Chasing democracy..
October 25, 2011 5:03 AM   Subscribe

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting starts in Perth, Australia on the 28th October. CHOGM Action Network have planned a peaceful protest. Police have been granted special powers. Protest organisers have been put under surveillance and their homes raided. Twelve have been issued with orders excluding them from designated Security Areas. One has already been arrested and charged because his job happened to be in the area. Prisons have been advised to prepare for a large spike of inmates. Still, police are confident they are ready for a Chaser (previously) style stunt.
posted by bigZLiLk (24 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
*sigh*
posted by tumid dahlia at 5:14 AM on October 25, 2011


I was kind of hoping that the "special powers" link was going to tell us that they now have the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but, no, just more awful police state shit.
posted by indubitable at 5:18 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


Welp, we're doomed.

Seriously though, I cannot see how this is not in breach of the (implied) Constitutional guarantees for freedom of political communication. But I doubt the protestors have the funds to sue for the breach, so we are unlikely to find out.

Accessing information held on mobile phones which are confiscated after arrests is concerning too, especially since so much of the information is not on the phone itself. Police should need a warrant to go trawling through your email in the cloud or on a remote server. Just because you have a safety deposit key on you, doesn't mean that they have the right to look in your deposit box. A big grey area which no one is looking at right now. Again, we will have to wait for the case law.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:24 AM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


Related: the Eminent Persons Group (yes, this is a thing) is due to present a report on the future of CHOGM and the Commonwealth as this meeting. Titled "Time for Urgent Reform" and originally due to be released before CHOGM, it has instead been selectively leaked and distributed to the media in the days ahead.

What media tidbits have been leaked indicate that it will be yet another 200+ page snoozefest that will end up being read by me, that other guy, and some unlucky bastard in Treasury.
posted by kithrater at 5:28 AM on October 25, 2011


This is pretty close to abridging implied rights of free speech, not to mention it's a writ of attainder in all but name (it seems to give unbounded administrative power of attainder), which is unconstitutional here.
posted by polyglot at 5:42 AM on October 25, 2011


This puts me in mind of Warren Zevon's song.
Lawyers, guns, and money: All necessary when you're in a bad spot, although I don't think the guns would do much good here.
But lots of lawyers and money thrown back at the powers that be could help.
posted by el riesgo sempre vive at 5:48 AM on October 25, 2011


By the way, [Perth] Powers that Be? This, this, THIS is why people come to hate the police. This is where the cries of 'fuck the pigs' and 'damn the man' come from. This is why good people hate you.

Fuck you sideways with a rusty nail, you rat bastard son of bitches. You deserve to burn for this.

[I feel slightly better now. Return to your reasoned debate and focused discussion of the issues.]
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:54 AM on October 25, 2011 [2 favorites]


What media tidbits have been leaked indicate that it will be yet another 200+ page snoozefest that will end up being read by me, that other guy, and some unlucky bastard in Treasury.

Don't worry - there's that guy in Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet who'll have to read it too. Misery loves company.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:56 AM on October 25, 2011


What media tidbits have been leaked indicate that it will be yet another 200+ page snoozefest that will end up being read by me, that other guy, and some unlucky bastard in Treasury.

My ears are burning.
posted by TheOtherGuy at 6:13 AM on October 25, 2011 [3 favorites]


Thanks for a well-linked news post. As someone who mostly knows only meme-y things about Australia, 1) what's the general feeling towards CHOGM in the country, and 2) what other similarly terrible things have they been doing over the years?

This is pretty typical, though; none of the great houses want to gamble with their CHOGM profits.
posted by curious nu at 7:00 AM on October 25, 2011


Lawyers, guns, and money: All necessary when you're in a bad spot, although I don't think the guns would do much good here.

At the end of the day, guns are the only thing that count.

Seriously, given everything else cited in the post, how much good is a lawyer going to do? All this situation does is point out that the law has been an illusion all along. There is only power, and all lawyers are for is to put a gloss of justification over whatever power seeks to do.

