Revolting in the Rain

We came. We yelled. We got soaked to the skin. And we went home.

But we turned up.



I had to turn up. I had to turn up because it makes me feel a little less useless.

I met Alice at 6 pm at Bourke Street Mall. She brought her Mum along. Alice's Mum is over from England.  Alice's Mum goes to rallies. She's been in Australia for a few weeks. She's been as horrified as the rest of us with the way the bushfire crisis has been handled and the ineptitude of Federal Government.

We were supposed to be seeing Hamlet in the Botanical Gardens this evening, after the rally - but the performance was cancelled because of the rain.

Even though we couldn't hear anything. Even though it was tipping down for the first time in months - 15 millimetres of rain we had this afternoon. Pleasant rain. Decent rain. The rain we used to have in my childhood. The rain you rarely see any more. It was 33 degrees at 2 pm. It was 18 degrees and raining at 5 pm. Welcome to Melbourne. Despite the cool and the damp, we stayed.

In Sydney, the numbers swelled to probably three times the Melbourne numbers - but it was a lovely day up there. In Melbourne, it was tipping down. People often avoid rallies and protests when it's raining.

But it seems 30000 other people had the same thought as me. They gathered their umbrellas and raincoats and placards and went down to the State Library to yell and shout and state their displeasure at the the current Federal Government's stand on the current state of play: The lack of leadership: The complete refusal the acknowledge the climate emergency: The lack of forethought in reducing funding to country fire brigades: The cow towing to the fossil fuel sector: The complete lack of compassion from our muppet of a Prime Minister (Like at least nobody died... on Kangaroo Island, where two men lost their life after fighting fires - of course, they're South Australian, so why should they count? And yes, I'm being facetious.)

The crowd were noisy, but contained. Although ostensibly a student rally, people young and old came. Pensioners were shoulder to shoulder with students. Office workers. Parents with prams. Children. A cross section of the quiet Australians the government wished would remain quiet.

There were lots of umbrellas. We could have been in Hong Kong.

By the time we made it to the Library, the intersection was blocked. We found place near the entrance to Central Station, well away from the library steps. We were too far away to hear the speeches. But that was okay. We turned up.

We got chatting with a couple nearby. They'd brought their year old daughter along.

'Raising her on civil disobedience and Billy Bragg?' we asked.
'Indeed. Start them young. Teach them how to fight for what they believe.'

The child watched the people around her, gently jostled by her father as he chanted, 'Scomo's got to go,' quietly in her ear.

(I think many father's do such things. There was a tape recording of me, aged about five, singing, "I'm glad to be an Australian. I'm glad that I am free. But I wish I was a little doggie and Whitlam was a tree.' Gough Whitlam is one of my heroes. Dad is probably turning in his columbariam.)

Chants went up. Speeches were given. They marched around the block.

Alice and her Mum left after about an hour. Both soaked to the skin.

I had a chat to a woman nearby. An older woman, she said that during the Vietnam War, they were out protesting weekly.

I have a feeling we might have to do that too.

Over the last seven years I've protested more than I did in the twenty years before.

At uni I'd turn up to the odd tertiary fee and pro-choice rally.

In London, I think the only march I went on was for Pride - but that's more a celebration.

But coming back to Australia in 1999, things had changed. John  Howard dragged us into a war for no reason. A million of us took to the streets then.

Of course, there were still the pro-choice abortion rallies, the reclaiming of the night and various other woman's causes to stand up for.

When Tony Abbott got in in 2013, the Doc Martens were brought out again, the activism upped itself. There was plenty to be very unhappy about. Medicare. The Environment. The ABC being defunded. The complete ineptitude of the government.

You show your face to show your displeasure. You're not there to get violent. You're there to show that you're angry, frustrated, annoyed and not voiceless.

The government are trying to crack down on these civil liberties. Make we plebs and proles voiceless. Making it illegal to protest. Environmental protesters, in particular are targeted. Some of the measures you can see the reasoning - stopping protesters going on to farms or chaining themselves to tram lines. But it's a slippery slope.

You get 30000 people standing outside the rain displaying their displeasure at the government's inaction over the fires and climate - what are you going to do about them?

Thankfully, this was a peaceful rally. There were few police around - well not that we could see many there. We were told not to rally today - taking resources away from the fires. There were mixed messages coming from the state government. We turned up anyway.

After another half an hour, soaked to the skin, I took myself home. The rally continued.

We turned up. We yelled. We got soaked to the skin. And we went home.

I think this will become a pattern. Turning up makes you feel a little less useless and a little less hopeless.


Today's song: