"We want answers": Furious cruise passengers stage protest after itinerary change

<p>Passengers onboard a Norwegian Cruise Line voyage has expressed their outrage after their once in a lifetime trip to Antarctica changed course after the journey had already begun. </p> <p>Melbourne woman Helen Midler was one of hundreds of people onboard the cruise from Buenos Aires to mainland Antarctica, when staff informed all travellers that their itinerary had changed. </p> <p>Days into their journey, those onboard were told they would not be visiting Antarctica at all, but would be doing a "South America round trip" instead.</p> <p>Midler took to social media to share her frustrations, saying the communication between the cruise line and the passengers was very poor. </p> <p>She explained that she only found out about the change after checking the app a few days into the journey and noticed the name of the cruise had been changed. </p> <p>Passengers were later told the change of destination was for "operational reasons" after raising their concerns, however no further explanation was given.</p> <p>Those onboard were allegedly told the decision was made by the head office in the US to not visit Paradise Bay, on mainland Antarctica, before departure on January 31, and that all passengers were notified by email, and again at check-in. </p> <p>However, Midler claims this was not the case.</p> <p>"I can assure you that we never got any email and many of our friends here on board, and I'm talking hundreds of people we know, did not receive any email either," she said in a video posted online. </p> <p>"Until the cruise had commenced, most people on this ship were not aware of the change in the itinerary."</p> <p>Midler said "everyone was angry", with hundreds of passengers meeting at in the ship's foyer one morning in protest to demand further answers from the crew. </p> <p>"Customer service are refusing to acknowledge us, they sent a security officer out to calm us down," she said while standing in the noisy crowd. "We feel we're being cheated, being scammed".</p> <p>Midler said frustrated travellers, some of whom "spent their live savings" on the cruise that costs upwards of $4,000 per person, just "want answers, transparency and clarity" but claims they're being treated with "absolute disdain and disrespect" with little explanation given.</p> <p>"Everyone on this ship has paid a lot of money to cruise to Antarctica, not to do a round trip of South America at sea," she fumed. "We are being dismissed, ignored, refused answers. They're telling us we just have to accept it.</p> <p>"They think we're idiots. We're not idiots and we're not prepared to just accept this sitting down," she continued. "We may not get to Antarctica. The chances of this cruise now going to Antarctica are minimal. But we want answers."</p> <p>In the days after her initial post, Midler updated her online followers and said those onboard were trying to make the best of a bad situation, despite still not hearing any clear answers about the change of itinerary. </p> <p>"We saved and we booked this two years ago for the trip of a lifetime," she said. "We're feeling very disappointed and dejected about the outcomes here."</p> <p>"We'll never be able to afford to do this again. And we've lost that trip to the Antarctica mainland that we had all been hoping and waiting for, and that we'd paid for. But we're going to try and do our best to enjoy it."</p> <p><em>Image credits: TikTok</em></p>

Legal

"Shut the f**k up": Alec Baldwin confronted by protesters

<p>Alec Baldwin has been caught in the middle of a fiery protest in New York City, which ended in him yelling profanities to aggressive protesters. </p> <p>The Hollywood actor was on his way to teach an acting class when he was surrounded by pro-Palestine protesters. </p> <p>The protesters bombarded him with questions, demanding that he make known his stance on the war in Israel, and who he supports in the conflict. </p> <p>Baldwin was being escorted by police, but found it difficult to ignore the calls of the protesters. </p> <p>“I support peace for Gaza,” he told them.</p> <p>Baldwin’s response only made the protesters more angry. They started to bellow profanities at him, and attempted to inch closer.</p> <p>“Shut your f**king mouth, you have no f**king shame,” one person shouted at the actor, with another adding, “Go f**k yourself,” to which Baldwin said, "That's a stupid question..."</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">"That's a stupid question..."</p> <p>Hollywood actor Alec Baldwin refuses to condemn Israel and squares up to pro-Palestinian protestors in New York. <a href="https://t.co/82Y3viJbdV">pic.twitter.com/82Y3viJbdV</a></p> <p>— Lowkey (@Lowkey0nline) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lowkey0nline/status/1736897259088843047?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 18, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>A source told <span id="U8321101731880dF">HuffPost that Baldwin had no intention of getting involved in the protest, and did what he could to avoid any conflict. </span></p> <p>“He had no intention of going to the protest and was not involved in any way,” the insider explained.</p> <p>“He was approached aggressively and repeatedly. The police stepped in to avoid further confrontation so he could make his way to the class safely.”</p> <p>In another video from the clash, protesters continued to ask his stance on the war, to which the actor responded, “Because I’m in Hollywood?” </p> <p>“You ask stupid questions. Ask me a smart question.”</p> <p>As he continued to be escorted out the crowd, the actor yelled, “Shut the f**k up.”</p> <p>In response, another member of the public yelled back: “You did kill someone though, right? You’re a murderer!” in reference to the tragic death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.</p> <p><em>Image credits: X</em></p>

Movies

Greta Thunberg slapped with first conviction over climate protest

<p dir="ltr">Greta Thunberg has been fined by a court in Sweden after she refused to obey the orders of Swedish police officers at a climate change protest. </p> <p dir="ltr">The 20-year-old activist pleaded not guilty to the charges, saying she disobeyed the direct police order to leave a climate protest as an act of necessity. </p> <p dir="ltr">“My actions are justifiable,” Thunberg told the court in Malmö, according to local media outlets.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I believe that we are in an emergency that threatens life, health and property. Countless people and communities are at risk both in the short term and in the long term.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Thunberg was part of a group of protesters that blocked the road for oil trucks trying to gain access to Malmö harbour. </p> <p dir="ltr">She was charged for failing to leave when ordered to do so by police.</p> <p dir="ltr">Thunberg has been slapped with a fine for breaching the order, although it is not clear how much she will have to pay, as the fine will be based on her reported income. </p> <p dir="ltr">Thunberg became the face of the youth climate protest movement in 2018, when she began skipping school each Friday at the age of 15 to stage solo climate protests outside the Swedish parliament in Stockholm, holding up a sign reading, “Skolstrejk för klimatet” (school strike for climate).</p> <p dir="ltr">Despite regular school strikes and protests losing some momentum with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Thunberg has continued to travel the world joining climate protests and speaking at international summits, urging world leaders to act on the climate crisis.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Legal

Climate change protester crashes high-profile wedding

<p>Climate change protesters have crashed the wedding of former UK politician George Osbourne and his former aide Thea Rodgers.</p> <p>The ceremony, which took place in Somerset, England, had more than 200 guests and was attended by several high-profilers – including former prime ministers, other UK politicians and various journalists.</p> <p>A few of the guests in attendance included former Prime Minister David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, longstanding minister Michael Gove, and former <em>Sky News </em>political editor Adam Boulton among others.</p> <p>The protester, who claimed to be part of the environmental group Just Stop Oil, waited until the couple walked out of St Mary’s Church after the ceremony to throw handfuls of orange confetti over them.</p> <p>The woman had a big smile on her face as she continued emptying the confetti from a Union Jack bag, before being dragged away by security.</p> <p>Just Stop Oil tweeted footage of the incident with the caption: “You look good in orange @George_Osborne – congratulations to the newlyweds.”</p> <p>Despite applauding the protester’s action, the environmental group has denied their connection to the incident.</p> <p>"If it was a form of protest (which is yet to be established) we applaud it and thank the person concerned,” they tweeted.</p> <p>"It was peaceful and not especially disruptive but got massive media attention for Just Stop Oil's demand."</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Confettigate: A Statement From Just Stop Oil</p> <p>The lady who threw confetti in Bruton yesterday was upholding a tradition that is common across many cultures. We absolutely defend the right for people to throw confetti (of whatever colour) at weddings and other celebrations.</p> <p>If it… <a href="https://t.co/e0uRJkV2S6">pic.twitter.com/e0uRJkV2S6</a></p> <p>— Just Stop Oil (@JustStop_Oil) <a href="https://twitter.com/JustStop_Oil/status/1678014729216770048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 9, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>Another protester was reportedly spotted outside of the gates of the church.</p> <p>The group also added that people should focus on more important issues like the UK government’s decision to licence over 100 new oil and gas projects and the wildfires in Canada.</p> <p>This is Osbourne’s second wedding; he was previously married to Frances Osborne, but the pair divorced in 2019 after 21 years of marriage.</p> <p><em>Images: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images</em></p>

