Peter Lalor on "democracy"

[Zenaan Harkness]

Part of Australia's proud history which (when it comes to the public
discourse and relevant action) is largely buried.


>From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_Rebellion


   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eureka_Rebellion#Peter_Lalor

   Following the battle [of the Eureka Stockade], rebel leader, Irish
   Australian Peter Lalor, wrote in a statement to the colonists of
   Victoria, "There are two things connected with the late outbreak
   (Eureka) which I deeply regret. The first is, that we shouldn't have
   been forced to take up arms at all; and the second is, that when we
   were compelled to take the field in our own defence, we were unable
   (through want of arms, ammunition and a little organisation) to
   inflict on the real authors of the outbreak the punishment they so
   richly deserved."

   Lalor stood for Ballaarat in the 1855 elections and was elected
   unopposed.

   During a speech in the Legislative Council in 1856 he said, "I would
   ask these gentlemen what they mean by the term 'democracy'. Do they
   mean Chartism or Republicanism? If so, I never was, I am not now, nor
   do I ever intend to be a democrat. But if a democrat means opposition
   to a tyrannical press, a tyrannical people, or a tyrannical
   government, then I have been, I am still, and will ever remain a
   democrat."



The Eureka stockade and the proud stand that Peter Lalor and others
sacrificed their lives for, is a classic and effective example of the
result when the tyranny of so-called "democracy"

That is, an armed civil uprising. As Lalor wrote above, in our Eureka
Stockade, the men who rose in defiance of a tyranny failed to properly
arm themselves in the first instance.


I say we have a duty to speak, and to act in "peaceful political
protest", in the first instance - this is a duty of care to the other
members of our community.

Where "the system" repeatedly fails to hear our voice and our protests,
instead continuing to inflict its tyranny upon us and abrogating one or
more of our fundamental human rights over an extended period of time,
and when enough members of our community experience this tyranny first
hand and agree on the importance of change, then an armed civil uprising
becomes almost inevitable.