And money is power. The whole point of the operation is to keep both concentrated in the right hands.

What does that leave?
posted by Naberius at 7:32 AM on October 25, 2011


Feyd-Rautha nodded. Wealth was the thing. The Combine Honnete Ober Governmente Mercantiles (CHOGM) was the key to wealth, each executive dipping from the company's coffers whatever it could under the power of the directorships. Those CHOGM directorships — they were the real evidence of political power in the New World Order, passing with the shifts of voting strength within the UN as it balanced itself against the United States and its supporters...
posted by jet_manifesto at 7:39 AM on October 25, 2011


Mod note: folks, maybe don't drag in people who aren't participating in the thread? Thanks.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:05 AM on October 25, 2011


The rigger who was charged for turning up to work... I've got a couple of mates who are riggers in Adelaide, who found out about this over the grapevine well before my Twitter-scanning, Newsradio-listening self. They are pissed. They are big, tough, hard-working blokes who are real pissed...
posted by Jimbob at 2:54 PM on October 25, 2011


what's the general feeling towards CHOGM in the country

No one gives a shit. It's a complete non-event.
posted by markr at 4:26 PM on October 25, 2011


CHOGM was a great 80s horror film about creatures that live in the sewers and it annoys me that they are remaking it. Can't you come up with any ORIGINAL ideas, Hollywood?
posted by tumid dahlia at 4:31 PM on October 25, 2011


what's the general feeling towards CHOGM in the country

Frankly, nobody could give a flying fuck about it. Most people have never heard of it.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 4:36 PM on October 25, 2011


These 'Action Network' people are a bunch of aimless tools, professional protestors without an agenda that has anything to do with CHOGM.
Aboriginal rights, freeing detained asylum seekers, ending the war in Afghanistan and promoting renewable energy would be highlighted during a number of protest events, he said.
I mean, WTF?


But the police state brutality that's pretty much guaranteed by WA and Aus governments, that's unconscionable.
posted by wilful at 5:23 PM on October 25, 2011


These 'Action Network' people are a bunch of aimless tools, professional [x] without an agenda...

Sounds like most members of Federal Parliament...
posted by Jimbob at 5:29 PM on October 25, 2011


These 'Action Network' people are a bunch of aimless tools, professional protestors without an agenda that has anything to do with CHOGM.

Even morons should have the right to protest without being beaten and gassed.

Aboriginal rights, freeing detained asylum seekers, ending the war in Afghanistan and promoting renewable energy would be highlighted during a number of protest events, he said.

All valid political issues that require discussion. Even morons can have legitimate issues, even if they are too stupid and ignorant to talk about them in a sensible, nuanced way. And the Australian Government will be represented at CHOGM - why not protest there? The most effective protests are at events covered by the media.
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 5:59 PM on October 25, 2011 [1 favorite]


And the Australian Government will be represented at CHOGM - why not protest there?

Because these are nothing to do with CHOGM. If you want to find an Australian Government representative in Australia, it's not that hard!
posted by wilful at 6:28 PM on October 25, 2011


Embarrassing the Australian Government in front of the rest of the world is best done in front of the rest of the world. The goal is presumably not to get CHOGM to act on those issues but to get a minority Government in Canberra to act on them.
posted by GeckoDundee at 6:37 PM on October 25, 2011


Even morons should have the right to protest without being beaten and gassed.

Exactly. I may not agree with your dreadlocked opinions, but I will defend your right to say them in public without being subject to police brutality.

Personally, I'm just sick of the damned helicopters hovering over my suburb. They go til 10pm or so, doing laps of the inner city.
posted by harriet vane at 11:04 PM on October 25, 2011


I am at the CHOGM right now. Nobody gives a damn. But it's fun to see Abbott and Rudd steal the show from Gillard at a complete non-event. Such playground politics!
posted by vidur at 3:42 PM on October 27, 2011


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