COVID Latest: Huge Anti-Vaxx, Anti-5G, Anti-Lockdown Protests Nationwide
Sunday: special edition on why these protests can't be ignored and what they mean
Hello! It’s Sunday, May 31. Here’s today’s ‘5+5: coronavirus edition’.
Each day I’m bringing you 5 things to know about COVID-19 + 5 non-corona things too. But today’s slightly different.
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Wash your hands and sneeze into your elbow. Remember physical distancing - at least 1.5 metres of separation.
Latest Australian stats: as of 9pm Saturday, Australia has 7185 reported cases of COVID-19 (that’s +11 since the day before), with 6606 reported as ‘recovered’; there have been 103 deaths; and more than 1.428 million tests have been done, according to the latest federal Department of Health stats. Full global stats breakdown below.
SO…
Usually I bring you 5 corona and 5 non-corona things each day. Today is a bit different. Yesterday (Saturday), I went along to a ‘Million March Against Mandatory Vaccinations’ rally in Sydney’s Hyde Park — not as a supporter, to be clear, but to watch, and listen.
The protest was inextricably linked to coronavirus, hence why I’m covering it here. Here’s a few thoughts from it.
(Your regular ‘5 corona things’ is halfway down, if you’d rather just skip to that)
5 PROTEST THINGS
What’s this all about?
Shockingly quickly during the COVID outbreak, the lines between various kooky conspiracy theories (5G, anti-vaxx, anti-lockdown, anti-government, anti-China, anti-elite, you get the picture) have been blurring. Movements that were formerly relatively disparate are now coalescing under some shared common vibe that ‘they’ (and in these scenarios, ‘they’ can refer to anyone from doctors to politicians to journalists, up to Bill Gates) are not telling the truth, and lying to the public. The theories claim that their regular bugbear — whether that be vaccines, elites, 5G or whatever — is linked to COVID.
Saturday’s rally followed several large ones in Melbourne in recent weeks, and smaller ones in Sydney and elsewhere. I’ve been covering these protests and groups for a few weeks — check out my recent stories here, here and here — as well as the general coronavirus disinformation and conspiracy theory round (stories here, here, here and here).
Most capital cities held one of these MMAMV rallies (despite ‘mandatory vaccines’ not being a thing…) but Sydney and Melbourne seemed to be the best attended. It was a grab bag of bugbears — anti-vax, anti-5G, protesting against lockdowns, protesting against politicians, what have you.
There was a diverse group of people — and not all kooks
I went along to this rally with mate and fellow journalist Cameron Wilson (who has a great internet culture newsletter of his own, which you can check out here), not really knowing what to expect.
Similar recent rallies have drawn big crowds in Melbourne, but in Sydney so far, protests have been limited to small numbers, despite some frenzied social media activity from a few growing groups — not least, one page called ‘Exercising My Rights’, members of which literally exercised while holding protest signs outside NSW state parliament in recent weeks.
Sweatband-and-activewear-wearing members of this group were there on Saturday (its leader livestreaming the whole thing and posing for selfies with followers) but the crowd was far larger, and more diverse, than I expected.
These weren’t just Byron Bay earth mother types dancing in fields under the moonlight — the crowd (I estimated it at several hundred at the start, growing to closer to 1000 by the end, with organisers claiming 3000) included many families and kids; young couples with babies in prams, parents with teenagers.
They had older people, uni students, young women in activewear and puffer jackets snapping selfies, and people of many ethnic and social backgrounds (though predominantly white, outwardly appearing middle-class).
There were the expected anti-vaxxer types (though they shun the term, preferring ‘pro-choice’), but also a patchwork motley crew of other various Facebook Brain groups — we had 5G truthers, anti-‘New World Order’ types, progressives, conservatives, pro-marijuana types, anti-government… you name it.
But then…
Of most interest to me was a smattering of ‘Qanon’ and hardcore conspiracy types, many brandishing signs or wearing shirts claiming COVID was a hoax or a scam, some wearing heavy-duty face shields and gas masks (though, it must be said, the masks did seem to be worn ironically, considering their claims of the pandemic being fake).
The gist of Qanon, for those not across it; an American conspiracy theory claiming Donald Trump is secretly dismantling the secret Satanic paedophile ring that runs the world, which includes Hollywood actors and politicians as members, all based on 4chan message board posts from an anonymous poster calling themselves ‘Q’ (hence, Q + anonymous = Qanon).
It’s hardcore conspiracy stuff, with a wave of associated wacky claims about paedophiles, elites ingesting ‘adrenochrome’ as a recreational substance, Satanic rituals…
This might seem to have literally zero to do with Australia, but it feeds into the overwhelming vibe of this protest — claims that ‘elites’ are lying, that the world is being scammed, that there’s more to the pandemic, etc etc. This is the common thread tying together all the groups in Saturday’s rallies — from the casual Facebook user a little concerned about lockdowns, through to seasoned anti-vaxxer advocates, up to big-time conspiracy nuts.
It should also be noted that some people simply copy-paste what they see in U.S. Facebook groups and apply it to their own context. Qanon has nothing to do with Australia, besides the tangential ‘elites are lying to us’ angle canvassed above, but the American conversation is often just CCed into local conversations. That’s why we had MAGA hats and a scattering of Trump banners yesterday.
Such groups talk about an ‘awakening’ — claiming they now ‘see’ the conspiracies happening in the world, under the surface — as though they’ve discovered the Rosetta Stone or the Ark of the Covenant, or been unplugged from The Matrix (unsurprisingly, there were more than a few ‘follow the white rabbit’ and redpill posters up in the crowd).
