See the problem I have with this take is that almost everyone I know understands that they have to work in order to maintain a standard of living. Some of them are also conciously aware that this contributes to an overarching societal progression. The contribution our politicians should be making is to enact the will of the people they represent, this is where I see the breakdown occuring. We have a federal government that is apparently far more beholden to lobbyists and corporate interests, we have state governments who are similar, we have local councils that seemingly represent their own interests. Without people willing to put themselves on the line to highlight the failings of our governments and the supporting apparatus then when do we expect them to change? I’m sorry but no amount of contributing to the smooth operation of society is going to fix the problems we currently have, or the ones that are looming in front of us. Once we regulate AI, tighten our tax code to make businesses and corporations pay their fair share, inhibit the influence of lobbyists, get serious on finding and punishing corruption then we can talk about if protesters should be doing something more “productive”. But if you think some older people marching against over reaching anti-public laws has more of a damaging effect on our society than all the problems we face I’m afraid you and I just exist in different worlds. A strong society should never fear its members protesting, we need to stop licking the boot and start standing up to the people wearing it.
ForgottenUsername@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Paras 1, 2 and 3 are as if I had written them myself. And on retrospect I could’ve been clearer in my original post that I see these protests as fruitless. You can protest against your local council in relation to a badly consulted project, or federal about the botched handling of let’s say ‘housing affordability’, heck it doesn’t even need to be government it could be your employer outsourcing work overseas. In each instance you are protesting/impacting the party who you disagree with.
Here we have a group protesting about the actions of a foreign nation, who undertook an action on the other side of the globe. And who are they impacting?, the cafe that had to close thier doors cos there’s a protest out the front, or the dress maker that lost a days trading because ppl were avoiding the area.
At best you can stretch it to they are trying to impact the federal government, but this is my concern here, with what? The government says we support a two party solution, we support no warfare in the region. What’s the tangible action you want from them? Cos I don’t see that in any messaging.
And if it’s ‘this public outcry will ensure both sides lay down thier weapons’ your shouting at a third party about something they cannot control, that would be like me protesting that the US shouldnt tariff other countries, or me shouting at the postman because he delivered me a rate hike on my home loan, fruitless.
And I was just suggesting that the retirees could go back to work and contribute to society again until they are 73 like the rest of us are gonna have to, cos they ruined the housing market in this country whilst they instead retire at 55 on thier defined benefits we need to work until we’re 70 to pay for thier pensions
bampop@lemmy.world 3 days ago
These particular protests at this time appear to be sparked by the ban on certain slogans. You can’t directly change the policies of Israel by waving signs in Queensland. But if your state government is carrying water for Israel by selectively banning political speech, that is absolutely a local issue and one that needs to be addressed. It’s not just an issue of free speech, but also of corrupt politicians serving zionist lobbies. By addressing that local issue, in Australia and elsewhere, we can weaken the grip that the zionist lobby has had on large swathes of the global political establishment. The benefits of doing so are not just going to be felt by Palestinians. The network of corruption, blackmail and bribery that underpins this worldwide system of control is making us all worse off.