Policing only works when the majority of people give their consent to it. When people get the firm idea that their government is an existential threat - when they see their lives at risk, this happens
Is is a dark day because Aussie’s had to resort to physical non-compliance against their fascist law enforcement, or because their rulers and the “ruler’s army” (law enforcement) became fascists? Or, both?
I'd say both, actually. Governments can tear down civil societies by their actions, and by making police into the enemies of the people, that's an important indicator. And the police act under orders - they're the sort of standing army which can become dangerous to liberty: "Our ancestors believed that the greatest threat to people’s freedom and well-being lay not with some foreign danger but rather with their very own government. They understood that historically the way that governments enslaved and controlled their citizenry was through a powerful military. Whenever the citizenry had to be “put into line,” the military would be there to do the job.
Our ancestors understood that soldiers obey orders. When they are ordered to establish “order,” they can be counted on to do so. Consider the words of Henry St. George Tucker in Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England: “Wherever standing armies are kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.” https://www.fff.org/2021/06/23/why-a-standing-army-and-a-welfare-state/
The problem is that police, and even more so armies, are trained, equipped, and organized for combat. We the people are not. We rely on those institutions to support our interests. If they don't, we need other means to regain control. Direct confrontation on their terms could work, but casualties would make the Civil War look like a bridge party. Information warfare is the most effective tactic at this stage. We're losing that one, too, but we seem to be gaining.
Those other means may not exist. And quite a few other people not only have combat training, but combat experience. Of course, most would prefer a peaceful resolution, but that's dependent on the other side of this. If they aim to tyrannize us, we have no choice but to resist and stop them from doing so - "The general sentiment of mankind is that a man who will not fight for himself, when he has the means of doing so, is not worth being fought for by others, and this sentiment is just. For a man who does not value freedom for himself will never value it for others, or put himself to any inconvenience to gain it for others. Such a man, the world says, may lie down until he has sense enough to stand up. It is useless and cruel to put a man on his legs, if the next moment his head is to be brought against a curbstone.
A man of that type will never lay the world under any obligation to him, but will be a moral pauper, a drag on the wheels of society, and if he too be identified with a peculiar variety of the race he will entail disgrace upon his race as well as upon himself. The world in which we live is very accommodating to all sorts of people. It will cooperate with them in any measure which they propose; it will help those who earnestly help themselves, and will hinder those who hinder themselves. It is very polite, and never offers its services unasked. Its favors to individuals are measured by an unerring principle in this—viz., respect those who respect themselves, and despise those who despise themselves. It is not within the power of unaided human nature to persevere in pitying a people who are insensible to their own wrongs and indifferent to the attainment of their own rights. The poet was as true to common sense as to poetry when he said,
Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.
This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. In the light of these ideas, Negroes will be hunted at the North and held and flogged at the South so long as they submit to those devilish outrages and make no resistance, either moral or physical. Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they get. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives and the lives of others.” https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no-struggle-there-no-progress/
Poetic reply... thanks. I think I'll use that. A drag on the wheels of society is our national motto these days. Pretty popular pastime. The supporters of the American Revolution were a minority, but they were enough. And a lot of military and police won't support tyranny, either. But it won't matter. If hostilities erupt here, China will step in and stop it. Maybe that would unify us. Most of us, anyway.
The important thing at this stage is preparation for such outcomes. Maybe we won't need it but it's fun anyway.
Is is a dark day because Aussie’s had to resort to physical non-compliance against their fascist law enforcement, or because their rulers and the “ruler’s army” (law enforcement) became fascists? Or, both?
I'd say both, actually. Governments can tear down civil societies by their actions, and by making police into the enemies of the people, that's an important indicator. And the police act under orders - they're the sort of standing army which can become dangerous to liberty: "Our ancestors believed that the greatest threat to people’s freedom and well-being lay not with some foreign danger but rather with their very own government. They understood that historically the way that governments enslaved and controlled their citizenry was through a powerful military. Whenever the citizenry had to be “put into line,” the military would be there to do the job.
Our ancestors understood that soldiers obey orders. When they are ordered to establish “order,” they can be counted on to do so. Consider the words of Henry St. George Tucker in Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England: “Wherever standing armies are kept up, and when the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.” https://www.fff.org/2021/06/23/why-a-standing-army-and-a-welfare-state/
Here's a guy that's following it on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8QFmiioSQw
The problem is that police, and even more so armies, are trained, equipped, and organized for combat. We the people are not. We rely on those institutions to support our interests. If they don't, we need other means to regain control. Direct confrontation on their terms could work, but casualties would make the Civil War look like a bridge party. Information warfare is the most effective tactic at this stage. We're losing that one, too, but we seem to be gaining.
Those other means may not exist. And quite a few other people not only have combat training, but combat experience. Of course, most would prefer a peaceful resolution, but that's dependent on the other side of this. If they aim to tyrannize us, we have no choice but to resist and stop them from doing so - "The general sentiment of mankind is that a man who will not fight for himself, when he has the means of doing so, is not worth being fought for by others, and this sentiment is just. For a man who does not value freedom for himself will never value it for others, or put himself to any inconvenience to gain it for others. Such a man, the world says, may lie down until he has sense enough to stand up. It is useless and cruel to put a man on his legs, if the next moment his head is to be brought against a curbstone.
A man of that type will never lay the world under any obligation to him, but will be a moral pauper, a drag on the wheels of society, and if he too be identified with a peculiar variety of the race he will entail disgrace upon his race as well as upon himself. The world in which we live is very accommodating to all sorts of people. It will cooperate with them in any measure which they propose; it will help those who earnestly help themselves, and will hinder those who hinder themselves. It is very polite, and never offers its services unasked. Its favors to individuals are measured by an unerring principle in this—viz., respect those who respect themselves, and despise those who despise themselves. It is not within the power of unaided human nature to persevere in pitying a people who are insensible to their own wrongs and indifferent to the attainment of their own rights. The poet was as true to common sense as to poetry when he said,
Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.
This struggle may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, and it may be both moral and physical, but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. In the light of these ideas, Negroes will be hunted at the North and held and flogged at the South so long as they submit to those devilish outrages and make no resistance, either moral or physical. Men may not get all they pay for in this world, but they must certainly pay for all they get. If we ever get free from the oppressions and wrongs heaped upon us, we must pay for their removal. We must do this by labor, by suffering, by sacrifice, and if needs be, by our lives and the lives of others.” https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/1857-frederick-douglass-if-there-no-struggle-there-no-progress/
Poetic reply... thanks. I think I'll use that. A drag on the wheels of society is our national motto these days. Pretty popular pastime. The supporters of the American Revolution were a minority, but they were enough. And a lot of military and police won't support tyranny, either. But it won't matter. If hostilities erupt here, China will step in and stop it. Maybe that would unify us. Most of us, anyway.
The important thing at this stage is preparation for such outcomes. Maybe we won't need it but it's fun anyway.
I really like this essay. It motivated me to write a related post on my newsletter at thecampaign.substack.com. Maybe we can help with the recovery.
By the way, the fff.org you referenced holds weekly online conferences on liberty related subjects, Tuesdays at 4pm eastern.