{"id":54927,"date":"2020-09-07T08:36:46","date_gmt":"2020-09-07T13:36:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=54927"},"modified":"2020-09-07T08:36:46","modified_gmt":"2020-09-07T13:36:46","slug":"at-a-time-of-rapidly-creeping-authoritarianism-assanges-freedom-is-more-crucial-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=54927","title":{"rendered":"At A Time Of Rapidly Creeping Authoritarianism, Assange\u2019s Freedom Is More Crucial Than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

At A Time Of Rapidly Creeping Authoritarianism, Assange\u2019s Freedom Is More Crucial Than Ever<\/a><\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\n
\"\"<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

My home state of Victoria has become the center of attention in the anti-lockdown movement for its authoritarian crackdown against not just people who are in violation of lockdown protocol, but people who merely\u00a0post<\/em>\u00a0about staging future anti-lockdown protests on social media.<\/p>\n

Police have been\u00a0breaking into people\u2019s homes<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0arresting them in front of their children<\/a>\u00a0under charges of \u201cincitement\u201d for posting about anti-lockdown protests on Facebook, drawing\u00a0international headlines<\/a>. This is obviously a major threat to human rights that sets a dangerous precedent and will have many undesirable knock-on effects, and it should be condemned unequivocally.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is awful. \u2018Incitement\u2019 is going to be used to crack down on all sorts of protests \u2013 including on issues we agree with and think are worth protesting,\u201d\u00a0explained<\/a>\u00a0Australian author and analyst Ketan Joshi of one such arrest. \u201cEvery time I post about this, I am stunned by the number of people who seem furiously unwilling to draw any connection between what\u2019s happening above and the history of climate and anti-racist protest in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThose who claim Covid-19 is being exploited by governments to dismantle our diminishing freedoms have just been handed a chilling new piece of evidence to support their case,\u201d\u00a0tweeted<\/a>\u00a0journalist Jonathan Cook.<\/p>\n