Watching video (below) of Monica Smit's arrest in Melbourne, Australia for "incitement" (the Beijing Down Under newspeak for expressing one's God-given right to free speech) is like watching -- not hearing about, but watching -- the Gestapo arrest a Jew for being a Jew.
In addition to feelings of empathy and outrage, there is an excruciating sense of powerless to such video witness. What can one do for her? Share the story and video of Monica Smit's outrageous arrest and be inspired by her rare courage.
Oh, and let the Australian Embassy know what you think of it.
From The Remnant:
Australia’s First Political Prisoner “on Australian Soil” by Kathy Clubb
As reported in The Remnant this week, the founder of Reignite Democracy Australia, Monica Smit, was arrested on August 31st on what amount to trumped-up charges of “incitement.” Monica is being held on remand, after refusing to sign the onerous bail conditions which have been described by some as a threat to democracy.
These bail conditions, as set down by a Melbourne Magistrate on September 1st, included that Monica not share “any material which incites opposition to the Chief Medical Officer’s directions…”; not disclose the identity of police officers involved in her case; and that all groups and social media accounts related to RDA are to “remove any materials which incite opposition to the Chief Health Officer’s directions.”
These draconian bail restrictions undermine the very reason for the existence of Reignite Democracy Australia, and are a direct attack on the civil liberties of all Australians. This realisation led Monica to choose to remain in prison rather than set a precedent which could be used to further increase the totalitarian powers already existing in this country.
Alarmingly, the Magistrate’s bail restrictions were not as severe as those initially put forward by the Victorian Police, who had demanded that, in addition to those conditions imposed by the Magistrate, Ms Smit not publish “...any material contradictory to the Chief health Officer’s directions... “; to deactivate her personal and RDA social media accounts “for the duration of the State of Emergency in Victoria related to the Coronavirus pandemic”; “...not to engage in any public discourse in relation to the Chief Health Officer’s directions” and to operate her organisation in line with the Health Department’s “best practices.” [emphasis added]
The attack on Monica Smit and RDA shows how desperate the government is to censor any opposition to its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.
Had she chosen freedom at the expense of her bail conditions, Ms Smit and her staff would have been prohibited from expressing concern over the harms caused by lockdowns and the experimental COVID vaccines, from promoting businesses who ignore mask mandates or from opposing vaccination mandates. This amounts to the inability to hold an opinion contrary to that of the Chief Health officer; as one lawyer put it, such restrictions “would make North Korea blush.”