Relationships

Streets on fire after controversial raising of retirement age

<p>French Emmanuel Macron has ignited a furious spark in the people of France with controversial new pension reforms - those that would see the country’s pension age raised from 62 to 64. </p> <p>The changes were reportedly pushed through their parliament without a proper voting process - it has been said that Macron employed “special constitutional powers” to see it through. </p> <p>Protesters flocked to the streets in response, with over 250 different protests organised nationwide, in a move that has been praised by union leaders. </p> <p>However, while hundreds of thousands of participants experienced peaceful marches through some of the country’s largest cities, tensions were high in Bordeaux, and the town hall felt the full brunt of it when it was set alight. </p> <p>While it is not known who was responsible for the fire, it was quickly extinguished. </p> <p>In Paris, where the majority took part in peaceful demonstrations, violence did rear its head, with a number of clashes between protestors and police officers breaking out - shop windows were broken, street furniture demolished, and fast food establishments attacked. </p> <p>It has also been reported that while police were the target of various projectiles, they made use of tear gas to push back those responsible for any rioting behaviour. And at Place de l’Opera, the location at which demonstrators concluded their march, the tear gas was back, covering a portion of the area in a haze of fumes.  </p> <p>The official demonstration in Paris - which had drawn people from all over the French social spectrum - was not the only one to take a violent turn, with the cities of Nantes, Rennes, Lorient, and Lyon facing similar fates. </p> <p>The protests, coupled with strikes and industrial action across the country, disrupted transport and prompted the cancellation of flights, with airport authorities claiming roll-on effects from the chaos. Protestors also succeeded in blocking off Terminal 1 of France’s largest international airport, the Charles de Gaulle airport. </p> <p>As to why the French had taken this approach to fighting the reforms, one demonstrator in Nantes summed it up by declaring “the street has a legitimacy in France. </p> <p>“If Mr Macron can't remember this historic reality, I don't know what he is doing here.”</p> <p>And as another told <em>Reuters</em>, "I oppose this reform and I really oppose the fact that democracy no longer means anything. We're not being represented, and so we're fed up."</p> <p>"It is by protesting that we will be able to make ourselves heard because all the other ways ... have not allowed us to withdraw this reform," another explained to <em>AFP</em>.</p> <p>The women on the streets were furious, seeing Macron’s move as one that targeted them in particular, especially those that had been forced to step away from their careers to dedicate their time to raising their children. </p> <p>As one social worker told <em>The Guardian</em>, “everyone is angry. Everyone thinks this law is unfair, but it particularly penalises women who are expected to produce future generations of the nation, and then find they are punished for doing so.”</p> <p>“They want to raise it to 64 today. Will it be 66, 67, 68 tomorrow?” a teacher implored. “They tell us life expectancy is longer but are we to work until we collapse and are carted off to the crematorium?”</p> <p><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Retirement Life

Protest is dangerous, but feminists have a long history of using humour, pranks and stunts to promote their message

<p>Protest was dangerous in feminism’s formative years.</p> <p>The <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/electionsvoting/womenvote/overview/startsuffragette-/">suffragettes</a> in the United Kingdom initially began by trying to persuade and educate to win women the right to vote. </p> <p>When that didn’t work they became frustrated – and, by 1903, radical.</p> <p>By the 1910s, they adopted militant tactics, with women on hunger strikes being force-fed in prison. </p> <p>It climaxed in 1913 when Emily Wilding Davidson, holding the suffragette flag, stepped in front of the horse of King George V at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qkU_imbFoE">Epsom Derby</a>. </p> <p>Her funeral, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EIFDSb7tWc">reportedly</a> watched by 50,000 people, gave a global profile to the women’s right-to-vote campaign.</p> <p>But while protest was very dangerous for first-wave feminists, subsequent Western activists often adopted pranks.</p> <p>There is an adage that feminists and women aren’t funny. However, the history of activism reveals humour as a successful strategy for change.</p> <p>Here are four great contemporary feminist pranks that demonstrate the power of humour for advocacy.</p> <h2>1. A chain reaction</h2> <p>On March 31 1965, feminist activists Rosalie Bogner and Merle Thornton walked into Brisbane’s Regatta hotel, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-08/curious-brisbane-when-was-the-ban-on-women-drinking-in-public/9518222">chaining themselves</a> to the foot rail of the front bar.</p> <p>They were protesting the exclusion of women from Queensland public bars. </p> <p>The police were called, smashed the padlock, and told them to leave. They refused.</p> <p>After some bemused and sympathetic men gave them glasses of beer, the officer gave up, telling the women to have “a good time” and “don’t drink too much”. </p> <p>They inspired women nationally to do the same. Laws had changed across Australia by the early 1970s. </p> <p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-08/curious-brisbane-when-was-the-ban-on-women-drinking-in-public/9518222">According to</a> historian Kay Saunders, it was the “beginning of second-wave feminism” in Australia.</p> <h2>2. Guerrilla Girls</h2> <p>In 1985, the New York activist group Guerrilla Girls began their quest to counter the art world’s sexism, racism and inequality. They used gorilla masks to remain anonymous and emphasise that the message was paramount, not the activist. </p> <p>Guerrilla Girls famously erected posters and placed stickers protesting the lack of women in art galleries, asking “Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?”</p> <p><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/8uKg7hb2yoo" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>Humour and statistics enhanced awareness, got people involved, and illuminated issues such as how few women of colour have their work exhibited. </p> <p>Since the Guerrilla Girls began four decades ago, their messages have continued to spread and hold institutions accountable. They have expanded their mission to important causes such as poverty and war, while continuing to change the art world’s attitudes and to merging art and politics. </p> <p>But the gender imbalance in art galleries is still a global issue. This is currently being countered with initiatives such as the National Gallery of Australia’s <a href="https://nga.gov.au/knowmyname/">Know My Name</a> campaign and efforts to write women <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-21/australian-women-artists-national-gallery-of-australia/12890818">back into art history</a>.</p> <h2>3. Switcheroo</h2> <p>In 1993 the Barbie Liberation Organization <a href="https://beautifultrouble.org/">undertook</a> a Christmas prank, swapping the voice boxes of 50 Barbie and G.I. Joe dolls. </p> <p>G.I. Joe now said “I love to shop with you” or “Let’s plan our dream wedding”. Barbie hollered “Dead men tell no lies” or “Attack!”.</p> <p><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cxiDlJ7nfLo" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>With an aim to teach children about stereotypes, the <a href="https://beautifultrouble.org/toolbox/tool/barbie-liberation-organization/">spectacle</a>made a huge media splash for the cause.</p> <p>The tactic is known as “shop-dropping”. The activist bought, altered and then dropped the dolls back on the shelves. </p> <p>The organisation arranged for children to comment to the media on gender stereotyping, and the press reported there were hundreds of dolls instead of just 50.</p> <p>Although impact is hard to measure, the prank created unprecedented media attention leading to the visibility of the organisation’s issues based video. It questioned the status quo regarding what girls can do and should think, promoting social change in exposing how toys shape ideology. </p> <p>It revealed the impact of gender stereotypes and their insidious sexism; the way war toys are role models; and the need for playthings to be more inclusive and diverse. </p> <p>Mattel, the company that makes Barbie, did not react, but later released toys indicating it had received the message. These include the <a href="https://creations.mattel.com/collections/barbie-inspiring-women-series#?page=1">Inspiring Women series</a> featuring the likes of Eleanor Roosevelt, Ella Fitzgerald and Jane Goodall.</p> <h2>4. Sausage fest!</h2> <p>At the 2016 Australian Film Institute’s premier event, the AACTA Awards, protesters from Women in Film and Television NSW blocked the red carpet dressed as sausages and chanting “end the sausage party”. </p> <p>The event was <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=watch_permalink&amp;v=562946123902893">livestreamed on Facebook</a> after security gave them access, thinking they were part of the event.</p> <p>The women <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2016/dec/07/protesters-gatecrash-aacta-awards-red-carpet-chanting-end-the-sausage-party">were protesting</a> for a quota system to improve the number of women working in the film and television industries. </p> <p><a href="https://www.wiftaustralia.org.au/nsw-advocacy">They wanted</a> to highlight a lack of feature film judging transparency, the low proportion of nominations for women, and how few films were directed and driven by female creatives. </p> <p><a href="https://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/getmedia/1ee452a2-3567-4398-86c3-56535f7d9827/screen-australia-proportion-of-women-in-creative-roles-all-formats-2021-2.jpg?ext=.jpg">Only 20%</a> of Australian-funded feature films have a female director. AACTA does not fund films and it is therefore the broader industry that urgently needs to lift female participation.</p> <p>Since the sausage prank, AACTA entry forms also ask about the diversity of the filmmakers, triggering producers to reflect on inclusion in their films.</p> <p>AACTA has also changed its eligibility rules, engaging with Women in Film and Television to expand eligibility beyond just films that received a theatrical release.</p> <p>This reduced barriers to entry; opportunities for women and diverse filmmakers are more frequently in independent or low-budget sectors, which don’t always attain release in commercial cinemas. This change in eligibility was <a href="https://www.filmink.com.au/public-notice/aacta-feature-film-eligibility-policy-changes-new-online-video-award-announced/">reported</a> as allowing greater inclusion and diversity. </p> <p>Recognition across society has come from a long line of feminist pranksters. But slow progress means there is still a long way to go to achieve equality and equity.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/protest-is-dangerous-but-feminists-have-a-long-history-of-using-humour-pranks-and-stunts-to-promote-their-message-199298" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Caring

