The Terror Raids: An analysis of the criminalisation of green activism in Aotearoa

<p>The objective of this thesis is to identify how criminalisation by mainstream media, police, politicians, ‘the public’ and court processes affected green activists, with specific reference to the Terror Raids of October 2007. Drawing on media analysis - covering news articles from 15 October 2007 to 15 November 2007, and 1 January 2017 to 31 July 2018 - and semi-structured interviews with eight participants (all green activists, two of whom were arrested in the Terror Raids), this research explores the issues of colonisation, activism, criminalisation, and resistance to criminalisation in detail. The research concludes that state agents and mainstream media contributed to a ‘blanket criminalisation’ of activists in the Terror Raids and that this criminalisation had significantly detrimental effects on the activists, whānau , and wider groups. This intense criminalisation was produced as a result of activists being labelled as ‘terrorists’. As a result, the Raids represented an evolution in the criminalisation of green activists in Aotearoa - from inconsistent forms of criminalisation (in which previous criminalising narratives had been joined by narratives relating to democratic freedom and environmental justice) to the application of intense criminalisation by the state and mainstream media of all activists in the Raids. This research demonstrates, therefore, the power of labelling. However, this thesis also identifies the power of green activism and the resilience of campaigners to this intense criminalisation. It emphasises that resistance can survive even when confronted by intense criminalisation and state violence. It concludes by emphasising the significant contributions green activists make to the environmental well-being of Aotearoa and to the international environmental justice movement.</p>

The Terror Raids: An analysis of the criminalisation of green activism in Aotearoa

<p>The objective of this thesis is to identify how criminalisation by mainstream media, police, politicians, ‘the public’ and court processes affected green activists, with specific reference to the Terror Raids of October 2007. Drawing on media analysis - covering news articles from 15 October 2007 to 15 November 2007, and 1 January 2017 to 31 July 2018 - and semi-structured interviews with eight participants (all green activists, two of whom were arrested in the Terror Raids), this research explores the issues of colonisation, activism, criminalisation, and resistance to criminalisation in detail. The research concludes that state agents and mainstream media contributed to a ‘blanket criminalisation’ of activists in the Terror Raids and that this criminalisation had significantly detrimental effects on the activists, whānau , and wider groups. This intense criminalisation was produced as a result of activists being labelled as ‘terrorists’. As a result, the Raids represented an evolution in the criminalisation of green activists in Aotearoa - from inconsistent forms of criminalisation (in which previous criminalising narratives had been joined by narratives relating to democratic freedom and environmental justice) to the application of intense criminalisation by the state and mainstream media of all activists in the Raids. This research demonstrates, therefore, the power of labelling. However, this thesis also identifies the power of green activism and the resilience of campaigners to this intense criminalisation. It emphasises that resistance can survive even when confronted by intense criminalisation and state violence. It concludes by emphasising the significant contributions green activists make to the environmental well-being of Aotearoa and to the international environmental justice movement.</p>

Policy reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic: an overview of political and economic influences across Europe

The reactions of the respective governments of the European Union both to the sanitary and economic risks of the Covid-19 pandemic varied tremendously. The objective of this paper is to explain the variation in lockdown and economic measures by political and institutional factors. Both the respective restrictive and economic measures throughout the European Union are presented. The first unit of the paper consists of a literature review of political factors (such as institutional structures and capacities, ideology and the effect of upcoming elections) that may have influenced the stringency of the restrictive measures introduced. As no previous study researched the effects of the above factors on the magnitude of economic packages, a regression analysis was conducted to examine if political ideology, democratic freedom and the timely proximity of elections influenced the extent of economic aid. While these factors could not prove to show significant influence on the extent of economic stimulus packages, several possible explanations are provided in order to understand the relative homogeneity of fiscal and monetary intervention in the EU.

