{"id":273396,"date":"2020-09-08T04:56:41","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T08:56:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rael.org\/?p=273396"},"modified":"2020-10-26T15:29:06","modified_gmt":"2020-10-26T19:29:06","slug":"australias-totalitarian-style-lockdown-has-set-a-precedent-other-countries-may-be-tempted-to-follow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/australias-totalitarian-style-lockdown-has-set-a-precedent-other-countries-may-be-tempted-to-follow\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s totalitarian-style lockdown has set a precedent other countries may be tempted to follow"},"content":{"rendered":"
RAEL’S COMMENT:<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n
Yes, it is indeed the end of the world: the end of the free world. Something worse than the end of the world as it is better to die free than to live as a prisoner. Prisoner in your own house. Nothing can be worse than this “house arrest” imposed on everybody without any crime being committed.<\/strong><\/span><\/h5>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The state of Victoria has imposed one of the harshest lockdowns seen anywhere in the world during the Covid-19 pandemic. It\u2019s provided an insight into what some leaders might get away with in the future.<\/p>\n

Winston Churchill once\u00a0said, \u201cNever let a good crisis go to waste.\u201d Politicians the world over are adept at following this motto. Within days of the 9\/11 terrorist attacks, the US Congress overwhelmingly passed the\u00a0Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)\u00a0joint resolution which gave<\/p>\n

President Bush powers to invade Afghanistan and was later used by President Obama to justify US military action further afield in Libya and Syria. Only\u00a0one legislator\u00a0voted against the resolution in 2001.<\/p>\n

Once sweeping powers are bestowed upon a leader, rolling them back is a harder job. The coronavirus pandemic took the world by surprise. Indeed, 12 months ago, no one could have imagined the events that would transpire throughout 2020. The pandemic has reportedly caused over 850,000 deaths worldwide with an overall fatality rate of\u00a0approximately one percent\u00a0according to The Lancet. (In comparison, seasonal flu kills\u00a00.1 percent\u00a0of those it infects and the SARS outbreaks between 2002 and 2004 had a mortality rate of\u00a010 percent).<\/p>\n

Whereas children and healthy adults who catch the virus typically suffer a mild or even asymptomatic illness, those in their mid-70s or older have over\u00a0a 10 percent chance\u00a0of death. Younger individuals with underlying health problems are also at greater risk. In the UK, of the roughly 40,000 deaths attributed to coronavirus,\u00a0approximately 20,000\u00a0have been care home residents.<\/p>\n

Australia, a country with a population of 25 million, has been far less affected by coronavirus, having reported\u00a0around 770 deaths to date. Despite this, the lockdown measures, particularly those currently operating in Melbourne, Victoria \u2013 which has seen the\u00a0majority of the\u00a0country\u2019s deaths\u00a0and\u00a0where 96 percent have occurred in those over the age of 40\u00a0\u2013 have been far stricter in comparison to other nations.<\/p>\n

The Victorian state government further tightened restrictions in early August. There is now a curfew in place in Melbourne\u00a0between 8pm and 5am, with the only exceptions being \u201cwork, medical care and caregiving.\u201d (This will be\u00a0loosened slightly\u00a0from 9pm to 5am from September 14).<\/p>\n

Those Melbourne workers who are allowed to leave their homes during the day must be in possession of\u00a0a work\u00a0permit, which they must display if challenged by police or else risk\u00a0fines\u00a0exceeding a thousand dollars. (Police have thus far reportedly given out\u00a0$2.9 million (AUD)\u00a0in fines for breaching the curfew). Police are also permitted to enter a residence\u00a0without a warrant.\u00a0Drones and military forces are used\u00a0to ensure there are no restriction breaches.<\/p>\n

A few days ago, a pregnant woman\u00a0was arrested\u00a0and handcuffed at home in her pyjamas and in view of her children for alleged \u2018incitement\u2019 after endorsing an anti-lockdown protest on Facebook, a move that was\u00a0swiftly criticised\u00a0by the professional body that represents Victorian barristers as\u00a0\u201cdisproportionate\u201d\u00a0to the threat she presented.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.rt.com\/op-ed\/500165-australia-covid-lockdown-melbourne-victoria\/?fbclid=IwAR08zm6QIEgPnr7XGjBmn9uh2_CrwbybAeACj7jxCGNCGmPowbNTKw5zDe0<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RAEL’S COMMENT: Yes, it is indeed the end of the world: the end of the free world. Something worse than the end of the world as it is better to die free than to live as a prisoner. Prisoner in your own house. Nothing can be worse than this “house arrest” imposed on everybody without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":71,"featured_media":280959,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/71"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noproxy.rael.org\/he\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}