Peaceful Community Protest
Basic Principles
The principles of Peaceful Community Protest have developed over a long history of non-violent community protests from around the world. Peaceful Community Protest training (or similar non-violent action training) is a basic requirement for members of any organization that participates in and promotes civil disobedience as a last resort means to being heard.
Whether smaller scale arrestable actions or large scale blockades, for a civil disobedience campaign to be successful we need the support of mainstream Australia. For this reason, we need to be extremely mindful of the way we act. Violent responses and confrontational scenes would alienate us from the very people we need to reach for this campaign to succeed. They may also turn our actions into a law and order issue and deflect attention from our message. Peaceful protest is a tactic which allows us to continue to gather public support and maintain the focus on our issues while ensuring the safety of those participating.
Action Guidelines
For the above reasons we ask that everyone participate in a protest training workshop to learn the tools of Peaceful Community Protest prior to being involved in an action. You can book into our next workshop by contacting us directly or by filling out our questionnaire on the “Join us” page.
We also ask those that join us to agree to the following principles. This agreement enables large numbers of people from diverse backgrounds and beliefs to work together. They create a basis for trust, so we can work together and know what to expect from each other.
- We will not use or return violence, physical or verbal, towards any person or property.
- We will not destroy or sabotage equipment or property.
- We will avoid physical contact with equipment being operated.
- We will not place ourselves in obvious danger and will try to ensure the safety of all people in and around the action.
- We will not bring or protest under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs.
- We will use a consensus decision making process to reach agreement within our group/s.
Legal issues
The biggest breach of law that you could be charged with is trespassing and, as such, in all potential arrest situations your charges would be no more than civil misdemeanours. We also ensure to the best of our ability that participants are fully aware of any potential litigation.
We use trained police liaison people at our protests to help build awareness of our concerns, trust in our motives and respect for our integrity.
To be or not to be arrested?
Each protester will make their own decision about whether to get arrested at a Peaceful Community Protest. It needs to be considered very carefully as being arrested has many personal and political implications. Being arrested is a strong way to assist the campaign’s strategic aims, but are you willing to withstand the personal consequences that arrest and possible charges and convictions that may result?
Getting arrested is something most people fear, including the fear of the reaction from family, friends and colleagues, fear of the unknown (what is involved in being arrested, charged and bailed) and the implications of these charges (if convicted) in relation to personal life, career and travel overseas. Remember though, these are minor civil offences and should not prevent you from travelling to most countries or cost you your job!
The best way to deal with these fears is to get as much information as possible and to discuss them beforehand with other protesters. Before deciding whether or not to be arrested, please ensure you attend a peaceful community protest training workshop where all these legal implications and processes are discussed at length and your questions answered. Go to the Join Us page for dates for our next workshops.
Important
It is a common misconception that Peaceful Community Protest is passive, submissive or an act of cowardice. This is not the case. It is taking action in the most beneficial way for the whole community.
There is no assumption that our opponents will refrain from using violence against us; peaceful protest techniques are designed to operate against violence when necessary. The training has nothing to do with creating an elite group or trying to take control of any future action.
There is a huge number of people who want to do something beyond what we have already done. For the benefit of the campaign, we are trying to create an informed community at this time when more confrontational actions may be required. We are helping to focus people’s energy, as well as their anger and frustration, in politically effective ways. The community becomes empowered by being involved in well-planned peaceful actions, which help to eliminate their fears. It also empowers by strengthening people’s beliefs in themselves and their capacity to do something about this major issue facing us.
The strength of good Peaceful Community Protest is that it allows and encourages ordinary people to be active participants in the struggle.
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