Over 220 organisations representing millions of members across the country have united to condemn the recent 15 month jail sentence for climate activist Deanna ‘Violet’ Coco and to express concern about increasing repression, including the recent introduction of new anti protest laws in multiple states.
“We are seeing fundamental democratic principles stripped before our eyes at an alarming rate. Violet is the 5th person to receive a jail sentence* in the last 12 months for peaceful climate activism, as repression mounts against community activists across the nation. She is one of thousands taking extraordinary action in the face of an urgent crisis” said Kelly O’Shanassy of Australian Conservation Foundation
On 2 December, Violet, from Fireproof Australia, was sentenced to 15 months in custody with a non parole period of 8 months. Her appeal for bail will be heard on 13th December. A solidarity action will take place outside Downing Centre Court.
We reject the claim from Premier Perrottet that protest should not inconvenience people, and are concerned about the message this sends in a democracy. Peaceful but disruptive protests have won many of the rights we take for granted today, including the 8 hour day, voting rights, end to conscription, and to enjoy the forests and precious places we defended. Australia is a signatory to conventions protecting our right to freedom of movement, association, peaceful assembly, and political speech which the government must respect, and we must defend.
"The freedom to protest has been a central part of many of the most important movements across this country, from land rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to voting rights, to achieving the eight hour work day. Governments across Australia need to recommit to our democracy, and repeal these laws that criminalise protest." Alice Drury, Acting Legal Director, Human Rights Law Centre.
We welcome the support from the UN and international human rights organisations, including the recent statement from Clement Voule, UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Association and Peaceful Assembly who expressed “I am alarmed at NSW court's prison term against climate protester Deanna Coco and refusal to grant bail until a March 2023 appeal hearing. Peaceful protesters should never be criminalised or imprisoned.”
Violet was charged with several offences, including disrupting vehicles, failing to comply with police direction and resisting or hindering police. The charges arose from her action blocking one lane of traffic on the Sydney Harbour Bridge for approximately 25 minutes.
“It's outrageous that the state wastes resources seeking jail time and locking up peaceful protestors in custody at the expense of taxpayers. In contrast, fossil fuel corporations are contributing to climate collapse, yet have bi-partisan support for further mining and their subsidies continue at a rate of $22,000 a minute” - Lucy Manne, 350.org
Protestors from Fireproof Australia, Extinction Rebellion, Blockade Australia and Frontline Action on Coal and many more have engaged in peaceful civil disobedience in recent years in support of urgent action on climate change. Thousands have been involved, representing the voices of many more.
Karly Warner of Aboriginal Legal Service NSW said “The Aboriginal Legal Service was born out of a protest movement in the 1970s. You would be hard-pressed to find any win for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights that wasn’t brought about by public protest.
There is no climate justice without racial justice. The right to assemble and demonstrate in our streets, towns and cities is a fundamental cornerstone of democracy. For marginalised communities, public protests enable us to be seen and heard, even — and especially — when those in power would rather suppress our voices.
We condemn in the strongest terms this government crackdown on our right to protest.”
The vast majority of Australians across the political spectrum support, and voted for, strong action on climate. People should not be concerned they could risk heavy penalties simply for taking to the streets. New anti-protest legislation in several states is wide open to police misinterpretation. NSW has already seen increased policing of peaceful NGO-led climate protests and police threats of invoking the laws against a wide variety of actions since their introduction in April.
“This state's ongoing repression of protestors through parliament passing harsher laws, police seeking draconian bail conditions and surveilling protestors, and prosecutors seeking custodial sentences shows just how much contempt this government holds for protestors and the environment. The repression of peaceful protestors must end” concluded Josh Pallas, NSW Council for Civil Liberties
Peaceful protest should not be a crime. Anti protest laws must be repealed. People engaged in peaceful protest should never be sentenced to jail.
