Victoria, what our government is currently doing is wrong!
If anyone wonders why I am so furious at what is going on in our society currently in Victoria Australia in relation to dealing with COVID-19, please read this. Spread the message please if you agree with it in any way.
The universal declaration on human rights was created shortly after the end of WWII (that one against Hitler and the Nazis and their allies, pretty morally repugnant governments I think we can all pretty much agree?) in response to what had happened before and through the war. They were passed by the United Nations General Assembly in Paris on 10 December 1948, and they state that they are the inalienable rights universal to all human beings of the human family – i.e. they cannot be infringed in any way, and apply to everyone, every single living human being, no matter what! Irrespective of race, religion, colour of skin, disease, anything! They expressly mandate that these rights are INALIENABLE.
The definition of ‘inalienable’ as from Collins Dictionary: “If you say that someone has an inalienable right to something, you are emphasising that they have a right to it which cannot be changed or taken away.” (link: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/inalienable)
Our government here in Victoria in Australia as at 10 July 2020 has breached 19 of these inalienable human rights so far in dealing with the COVID-19 virus (I list which rights have been broken and the actions which broke them at the bottom of this post).
The Victorian government has detained apartment blocks of people (some of our community’s poorest, weakest, and least able to resist) against their will in their respective apartments (see https://www.dhhs.vic.gov.au/coronavirus and click on the link for Stage 3 restrictions for Flemington and North Melbourne estates). The Victorian government has also breached the same number of human rights in respect to all of us in the State, each and every person in Victoria, whether we agree with what they are doing or not (I am sure that no-one disputes that they are trying to do good – they are just doing it in utterly the wrong way!)
These are actions of a government which is accountable to us, and was done to the human beings in these apartment towers in Melbourne (I understand the number of residents to be around 3000 people in total, but even if it was a single person it is still legally and morally unacceptable). These residents are made up of many different races, cultures, creeds, and religions, and it was done to them without even seeking their consent first. As if that wasn’t bad enough Dan Andrew’s government (and I am not hearing any deafening roars of protest from the balance political parties) is so incompetent that I have been personally told by a Victorian police officer who said that he was present when the police were sent in to start the lockdown of the apartment towers that the government didn’t even have everything necessary in place to take care of these residents from the start of the lockdown (having these resources in place would not have made the government’s actions any more moral or just, it is just included because it makes the situation so much worse, and they should be held accountable for their actions!).
Our government, and none of us, have the authority to deprive any other human being of any of their human rights. I have no idea whether the people in the apartment towers would have consented to remain in their homes (I am certainly not going to assume that they wouldn’t have, or that they were not doing the best they could to limit the spread of the virus), but none of us has the right to take away or infringe upon another person’s human rights regardless. It is just that simple and just that certain, human rights are inalienable and are not something that may be legally or morally denied by any government for any reason. These rights are inalienable. None of us have the right (moral, legal or otherwise) to do it to any other human being, regardless of what we think of any decision that any other person may or may not have made. And our government didn’t even give the occupants of these apartment towers any advance notice of the lockdown or even the courtesy of trying to obtain their consent!
AND NOBODY SEEMS TO BE GIVING A SHIT ABOUT THIS! Like what the FUCK?
These human rights are inalienable to each and every one of us and none of us have the right to take them away for any other human being. These human rights are even enshrined in legislation in Victoria (under the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 – NOTE not all governments in Australia have enshrined these human rights into their statute books, Australia helped draft the universal declaration of human rights in the United Nations and agreed to them at its adoption in 1948 – there can be no legitimate denial that they are required to be applied universally and inalienably in Australia. Australian government should be asked to explain why they have not enshrined these human rights in their statute books over the last nearly 72 years. Given parliaments’ failure these human rights should be incorporated in to the common law by our courts, they are that fundamental and essential to any moral democratic country like Australia). That Victoria has passed such legislation previously and yet the Victorian Government through the COVID-19 pandemic has breached 19 of these human rights is NOT OK, end of story, and it is why I am really pissed off at each and every one of us right now (including myself) as we are just letting this happen or are encouraging this to happen. I do not know what to do to fix this situation but we need to all agree that this is NOT OK! Our futures and the futures of our families that follow us depend upon this.
The brightest time for humanity as a whole was the creation of these rights and the opportunities they would bring for all humanity, the United Nations stated the reason for passing these universal and inalienable rights was due to the “...barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” It was agreed by the United Nations that they apply to all of humanity forever more without exception. I encourage you to read them (Link: https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/index.html), read all of them including the preamble, it is all important.
