Right, you lot:
Tomorrow. Your city. Protest about Civil Liberties. Admittedly, more likely to be useful if you’re in Australia, as there are actually organised protests in most Australian cities tomorrow, but hey, do a one-person chacha down in the mall for civil liberties wherever you are.
Those of you in Melbourne:
The plan is brunch at Brunetti’s CIty Square at 11am, followed by rally at Victoria Parliament at 1pm. I’ll be leaving a little early to help set up the Indymedia stall.
Remember: the price of freedom is eternal vigilence. Enjoy your lifestyle? Then don’t just sit there. This is *important*. This is about defending a way of life that is precious, a place in which dissent is valued, a society in which discussion and public participation was treasured, and where, until now, there haven’t really been any ‘sacred cows’ that we couldn’t knock. If we let the Government use ‘terror’ to pass draconian measures that breach our international treaties on human rights, then we’ve lost.
The terrorists will have won, because they will have changed our society.
In the end, Howard and his cronies will have done their work for them, because the terrorists didn’t succeed in shutting us down, in changing the way we talk, in the laid-back culture we adore. But this will. This will change everything. It already has: those of us who blog politically are already questioning what it will mean for our freedom to criticise the Government. We already fear the knock at the door. Is that the society you want to live in?