“A wake-up call for the cops”: Sydney protester Danny Lim released from hospital

<p dir="ltr">Well-known Sydney activist Danny Lim has been released from hospital after injuries to his head and face during an attempted arrest by police that sparked outcry.</p> <p dir="ltr">The 78-year-old, recognised by many for his sandwich board signs bearing political messages, was hospitalised after officers tried to arrest him for failing to “comply with a move-on order” at the Queen Victoria Building on Tuesday.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-def68152-7fff-863a-aabf-28d0df6634e4"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Criminal lawyer Chris Murphy, a lawyer at the firm that represents Mr Lim, confirmed that he had been released from St Vincent’s Hospital on Thursday with “a plan in place for ongoing monitoring”.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Danny Lim has been released from hospital with a plan in place for ongoing monitoring. Thank you staff at St Vincent’s Darlinghurst for the loving care.Thank you to the community for your love &amp; support, hope to get our happy icon back with his smiles and his signs. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/beautiful?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#beautiful</a> <a href="https://t.co/k4ZclbOCyg">pic.twitter.com/k4ZclbOCyg</a></p> <p>— chris murphy (@chrismurphys) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrismurphys/status/1595493821323714560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“Thank you staff at St Vincent’s Darlinghurst for the loving care,” he wrote on social media.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Thank you to the community for your love and support, hope to get our happy icon back with his smiles and his signs."</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Murphy also shared footage of the incident and updates on the activist’s health, with the <em><a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/sydney-man-danny-lim-arrest-to-undergo-independent-review-after-outrage/c4vq7yd9m" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SBS</a></em> reporting that Mr Lim was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma on Wednesday.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Internal skull damage diagnose(d)," Mr Murphy said on Twitter.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Lim was wearing a sign that read ‘Smile cvn’t! Why cvn’t?’ while walking through Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building on Tuesday when security told him to leave.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4377394a-7fff-c06d-c274-0f2f1157eb29"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Police were called and confronted the protester, with footage taken by a witness showing Mr Lim being tripped and pushed down by two officers, falling head-first onto the tiled floor and being handcuffed.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">BREAKING NEWS:VIDEO VIOLENT NSW POLICE ARREST OF INNOCENT 80 YEAR OLD MAN WEARING BILLBOARD A COURT HAS FOUND LEGAL THE LAST TIME HE WAS WRONGLY ARRESTED FOR IT. CVNT LIKE CENT AND CANT IS NOT AN OFFENSIVE TERM. LAST TIME COURT CRITICISED HEAVY HANDED VIOLENCE NOW IN HOSPITAL. <a href="https://t.co/Ovy942m4tx">pic.twitter.com/Ovy942m4tx</a></p> <p>— chris murphy (@chrismurphys) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrismurphys/status/1594898646981496832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">When Mr Lim was picked up off the tiled floor, blood could be seen on the ground and on his cheek, and officers “discontinued” the arrest.</p> <p dir="ltr">Speaking to <em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/22/serial-protester-danny-lim-in-hospital-after-discontinued-arrest-in-sydney-cbd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guardian Australia</a></em> from hospital, Mr Lim said he had asked police to call an ambulance and informed them he had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).</p> <p dir="ltr">“I told them to ring an ambulance,” he said on Tuesday. </p> <p dir="ltr">“They refused.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I could be dead when they threw me down like that.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Businessman Mike Ashley, a witness to the altercation, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/24/danny-lim-asked-police-to-call-ambulance-and-told-them-of-his-ptsd-before-arrest-witness-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told the outlet</a> that he noticed the hearted confrontation and heard Mr Lim repeatedly asked officers to call an ambulance.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Ashley said Lim had been begging for an ambulance to be called before he was thrown to the ground.</p> <p dir="ltr">“He let them know very clearly that he had PTSD, and that he needed an ambulance,” Mr Ashley said. </p> <p dir="ltr">“He voiced that very clearly at the outset. He became increasingly agitated as they approached him.”</p> <p dir="ltr">But, when Mr Ashley said he was threatened by officers when he tried to intervene and asked Mr Lim if he should call an ambulance.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The officer … said, ‘If you do that, we will charge you with hindering an arrest,’” he said. </p> <p dir="ltr">“It didn’t seem like the sort of thing that you might use to de-escalate [the] situation.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Following the incident, the actions officers took during the arrest will be subject to an independent review.</p> <p dir="ltr">In a statement, police said Mr Lim had failed to comply with move-on orders from security and officers.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Police will allege the man was subsequently issued with a move on direction by officers and failed to comply," they said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The man's arrest was discontinued after he struggled with police and sustained an injury to his cheekbone ...</p> <p dir="ltr">"As inquiries into the incident continue, an independent review has been launched, which will examine the actions of police during the incident."</p> <p dir="ltr">His recent arrest has been condemned by many online and by politicians, including the NSW Greens.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The actions by the NSW Police yesterday were completely out of line and an indication of just how dangerous new police powers are to the vulnerable in our society," Greens MP Sue Higginson said on Wednesday.</p> <p dir="ltr">"This type of violent arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere."</p> <p dir="ltr">Independent member Alex Greenwich told <em><a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/11/23/danny-lim-hospitalised-nsw-over-policing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crikey</a></em> the incident was “deeply concerning” and an example of “over-policing”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Sydneysiders have a great deal of affection for Danny Lim and people know who he is and that he is a peaceful protester and a harmless person. It’s deeply concerning to see over-policing, let alone over-policing leading to someone being injured,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-38bb2749-7fff-0c0c-cfc0-5ff7a3e3fe53"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“I hope this is a wake-up call for the cops and I obviously hope that Danny has a full recovery.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Today after being smashed into the floor by New South Wales Police. Internal skull damage diagnose. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DannyLim?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DannyLim</a> <a href="https://t.co/Cc5IvO3nP9">pic.twitter.com/Cc5IvO3nP9</a></p> <p>— chris murphy (@chrismurphys) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrismurphys/status/1594913582063706112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Amnesty International Australia said they had documented incidents where police used force against people, like Mr Lim, who were expressing their right to freedom of expression and hoped NSW Police would follow through on holding an independent review.</p> <p dir="ltr">“People like 78-year-old Danny Lim should be free to express themselves without fearing injury,” the organisation said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Lim has previously been arrested and fined $500 for wearing the same sign, but was deemed to be allowed to wear it after a successful court case in 2019.</p> <p dir="ltr">Magistrate Jaqueline Milledge ruled at the time in favour of Mr Lim, saying “the police action was heavy-handed and unnecessary” and ruling that the signs may be cheeky but weren’t criminally offensive.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5657dbd1-7fff-2b1e-ab73-e7279a271691"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Twitter</em></p>

Legal

UK comedian shreds thousands in protest of David Beckham’s Qatar deal

<p dir="ltr">English comedian Joe Lycett has called out footballer David Beckham for his multi-million-dollar deal with Qatar by shredding £10,000 - but Lycett’s protest has come with a twist.</p> <p dir="ltr">After Beckham came under fire for accepting the cash from Qatar - where homosexuality is illegal and you can be jailed or put to death as punishment - to promote the World Cup, Lycett took to social media to call on the former English captain to put his money where his mouth is.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b0f7f24c-7fff-e87b-cd94-977224136cd7"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Lycett shared a video where he said he would donate £10,000 ($AU 17,700 or $NZ 19,386) if Beckham withdrew from his deal with Qatar before the World Cup started on November 19.</p> <p dir="ltr">If Beckham didn’t, Lycett said he would shred it.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/ClGfxiQIvDb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/ClGfxiQIvDb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Joe Lycett (@joelycett)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">"This is a message to David Beckham... I consider you to be a gay icon," Lycett said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"You were the first premiership footballer to do shoots with gay magazines like Attitude, to speak openly about your gay fans, and you married a Spice Girl, which is the gayest thing a human being can do.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Qatar was voted as one of the worst places in the world to be gay. You've always talked about the power of football to be a force for good... so with that in mind, I'm giving you a choice.</p> <p dir="ltr">"If you end your relationship with Qatar, I'll donate this 10 grand of my own money to charities that support queer people in football. However, if you do not... I will throw this money into a shredder.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Not just the money, but also your status as a gay icon will be shredded."</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-735f7414-7fff-0c3f-b123-4b37c34f34e3"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">After his video went viral, Lycett shared a message he sent to Beckham’s PR team on social media.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/ClBdqBgoPAM/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/ClBdqBgoPAM/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Joe Lycett (@joelycett)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“I’ve managed to get myself into a bit of a pickle - I’ve been a bit daft and publicly announced that I’m going to shred £10K on Sunday if David doesn’t end his relationship with Qatar, or donate the cash to LGBTQ+ charities if he does, yet we’re now four days out and I haven’t heard a peep from him,” he wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Could you do me a solid and let me know if there’s a chance he might budge on his position, or am I to expect radio silence on this? I really don’t want to shred ten grand!!! I also really don’t want a national treasure that has historically supported the LGBTQ+ community to publicly endorse and advertise a nation state that has an appalling human rights record and has the death penalty for gays - call me old fashioned!!!!!!”</p> <p dir="ltr">With Beckham not responding or backing out of the deal with Qatar, Lycett shared a clip on Sunday of himself putting wads into a woodchipper, dressed in a rainbow coat.</p> <p dir="ltr">But that isn’t the end of the story.</p> <p dir="ltr">The comedian shared another video on Monday, where he revealed that the stunt wasn’t what it appeared to be.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This is my final message to David Beckham,” he began the clip.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s me! That prick who shredded loads of money in a cost-of-living crisis.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I told you I was going to destroy £10,000 if you didn’t end your relationship with Qatar before the first day of the World Cup. And then when you didn’t end your relationship or even respond in any way, I streamed myself dropping 10K into a shredder.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Or did I?</p> <p dir="ltr">“I haven’t quite told you the whole truth. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Because the truth is, the money that went into the shredder was real, but the money that came out was fake.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Lycett added that he wouldn’t be “so irresponsible” to destroy “real money”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“In fact, the ten grand had already been donated to LGBTQ+ charities before I even pressed send on the initial tweet last week,” he continued.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I never expected to hear from you. It was an empty threat designed to get people talking.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-0189d111-7fff-2b5e-96d4-872ebc0b31b0"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“In many ways, it was like your deal with Qatar, David. Total bulls**t from the start.”</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/tv/ClOMLKuIY0r/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/tv/ClOMLKuIY0r/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Joe Lycett (@joelycett)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Lycett ended the clip by shredding another item: the 2002 cover of <em>Attitude </em>magazine that featured Beckham, which was the first gay magazine to feature a Premier League footballer on it.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I asked <em>Attitude </em>if I could shred it and they were more than happy to oblige,” Lycett said, before running the cover through a paper shredder.</p> <p dir="ltr">His final video, captioned with a single rainbow flag, received a flood of praise from fellow celebrities and fans.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Oh you. It’s like you thought it all through or somethin …” Dawn French commented.</p> <p dir="ltr">“You are flipping amazing ❤️❤️❤️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈,” singer Sophie Ellis Bexter added.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d1dc9455-7fff-40cd-4ae9-c47bf33ab5ef"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Money & Banking

