Speak up for freedom
RAIDS by Australian Federal Police on journalists this week struck at freedom and democracy in a far more significant way than most realise.
Canberra journalist Annika Smethurst, News Corp’s national political editor who writes for the Sunday Tasmanian, was raided on Tuesday over a story she wrote last year based on a leaked document about a proposal to allow a spy agency to collect intelligence on Australian citizens.
The story alleged there was discussion to allow the Australian Signals Directorate to secretly access our bank records, emails and text messages without leaving a trace.
On Wednesday, federal police raided the ABC’s Sydney headquarters about a 2017 story by journalists Dan Oakes and Sam Clark based on secret intelligence that special forces may have deliberately or carelessly killed citizens in Afghanistan.
The AFP raids attracted global media coverage, with a New York Times article depicting Australia as the “most secretive democracy in the world”, and similar reports broadcast on the BBC and Al Jazeera.
The raids were conducted under laws passed last year that were at the time loudly condemned by the ABC, News Corp and other media groups. Critics of the raids say they were designed to penalise those who leaked information about matters with great public interest value — a government agency considering spying on us, and our military’s alleged misconduct overseas.
However, the ramifications of the raids are far wider than domestic concerns.
The US has been the
dominant global economic and military superpower for the past 70 years, openly championing democracy, freedom and the rule of law around the world.
This American hegemony has been far from perfect. It has failed on many counts, especially in its conduct in wars in the Middle East and beyond, but it has also successfully spread the ideals of liberty, equality and democracy to the far reaches of the planet.
US leadership also has been a catalyst to a complex web of strategic partnerships in what has become known as the Free World that have fostered global trade, political stability and security.
However, in recent years President Donald Trump’s “America first” policy has destabilised partnerships such as the NATO alliance, upended global agreements on climate change, and undermined the authority of the United Nations.
Trump’s nationalism and protectionism threaten global economic growth and expose the world order of the past 70 years to unprecedented challenge.
In this vacuum of decipherable global leadership from the US, a momentous ideological battle has emerged.
This war of ideas is playing out in regions such as SouthEast Asia, where developing nations are weighing the economic benefits of riding the dragon’s tail of China’s rapid expansion against the pitfalls of inviting in the door an authoritarian regime that has little regard for civil rights, personal liberties or cultural and religious diversity.
It was ironic the raids on journalists happened in the week of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, in which the Chinese Communist Party sent in the People’s Liberation Army to kill hundreds, perhaps thousands, of citizens who dared call for democratic reform and freedom.
Discussion of the 1989 slaughter is banned in China, where authorities monitor citizens with hi-tech surveillance systems, heavily censor media outlets and oversee social media.
Chinese citizens either do not know of the Tiananmen Square massacre, are too scared to speak of it, or are prepared to wear the dishonour and injustice because since the tragedy their government has grown China’s economy at record pace.
Many in affluent nations have been prepared to turn a blind eye to Western abuses around the world because luxury saloons, flat-screen TVs and the spoils of wealth tend to dull the senses to the pain of others. Similarly, many Chinese are enjoying their rise as an economic superpower. Who are we to point the finger at such selfish and cruel indifference?
The AFP raids on journalists this week have done untold damage to Australia’s reputation as a fair and free society. Heavyhanded bids to silence citizens, to outlaw journalism and to hunt whistleblowers smear our name as a free and open society.
Rather than follow China’s terrifying example of omnipresent surveillance and censorship and ruthlessly enforce conformity with zero tolerance of dissent, Australia has a responsibility to display leadership and confidence in democracy and freedom.
I don’t believe Australians — or our neighbours — want a Big Brother future like that portrayed in George Orwell’s iconic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Australia has an opportunity and an obligation to engage with regional partners to enshrine the rule of law, and to speak up for and protect freedom.
Leading by example in this ideological struggle between freedom and oppression will be as critical as it is challenging.
It will take courage to stand for liberty and for our governments to resist the urge to scare the public into incremental acceptance of the loss of freedoms and more surveillance and censorship.
The initial reaction from many nations around the world to the disruption and autocratic temper of Trump’s nationalism has been to lurch to fascist tendencies of control and oppression, but I wonder whether the pendulum may swing back and lead to a greater appreciation of what stands to be lost.
Our system is broken, but it is not beyond repair.