We are letting these rights slip away, and are doing so almost without a fight or protest. In fear we are giving up what must not be given up under any circumstance. These rights are inalienable, and our government has breached and continues to breach 19 of them. All of us around the world need to do better and step up and demand the enforcement of these human rights for each and every one of us in humanity forever more. This applies to so much more than just COVID-19, these human rights must be preserved perfectly without infringement or any weakening (i.e. inalienably), each and every infringement to them weakens them, and just like with termites, eventually the structure will collapse, something that can only be to all of humanity’s detriment.
Little by little we have forgotten the significance of this universal declaration, the gift of those who suffered and died before us, but now is the time when everyone must stand by these principles and ensure they are preserved without exception or caveat. They are inalienable precisely to protect them and to protect all of humanity. We do not want to live in a world without them, it would be a dystopian future but yet we seem to be running towards that future as fast as we can.
We are currently face a threat that is scary for everyone in our society, and to every society around the world, but it doesn’t matter. Even in the face of the threat of COVID-19 we can never let this achievement of humanity be weakened or lost. These current times feel like they are our generations’ darkest hour (to use Winston Churchill’s words, a deeply flawed individual who also truly did great). There have been many great people who acted as beacons for these principles around the world and in every culture, and their legacies are great and must be maintained (Dr Martin Luther King Jr, I am watching what is happening currently in the USA in relation to the wrongful death of George Floyd and thinking of you right now sir, and I hope you will forgive us all, each and every one of us should have done better).
To the Victorian Government, end this lockdown immediately, hand back the people of Victoria the human rights you never had any entitlement to breach. I know your intentions were good but you cannot strip people of these rights for any reason whatsoever, they are inalienable and that is the end of the story! We as a community must do our best to minimise the impact of this virus threat, it is a responsibility which falls on all of us, and if we don’t then the consequences will fall on all of us. It won’t be fair, it will suck, but life is and will always be that way. Diseases have existed for all of humanity’s past and may do forever.
Through this virus threat we have stripped people and families of their liberty, livelihoods and life purpose. Businesses which people have spent their lives creating have been ruined, families have been ruined, lives have been lost, all as a result of the Victorian government’s actions. Suicide rates are up as people have lost everything and feel they have nothing to live for, domestic violence rates have shot up – people can never recover fully from domestic violence, it is a life sentence be they woman, man, or child, it is at best a scar borne for the rest of their lives.
None of us, not our government, nor any single one or group of us, has the right to deprive another person of any of their human rights for any reason, even if we think it is in that person’s best interests or the best interests of the community as a whole, even if it is only for a short period. We do not have the moral or legal authority to do it, and yet we all seem to be ok about what the Victorian government is doing? We won’t know the full effect of these harms suffered by the community as a result of the lockdowns for years (maybe never), but the harms are real, and have been suffered and are continuing to be suffered as a result of the breaches. I am not saying the virus is not a threat to us, it is, but are we really going to let it make the universal declaration of human rights irrelevant?
THE VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT HAS ENTIRE APARTMENT BUILDINGS OF PEOPLE LOCKED IN THEIR APARTMENTS WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT – THEY ARE REFUSED THE ABILITY TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES FOR ANY REASON, the wider city of Melbourne is in a lock down with no guaranteed end date except when the threat of the virus goes away. IT MAY NEVER GO AWAY! This is a virus, it mutates and changes and adapts just as we do. There are apparently already multiple strains of the virus around the world. Even if we get a vaccine (and we may not ever) it will almost certainly not be 100% effective. The vaccine for the seasonal flu is between 40% and 60% effective among the overall population during seasons when most flu viruses are well matched to the flu-vaccine, i.e. the yearly flu vaccines don’t even always achieve 40% effectiveness in some years (source is Center for Disease and Control and Prevention at https://www.cdc.gov/flu/vaccines-work/vaccineeffect.htm).
Australia may be an island, and we may potentially be able to eliminate the virus here, but it has already penetrated basically all of the rest of the world. Is this something we want to cut ourselves off from, that is effectively what we are doing under what I can see from the plans put forward by our governments Australia-wide, just lockdown and hope that the virus will just go away until some possible protection is eventually developed? Seriously? It is the equivalent of burying our heads in the sand to avoid danger. It is far more likely that we will never escape this virus, even if we can eradicate it here in Australia it has spread too far into the entire world’s population, there it will likely always remain a threat just like the common cold, and the seasonal flu, only it will be worse to those that catch it. This means that we will either have to accept the threat and deal with its effects as best we can, or just cut ourselves off from the world and the balance of humanity forever until some miracle solution is one day possibly developed. We have never had such a miracle solution for the common cold or the seasonal flu, and we have been working at those goals for generations, for decades.
