The killing of democracyBy RICHARD FLANAGANYesterday morning a writ was lodged in the Supreme Court of Victoria by Gunns Ltd, the largest hardwood woodchip exporter in the world, claiming $6.3 million in damages from 16 individuals and four groups - the Gunns Twenty. If successful this legal action would effectively make corporations above the law. One would not be able to criticise, question or campaign against a corporation for risk of being bankrupted in legal proceedings brought against ordinary Australians by the richest and most powerful in our society. Unions would not be able to campaign without running the risk of being found guilty of corporate vilification. There could be no campaigning against the high pricing of petrol in Tasmania by oil companies by the RACT. There could be no questioning of the price of groceries in Woolworths or Coles for risk of being sued for corporate vilification. There could be no questioning of banks or Telstra, because there would be removed the most fundamental check on the power of corporations, the right of Australians to criticise, question, organise and campaign. No matter how a corporation makes its money, be it from tobacco or asbestos or poisoning communities, all will effectively be removed from the realm of public life. There is now fear abroad in Tasmania. Who is to get the next writ? Who is next to have their lives destroyed because they cared enough about their beautiful island home to say something, to do something. Make no mistake, this writ, were it to succeed, is the path to tyranny. Where freedom of expression is denied, where freedom of association is a sueable offence, freedom dies. If you think this rhetoric ponder how democracy was so effectively denied in Singapore using a similar tactic of legal actions. This is how the rich and powerful defend their interests in a number of undemocratic third world countries, because ordinary citizens cannot afford to defend such claims. They are bankrupted, broken and sometimes imprisoned, with the law being used as the scourge. The perversity of this action is staggering: with the immense fortune they have made out of destroying our forests, Gunns have launched an action that will have the effect of destroying vital aspects of our freedom as Australians. Their writ redefines the practice of democracy as the crime of conspiracy. This is not about conservation, nor is it about Tasmania. It is a fundamental assault on our liberties as Australians and we ought be frightened by what it speaks of, and be prepared to fight it and to fight it, and to never give up fighting it. Today we are here for a silent vigil. In a moment I will introduce the Gunns Twenty as they are named in the writ, and they will come forward and be gagged, because the effect of this writ, if succesful, is to silence dissent in our country. These are people with homes and mortages and partners and families. Their life is to be made a hell. They will suffer enormously for the crime of caring about their world and trying in their different ways and actions to make this island a better place. Once the Gunns Twenty are before us, we will have a minute silent vigil for democracy. At the end of that minute I would ask that you to take your keys out of your pockets and jangle them in the air, as in Prague in 1989 Czechs and Slovaks denied their voice rallied in silence jangling keys, as a symbol of their desire to open the door to a different future. I want you to jangle them so that they can hear us in the Gunns boardroom in Launceston, in the barristers' chambers in Melbourne, so that they know we have had enough of lies and intimidation and fear. So that they know this is our island home and we will not allow it to be taken from us by liars and thieves and vandals. So that they know we want to open the door to a better, freer and less fearful Tasmania where Tasmanians are respected and not destroyed for taking part in public life. When you leave here today, don't be despairing. Democracy is something we must assert day after day in our actions. Write to the paper. Ring politicians. Tell people in your workplace, over Xmas bbqs and drinks that this is wrong and that it must be stopped. Like the people in Prague who had been gagged for so long, we can make our own future. Gunns only kill democracy if we give up. Speech made at rally for democracy, Franklin Square, 15 December 2004
RAPID RESPONSE EMAIL: What do you think? Friday, December 17, 2004 |