News & Media > Editorials > The revival of McCarthyism and the scapegoating of activists to undermine broader civil liberties
The revival of McCarthyism and the scapegoating of activists to undermine broader civil liberties
McCarthyism: a mid-20th century political attitude characterised chiefly by opposition to elements held to be subversive and by use of tactics involving personal attacks on individuals by means of widely publicised indiscriminate allegations especially on the basis of unsubstantiated claims. Merriam Webster Dictionary
Counter Terrorism Policing UK (CTP UK) were recently revealed to have released a document for use by teachers and medical practitioners that listed signs and symbols to be aware of as part of their campaign Prevent. The document included the signs and symbols of environmental and animal rights organisations alongside those of violent race hate groups including Nazis.
The release stated that not all listed groups were of interest to CTP UK. And Deputy Assistant Commissioner Dean Haydon claimed the focus was not on “lawful protest” or “legitimate causes”. This was to assure the general public that inclusion on this list was essentially benign.
However the use of terms “lawful” and “legitimate” in relation to protest should give rise for concern, given the State controls the definitions of legality and legitimacy through a system of permits and regulations that they enact and enforce. And those who are charged with enforcing said regulations are responsible for creating a now highly publicised link between social justice groups and Nazis which has no foundations in reality.
In 2019, following mass acts of civil disobedience across Australia coordinated by Aussie Farms, the word “terrorist” became the catch cry of several leading politicians, and was repeatedly used in the media and during official parliamentary business.
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The narrative was deliberately constructed to imply that peaceful lock-ons, blockades and covert investigations were somehow threatening the very lives of the “families and children” of slaughterhouse operators and business owners. The goal was not to represent the truth; it was to influence public opinion and dialogue in order to create social licence for a raft of legislation that undermines the civil liberties of groups and individuals beyond the animal rights and environmental activist communities.
And it worked. To the extent that one member of the public was allegedly visited by the Australian Federal Police after contacting Senator Seselja and politely objecting to his using the phrase “vegan terrorists” during debate in Federal Parliament.
In much the same way as the post-World War Two Red Scare and era of McCarthyism pushed the narrative that ceding civil liberties was necessary to protect society from alleged destabilising threats from an enemy within, so too have civil liberties in Australia been undermined whilst the general public looks on with either apathy or approval, and animal rights activists and environmentalists are utilised as convenient scapegoats.
New state and federal laws cover everything, including the possession and use of lock-on devices, farm biosecurity, usage of devices and carrier services to organise protests, and proposed extraordinary penalties for civil disobedience that go beyond the already existing penalties for trespass and obstruction, whilst restricting forms of protest currently deemed lawful. Encrypted communication services were undermined in 2018, enabling government authorities to force tech companies to grant access to the private details and communications of users when deemed appropriate.
The targeting of peaceful protests with these extraordinary penalties, along with AFP raids on the media and the prosecution of whistle-blowers, has resulted in CIVICUS Monitor (a collaboration of multiple international human rights organisations) downgrading Australia’s democracy status from “open” to “narrowed”.
When Scott Morrison labelled animal rights activists “un-Australian”, when the NSW Deputy Premier Barilaro called them “domestic terrorists”, and every appeal to “families and children” that followed, they were utilising the strategy of “othering” people in order to delegitimise those people’s actions and concerns whilst creating moral panic as a means to further undermine broader civil liberties. Just as CTP UK have effectively done by listing the symbols of animal rights, environmental and social justice groups alongside those of actual terrorist organisations including Nazis.
Meanwhile, as these attacks on our civil liberties begin to restrict our abilities to advocate as concerned citizens, attention is diverted from the atrocities being committed against vulnerable and marginalised communities, both human and non-human.
The only question that now remains is how we as a society respond to the revival of McCarthyism as an attack on social justice movements in the modern era.
Further reading:
www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jan/17/greenpeace-included-with-neo-nazis-on-uk-counter-terror-list
www.counterterrorism.police.uk/our-focus-is-countering-terrorism-not-lawful-protest
www.veganaustralia.org.au/74_year_old_vegan_outraged_for_being_reported_to_police
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-47848674
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/critics-liken-tasmania-s-latest-anti-protest-legislation-to-police-state
