A draft activism email

This is one of those emails I am going to sleep on, and I will decide after a period of reflection whether to send it as is, edit it and then send it, or abandon it. I am posting it now to illustrate part of the process I go through with these emails.

***

Dear Members of Parliament, 

Re:   Concerns about two media reports (CEO comment about protests at Newcastle and a transphobic article)  

I note recently, in the media report below, that the CEO of the NSW Minerals Council reportedly described protestors at the Newcastle port as “extremist”.

I also note that the website of the Attorney-General of Australia includes, at https://www.ag.gov.au/rights-and-protections/human-rights-and-anti-discrimination/human-rights-scrutiny/public-sector-guidance-sheets/right-freedom-opinion-and-expression, the following (emphasis added):

What is the right to freedom of opinion and expression?

The right to freedom of opinion is the right to hold opinions without interference, and cannot be subject to any exception or restriction.

The right to freedom of expression extends to any medium, including written and oral communications, the media, public protest, broadcasting, artistic works and commercial advertising. The right is not absolute. It carries with it special responsibilities, and may be restricted on several grounds. For example, restrictions could relate to filtering access to certain internet sites, the urging of violence or the classification of artistic material.

The right to protest is fundamental to democracy - and the history of protests includes the achievement of developments such as the five day working week, the 8 hour day, women's suffrage, and Equal Marriage.

The CEO’s comment, if accurately reported, is, in my opinion, ridiculous and, as someone with nearly half a century of experience working in the corporate world, likely to be damaging to that CEO’s credibility & public perception of that CEO’s competence. They possibly think they are sending a message to the companies they represent, but in doing so, they are, in my opinion, damaging the social licence of those companies and making future objections more likely, not less.

The article is at:

• “Protesters take to the water and shut down Newcastle coal ships”   https://www.thenewdaily.com.au/news/state/nsw/2023/11/25/coal-protest-halts-newcastle-ships   

In addition to the above, I also wish to draw your attention to the analysis of a transphobic article published recently by a mainstream media outlet. I won’t give the article any more publicity by finding and including a URL, but the host’s analysis of the article raises some excellent points - as do several of the comments, and can be accessed at https://www.3cr.org.au/outofthepan/episode/analysis-good-weekend-article-trans-world-aids-day.

No reply to this email is necessary.

*** 

 PS - I cut the email down to just raising awareness of the transphobic article and analysis of same, and then sent it.

 

Assumptions / basis 

In writing this, I have assumed / started from the following: 

• this blog states quite clearly that it is about political and human rights matters, including lived experience of problems, and thus I will assume readers are reasonable people who have noted the content warning in the post header;

Possible flaws 

Where I can, I will try to highlight possible flaws / issues you should consider:

• there may be flawed logical arguments in the above: to find out more about such flaws and thinking generally, I recommend Brendan  Myers’ free online course “Clear and Present Thinking”; 
  
• I could be wrong - so keep your thinking caps on, and make up your own minds for yourself.
  

 

If they are of any use of interest, the activism information links from my former news posts are available in this post. 

 

If you appreciated this post, please consider promoting it - there are some links below.

Remember: we need to be more human being rather than human doing, and all misgendering is an act of active transphobia/transmisia that puts trans+ lives at risk.