We can't afford to shut up
Plus, gift ideas that cost $0
Fair warning: this is not a lighthearted instalment. On Friday, two pieces of news had me really feeling the weight of the world – the decision to not pursue the trial against Brittany Higgins' alleged rapist, Bruce Lehrmann; and a NSW judge sentencing Violet Coco, a climate protestor, to 15 months in prison.
Although these are two very different cases, ultimately both decisions send the same message: it's safer to shut up.
There's common ground between people who think it's fine to send peaceful protestors to prison, and those who think Higgins was wrong to go public with her story. Along the lines of, "Well, that's just not the right way to go about it." To them, asking with urgency or desperation is a punishable offence, even if the thing you are asking for is perfectly justifiable.
A lot has been written about the injustice of the outcome for Higgins. So instead, I want to focus on Violet Coco's crime. In April, she blocked one lane (out of eight) on the Sydney Harbour Bridge for 25 minutes in peak hour, by parking a truck across the lane and holding a flare. That is a disruptive thing to do. It's the 'wrong' way to ask for action. But that's the point.
Decades of voting, marching, letter writing and other non-disruptive rallies have not convinced Australian politicians to do anything meaningful to reduce emissions. Even after 10 years of Liberal climate denial, the Labor government's climate change bill is overhyped and insufficient by its own measures. Polite requests aren't listened to. So activists and advocates have to find increasingly urgent ways.
Remember the protestors in London who threw soup on Van Gogh's beloved Sunflowers painting? The media did a really bad job of communicating the point of the protest, so I'll give it a go here: We value art, understand that it brings joy and holds incredible cultural importance. Not to mention, the immense financial value of some art and art institutions. Pretending to destroy such a well-known work puts the climate crisis into a different context. How much art will be destroyed or lost in climate-related disasters, or stolen in climate wars? Who will we be responsible for moving art when one billion people are forced to migrate due to inhabitable climate?
Those things are already happening, which is why people like Violet Coco are escalating the ways they demand climate action. If there is one thing metro-dwelling Australians love, it's a convenient commute. If blocking traffic is worth jail time, who gets held responsible for the fires or floods that cause even worse disruptions? Is it just a natural event if we know the cause and refuse to address it?
Powerful institutions would rather we not ask any of these questions, because they are expensive and complicated to solve. That's why NSW introduced the laws that are putting Coco in prison. Money and compliance with the status quo are more valuable than our democratic right to protest and our human right to safety.
I hope this is my last angry impassioned rant for the year. Thanks for listening. If you need a pick-me-up after all that, check out the Zee Feed gift guides below – I think they're really sweet.
– CrystalFounder & Chief of Everything at Zee Feed
Good stuff on Zee Feed rn:
Time is a more valuable commodity than money, and if anyone* took the time to make me one of these $0 gifts for Christmas I would be an emotional wreck. CLICK HERE TO READ. *A test to see if my husband reads these emails.
And a couple more:
Content I loved this week 💭
Every Sunday I share content from around the web that made me think, smile, or have an ‘aha!’ moment. Here they are:
The violence that killed Cassius Turvey is structural. The solution is Indigenous self-determination on the Guardian"Our nation asks, in the throes of pain, how do we make change happen? I say, hold your humanity close and not at arm’s reach. Work with us, and let us self-determine the way ahead, because we know how to end violence for us all."
To Breed, Or Not To Breed episode of The Imperfects podcastWhen we see interrogations of whether or not to have kids, it's usually from the woman's perspective. It's really interesting to hear what factors into the question for Ryan Shelton, Hugh and Josh van Cuylenburg. Super honest and vulnerable.
The Latecomers on SBSFirst ep of this new Australian series is fresh and funny and enjoyable. The premise: "After seeing their care workers hook up at a bar, Frank and Sarah, who have cerebral palsy, decide to explore their own relationships with sex, and each other."
BookTok's Racial Bias on The Cut"Almost every author who has found life-changing success via the platform — six- and seven-figure book deals, weeks and months spent on best-seller lists, headline-making movie contracts — is white."
What will be the iconic band tees of the future, a la The Ramones, Nirvana, Guns N Roses? Derrick Gee has some solid suggestions in this fun TikTok!