So there’s some description. Now, here’s why the trend is important and worth talking about (even if their claims are baseless):
This can’t be understood in terms of left vs right, progressive vs conservative
As pointed out by Tom Tanuki, good friend of the newsletter and someone who knows more about this stuff than I — trying to understand these protesters in terms of left and right, on a traditional political spectrum, is to miss the full story, to misunderstand where this comes from and what they want.
There were MAGA Trump hats (even some local ripoff versions, sky-blue ‘Make Australia Great Again’ caps) and the Q types, but calling them conservatives isn’t right. They don’t like the Liberal Prime Minister — chants of “sack ScoMo” rang out — or the Liberal NSW Premier, Gladys Berejiklian either.
If you forced me to put them in a box, I’d wager many of them would be behind the likes of Pauline Hanson — indeed, associates of former One Nation senator Rod Culleton have become online quasi-celebrities as they share videos and social media posts talking about the constitution and legal rights — but even that is imprecise.
Many of them were of the ilk of Bondi health-nut green vegans, trendy inner-city types, the kind of folk you might see at refugee rallies. There were people in ‘legalise marijuana’ shirts. The rally began with an Indigenous smoking ceremony, and several speakers criticised about Aboriginal land dispossession and ongoing mistreatment of First Nations people, which received hearty cheers.
Writing them off solely as conservative or far-right, like some have, is unhelpful and plain wrong. I’d guess there were just as many Liberal voters as Labor voters in the crowd. Many are probably more likely to vote minor party, and not necessarily for who you’d think. Indeed, I was handed flyers for at least two anti-5G political parties, including one that was being formed to protest satellites, drones, RFID chips etc.
There are the budding seeds of something more organised, more concrete, something bridging the gap between Facebook words and real-world action — political parties, action groups. Which brings me to my last, most important point…
Why these protests matter
These groups aren’t going to change government policy. A thousand people in a park isn’t going to wind back lockdown laws, or alter policies on vaccination. But where this will have some impact, is as the formerly small and unorganised groups coalesce together, and potentially organise under a common banner. The list of speakers at the rally was long and rambling — it became a bit of an ‘open mic night’ vibe towards the end, as random people just started grabbing the microphone and talking — but two female speakers at the tail end gave me two big points to think about.
One called the current situation a “war” over “whether we have a say over what we put in our bodies”. That second part is a common phrasing for anti-vax groups, but the “war” part isn’t so common. This group yesterday wasn’t violent, and never really looked like descending into conflict — but looking at the anti-lockdown protests in the United States of a few weeks ago, and how much these groups are influenced by the tactics and rhetoric of similar groups in the U.S., it wouldn’t be out of the question to see these demonstrations escalate.
But the other one gave me even more pause. Another female speaker said the groups were “united like never before” — talking about how the wildly different interests of the groups, from 5G to anti-vax to anti-lockdown to Qanon, were coming together under some common banner. It’s a nascent coalescing at this stage, but the pandemic — along with associated lockdowns, unemployment, confusion, and numerous bad actors whipping up outrage with misinformation and outright lies — has sown the seeds for something bigger to emerge here.
I don’t know what that kind of group would look like. It might come under a banner of ‘we are the 99%’, a phrase chanted many times during the rally, or something similar. All these theories have some similar root, that those in power are lying, that something rotten
As this excellent ABC article today points out, the pandemic could “change the game” for the anti-vax movement, allowing them to graft their messages onto other movements and thus gather followers.
My point here — each of these relatively little groups can usually be safely ignored on their own, their various claims easily debunked and fact-checked. But if such groups merge and mobilise under an ethos of “awakening”, of calling out “lies” they claim are perpetrated by “elites” — politicians, doctors, experts, media — then this would be something different. Something potentially potent.
Of course, this would hinge on disparate groups managing to come to agreement on an overarching goal and mission — something which led to, for instance, far-right groups like the United Patriots Front to come together then quickly splinter. As mentioned, these groups aren’t far-right, but this is as close a local equivalent as I can think of.
Of course, this might never happen. But don’t be surprised to see anti-vax or anti-5G political parties spring up, and gather more votes than you’d expect.
5 CORONAVIRUS THINGS
As mentioned, read this piece from the ABC on how anti-vaxxers are supercharging their groups thanks to COVID (link).
Lockdowns further relax on Monday — here is a list of what’s changing.
On a related note, delaying lockdowns by just a few more days could have seen tens of thousands of extra COVID infections, according to a new report (link).
The Guardian has this fascinating data package on how jobs were lost across Australia, and in which areas
Today’s stats:
The latest stats from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering (as of 2.30pm AEST Sunday) report 6,063,588 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide. There have been 307,108 deaths.
The United States has 1,770,384 confirmed cases, with Brazil next but far behind on 498,440, then Russia (396,575). The U.S. has the most deaths (103,781), then the United Kingdom (38,458) and Italy third on 33,340.
In Australia, the latest federal stats (as of 9pm Saturday) show 7185 cases, 6606 people recovered, 103 deaths, and 1,428,538 tests.
The latest Australian graph:
IMPORTANT EVERY DAY
Be hygienic; wash your hands properly, at least 30 seconds with soap and water, multiple times a day (here’s how you need to do it, plus a handy Dr Karl video tutorial); sneeze and cough into your elbows.
Listen to only official information from the World Health Organisation and legitimate health bodies — Don’t share dodgy stuff on Facebook. If it looks too good (or bad) to be true, it often is.
World Health Organisation latest statistics here.
Australian government latest statistics here.
Signing off — stay safe, be healthy, look after yourself and others.
Josh