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Only in America, I told myself, as I read about North Carolina proposing a ban on face coverings – including medical masks – at protests.
Sure, there are numerous issues within so-called Australia, but I didn’t think we’d get to the point where Victoria, too, would ban facemasks.
Yet here we are.
On December 17, the ABC shared a video of Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announcing a series of measures the government would implement to curtail protests. The measures are in response to two things: weekly pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide protests of thousands of people in Melbourne’s CBD and antisemitic attacks on Jewish places of worship.
At face value, much of Allan’s announcement was reasonable.
For example she noted that, “peaceful protest is protected in this state,” as is “the right of people to live safely.”
Upon closer reading, the nuance and the broader implications are a cause for much concern.
The laws would ban face masks and involve “providing police with the power to require removal [of face masks].”
If Allan believes every person does indeed have the right to both peaceful protests and safety – disabled and immunocompromised people included – banning face masks is a pretty illogical way of showing it.
Her statement clarified that “Exemptions would apply for legitimate health or cultural reasons.” Such a statement is both the bare minimum and dangerously open to interpretation. Who gets to decide what is a “legitimate” reason? What if someone isn’t disabled or immunocompromised yet, but wants to avoid COVID and becoming so? What if someone is disabled and/or immunocompromised and doesn’t want to share the details of their medical history with police?
It's not up to the police or anyone else to decide who has a legitimate reason for protecting themselves from an ongoing pandemic.
Further, when announcing bans of attachment devices (such as rope or chains) Jacinta Allan stated that such items “make heroes out of morons,” with no insight into her use of an ableist slur to insult people with whom she disagrees.
Interestingly, the content of her statement pertaining to racism (which is abhorrent and should never be allowed to flourish), focuses on antisemitism, with no mention of the crimes committed against Palestinians in Victoria.
Victorians have shown up, in their thousands, week in and week out, to tell you what they want. And it’s not this.
If the Premier really cared about social cohesion, she’d condemn the genocide in Palestine. And if she really cared about the safety of all Victorians, she’d acknowledge the ongoing pandemic and she damn well wouldn’t ban one of the only safety measures we have left.