The next meeting of the 17 Group will take place on Wednesday the 9th of October at 7 pm in unit 6 at 20 Drury St, West End. It will be addressed by the one and only Greens Brisbane City Councillor, the Honourable Jonathan Sri, on the topic: “Civil Disobedience, the Right to March, and the Swinging Pendulum of Queensland Politics“.
Summary
Jonno recently called a protest march in opposition to a State Government proposal to increase police stop and search powers targeting protesters, only to have the LNP Lord Mayor of Brisbane take him to court to prevent the protest. Jonno self-represented in court and won the case, confirming the strong protections of the right to march enshrined within the Peaceful Assembly Act 1992. Jonno will be speaking about the continual watering down of civil liberties in Queensland – including the fundamental right to peaceful assembly – by all levels of government, including Brisbane City Council. Jonno will explore the broader political context of a resurgence in civil disobedience around Queensland, highlighting the connection between increasingly effective activist tactics and the government’s move to shut down peaceful protests. He will also be looking ahead to the coming council elections in March 2020 (which will function as a mini-referendum on the particular style of radical politics he as adopted while in office), discussing how the council results will set the stage (and the policy agenda) for the crucial October 2020 state election.
Biographical notes
Jonathan Sri is Queensland’s first elected Greens City Councillor, representing the Gabba Ward on Brisbane’s inner-south side. Jonno was elected in 2016 in a surprise upset, taking a safe Labor seat on a platform of strengthening democratic accountability, fighting property developer corruption and resisting the negative impacts of gentrification. Jonathan has been a vocal opponent of attempts by all levels of government to limit and restrict the right to peaceful assembly.
When we arrived at Leon’s, the rather theatrically sun-glassed part-time bodyguard Grigor met us before we got to the door, and, with a heavily Russian-accented “psst!”, drew us aside to warn that if Leon came to the meeting it would be unwise to raise with him the matter of the Kronstadt Rebellion of 1921. “New government in very bad situation, under pressure, bad economic situation, so on, maybe bit like Queensland Government… Adanis, Barrier Reefs, land rights, all for ideals if can, but must keep power, not good time for proper preachings and so on… you see point comrades? Our friend here, he was in middle then , and he not much like to hear demands 2 and 3 of sailors from Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol, great battleships. February 28th… famous fifteen demands….You remember, no? I quote, exact words, good memory, no?”
At which stage of his whispered remarks he tapped his balding skull and, underlining with an index finger, intoned:
“No. 2….Freedom of speech and of the press for workers and peasants,for the Anarchists and the Left Socialist parties.
No. 3…The right of assembly, and freedom for trade union and peasant associations.”
Then, with a rather melancholy smile he concluded:
“Big fight after, and our friend here not look good to sailors.” We decided not to invite Leon after all.
References
These articles in the links may be of interest to you:
https://www.jonathansri.com/disruptiveprotest
This is a more technical legal explanation of how the Peaceful Assembly Act works: https://www.jonathansri.com/peacefulassembly