Soup on Van Gogh and graffiti on Warhol: climate activists follow the long history of museums as a site of protest

<p>Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup Cans at the National Gallery of Australia are just the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/nov/09/climate-activists-target-andy-warhols-campbells-soup-cans-at-australias-national-gallery">latest artistic target</a> of climate protesters, who have been throwing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/14/just-stop-oil-activists-throw-soup-at-van-goghs-sunflowers">soup</a>, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/climate-protesters-throw-mashed-potatoes-at-monet-painting/2022/10/23/cc39e636-52f0-11ed-ac8b-08bbfab1c5a5_story.html">mashed potatoes</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/climate-protesters-throw-mashed-potatoes-at-monet-painting/2022/10/23/cc39e636-52f0-11ed-ac8b-08bbfab1c5a5_story.html">cake</a> at art worth millions of dollars.</p> <p>The actions have received a <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/in-doha-four-museum-directors-talk-the-climate-protests-1234644472/">muted response</a> from some museum directors, but the protesters know exactly what they are doing. </p> <p>As the activists who threw soup on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers <a href="https://www.frieze.com/article/interview-just-stop-oil">said, "</a>We know that civil resistance works. History has shown us that."</p> <p>Indeed, there is a long history of museums and art being used for political protest.</p> <h2>For women’s suffrage and women artists</h2> <p>In 1914, suffragette Mary Richardson <a href="https://womensarttours.com/slashing-venus-suffragettes-and-vandalism/">slashed</a> the canvas of Velázquez’s Rokeby Venus at London’s National Gallery. </p> <p>Richardson wanted to attract publicity to Emmeline Pankhurst’s imprisonment for her suffragette actions. Richardson selected this painting in part because of its value, and because of “the way men visitors gaped at it all day long”.</p> <p>Her tactics are credited as <a href="https://www.surfacemag.com/articles/just-stop-oil-protests-museums-environmental-activism/">motivating</a> Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil.</p> <p>Since 1985, the <a href="https://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/25207/1/Camillabrownpaper.pdf">Guerrilla Girls</a> have been exposing sexual and racial discrimination in the art world.</p> <p>Their actions have usually occurred at the outskirts of museums: in museum foyers, on nearby billboards and on New York City buses. Perhaps their most famous work <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/guerrilla-girls-do-women-have-to-be-naked-to-get-into-the-met-museum-p78793">asked</a>: “do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum?”</p> <h2>Against corporate sponsorship and artwashing</h2> <p><a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/decolonize-this-place-kanders-whitney-nine-weeks-of-art-and-action-12207/">Decolonize this Place</a> brings together campaigns against racial and economic inequality. </p> <p>They organised a campaign beginning in 2018 targeting the then vice-chair of New York’s Whitney Museum, Warren B. Kander, whose company sold tear gas that had reportedly been used against asylum seekers along the US-Mexico border. </p> <p>The campaign’s first event was held in the museum’s foyer. <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/no-space-profiteer-state-violence-decolonize-place-protests-whitney-vice-chair-warren-b-kanders-11507/">Protesters burned sage</a> to mimic tear gas, which wafted through the lobby until the fire department arrived. </p> <p>The protesters argued Kander’s business interests meant he was not fit to lead a globally significant cultural heritage institution that sought relevance for a wide and diverse public constituency. Kander <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/25/arts/whitney-warren-kanders-resigns.html">resigned</a> from the museum’s board in 2019.</p> <p>Since 2018, artist <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sackler-nan-goldin-victoria-albert-1704450">Nan Goldin</a> and her “Opioid Activist Group” have been staging “die-ins” at the museum to protest against the galleries named for sponsorship from the Sackler family.</p> <p>The Sackler family business is Purdue Pharma, infamous for OxyContin, a major drug in the US <a href="https://www.npr.org/2022/03/03/1084163626/purdue-sacklers-oxycontin-settlement">opioid crisis</a>. </p> <p>Activists have targeted galleries around the world, and so far the Sackler name has been removed from galleries including the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/arts/sackler-family-museums.html">Louvre</a>, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/mar/25/british-museum-removes-sackler-family-name-from-galleries">British Museum</a>, the <a href="https://news.artnet.com/art-world/sackler-name-change-guggenheim-museum-2110993">Guggenheim</a> and, as of last month, the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/oct/01/campaigners-celebrate-as-va-severs-sackler-links-over-opioids-cash">Victoria and Albert Museum</a>.</p> <h2>For the return of cultural artefacts</h2> <p>The highest-profile actions against the British Museum have targeted its rejection of calls to return objects including the <a href="https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/parthenon-marbles-british-museum-protest-1234632365/">Parthenon Marbles</a> of Greece, the <a href="https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/british-museum-closes-gallery-in-response-to-protesters">Benin Bronzes</a> from modern-day Nigeria, and the <a href="https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/b/british-museum-closes-gallery-in-response-to-protesters">Gweagal shield</a> from Australia. </p> <p>In 2018, a group of activists performed a “<a href="https://camd.org.au/stolen-goods-tour-of-bm-protest/">Stolen Goods Tour</a>” of the museum. Participants from across the world gave a different story to what visitors read in the museum’s object labels and catalogues, as the activist tour guides explained their continuing connections with objects in the collection.</p> <p>The tour did not convince the museum to return cultural items, but drew extensive global attention to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/11/nigeria-benin-repatriate-bronzes-smithsonian">ongoing campaigns</a>seeking restitution and repatriation.</p> <h2>In the culture wars</h2> <p>Protests using art and museums aren’t just the domain of the left.</p> <p>In 1969, <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Museums-and-Social-Activism-Engaged-Protest/Message/p/book/9780415658539">an arsonist destroyed</a> a display at the National Museum of American History that commemorated Martin Luther King Jr, who had been recently assassinated. The perpetrator was never identified.</p> <p>In 2017, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/18/noose-found-hanging-washington-museum">nooses</a> were left at various museums of the Smithsonian, including The National Museum of African American History and Culture. No groups ever came forward to claim responsibility or express a motive, but the noose is a potent and divisive symbol of segregation and racially motivated violence.</p> <p>In December 2021, doors to the Museum of Australian Democracy in Canberra were <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-30/act-protesters-set-old-parliament-house-on-fire/100731444">set alight</a> twice by protesters with a number of grievances, including opposition to COVID-19 vaccines.</p> <p>The museum’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-20/multimillion-dollar-repair-bill-for-old-parliament-house-fire/100770268">director said</a> the “assault on the building” would force the museum to rethink its commitment to being “as open as possible, representing all that is good about Australian democracy”, and at the same time keeping it protected.</p> <h2>‘Direct action works’</h2> <p>The past two decades have seen a surge of art-focused demonstrations. </p> <p>In 2019, Decolonize this Place and Goldin’s anti-Sackler coalition met with members of 30 other groups in front of Andy Warhol’s “The Last Supper” (1986) at the Whitney. </p> <p>They were there to celebrate the Tate Museum in London and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, who had announced they would stop taking funding from the Sackler family. One participant cried “<a href="https://hyperallergic.com/491418/decolonize-this-place-nine-weeks-launch/">direct action works!</a>” </p> <p>Even when protests at museums and art achieve less concrete outcomes than this, they remain central tools for building public awareness around political and social issues. </p> <p>It is unlikely actions against museums and art will subside anytime soon.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/soup-on-van-gogh-and-graffiti-on-warhol-climate-activists-follow-the-long-history-of-museums-as-a-site-of-protest-193009" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

Protester detained over royal egging

<p dir="ltr">A protester has been arrested after throwing eggs at King Charles III and Camilla during their royal visit in Yorkshire.</p> <p dir="ltr">The second day of the couple’s royal tour saw them take part in a welcoming ceremony to the City of York on Wednesday, where they greeted well-wishers lining the streets.</p> <p dir="ltr">But things took a turn when a protester hurled an egg at the king from among the crowd, which he appeared to turn his head to avoid before it splattered on the ground next to him.</p> <p dir="ltr">When another three eggs were thrown, security stepped in and moved the King and Queen Consort back from the crowds.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-fa0dde20-7fff-065b-f995-9c57f3b3313e"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">As police detained the protester, boos were heard among the crowd that seemed to be aimed at the egg-wielding man before chants of “God Save the King” broke out.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/11/charles-egg-visit-arrest.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, King Charles and Camilla continued their walkabout on the other side of the street and made one young well-wisher very happy.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-0e9d0b11-7fff-6a18-dcd6-ca492281bf6b"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">The couple greeted Jason, a young boy who is visually impaired, before each holding his hands and walking with him.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Thank you to <a href="https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RoyalFamily</a> for their special meeting with young resident Jason who is visually impaired. He was thrilled to meet the King and Queen Consort today whilst they visited York. <a href="https://t.co/Vx8nol1mrH">pic.twitter.com/Vx8nol1mrH</a></p> <p>— City of York Council (@CityofYork) <a href="https://twitter.com/CityofYork/status/1590323338756300800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Afterwards, the town clerk read the official declaration of welcome to the city before the couple left for York Minster, where Charles unveiled a statue of his late mother.</p> <p dir="ltr">During his speech, the monarch said he was “deeply touched” to unveil the statue commemorating Queen Elizabeth II, adding that it will “watch what will become Queen Elizabeth Square”.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-11f94a3e-7fff-e94c-9cd8-c2020dbfdfce"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">The statue, the first to be unveiled since the Queen’s death in September, was commissioned five years ago to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee this year.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/11/charles-egg-visit.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p> <p dir="ltr">"Now, as we have witnessed, with great sadness, the passing of that reign, it is unveiled in her memory, as a tribute to a life of extraordinary service and devotion," King Charles said.</p> <p dir="ltr">He said the “symbolism of the statue, combining the signs of Church and of State, is perfectly suited to its place on the West Front of this glorious building”.</p> <p dir="ltr">His and Camilla’s tour of the city comes ten years after the last royal visit, when Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip entered the city to attend the Maundy Service at York Minster.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-026f7316-7fff-0ade-99ef-15dc23f4faa1"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Getty Images</em></p>

Travel Trouble

Iran: protesters call for move to a non-religious state. What changes would that bring?

