Labor’s attempt to enlist Meta to fight climate activists needs scrutiny – it’s all too

So NSW’s premier, Chris Minns, thinks social media platforms like Meta should prevent climate activists from broadcasting their protests.

Scientists tell us that temperatures in the sea and air are spiking; a new study warns about global ecosystems collapsing sooner than predicted. Yet governments everywhere display more determination in suppressing protest than combating warming. As Greta Thunberg notes, “activists all over the world are experiencing increased repressions just for fighting for our present and our future”.

Here in Australia, the ALP’s enthusiasm for the crackdown particularly sticks in the craw, given the willingness of Labor luminaries to associate themselves with important protests of the past.

A few weeks ago, for instance, Melbourne Trades Hall rightly honoured Zelda D’Aprano with a statue showing the women’s liberation icon clutching the chains with which she fastened herself to a government building during a 1969 protest for equal pay. Former PM Julia Gillard hailed Zelda’s determination – even though today Labor premiers have used “lock…