The art of protesting in a pandemic

Celeste Liddle, NTEU Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Organiser

COVID-19 has presented a number of challenges. As unionists and activists under these extraordinary circumstances, we have had to find new and innovative ways to work. However, when it comes to engaging in activism, perhaps the largest challenges lie in organising people face-to-face to take action in an environment where health regulations and government legislation often prevent that kind of activity occurring.

Without a doubt the biggest protests we saw in 2020 in early 2021 were the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests held across the country in June 2020, along with the annual Invasion Day Rallies.

It needs to be noted that despite there being a great deal of demonisation when it came to the Black Lives Matter rallies, particularly by the media and various politicians who continuously wrongfully claimed that these rallies were responsible for starting the second wave of COVID infections in Victoria, both BLM and Invasion Day rallies nationally were successfully held with absolutely no community transmission of COVID-19 recorded. At BLM in Melbourne, a good proportion of this was due to both the organisers ensuring that masks and hand sanitiser was available for all participants, and that they were continually reiterating social distancing requirements to the thousands of people who had attended on the day. These tactics were replicated across the country.

However, Invasion Day provided new challenges; challenges, I believe, are important for other social movements to consider when it comes to mobilising of large crowds in protest.

Anyone who attended the Invasion Day rally in Melbourne this year would have witnessed what was an incredible feat in organising. It is difficult to estimate for sure just how large the crowd was this year, however given the fact that previous Invasion Day rallies in Melbourne have exceeded 50,000 participants, an assumption can be made that crowd sizes were again similar to this.

Not only were participants organised into groups of 100 people and kept 10m apart to ensure risks of COVID transmission were minimised, but with very few exceptions everyone in the crowd was wearing a mask and observed social distancing health regulations. In addition to this, marshals ensured the crowd was kept moving.

Stages were set up at various intervals throughout the rally so that whilst participants were moving past, they were able to hear speeches and engage with the calls for justice and solidarity.

Given the unique circumstances of the Melbourne Invasion Day rally, some lessons on how to do things better under similar restrictions can be learnt. It provided an important blueprint for how the organising of mass mobilisations needs to occur under situations where we’re putting public health at the forefront of our actions whilst also grappling with increasing policing powers across the country. It needs to be noted for example that in Victoria, protesters wearing masks were simultaneously breaking the law whilst adhering to the law.

The Andrews Government had passed legislation a couple of years ago banning the use of masks at rallies in a bid to stop protesters from hiding their identity from the police. Yet COVID restrictions had also made masks mandatory in environments where social distancing cannot always be adhered to. Similarly, gatherings of more than 100 people outdoors were banned, hence why marshals went to great lengths to separate the crowd into groups of 100 and then keep them distanced from each other.

Unions and our peak bodies need to start considering this because in 2021 mass mobilisations to protest governmental policies are going to be incredibly important, particularly in an environment where 13% of university staff have lost their jobs and the sector continues to be increasingly casualised.

Along with the struggles we’re facing within the higher education industry, anti-worker legislation such as the omnibus bill, along with rising levels of unemployment with concurrent cuts to JobKeeper and JobSeeker allowances mean we’ve got more to fight back against this year. We will need to take to the streets to continue fighting these relentless attacks from our government.

However, we also need to be wary of increasing police powers as a tactic by governments to contain this pandemic. Though it’s nothing new, in Sydney police actively seek to control rallies. Attendees have been arrested for merely not walking on a footpath, or have been kettled because police want them to move a metre forward.

Under COVID, as community surveillance has increased, we have seen police arrest people for merely making a dodgy Facebook post, and statistics have shown that of the fines handed out for perceived non-adherence to health directives, people of colour have been disproportionately represented.

When it comes to protecting our jobs, our industry, and our rights at work, we will need to mobilise because shows of strength in numbers are more important than ever. However we need to mobilise in ways that ensure member safety and more broadly, community safety.

Employing tactics which both demonstrate just how large the opposition is to these continual attacks on higher education and workers’ rights, such as socially distanced pickets, grouped mass marches, online protest activity, and so forth will be incredibly important throughout this year.

As we go into Round 8 bargaining, we can also expect that there will be a need to mobilise members as University management play hardball whilst blaming governmental legislation. Our strength will be in numbers so most importantly, ensure your colleagues are aware of the union and the measures we are taking to fight these continual attacks. ◆

Image: Invasion Day march, Melbourne 2021. Matt Hrkac