<p>My friend was in Tehran during protests after <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/events-iran-since-mahsa-aminis-arrest-death-custody-2022-10-05/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the death</a> of Mahsa Amini while in the custody of the morality police (Gasht-e Ershad). My friend went into a grocery shop intending to buy milk. The seller refused to sell anything to her. “Why are you refusing?” she asked. “I can see that you have milk.” “Because you are wearing a hijab,” the seller responded.</p> <p>This is part of a backlash by those who see themselves as oppressed by the Islamic Republic’s discriminatory hijab law, which prosecutes women for not “covering up”. The term hijab is an Arabic word meaning cover. It’s used to refer to different types of covering, from a long-sleeved coat, pants and scarf to the Islamic government’s preferred form of dress, chador, which is a loose-fitting black cloth worn over the entire body. After Mahsa Amini’s killing in September, mass protests broke out over this law and its enforcement.</p> <p>Wearing hijab became obligatory for all Iranian women from April 1983, after the 1979 revolution. Since then, all women have been forced by law to wear hijab (a covering of hair and or body) in public, even non-Muslims and foreigners visiting Iran. If they don’t they face prosecution.</p> <p>The government of Iran, the Islamic Republic, argues that God commands women to wear hijab. This is a government which has leaders who are members of the clergy and merged religious beliefs into state law. But even some Islamic scholars argue that the Qur'an does not suggest that hijab should be <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300257311/women-and-gender-in-islam/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">compulsory</a>.</p> <p>Mahsa Amini’s case is polarising Iran: those who rigorously advocate the hijab and religious law are set against those who prefer a <a href="https://time.com/6216024/iran-protests-islamic-republic-response/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secular state</a>, not run by religious values.</p> <p>This has led the nation to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/26/iran-at-least-15-killed-after-gunmen-attack-shrine-in-shiraz" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the current upheaval</a>, with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/08/are-hijab-protests-the-beginning-of-the-end-for-irans-regime" target="_blank" rel="noopener">vast</a> protests across the country, and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63410577" target="_blank" rel="noopener">people being killed</a>.</p> <p>At many protests the Iranian resistance chant is <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/iran-protests-women-life-freedom-mahsa-amini-killing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Zan, Zendegi, Azadi</a> (#WomenLifeFreedom) is heard. The protesters call for life and liberty to be applicable to everyone (religious and non-religious). A big part of <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protests-majority-of-people-reject-compulsory-hijab-and-an-islamic-regime-surveys-find-191448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the motivation</a> behind these protests is to challenge how the current religious law takes away the right of women to choose what to wear.</p> <h2>What is secularism?</h2> <p>Secularism is the idea that states should be <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/1881/chapter-abstract/141631825?redirectedFrom=fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">neutral about religion</a>. The state should not <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/feb/16/what-mean-secular-state-neutral" target="_blank" rel="noopener">back</a> a specific religion over others. A secular state <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1548-1360.2011.01117.x" target="_blank" rel="noopener">provides</a> equal opportunity for religious and non-religious citizens to pursue their lives. The state must respect everyone’s values (including minorities), not just some people’s values.</p> <p>Secularism seems reasonable <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/28394" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to many</a> because it is unusual for an entire nation to believe in a religion as one source of law. Some <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00263206.2019.1643330" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scholars of Islam</a> disagree with the established interpretation of the Islamic Republic about whether God has commanded a mandatory hijab. As a result, they claim that hijab is not about covering hair but about “modesty”. Some others challenge <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/12/iran-hijab-law-protest-ali-larijani" target="_blank" rel="noopener">the way</a> the morality police treat women in the street.</p> <p>While some people might be railing against women being forced to wear the hijab, others continue to feel strongly about its continued use. <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-qom-women-hijab/31929986.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reports</a> say that Iranian authorities have closed some coffee shops because of the “improper” hijab of some female customers. And more <a href="https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/iran-detains-woman-eating-breakfast-without-hijab" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recently</a>, a woman was arrested for eating breakfast in a café with no hijab.</p> <h2>Iranian history of secularism</h2> <p>Modern debates about secularism in Iran can be traced back to the <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/irans-constitutional-revolution-9780755649235/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Constitutional Revolution</a> in 1906. It advocated <a href="https://iranicaonline.org/articles/constitutional-revolution-i" target="_blank" rel="noopener">liberalism and secularism</a> and began conversations about a society without religious rules for all.</p> <p>Iranians experienced enforced secularisation shortly after Reza Shah Pahlavi was <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Reza-Shah-Pahlavi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">crowned</a> in 1925. In 1936 he issued a decree <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/iran-and-the-headscarf-protests/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kashf-e hijab</a> that any public expression of religious faith, including wearing hijab, was illegal. Again, this was a leader was telling women what to wear. However, his attempt to militantly secularise and westernise Iran faced <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/mono/10.4324/9780203060636-22/banning-veil-consequences-dr-stephanie-cronin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">resistance</a> from society.</p> <p>The overthrow of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1979 led to the establishment of a militant Islamic government based on <a href="https://www.icit-digital.org/books/islam-and-revolution-writings-and-declarations-of-imam-khomeini-1941-1980" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shia Muslim teachings</a>. After the hijab became <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/irans-headscarf-politics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mandatory</a>, it became a symbol of compulsory faith. It has also played a significant role in pushing some parts of the Iranian population towards a more secular state.</p> <p>In 2022 Iran is experiencing some dramatic shifts, including what appears to be a shift towards secularism. Some argue that secularism is an <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1979/05/25/archives/khomeini-terms-secular-critics-enemies-of-islam-dictatorship-of-the.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">enemy</a> of religion or a product of <a href="https://nyupress.org/9780814795644/democracy-in-modern-iran/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">western colonisation</a>. Despite the majority of Iranians considering themselves <a href="https://gamaan.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/GAMAAN-Iran-Religion-Survey-2020-English.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">religious</a>, some evidence shows that Iranians are <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protests-majority-of-people-reject-compulsory-hijab-and-an-islamic-regime-surveys-find-191448" target="_blank" rel="noopener">less religious</a> than before.</p> <p>Since the Islamic revolution there’s been a lot of research about how Iran could work as a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Secularization-of-Islam-in-Post-Revolutionary-Iran/Pargoo/p/book/9780367654672" target="_blank" rel="noopener">secular</a> society and about religious <a href="https://brill.com/view/book/9789047400714/B9789047400714_s006.xml" target="_blank" rel="noopener">tolerance</a>.</p> <p>The current protest movement, led mainly by <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/irans-rising-generation-z-forefront-protests" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Gen Z in Iran</a>, is growing partly because of its use of the internet and social media to communicate and share information. People can also learn from other nations’ experiences of secularism through social media. This is why the regime is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2022/oct/06/why-is-the-government-in-iran-shutting-down-the-internet-podcast" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shutting down</a> the internet and censoring YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.</p> <p><a href="https://gamaan.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/GAMAAN-Political-Systems-Survey-2022-English-Final.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">One poll</a> suggests that more than 60% of Iranians now want a non-religious state, the question is whether those in power are willing to give it to them.</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protesters-call-for-move-to-a-non-religious-state-what-changes-would-that-bring-193198" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Sky News</em></p>

Legal

Iran protest at enforced hijab sparks online debate and feminist calls for action across Arab world