There is never going to be a perfect vaccine for this virus (we haven’t won the fight against the majority of them, at least not yet and we may never), at best we might get something similar to the seasonal flu vaccine, but with a virus that is worse (it sucks and its shit, but it is what it is and we cannot undo that, the genie is out of the bottle and can never be put back in). This is not something that Australia is ever going to be able to avoid unless we want to cut ourselves off from the rest of the world, and even if we did that it will remain a constant threat against us forever. All of our ancestors, including those who wrote the universal declaration of human rights, went through much worse and still the creators of the declaration of human rights chose not to create exceptions to the human rights to deal with such bad events. We are throwing away their legacy and gift to cower and hide in the hopes that the virus will go away.
The COVID-19 virus has already penetrated Europe, it has already penetrated Asia, it has already penetrated Africa, it has already penetrated the USA, it has already penetrated China, it has already penetrated India, it has already penetrated into the Middle East, it has penetrated into South America, it has penetrated basically everywhere in the world - everywhere except basically New Zealand, I guess even viruses have standards (I joke, save and except to the extent that this virus has spread!).
This virus is out in the wild and is likely never going to be eliminated, just like the common cold, just like the seasonal flu, just like HIV, just like so many other viruses that we live with. They are extremely difficult organisms to eradicate as they mutate. Yes it sucks, and yes we should always keep striving for a cure or perfect vaccine, and for ways to limit or reduce our suffering, but we have to live it with it just as humanity has always had to do with such things. I am sorry to every family which has been impacted by deaths and serious illness due to COVID-19, and I am sorry for every family that has to suffer in the future due to the virus, but I don’t think any of humanity created the virus and the only thing we can do is what humanity has always done before which is try and live with its effects. It is not something which we should be discarding the universal declaration of human rights over!
We potentially sit at the dawn for truly amazing things for all of humanity, and we live in a time where we have had it better than every other generation of humanity that has came before us. Things are improving and improving well around the world and we should continue this progress. Poverty globally has been decreasing impressively, the availability of food is increasing worldwide due to science. Access to modern technologies is constantly improving for everyone, we literally have the ability for everyone in humanity to be able to have access to all of humanity’s creations which we know and can express verbally or visually through the internet (lets try and stop forcing people off the internet because we don’t agree with them or because they did something stupid, that is basically all of us). Talk and argue in good faith with those people with whom we disagree on things, most people are good people at heart there really aren’t that many shit people in the world and for those that do exist let them talk so we can hear them and push back on what they say. If they are stupid enough to say it then we should want to hear it so we can best counter the message and point out its flaws. I am not seeing very many alt-right Nazis or fascists or communists patrolling out on the street, or as many on the internet, as people and organisation on the internet would have us believe.
I am seeing a lot of social media companies though effectively kicking thousands upon thousands of people out of the internet community, a community which is for all of humanity and to which human rights must apply. Yes I know those people and companies own the social media platforms, but we all know they have a monopoly in their respective platform areas, and as a community of humanity everyone should be welcome in them. Do we want the alternative, what did the alternative give us other than the immoral situation which led to the creation of the universal declaration of human rights agreed to by the United Nations following the travisties around WW2. These social media platforms have the legal benefits of being a person under our legal system, the same universal declaration of human rights that applies to all people applies to them and they must comply with the obligations of the declaration of human rights exactly the same as every other person in humanity. Article 19 of the declaration of human rights includes the right to freedom of speech and thought – have a really close look at it as on the words as written it applies to the internet (“through any media and regardless of frontiers.” - Article 19).
Any breach to these human rights is unacceptable for exactly the same reasons as what I am saying in respect to the human rights breaches by the Victorian government in relation to COVID-19. These issues are all interconnected and are currently at issue. The human rights agreed to on behalf of all humanity must be protected and preserved perfectly at all costs, it is the only way that all of humanity can go on and reap the benefits from them as best that we can with what the universe gives us. It is what we owe to future generations of humanity.
I am not giving up on these human rights, though I will make sure that I minimise the risk to all of us as far as possible while COVID-19 remains a threat, but none of us has the right to take away any human right for any other human being, full stop! And our Victorian government, on our behalf, has breached 19 of them so far (see the full list below).
I hope that you agree with the sentiment in this post, I hope that I am not the only one, I have hope and faith that I am not. Please do whatever you can to support and promote this message, and anything else you can do to further these principles would be greatly appreciated. Dan Andrews and your government stop your actions immediately and end this lockdown, undo the damage you have done as far as is retrospectively possible!
It should also be noted here at the end that over recent years there has been a continual slow degradation of the human rights around the entire world, it extends far beyond just COVID-19, there are true atrocities happening right now in our world. No government anywhere in humanity has the authority to infringe upon the inalienable and universal human rights of any person. We should all be looking into these issues for the betterment of humanity.
It has to stop, we all have to do something, find a way please!
- David Andrew Shaw, Camberwell, Victoria, 10 July 2020.
Actions by the Government of the State of Victoria in breach of human rights
Article 1: “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”
Action: Imposing the COVID-19 lockdowns and other restrictions on the people of Victoria since March 2020 to current. Our ability to act as we choose towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood has been unequivocally infringed by the lockdown.
