hallo- and thanks, Nicholas,
may I ask, were you quoting a source?
or did you just do an amazing amount of research in
Florida?
I also agree that it apears that 'artistic' dissent
and criticism are protected, but I am interested not
just in the cultural arena: I am keen to urge
disaffection with the government politically, and to
join with those likewise inclined, for instance.
We have already seen that the laws will be selectively
applied, otherwise Alan Jones would be in jail,
as it is newly proscribed:
24 (d) to promote feelings of ill-will or hostility
between different
25 groups so as to threaten the peace, order and good
26 government of the Commonwealth.
Alan Jones is a far right radio announcer with a big
following, and in the lead up to the recent race riots
here in Sydney he rabidly encouraged violence,
including gun violence, by anglo australians against
lebanese australians. ( He is also one of the prime
minister's dearest friends.)
As you say, the laws will be interpreted by
'overzealous bureaucrats'; sadly, that is an apt way
to describe our entire ethnic gang of a government.
Deborah
--- Nicholas Ruiz <nr03@fsu.edu> wrote:
Sedition
Sedition--from the Latin, seditio--"a going
apart"...
Treason--from the Latin--traditio, "a handing
over"...
Thus we have "a going apart" in contrast with "a
handing over."
A primary statement: sedition is not treasonous,
despite the increasing
intimacy of the terms in our recent governance. To
"hand over" as in
treason, implies the disclosure of a secret.
Governments seem increasingly
bent upon monitoring and punishing "going apart" and
"handing over," as if
they were the same event. Borrowing from McKenzie
Wark, we might say this
is how governments are "securing security".
In spite of all this, the new Anti-terror
legislation in Australia, and in
particular, the portion of it focused upon sedition,
seems to allow for
artistic dissent and criticism. Section 80.3:
"Defence for acts done in
good faith" precludes the application of Section
80.1: "Definition of
Organization", and 80.2: "Sedition" to those that
'lawfully' criticize the
government and its structures, or encourage others
to seek lawful change.
However, the following definition, taken from
Schedule 7;4 of the
Anti-terrorism legislation seems problematic:
--seditious intention--means an intention to effect
any of the
following purposes:
16 (a) to bring the Sovereign into hatred or
contempt;
17 (b) to urge disaffection against the following:
18 (i) the Constitution;
19 (ii) the Government of the Commonwealth;
20 (iii) either House of the Parliament;
21 (c) to urge another person to attempt, otherwise
than by lawful
22 means, to procure a change to any matter
established by law
23 in the Commonwealth;
24 (d) to promote feelings of ill-will or hostility
between different
25 groups so as to threaten the peace, order and
good
26 government of the Commonwealth.
The vagueness of terms like 'hatred' and 'contempt',
and 'threaten'
seemingly conflict with the openness purveyed in
Section 80.3: "Defence for
acts done in good faith."
Ultimately, the interpretation and then the
application of one or another's
reading of this legislation will matter most. In
other words, how will
these laws be used? If read fairly, they may cause
little concern, but
there are terms in Schedule 7;4 that could lead to
confusion and
misapplication by overzealous bureaucrats and
enforcement officials.
It is interesting to note that the USA Patriot Act,
and the proposed
Domestic Enhancement Security Act of 2003 (USA
Patriot Act II--upon
auto-searches of their .pdf files-- both do not
contain a single instance of
the words 'sedition' nor 'treason'!
Amicalement,
NRIII
Nicholas Ruiz III
ABD/GTA
Interdisciplinary Program in the Humanities
Florida State University
Editor, Kritikos
http://garnet.acns.fsu.edu/~nr03/
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