploit. Understanding how the exploitation business model works is a first step to addressing it.
Victoria, and more specifically, Dan Andrews, have been in the Fed’s crosshairs since Andrews started to stand out as an effective and popular Premier, way back from the very start of the Pandemic.
The more effective Andrews was, the more gormless and ineffectual Morrison and his federal mates looked. They were deeply offended by this errant display of leadership, at a time when their do-nothing incompetence was in the spotlight.
The constant sniping, undermining and federal stonewalling of the state of Victoria could not have been more obvious – especially because it was happening nowhere else.
WA flipped the feds the bird, QLD too – even the LIB premier of Tassie told Morrison to buzz off – all without any major consequences.
But Morrison had VIC and Dan Andrews in his sights, and as a result, we find ourselves here today – with a scene increasingly reminiscent of something pulled straight from Trump’s USA.
If anything diabolical happens …if the Steve Bannon brigade are successful in their relentless campaign to transplant Trumpism in Oz…the blame can be squarely laid at the PM’s feet imo.
He’s after Annastacia today for a little light relief.
It’s a little difficult for Morrison with Palaszczuk because I just read recently she is popular amongst male voters
Bernard asks why we should be concerned about the Melbourne protests against a Victorian Parliament Bill to enable health emergencies to be declared by the Victorian government, acting on medical advice that is to be published shortly after.There are a number of reasons for the concern. Of course, not all of the protesters are fscists, though I doubt van Badham actually sys that they are. The reality is more troubling, even though a fascist movement with the numbers on the streets in Melbourne would be a concern. Many are there because the quarantine restrictions required to keep deaths down from Covid have been onerous and enough young people have flouted them in the last Victorian lockdown to make it ineffective.
What is troubling is the confusion that lies behind protests against “tyranny” and the reluctance of people who think they have little chance of dying from Covid-19 to restrict their movements s that they don’t make it more likely that more elderly people will be infected and die. What is troubling is the extent of right wing US Republican influence in Australia and the number of Australians who have bought the Governor of Florida’s claim that Australia is a “tyranny” and a society lacking freedom like communist countries, because we restrict people’s freedom of movement to deal with a pandemic and require people to wear masks indoors or even, in some circumstances, outdoors as well. Freedom is talked about as though it is is a single thing, like flour, where any restriction on doing what you like is treated like any other. In reality, there are many freedoms, with some trifling and others of great importance. When I walk down the street, I cannot just do what I like. If others are walking in the opposite direction, I or they might have to give way. It is similar with all sorts of household activities. If I do not do the washing up, simply because I don’t want to, someone else in the household has to do it, if they or I want to use clean dishes. We leave it up to people to sort out all these issues, expecting only that they do not use violence to resolve them.
Freedom of movement to engage in life with others is an important freedom but we expect people not to exercise it in ways that deny others their important freedoms. The same people who cry tyranny because they must wear a face mask indoors in public places take it for granted that they can’t drive faster than the speed limit without risking a penalty. Do our road speed limits to protect the lives of others on the road make Victoria a tyranny? if not, why on earth would being forced to wear face masks to protect the lives of others, make Victoria a tyranny? Nevertheless, the trifling inconvenience of wearing face masks has got many US citizens up in arms about government taking away their freedom. The troubling thing is not only the large number of American citizens who seem stupid enough to make an issue of it, but the number of Victorians who think they are entitled to protest because their long and very inconvenient lockdowns leas them to think that US protests about tyranny in Australia should be mimicked in Victoria and in other states, though to a lesser extent.
The only person with complete freedom is one who lives on a desert island with no-one else.
Then dies of thirst in splendid isolation….
And freedom doesn’t include the freedom to harm others. That is what most of our laws are about.
“Of course, not all of the protesters are fscists, though I doubt van Badham actually sys that they are.”
I’ve saved you the trouble of clicking, to show you that Bernard was not exaggerating:
“Two polite corrections for @theage
here:
1) Fascists have not “infiltrated” this movement. They ARE this movement. It is by & for them.
2) There are no “ordinary Victorians” at the protests. We have a word for people who hang with Nazis. It is “Nazis”.”
You don’t have much freedom to do anything if you succumb to Covid and die, which is what could happen
to those, or their loved ones, who refuse to wear a mask and keep their distance. Like the man on the bus yesterday
when I left a seat between myself and another passenger, on he comes and sits in the empty seat. If I could I would
have moved further back to an empty seat with space but the bus had taken off and I’m still recovering from spinal
surgery and that would have been dangerous for me. He followed me on and can’t have missed that walking with stick
should have made it obvious that I was in pain, but there’s something lacking in people in recent years that have not
been seen before.
The really sad thing is that when these same people are in intensive care lying with their asses sticking in the air are desperately asking for a vaccination. Too late
News CorpBernard Keane has persistently demonised Andrews while failing to apply anything close to the same standards when the NSW government has done exactly the same things.There, fixed it for you.
Yep, I recall his constant attacks on Andrews, whilst pretending that Binchicken’s poop doesn’t stink.
Agreed. ‘Links to Crown ??’ Vic State govts both Liberal and Labor have a long history of ‘links with Crown’ much to the dismay of many Victorians. The current Vic opposition is useless and compromised because it is useless and compromised. Anyone for a lobster dinner with an individual alleged to be a Mob boss? . If you want to talk about misuse of taxpayers funds, it will be eons before anyone can look past Morrison and Fberg’s extraordinary Jobkeeper gifts to entities that did not have ANY reductions in turnover. BK please take the rest of the week off.
Yes it would be nice if at least Crikey, as no one else does, would support Dan Andrews, who has done a pretty sterling job in most areas. The newscorpse anti-Dan has been going on for some time and clearly one of the reasons that the extremist right-wingers have taken so much space up. Certainly 9 news has gone to the dark side too, and the likes of Hartcher beating the anti-China drum could be done without.
And Chris uhlmann
Hah! Yoolman. Never trust a man who so wilfully mispronounces his own name. If he’s that cagey about his middle European heritage, you have to wonder what else he’s trying to hide.
Are you seriously advocating that a journalist “support” a state government? A Crikey journalist, no less?
yep, and is this the same BK who several weeks ago was happy to lump together all people with concerns about vaccination and dismiss them as loonies who go to social media echo-chambers for their alternative truth instead of listening to clever people like BK?
You know, it’s a lot quicker to write anti vaxxer than ‘people with concerns about vaccines’. Because anti vaxxer is what you are.
That’s not at all Manichean.
Congratulations. You’re the platonic ideal of a Dan Stan.
I read nearly all of Mr Keane‘s work and yes, there has been some (mostly fair) criticism of the Victorian experience and the Premier. To equate it with the relentless negative reporting (coupled with soft pedal on the subject of protests) by NewCorpse and the two usual-suspect TV channels is a stretch. Putting it mildly.
As for failing to apply anything close to the same standards when the NSW government has done exactly the same things, it is crystal clear to me that (1) you really haven’t been reading Bernard much at all – or very selectively, and (2) your intent is simply trolling.
There, fixed it for you.
Good piece Bernard. It is my hope that as we return to something more like the pre-lockdown life some of the spite will go out of the current movement. It is also my sense of things that there is a very strong majority of people who broadly accept the necessity of the public health measures, and that they are not particularly impressed by the ongoing tantrums of what is a highly visible but nonetheless small party of contras.
Liberal voters … borderline fascists
Sky News viewers … being groomed to become fascists
Herald-Sun readers … potential fascists
Liberal and National Party members: actual fascists.