Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.
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Every society that supports or is complicit in supporting genocide abroad, inevitably imposes repression at home.
The right to publicly assemble and petition the government (protest) is written into the American Constitution for a reason.
The right to protest is the first democratic right be abolished in all dictatorships.
Democracy is not just having the right to vote every three or four years. Without the right to protest, to publicly assemble and petition the government. is to be ruled by an unaccountable elected dictatorship.
The (not independent from the police) Independent Police Conduct Authority. has gone way beyond their mandate to stray into politics. The non-independent IPCA is effectively lobbying the government on behalf of the police to give the police the power to ban protests and demonstrations.
“….Police failed to protect people from protesters at a high-profile rally and made unlawful arrests at another, says the Independent Police Conduct Authority.” IPCA
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/542291/police-training-and-procedures-for-protests-need-an-overhaul-ipca
The high profile protest being alluded to by the IPCA, is the protest against British far right activist Posie Parker, who was assaulted with tomato juice poured on her, which was an illegal act. The perpetrator was arrested and charged and appeared in court and was duly convicted. The point is, laws already exist to police illegal behaviour at protests. No special laws to ban protests are needed.
The other point being alluded to, that was slipped into this paragraph by the IPCA, are alleged illegal arrests made by the police at “another” vague and unspecified protest.
The answer to alleged illegal police arrests at some unspecified protest, is not to make these illegal arrests legal. Which is what the IPCA seems to be alluding to.
(The use of, alluding to, and hinting at, some vague unspecified incidents at some unidentified protests, to justify, increasing blanket police powers against all protest is sinister in itself)
The IPCA “also recommended new laws to protect critical infrastructure and private homes, and to allow police or councils to charge protest organisers for some or all of the cost of traffic management.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/542291/police-training-and-procedures-for-protests-need-an-overhaul-ipca
What is critical infrastructure?
Are landfills and sewer works, critical infrastructure?
Are Council buildings and work depots, critical infrastructure?
Are oil platforms and coal mines, critical infrastructure?
Are wharves and airports, critical infrastructure?
Are universities and research institutes, critical infrastructure?
Are police stations, court houses, and prisons, critical infrastructure?
It can be argued that parliament and its grounds are critical infrastructure.
So who decides what is critical infrastructure, and what is not critical infrastructure?
The police? The owners?
And as for banning protests outside private homes. There are already laws and bylaws against noise and harassment and trespass. No special laws against protest specifically are needed.
The other point slipped into this paragraph, is a proposed to make protesters pay for police traffic management This law would effectively give the police the power to ban all protest. While the rich have their money to lobby and influence government, we only have our numbers. We protest because we don’t have the money to pay lobbyists to influence government policy, the way vested interest does. And we certainly don’t have the money to pay for the right to protest. Or to pay the alleged cost of police traffic management, The number of police being discretionary on the police. How will this cost be collected, or imposed. Will it have to be paid before a protest or after? If this police imposed cost is not paid, will protest leaders be arrested? Will the police arrest protesters en-mass at protests, if the organisers haven’t paid the police for their supporters. right to protest?
Very important phrase in the above comment.
The (not independent from the police) Independent Police Conduct Authority. has gone way beyond their mandate to stray into politics.
I protest – butt out! Get back to your place by the fire Cinderella.
Very important phrase in the above comment.
The (not independent from the police) Independent Police Conduct Authority. has gone way beyond their mandate to stray into politics.
I protest – butt out! Get back to your place by the fire Cinderella.
Cannabis deserves lots of protest.
This is interesting and informative. This Adam Conover has plenty of bounce.
https://headgum.com/factually-with-adam-conover/your-legal-weed-is-full-of-poison-with-paige-st-john
(It seems that pesticide use even from the past and also current is having a bad health result. So they will be able to blame bad results on the cannabis – isn’t that sad.)
Cannabis is a super absorbent plant for cleaning up environment spokesperson says
so seems vulnerable.
The US republic is just under 250 years old, but every empire needs an emperor, eventually.
The Roman republic lasted almost 500 years before Julius Caesar sparked a civil war by declaring himself King.
Just like Donald Trump, Caesar was an elected dictator before declaring himself King.
From ‘The Guardian’;
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/19/trump-backlash-social-media-king
Trump wrote on Truth Social:
“CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”
‘The White House then proceeded to share Trump’s quote on social media, accompanied with a computer-generated image of Trump grinning on a fake Time magazine cover while donning a golden crown, behind him the skyline of New York City’
Talking about hubris;
Before dragging our country into the AUKUS nuclear alliance and likely war with China
Our military and security leaders might want to reflect on Shelly’s poem on the fate of a vainglorious king of another empire
Ozymandias
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed them:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
‘My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!’
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Hey for kuri.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/542591/meet-bosco-the-surfing-dog-making-waves-in-support-of-te-ao-maori
Makes me remember the cheeky dog in the vid of Patea Maori Club with Poi E the kuri adding to the first flash mob of kapai NZAO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQLUygS0IAQ
Very joyful, let’s carry on in this mode, positive, together.
OR we may find this understanding of value for now in avoiding grief, anger, apathy:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w8IQmzg1k0
Baruch Spinoza:The Secret to Living Without Fear That No One Will EVER Tell You-12.47
In this video, we explore the philosophy of Baruch Spinoza and his extraordinary teaching on how to live without fear. We’ll uncover why emotions like anxiety and suffering often don’t stem from reality itself but from the way they are interpreted, and how rational understanding can lead to greater inner freedom.
A journey into the philosophy of one of the greatest thinkers of the 17th century and a leading figure of rationalism, whose ideas remain incredibly relevant today.
#Spinoza #BaruchSpinoza #LivingWithoutFear #WiseDailyReflections
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