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Help defend civil and political rights ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏
Activist Legal News & Updates!
All the latest from Melbourne Activist Legal Support (MALS). Get involved and help defend civil and political rights.
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training opportunity
Team Coordinator Training
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Are you a trained MALS Legal Observer looking to step-up as an Team Coordinator?
This training opportunity is free and open to all trained MALS legal observers who have attended at least one protest event as an legal observer.
The workshop will cover: - Organising and mobilising a Legal Observer Team
- Risk & safety assessments
- Assertive, rights-based police liaison
- Team logistics, equipment, briefing & debriefing
- Advocacy, reporting, & Statements of Concern.
BOOKINGS ARE ESSENTIAL! - Tuesday 3 October, 2023
- 5:30pm-7:30pm
- Register online here
Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
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monthly meeting
Monthly Organising Meeting
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Help build stronger human rights protection for Victoria's social movements.
• Thursday 12 October
• 6.00pm - 7:30pm
• RSVP essential
Online meeting link provided upon registration.
Please contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
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Save the date
MALS Annual General Meeting
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SAVE THE DATE!
MALS will hold its Annual General Meeting on Friday 10 November.
All are welcome to attend followed by food and drinks.
More information coming soon.
Contact us at [email protected] if you have any questions.
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strategic incapacitation
Barrister blasts 'Orwellian' WA Police after raiding activist's home for 'potential' future crime
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A Western Australian Barrister has described WA Police actions as 'Orwellian' after they admitted their raid on an activist's home was for 'potential future offences'.
Six counter-terrorism police officers from the State Security Investigation Unit raided Joana Partyka's home on February 24, seizing a mobile phone and a laptop. Police then served Partyka with a Data Access Order on March 2; however, Partyka declined to provide access to data stored on her laptop and phone.
On September 21, Barrister Zarah Burgess deferred a verdict on the matter until November 20 after police admitted the reason for the raid was possible 'future offences' that have not been committed yet. Burgess called the police's 'Orwellian notion of potential future crime' part of 'an era of troubling policing of peaceful climate protest'.
Read how pre-emptive arrests and other police efforts to repress activists undermine civil and political rights in our article, What is ‘Strategic Incapacitation’ and why is it important for activists to understand it?
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anti-protest laws
More older people joining the pushback against Australia's anti-protest laws
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As the government continually fails to act in the public interest, older people are disrupting the stereotype of protesters as 'young and radical' by increasingly participating in peaceful protest and non-violent direct action.
"Us oldies should be out there supporting them and that's probably what pushed me a bit to the point of OK, I'm prepared to be arrested, because why should these young people have to bear the burden? It's not their fault." -- Helen Kvelde, Knitting Nanna.
However, harsh penalties being imposed on peaceful protesters as a result of new anti-protest laws introduced by state governments around the country are deterring many from exercising their right to freedom of assembly.
Alongside fellow Knitting Nanna Dominique Jacobs, Kvelde is challenging anti-protest laws in the NSW Supreme Court, arguing that they inhibit freedom of political communication and the right to protest:
"I want to be tougher and braver and to participate in protest actions without fear, but instead I am not participating; I am not connecting with people; I am not exercising my right to protest"
Read more about why older, law-abiding citizens are risking jail and joining younger activists, both on the ground and in the courts.
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global protest map
Global protest map reveals human rights violations against protesters around the world
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An interactive digital map released by Amnesty International this week
reveals the state-sanctioned misuse of less-lethal weapons such as tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray, to harass, intimidate, and repress protesters.
The first-of-its-kind map charts human rights violations perpetrated against protesters around the world, and highlights how governments that view protest as a threat use law enforcement officials to suppress, and shut down people's right to freedom of assembly.
Check out the interactive global protest map here.
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mals membership
Get involved - become a MALS member!
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MALS defends civil and political rights by training activists, creating and sharing resources on the right to protest in Victoria, training and fielding Legal Observers to monitor and report on police actions, and linking activists with supportive law firms and community legal centres.
Becoming a MALS member means you can help shape our campaigns & help increase our impact. Apply ONLINE now!
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