<p>Iranian authorities have cracked down on protests which erupted after the death in custody of a 22-year-old woman who was arrested by the morality police for not wearing the hijab appropriately. The <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-62986057" target="_blank" rel="noopener">death of Mahsa Amini</a> who was reportedly beaten after being arrested for wearing her hijab “improperly” sparked street protests.</p> <p>Unrest has spread across the country as women burned their headscarves to protest laws that force women to wear the hijab. Seven people are reported to have been killed, and the government has almost completely <a href="https://twitter.com/netblocks/status/1572651793355603972" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shut down</a> the internet.</p> <p>But in the Arab world – including in Iraq, where I was brought up – the protests have attracted attention and women are <a href="https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1RDGlaVekMMJL/peek" target="_blank" rel="noopener">gathering online</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/EsraaMAA1/status/1572373663164538882?s=20&amp;t=sP2kn4dJ7RZUSqWT6GDr6w" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offer solidarity</a> to Iranian women struggling under the country’s harsh theocratic regime.</p> <p>The enforcement of the hijab and, by extension, guardianship over women’s bodies and minds, are not exclusive to Iran. They manifest in different forms and degrees in many countries.</p> <p>In Iraq, and unlike the case of Iran, forced wearing of the hijab <a href="https://www.mei.edu/publications/constitutional-and-legal-rights-iraqi-women" target="_blank" rel="noopener">is unconstitutional</a>. However, the ambiguity and contradictions of much of the constitution, particularly <a href="https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Iraq_2005.pdf?lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Article 2</a> about Islam being the primary source of legislation, has enabled the condition of forced hijab.</p> <p>Since the 1990s, when Saddam Hussein launched his <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/jan/24/iraq.rorymccarthy1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Faith Campaign</a> in response to economic sanctions imposed by the UN security council, pressure on women to wear the hijab has become widespread. Following the US-led invasion of the country, the situation worsened under the rule of Islamist parties, many of whom have close ties to Iran.</p> <p>Contrary to the claim in 2004 by US president <a href="https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2004/03/20040312-5.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">George W. Bush</a> that Iraqi people were “now learning the blessings of freedom”, women have been enduring the heavy hand of patriarchy perpetuated by Islamism, militarisation and tribalism, and exacerbated by the influence of Iran.</p> <p>Going out without a hijab in Baghdad became a daily struggle for me after 2003. I had to put on a headscarf to protect myself wherever I entered a conservative neighbourhood, especially during the years of sectarian violence.</p> <p>Flashbacks of pro-hijab posters and banners hanging around my university in central Baghdad have always haunted me. The situation has remained unchanged over two decades, with the hijab <a href="http://www.idu.net/modblank.php?mod=news&amp;modfile=print&amp;itemid=25626" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reportedly imposed</a> on children and little girls in primary and secondary schools.</p> <p>A <a href="https://www.bbc.com/arabic/trending-62985885" target="_blank" rel="noopener">new campaign</a> against the enforced wearing of the hijab in Iraqi public schools has surfaced on social media. Natheer Isaa, a leading activist in the <a href="https://twitter.com/Nathereisaa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Women for Women</a> group, which is leading the campaign, told me that hijab is cherished by many conservative or tribal members of society and that backlashes are predictable.</p> <p>Similar campaigns were suspended due to threats and online attacks. Women posting on social media with the campaign hashtag #notocompulsoryhijab, have attracted <a href="https://twitter.com/am_m_zhs/status/1571931577491275782?s=20&amp;t=Y9fneuMxJufMq7RgcRMsSg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reactionary tweets</a> accusing them of being anti-Islam and anti-society.</p> <p>Similar accusations are levelled at Iranian women who defy the regime by taking off or burning their headscarves. Iraqi Shia cleric, Ayad Jamal al-Dinn <a href="https://twitter.com/hiba_alnnayib/status/1572696301363666944?s=20&amp;t=n1UixEREr2gur81vBChBgA" target="_blank" rel="noopener">lashed out</a> against the protests on his Twitter account, labelling the protesting Iranian women “anti-hijab whores” who are seeking to destroy Islam and culture.</p> <h2>Cyberfeminists and reactionary men</h2> <p>In my <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/projects/internationalrelationssecurity/cyberfeminisms/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">digital ethnographic work</a> on cyberfeminism in Iraq and other countries, I have encountered numerous similar reactions to women who question the hijab or decide to remove it. Women who use their social media accounts to reject the hijab are often met with sexist attacks and threats that attempt to shame and silence them.</p> <p>Those who openly speak about their decision to take off the hijab receive the harshest reaction. The hijab is linked to women’s honour and chastity, so removing it is seen as defiance.</p> <p>Women’s struggle with the forced hijab and the backlash against them challenges the prevailing cultural narrative that says wearing the hijab is a free choice. While many women freely decide whether to wear it or not, others are obliged to wear it.</p> <p>So academics need to revisit the discourse around the hijab and the conditions perpetuating the mandatory wearing of it. In doing so it is important to move away from the false dichotomies of culture versus religion, or the local versus the western, which obscure rather than illuminate the root causes of forced hijab.</p> <p>In her academic <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0141778919849525" target="_blank" rel="noopener">research</a> on gender-based violence in the context of the Middle East, feminist academic Nadje al-Ali emphasises the need to break away from these binaries and recognise the various complex power dynamics involved – both locally and internationally.</p> <p>The issue of forcing women to wear the hijab in conservative societies should be at the heart of any discussion about women’s broader fight for freedom and social justice.</p> <p>Iranian women’s rage against compulsory hijab wearing, despite the security crackdown, is part of a wider women’s struggle against autocratic conservative regimes and societies that deny them agency. The collective outrage in Iran and Iraq invites us to challenge the compulsory hijab and those imposing it on women or perpetuating the conditions enabling it.</p> <p>As one Iraqi female activist told me: “For many of us, hijab is like the gates of a jail, and we are the invisible prisoners.” It is important for the international media and activists to bring their struggle to light, without subscribing to the narrative that Muslim women need saving by the international community.</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/iran-protest-at-enforced-hijab-sparks-online-debate-and-feminist-calls-for-action-across-arab-world-191178" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>.</strong></p> <p><em>Image: Twitter</em></p>

Travel Trouble

"If we stop communicating, Putin wins. Propaganda wins": how a Norwegian organisation is supporting Russian protest art

<p>As an international student at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow in 2012, I remember studying <em>Rekviem</em> (requiem) by Russian poet <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/anna-akhmatova">Anna Ahkmatova</a>, an elegy she penned in secret as a tribute to the countless victims of Stalin’s murderous purges. </p> <p>Akhmatova’s writing revived the atrocities, delivering their darkness into the light.</p> <p>Her words spoke of constant fear permeating lives; of distrust, anxiety and betrayal; of the secret police arriving to drag you or your family away. </p> <p>To avoid detection and retribution, Ahkmatova whispered the poem to her friends who committed it to memory. She burned the incriminating scraps of paper.</p> <p>In the first four-and-a-half months following Putin’s attack against Ukraine, over 13,000 anti-war protesters <a href="https://ovdinfo.org/articles/2022/03/07/cracked-heads-and-tasers-results-march-6th-anti-war-protests">were detained</a> in Russia.</p> <p>Some estimates are that <a href="https://meduza.io/feature/2022/05/07/skolko-lyudey-uehalo-iz-rossii-iz-za-voyny-oni-uzhe-nikogda-ne-vernutsya-mozhno-li-eto-schitat-ocherednoy-volnoy-emigratsii">hundreds of thousands</a> fled Russia in early 2022, among them thousands of artists who no longer felt safe in the climate of increasing censorship.</p> <p>Some of these artists have found themselves in Kirkenes, a small Norwegian town 15 kilometres from the Russian border.</p> <h2>Russia’s protest art</h2> <p>Russian and Soviet artists have a long history of art as protest.</p> <p>The poem <em><a href="https://poets.org/poem/stalin-epigram">Stalin’s Epigram</a></em> (1933) authored by <a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/osip-mandelstam">Osip Mandelstam</a> depicted Stalin as a gleeful killer. Authorities imprisoned and tortured Mandelstam, then deported the poet to a remote village near the Ural Mountains. </p> <p>After returning from exile, he persisted writing about Stalin until he was sent to a labour camp in Siberia, where he died in 1938 at the age of 47. </p> <p>Under the comparatively liberal rule of Stalin’s successor <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/131346?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">Nikita Khrushchev</a> from 1953, the Soviet Union began to enjoy previously unimagined freedoms.</p> <p>Protest art reflected these newfound liberties, becoming increasingly provocative and experimental. </p> <p>Many famous art movements surfaced during this period, including <a href="https://www.moscowart.net/art.html?id=SotsArt">Sots Art</a> — a fusion between Soviet and Pop Art — as Russian artists tested the boundaries, exposing the grim realities and unhappiness of life under Stalin’s regime. </p> <p>In 1962, the legendary composer Shostakovich set his <a href="https://theconversation.com/decoding-the-music-masterpieces-shostakovichs-babi-yar-82819">13th symphony</a> to a series of poems by his contemporary, Yevgeny Yevtushenko. One of these poems was Babi Yar, which criticised the Soviet government for concealing the <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/babi-yar-ukraine-massacre-holocaust-180979687/">massacre of 33,371 Jews</a> in a mass grave outside Kyiv.</p> <p>In contemporary Russia, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/10/world/europe/pussy-riot-russia-escape.html">Pussy Riot</a> came to the attention of the world in 2012 when members stepped behind the altar in Moscow’s golden-domed Christ the Saviour Cathedral wearing neon-coloured balaclavas to deliver a “punk rock prayer”. </p> <p>Their voices echoed off the cavernous, hand-painted ceilings, raging against Putin’s affiliation with the Orthodox church and the homophobic, anti-feminist policies that followed. </p> <p>They were sentenced to two years imprisonment.</p> <p>Today, <a href="https://artreview.com/amidst-a-crackdown-russia-anti-war-artists-and-activists-try-to-reclaim-the-streets/">pictures from Russia</a> reveal anonymous anti-war graffiti on the sides of buildings, “no war” chiselled into a frozen river, and yellow and blue chrysanthemums and tulips left at the feet of Soviet war memorials.</p> <h2>Cross-border collaborations</h2> <p><a href="https://www.pikene.no/">Pikene på Broen</a> (girls on the bridge) is an arts collective based in Kirkenes.</p> <p>They have spent the past 25 years curating art projects to promote cross-cultural collaboration and tackle political problems in the borderland region. </p> <p>Pikene på Broen is host to the the annual art festival <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barents_Sea">Barents</a> Spektakel (spectacle), an international artist residency including Russian, Norwegian and Finnish creatives, the gallery and project space Terminal B in Kirkenes town, and the debate series Transborder Café.</p> <p>The venue has become a hub for open discussions relating to current political and cultural issues, drawing contributions from artists, musicians, writers, politicians and researchers.</p> <p>Evgeny Goman, an independent theatre director from Murmansk, Russia – about 200 kilometres from Kirkenes – has been collaborating with Pikene på Broen for over 10 years.</p> <p>After moving to Norway in early 2022, Pikene på Broen worked with Goman to organise Kvartirnik (from the word kvartira, meaning apartment), an online talk group for Russian and Norwegian artists to exchange ideas. </p> <p>Following Putin’s attack on Ukraine, Kvartirnik shifted to an underground movement for dissident artists. Ironically, the name Kvartirnik derives from the clandestine concerts arranged <a href="https://www.ciee.org/go-abroad/college-study-abroad/blog/ciee-kvartirnik-understanding-through-music">in people’s apartments</a> during the Soviet Era when musicians were banned from performing in public.</p> <p><a href="http://deadrevolution.tilda.ws/?fbclid=IwAR2PcaqY7VdLtS1zYUu4JCbD6F36KZ8JKv_FEIYsNeSTE4aKokhV7YpITas">Party of the Dead</a> is one of several Russian protest art groups who participated in Kvartirnik. </p> <p>Pictures from the snow-decked Piskaryovskoye Cemetery in Saint Petersburg reveal members dressed as skeletons, holding placards reading: “are there not enough corpses?”.</p> <p>I spoke with Goman about the art coming out of Kvartirnik today.</p> <p>“In peaceful times, art is more about entertaining,” he says. </p> <p>"But in war and conflict, art is more important because it’s the language we use to express our pain. And through metaphors and symbolism, it allows us to speak about things that are censored."</p> <h2>Countering propaganda</h2> <p>Kvartirnik collaborators in Murmansk have also produced and distributed <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samizdat">Samizdat</a> (self-publishing), an anonymous newsletter containing art suppressed by the state. </p> <p>“We have to be really smart now about how we do things in Russia,” Goman says. “Subtle.”</p> <p>Goman is pessimistic about Russia’s future. But he believes the key to moving forward is keeping communication open. He tells me the West’s decision to <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/right-way-cancel-russia/627115/">ban Russian culture</a> has backfired on their plan to pressure Putin into ending the war against Ukraine. </p> <p>Instead, he says, the divide is steadily increasing, leaving dissident artists isolated inside a country operating on fear and propaganda, furthering Putin’s agenda. </p> <p>“Putin wants us to not affect Russian minds. And that’s why we have to keep the dialogue going,” he says of the importance of cross-border collaborations like those he has undertaken in Kirkenes.</p> <p>"If we stop communicating, Putin wins. Propaganda wins."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-we-stop-communicating-putin-wins-propaganda-wins-how-a-norwegian-organisation-is-supporting-russian-protest-art-186911" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </em></p>