Article 3: “Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”
Actions: Imposing the COVID-19 lockdown and restrictions on the people since March 2020 to currently.
Depriving the occupants of the apartment towers in Flemington and North Melbourne of their liberty to leave their apartments.
Article 5: “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment.”
Actions: These lockdowns are effectively solitary confinement for every person who lives alone, that is many of us. It is not much better for those who live with their families. Solitary confinement is a cruel and unusual punishment not allowed in our penal systems for more than short periods. This is not good for the mental and social health of our communities.
Article 9: “No one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”
Actions: The occupants of the apartment towers in Flemington and North Melbourne were arbitrarily detained, it cannot be described in any other way.
The stage 3 lockdowns of Victoria, which is currently focused on Melbourne (and previously applied state-wide), restricts people to their homes except under 4 specific circumstances. It is obviously not the worst form of detention but it is still detention and is not permitted. The government needs to inform and request the community do the right thing, it does not arbitrarily have the ability to detain its population (in part or as a whole).
Article 12: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home, or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation.”
Actions: Victoria’s government deciding how many people may attend weddings and funerals of its citizens, and the government deciding whether you can have visitors in your home or how many visitors you can have – these restrictions directly interfere with families and the home and are breaches of this human right.
Article 13: “(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.”
Actions: Travel restrictions within each state, at both a state/territory and at a federal level. The founders didn’t put any exception on this human right dealing with viruses or any other thing.
Article 16: “(3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State.”
Actions: The government telling families who may or may not come to weddings or funerals through restrictions of the number of people allowed at any particular ceremony.
Article 17: “(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.”
Actions: The government telling specific types of businesses whether and how they are permitted to operate. The owner’s of these business are effectively deprived of their property as they are not allowed to use it.
Article 18: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.”
Actions: The government telling members of our churches and faiths that they are not permitted to physically meet and practice their faith how they wished.
Article 19: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through the media and regardless of frontiers.”
Actions: Restrictions on allowing people to meet and exchange ideas and opinions as they may wish to do so, which restrictions have been imposed throughout the entire lockdown periods.
Article 20: “(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association.”
Actions: The governments of Victoria and New South Wales (possibly others) for punishing or trying to punish people for protesting on issues they view as important during the COVID-19 period.
Restrictions during lockdown on how churches and other religions and organizations may or may not meet.
Punishment of people who do not comply with the lockdown restrictions.
Article 22: “Everyone, as a member of society, has the right to social security and is entitled to realization, through natural effort and international co-operation and in accordance with the organization and resources of each State, of the economic, social and cultural rights indispensable for his dignity and free development of his personally.”
Actions: Lockdowns and telling people what they can and cannot do as a society.
Telling businesses how they may and may not operate during lockdown, including at this time in Melbourne in Victoria.
These lockdowns have denied or otherwise restricted the rights of millions of Victorians in relation to their economic, social and culture necessary for their dignity and free development of personality.
Article 23: “(1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.”
Actions: Locking down and telling businesses as to whether they were allowed to operate, if a businesses cannot lawfully operate then its employees are expressly denied the ability to work and are subject to unemployment.
Article 24: “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.”
Actions: Lockdowns restricting all of society’s ability to rest and have leisure by not permitting travel, closing gyms and sporting facilities, and by not permitting businesses and people to operate as they wish.
Article 26: “(1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit.”
“(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.”
Actions: The government lockdown of schools and restricting how they may operate.
Closing schools denied parents the right to choose the kind of education they wished for their children.
Article 27: “(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.”
Actions: Lockdowns on people, and on businesses, and barring access to cultural activities and venues.
Article 29: “(2) In the exercise of his rights and freedoms, everyone shall be subject only to such limitations as are determined by law solely for the purpose of securing due recognition and respect for the rights and freedoms of other and of meeting the just requirements of morality, public order and the general welfare of the society.”
Actions: The lockdown, at the very least the most recent lockdown of the apartment towers and of Melbourne. Melbourne has a population of approximately 5 million people. With COVID-19 as at 10am on 10 July 2020 the total number of COVID-19 cases in Victoria are 165 new cases in the last 24 hours, 1,030,462 people tested, 932 active cases, and 22 lives lost. These statistics are not good but regardless it does not entitle our governments to breach the human rights of even a single person let alone our entire population.
*NOTE: In the declaration, some of the language is out of date and uses male pronouns. It is unequivocally clear from the overall document and preamble that it applies to all of humanity regardless of sex or gender. I am not suggesting that we should ever amend these human rights to fix this outdated wording (in fact my argument through this post is that we mus not change it), however humanity should formally agree that the language is sexist and out of date, and references using the male pronoun are universally and unequivocally understood to be references to all people regardless of sex and gender. We owe each other this much.