Signatories to the open letter
350.org Australia
Dr David Abello, on behalf of the 78ers, the First Mardi Gras Inc
Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited
ACF Community Geelong
Action Ready
ADAC - A Different Approach Community
Aid/Watch
Amnesty International Australia
Andrew Denton
Animal Liberation NSW
Antipoverty Centre
Arid Lands Environment Centre
Armidale Action on Coal Seam Gas and Mining
Arshak Makichyan
Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC)
Australian Communist Party
Australian Conservation Foundation
Australian Democracy Network
Australian Forests and Climate Alliance
Australian Lawyers Alliance
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (NSW State Division)
Australian Manufacturing Workers Union
Australia
Australian Marine Conservation Society
Australian Nonviolence Projects
Australian Progress
Australian Religious Response to Climate Change
Australian Services Union NSW ACT (Services) Branch
Australian Services Union Victorian Private Sector Branch
Australian Unemployed Workers' Union
Australian Youth Climate Coalition
Author - The 99th Koala
Bayside Climate Crisis Action Group
Bellingen Activist Network
Beyond Gas Network
Beyond War
Black Flag Sydney
Black Wallaby Forest Action
Blockade Australia
Bob Brown Foundation
Dr Luke Buckmaster
Bushfire Survivors for Climate Action
Caldera Environment Centre
Castan Centre for Human Rights Law (Monash University)
Central Victoria Climate Action
Centre for Climate Safety
CFMEU Construction and General Division
Chipstop Campaign Against Woodchipping
CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
Cristy Clark
ClimActs
CLIMARTE
Climate Action Monaro
Climate Action Network Australia
Climate Action Radio Show
Climate and Health Alliance (CAHA)
Climate Change Action Network
Climate Council of Australia
Climate for Change
Climate Justice Programme
Climate Justice Union
Commons Social Change Library
Comms Declare
Community Action for Rainbow Rights
Community Legal Centres Australia
Community Legal Centres NSW
Community Power Agency
Conservation Council ACT Region
Conservation Council of SA
Conservation Council of WA (CCWA)
CoPower (Co-operative Power Australia)
CounterAct
Darebin Climate Action Now
Defend the Right to Protest
Digital Rights Watch
Do Gooder
Drum Rebellion
East Gippsland Climate Action Network
Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education
Environment Centre NT Inc
Environment East Gippsland inc
Environment Victoria
Environmental Justice Australia
Environs Kimberley
Extinction Rebellion Australia
Extinction Rebellion Cairns
Fireproof Australia
First Dog on the Moon
FlightFree Australia
Flinders University
Frenzal Rhomb
Friends of Bats and Habitat Gippsland
Friends of the Earth Australia
Friends of the Earth Melbourne
Friends of the Forest - Mogo
Frontline Action on Coal
Galilee Rising
Geelong Sustainability
GetUp
El Gibbs, writer, disability advocate
Glen Eira Emergency Climate Action Network (GECAN)
Goongerah Environment Centre
GraceTree
Grassroots Action Network Tasmania
Grata Fund
Green Institute
Green Music Australia
Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Gudanji For Country
Heal the Earth Now ॐ (international)
Healthy Connection For All
Dr Tamar Hopkins
Human Rights Law Centre
Dr Rebecca Huntley, Author,”How to Talk About Climate Change in a Way That Makes a Difference”
Dan Ilic
Institute of Collaborative Race Research
International PEN Melbourne Centre
International Service for Human Rights
Jews Against Fascism
Ketan Joshi, Author “Windfall: Unlocking a fossil free future”
Jumbunna Research, UTS
Justice Reform Initiative
Knitting Nanas Hunter Loop
Sydney Knitting Nannas & Friends
Kooyong Climate Change Alliance
Lane Cove Sustainability Action Group
Carmen Lawrence, academic, Ex WA Premier, Head Australian Labor Party
Legal Observers NSW
Liberty Victoria
Lighter Footprints
Lincoln Ave Progressives
LIVE
Loud Jew Collective
Mackay Conservation Group
Margaret River Regional Environment Centre
Maritime Union of Australia (Sydney Branch)
Melbourne Activist Legal Support
Muslim Collective
Nannas for Native Forests
National Justice Project
National Tertiary Education Union (NSW)
Nature Conservation Council NSW
George Newhouse, Adjunct professor
Nillumbik Climate Action Team
North East Forest Alliance
North Queensland Conservation Council
NSW Council for Civil Liberties
Claire O’Rourke
Oxfam Australia
PASA (Philippines Australia Solidarity Association)
Paul Gilding
Pax Christi Australia
Peace in Papua
People’s Climate Assembly
Peter Garret
Pride In Protest
Progressive Cinema, Armidale, NSW
Proposition One Campaign for a Nuclear-Free Future
Public Interest Advocacy Centre
Public Services International (Asia Pacific Regional Office)
Queensland Conservation Council
Queensland Council for Civil Liberties
Redfern Legal Centre
Retail and Fast Food Workers Union (RAFFWU)
Rising Tide
Save the Bay Coalition
School Strike 4 Climate
Scientists Warning Foundation, California, US
Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network Ltd
Socialist Alliance
South East Forest Rescue
South East Region Conservation Alliance (SERCA)
Anna Spargo-Ryan, Writer / A Kind of Magic
Spirit of Eureka SA
Dr Joan Staples
Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies
Stop Russell Vale Mine
Sweltering Cities
Tom Tanuki
The Australia Institute Tasmania
The Future Makers
The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) Sydney Branch
The Sunrise Project
The Sustainable Hour Podcast
The Wilderness Society
Tomorrow Movement
Transition Streets Geelong
UnionsNSW
Uni Students for Climate Justice
United Workers Union
University of Melbourne Student Union Environment Department
UNSW Centre for Crime, Law and Justice
UTS Criminal Justice Cluster
Victorian Pride Lobby
Victorian Socialists
Vote Climate
Vote Earth Now
Wage Peace
Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance VIC
Water for Rivers
What Can I Do? Australia
White Rose Society Australia
Wollongong Against War and Nuclear weapons (WAWAN)
Women’s Environmental Leadership Australia (WELA)
Women’s Justice Network
Workers for Climate Action
World Animal Protection
WSU Network for Law and Human Rights
Yarra Climate Action Now
Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Civic space in Laos is rated as "Narrowed" by the CIVICUS Monitor