Art

Pink Floyd reunite to record Ukraine protest song

<p dir="ltr">For the first time in 28 years, legendary rock band Pink Floyd have reunited to collaborate for an incredible cause. </p> <p dir="ltr">Band members David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Guy Pratt have recorded a protest song against the war in Ukraine titled <em>Hey Hey, Rise Up!</em></p> <p dir="ltr">The song is built around a spine-tingling refrain from Ukrainian singer Andriy Khlyvnyuk of the band Boombox.</p> <p dir="ltr">David Gilmour said the song is a show of “anger at a superpower invading a peaceful nation”.</p> <p dir="ltr">But the track can also be seen as a morale booster for the people of Ukraine, and a call “for peace”.</p> <p dir="ltr">Work on the haunting song began when Gilmour saw Khlyvnyuk's Instagram feed, with a video of the singer in Kyiv's Sofiyskaya Square, fully armed and ready to fight the Russian invasion.</p> <p dir="ltr">Facing the camera, the Ukrainian performer sang <em>The Red Viburnum In The Meadow</em>, a protest song written during the first world war, which has become a rallying cry in Ukraine over the last six weeks.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cae5TydPAxh/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Cae5TydPAxh/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Андрій Хливнюк (@andriihorolski)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">"It just struck me that, as it is a capella, one could turn this into a beautiful song," Gilmour told BBC 6 Music's Matt Everitt.</p> <p dir="ltr">David Gilmour had played with the band BoomBox in 2015, and contacted Khlyvnyuk to seek permission to use his video. </p> <p dir="ltr">"I spoke to him, actually, from his hospital bed, where he had a pretty minor injury from a mortar," the star said. "So he's right there on the front line.”</p> <p dir="ltr">"I played him a little bit of the song down the phone line and he gave me his blessing."</p> <p dir="ltr">All proceeds from the song will be going towards the humanitarian relief effort in Ukraine. </p> <p dir="ltr">You can listen to <em>Hey Hey, Rise Up!</em> below.</p> <p><iframe title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/saEpkcVi1d4" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p>

Music

Man moves into office cubicle in protest

<p dir="ltr">A man who moved into his cubicle at work to protest his employer not paying him enough … has been fired. </p> <p dir="ltr">Simon Jackson shared a video to <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@calm.simon/video/7072608177031859502?is_copy_url=1&amp;is_from_webapp=v1&amp;lang=en" target="_blank" rel="noopener">TikTok</a> showing himself “moving into” his work cubicle. </p> <p dir="ltr">“Check out my new appt [apartment]”, he captioned the video which has since amassed 14 million views.</p> <p dir="ltr">The video shows Mr Jackson unpacking his belongings from multiple suitcases in the design and engineering consultancy firm Arcadis office.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I’m moving from my apartment into my cubicle at work,” Mr Jackson could be heard saying. </p> <p dir="ltr">“They do not pay me enough to do both, so as a matter of protest, I am just going to live at my job, and we’ll see how long I can get away with this.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Jackson confessed that he had to move out of his apartment because his lease was ending and the rent was going up.</p> <p dir="ltr">While waiting for approval for apartments to apply for, Mr Jackson made the decision to move into the downtown office.</p> <p dir="ltr">“When I found my company had an empty office downtown, this was the perfect solution as it was close to all of the venues I frequent and it would be free,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">He also explained that the reason he “walks around shirtless” is because most of the employees are working from home due to Covid.</p> <p dir="ltr">Four days later, he was “evicted” in what Mr Jackson says “happened way sooner than I thought”.</p> <p dir="ltr">He recorded himself packing his bags and then with the help of security was escorted out of the building.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This won’t be the last you’ll see of me,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Jackson was fired from his job with HR requesting he remove all TikTok videos documenting his adventure.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I wish they approached the TikToks differently and maybe had a conversation with me about whether there was something more serious going on in terms of money,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“But do I understand their response? 100 per cent.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The videos remain on his channel, with Mr Jackson hoping to work on his romper brand before deciding whether or not he should go back to corporate.</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: TikTok</em></p>

Money & Banking

William and Kate face anti-monarch protests

Travel Trouble

All the tunes used to repel NZ anti-vaccine mandate protesters

<p dir="ltr">As a protest against vaccine mandates enters its sixth day outside New Zealand’s Parliament House, Speaker of the House Trevor Mallard adopted a rather unconventional way to send protesters packing.</p><p dir="ltr">With the rain and wind brought on by Cyclone Dovi not appearing to deter protesters, Mallard first attempted to shoo them away by turning on the sprinklers.</p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-f82cf814-7fff-e818-6559-7d38f879e1c9">When that didn’t work either, he <a href="https://theconversation.com/three-unconventional-forms-of-travel-you-should-try-if-you-cant-go-abroad-this-summer-163776" target="_blank" rel="noopener">began blasting</a> widely disliked tunes instead at full volume, along with repeated pro-vaccination messages.</span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Last night the lovely govt played on loop Macarena, vax messaging, &amp; Trevor Mallard warning protesters that erecting structures on parliament lawns was unlawful. All night long. Despite this audio torture &amp; the howling gale, the protest continues. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Parliament?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Parliament</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/convoy2022NZ?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#convoy2022NZ</a> <a href="https://t.co/QCtK4T69N7">pic.twitter.com/QCtK4T69N7</a></p>— @victoria_dlV (@victoria_dlV) <a href="https://twitter.com/victoria_dlV/status/1492654821325041668?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2022</a></blockquote><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-b77720af-7fff-0fcb-4eeb-15ff52cf4603">To start with, Mallard’s playlist featured a selection of <em>Copacabana </em>singer Barry Manilow’s songs, <em>Macarena </em>by Los Del Rio, and the children’s tunes including <em>Baby Shark</em> and <em>Let it Go</em> from Disney film <em>Frozen</em>.</span></p><p>  </p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-612e419e-7fff-31e0-24fb-a66484f0e4cf">As news of the Speaker’s playlist spread online, singer James Blunt even weighed in, taking to Twitter to suggest that the NZ government include his music if Manilow’s proved ineffective.</span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Give me a shout if this doesn’t work. <a href="https://twitter.com/nzpolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NZPolice</a> <a href="https://t.co/AM2dZ6asMS">https://t.co/AM2dZ6asMS</a></p>— James Blunt (@JamesBlunt) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesBlunt/status/1492586180226990083?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2022</a></blockquote><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-ba2a5a6f-7fff-4d23-91b7-5f187d5ada53">Mallard saw Blunt’s “very kind offer” and quickly added the Brit’s smash hit, <em>You’re Beautiful</em>, to the playlist.</span></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/JamesBlunt?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JamesBlunt</a> we will take up your very kind offer. My only doubt is whether it is fair to our <a href="https://twitter.com/nzpolice?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@nzpolice</a> officers but I think they will be able to cope. <a href="https://t.co/spb1BDK50u">https://t.co/spb1BDK50u</a></p>— Trevor Mallard (@SpeakerTrevor) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerTrevor/status/1492612830935531521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2022</a></blockquote><p></p><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-9d371e47-7fff-83cd-8801-ca7e94339b79">Other entries on Mallard’s playlist included a humorous rendition of Celine Dion’s <em>My Heart Will Go On</em>, featuring musician Matt Mulholland playing a recorder quite poorly, as well as Randa’s <em>Vaccinate the Nation</em>.</span></p><p></p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">This is another suggestion………Crybabies Caravan With Full Band <a href="https://t.co/zjxaet7Wn1">https://t.co/zjxaet7Wn1</a> via <a href="https://twitter.com/YouTube?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@YouTube</a></p>— Trevor Mallard (@SpeakerTrevor) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerTrevor/status/1492607298476605440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 12, 2022</a></blockquote><p><span id="docs-internal-guid-1cbcfc2f-7fff-a4cd-ec9b-49137fb64bc8"></span></p><p dir="ltr">Social media users have also been sending in recommendations for what has been described as Mallard’s “counter protest”, while others have compiled playlists of annoying tunes guaranteed to irritate.</p><p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Music