A FRAMEWORK BASED ON BLOCKCHAIN FOR ELECTORAL VOTING SYSTEM

Electoral voting system is the pillar to maintain the democratic freedom of any country. The fair and transparent organization of election is the basic need of the country. Many countries are basically using one of two ways to conduct election either using ballot paper or using electronic voting machines. Each one has its own pros and cons. The fast, trust and e-voting is the need of future. In recent years, blockchain technology is rapidly adopted in various fields by various organizations. The Decentralized and cryptographic algorithms are the major reason behind this. Considering the increasing issue of security, trust in the traditional Voting System and future requirements, this paper proposes a framework for E-Voting system based on blockchain technology. This paper discusses the network architecture for blockchain technology, framing the processing casting votes and counting of votes. The analysis of various issues and challenges in electoral system is carried out in context of the proposed framework. This framework may improve the security and decreases the cost of hosting nationwide elections

Democratic Freedom

The chapter explores the meaning of democratic freedom. Building on the work of Hannah Arendt, it demonstrates that the long-standing debate between liberalism and republicanism does not exhaust the meaning of freedom. There is a unique conception of democratic freedom built into the democratic revolution, defined as the capacity to begin anew. The chapter clarifies what is democratic about this conception, and how it differs from positive freedom, conventionally understood. It shows that democratic freedom, defined as the capacity to begin anew offers a much-needed alternative to the many liberal and republican conceptions of freedom that dominate contemporary political theory, including freedom as non-interference, non-domination and self-determination.

Positive Free Speech: A Democratic Freedom

This chapter explores the positive structural dimensions of the freedom of speech by using a democratic free speech rationale. While far from the only aspect of positive free speech, it offers a useful example of the freedom’s positive dimensions. The chapter focuses on legal conditions underlying public speech and their links to democratic constitutional arrangements. It outlines the general approach before drawing brief comparisons with two well-known US approaches to free speech and media freedom. The chapter then highlights two of the multiple ways in which ‘positive’ can be used in relation to free speech. Positive may concern positive freedom, the idea that freedom is not only a negative liberty but requires support or enablement. It can also be used in terms of a positive right, typically a legal right enforced through courts.

«Servant» or «Master?»: Catholic Ethics and Artificial Intelligence

The article deals with the attitude of the Vatican and Catholic community to various systems of artificial intelligence (AI), ethical standards of its use in the context of the common good and social fairness. Catholic hierarchs assert that the situation case when the information offered by BigData, power, and also wealth is concentrated in hands of quiet, pretty, relatively few powerful people tend to aggravate social contradictions and conflicts. Moreover, it can provoke an infringement of civil rights and democratic freedom in European communities. The «Rome Call» for an AI Ethics, signed in February of 2020 by the Pontifical Academy of Life and IT industry leaders, has become a landmark policy agreement in the area of AI ethics. This document is a logical continuation of agreements like «EU guidelines on ethics in artificial intelligence» and also «Policy and investment recommendations for trustworthy AI» adopted by the European Commission in 2019. Church hierarchs and Catholic theologians affirm that the formation of AI ethical code could be accomplished only with the participation of the entire civil society and the Catholic Church, inspired by the norms of Christian morality and also by the principles of its Social Doctrine.

The Language of Progress and the Closure of the European Mind

Scepticism concerning the direction of progress and the policies required to achieve it, exposed new liberalism’s incoherent character. The Home Office’s decision to ignore an intransigent minority censoring works it found offensive created a precedent. The death threats issued against Salman Rushdie represented the opening shots in a cultural war on freedom. The Religious Hatred Act (2006) gave it legislative sanction. It reflected the dialectical clash between a sui generis Euro-Islam and the secular, progressive universalism that ironically made it possible. This cultural war and the exclusive identities it upheld constituted an assault on the secular right to speak sacrilegiously of sacred things. Endorsed after 9/11 by the progressive attempt to empathize with or cherish minority cultural understandings, it not only closed debate, but also restricted and distorted the political language in which debate might be conducted. Hate speech, trigger warnings and no platforming campaigns were its inexorable consequence. This illiberal outcome was quite a remarkable achievement of the post-Rawlsian liberal mind. This chapter examines the curious accommodation between fanaticism and multicultural, illiberal liberalism after 2001 and its disturbing implications for censorship, democratic freedom, tolerance and an open society.

Using Art to Resist Epistemic Injustice

This article argues that the aesthetics of the oppressed—a series of artistic practices elaborated by Augusto Boal that comprises the theatre of the oppressed, the rainbow of desire technique, and legislative theatre—utilizes art in order to resist epistemic injustice and promote democratic freedom. By constraining people’s ability to know and explore the potentialities of their bodies and desires, epistemic injustice perpetuates oppression and blocks the advent of democratic freedom. Whereas the theatre of the oppressed tackles corporal oppression, the rainbow of desire technique resists psychological oppression by encouraging the oppressed to critically examine their desires and self-knowledge. Finally, legislative theatre furthers democratic freedom by allowing citizens to protest against any epistemic injustice that might result from the enactment of laws made by representatives.