Local woman nearly flips car in clash with anti-vaxxer

<p dir="ltr">Footage of a fed-up local clashing with a ‘Freedom Fighter’ in Canberra <a href="https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/car-crash-canberra-protesters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has emerged</a> online, as the huge demonstration against vaccine mandates continues.</p><p dir="ltr">In the clip, which has been viewed 262,000 times, a local Canberra woman, who has since been identified as Chantal-Jasmine Fox, can be seen having a heated exchange with one of the protestors from the car in front.</p><p dir="ltr">“Get the f**k outta Canberra. Go get a job and find something better to do,” Ms Fox can be heard saying from the driver’s seat of her car as the window rolls down, while the protester asks for her licence.</p><p dir="ltr">“You reversed into me,” she says to the protestor filming.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">holy shit wait for it… <a href="https://t.co/FTUvsb4KVz">pic.twitter.com/FTUvsb4KVz</a></p>— matt (@mattDCLXVI) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattDCLXVI/status/1492667852272259073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 13, 2022</a></blockquote><p dir="ltr">“Um sorry, we’re at a traffic light and-” the protestor says, before Ms Fox interrupts.</p><p dir="ltr">“Say whatever you like, man. You can put whatever you want sweetheart, the media doesn’t care about you,” she says.</p><p dir="ltr">“I’m not talking to the media,” the protestor replies.</p><p dir="ltr">With their altercation seeming to be over, Ms Fox moves her car to be right next to the protester's car.</p><p dir="ltr">The footage shows Ms Fox’s vehicle slamming the protester’s, with the impact seeing her car almost flip over and land her rear right wheel on the protester’s car bonnet.</p><p dir="ltr">The clip quickly spread across social media, prompting Ms Fox to receive a wave of backlash after she shared the video on her Instagram page.</p><p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/02/screenshots.jpg" alt="" width="1280" height="720" /></p><p dir="ltr"><em>Ms Fox took to Instagram to share examples of the abuse she has been receiving over the incident, as well as footage and images from the scene. Images: @fantastic_miss_foxx (Instagram)</em></p><p dir="ltr">In one screenshot she shared, one person commented, “What do you have to say for yourself”, to which she replied, “Suck my b***s”.</p><p dir="ltr">Another screenshot shared by Ms Fox showed a private message she received through Instagram from a woman who called her a “skank” and told her to “learn some manners!”.</p><p dir="ltr">“These are the kind, rational people at these protests,” Ms Fox said in a follow-up clip.</p><p dir="ltr">In another image she shared, her black 4WD can be seen mounted on the protester’s car.</p><p dir="ltr">“A bit butthurt over an accident,” she wrote over the photo.</p><p dir="ltr">“Antivaxxers = drama.”</p><p dir="ltr">Police have confirmed Ms Fox will be issued an infringement notice for negligent driving, <em><a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10507571/Canberra-road-rage-Covid-protest-screaming-woman-slams-online-trolls.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Mail</a></em> reported.</p><p dir="ltr">The incident is one of several altercations that have occurred in the capital city over the weekend, as thousands of anti-vaxxer protestors known as the Convoy to Canberra gathered outside Federal Parliament.</p><p dir="ltr">Several people <a href="https://www.pedestrian.tv/news/canberra-convoy-anti-vaxxer/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">were arrested</a> after breaking through barricades set up at Parliament House, while Lifeline Canberra’s book fair - a yearly fundraiser and Australia’s biggest book fair - was forced to cancel the event after visitors and volunteers were subject to abuse from protestors.</p><p dir="ltr">Prime Minister Scott Morrison called on the protesters to act “peacefully and respectfully”, saying that vaccine mandates were the responsibility of state governments.</p><p dir="ltr">ACT Police and the management of Exhibition Park in Canberra (EPIC), where protestors have been camping, have advised protestors to leave the grounds by Sunday, February 13.</p><p dir="ltr">“ACT Policing reiterates its support for the rights of individuals to conduct peaceful protests, but visitors camping in the ACT need to do so lawfully,” police said in a <a href="https://www.policenews.act.gov.au/news/media-releases/campers-required-leave-epic-sunday" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.</p><p dir="ltr"><em>Images: @mattDCLXVI (Twitter)</em></p>

Travel Trouble

Woman halts hundreds of protestors with kung fu moves

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">A New Zealand woman </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-delta-outbreak-kiwi-woman-tries-to-stop-anti-mandate-lockdown-protest-with-kung-fu-moves/OD4WENQRDBQOGK2TLZH2UEEZZI/" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">has taken the internet by storm</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> after her attempts to single-handedly stop a protest against vaccine mandates and lockdowns emerged online.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The introduction of new mandates across the country and the placement of regions into strict lockdowns has prompted thousands of Kiwis to take to the streets in protest.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At a recent rally in Nelson, on New Zealand’s South Island, an unknown woman took a stand against the crowd and attempted to stop them with a kung-fu move.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The footage, posted to social media, shows the woman jumping in front of the protestors as they move down the street.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Someone can be heard saying, “they’re not going to stop, lady”.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Instead of moving out of their way, the woman took a kung-fu pose to halt the protest.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, the protestors managed to continue past her, lifting their banner that read “freedom for all Kiwis” over her head.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The clip has since gone viral on social media, with many saying it was an “only in New Zealand” moment.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“You have three props and three wingers on that front line. At what point did she believe they were going to stop?” one joked.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Okay let’s give nana an award for the best reaction to protesting,” another wrote.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Kung fu grandma love it!” a third said.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This isn’t the first time a New Zealander has dealt with those hesitant to get the COVID-19 vaccine in their own, unique way.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Another woman was spotted approaching vaccine-hesitant men and encouraging them to get the jab.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Twitter user Te Kuru Dewes (@TeKuruDewes) said that the “Aunty” was “waving cars down” and making them get vaccinated.</span></p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr">Apparently there’s an Aunty stopping traffic in Mangamuka (Taitokerau), waving cars down and making grown anti-vax-leaning men go and get their jab in the van. Classic.</p> — Te Kuru Dewes (@TeKuruDewes) <a href="https://twitter.com/TeKuruDewes/status/1456388117447860225?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 4, 2021</a></blockquote> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Apparently there’s an Aunty stopping traffic in Mangamuka (Taitokerau), waving down cars and making grown anti-vax-leaning men go and get their jab in the van. Classic,” they tweeted.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“If anything is going to lift Māori vaxx rates it’s going to be Aunties that told you to get vaxxed or else,” one person replied.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Don’t mess with Aunties… just don’t,” another commented.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The conflict between protestors and pro-vaccine grandmas and aunties comes as </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-coronavirus/covid-19-data-and-statistics/covid-19-vaccine-data" target="_blank"><span style="font-weight: 400;">92 percent</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400;"> of Kiwis have received their first COVID-19 jab and 84 percent are fully vaccinated.</span></p> <p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Image: Tiktok</span></em></p>

Travel Trouble

Strong police presence deters threatened COVID lockdown protest

<p>Police officers set up an exclusion zone around the city from 9 am to 3 pm with thousands of police officers on the streets of the CBD area, including three Public Order &amp; Riot Squad teams.</p> <p>Taxi and rideshare companies were banned from entering the area and faced $500,000 fines if they took passengers into the CBD.</p> <p>Cars were stopped by police at key check points entering the CBD area and people were asked where they were going. As a result, there were very few citizens in the CBD area and there was no repeat of last Saturday’s protest where thousands marched in protest in the city centre.</p> <p>The police still made eight arrests and more than 250 Penalty Infringement Notices were issued, the majority for breaching stay-at-home directions.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height: 281.1696658097687px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7842776/police-um-2.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/dbf3612c4aa34891a36dcde11bb1edf9" /></p> <p><em>Image: Pamela Connellan</em></p> <p>Taxi and rideshare companies faced fines of up to $500,000 dollars if they took passengers into the CBD. Seven taxi and rideshare services received a prohibition notice banning them from taking passengers to the CBD over the six-hour period.</p> <p>A notice in the Uber app said the orders prohibited transit through the large area, as well as any pick-ups and drop-offs.</p> <p>“This is likely to cause significant disruption and we advise you to consider alternatives for any essential travel to and from these areas during this period,” the notice read.</p> <p>The show of force coincided with news a man in his 60s died that same evening from COVID at his southwestern Sydney home, taking the death toll from the state’s current outbreak to 14.</p> <p><em>Images: Pamela Connellan</em></p>

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