Wear a mask to protest your health and others. The coronavirus pandemic is not over, 2 million people in the UK are now experiencing long COVID and tens of thousands of people who have a weakened immune system remain clinically vulnerable. Everyone wearing a mask is a way of offering safety and solidarity to people around you who might not otherwise attend a demonstration on health grounds.
Fight against pressure from employers. Employers have warned staff, particularly education and youth workers, against publicly participation in “controversial” demonstrations and indicated this would have a detrimental impact on their careers, or even lead to dismissal.
Protect your privacy and the privacy of others. The climate of growing racism and xenophobia in Britain makes some demonstrators feel more vulnerable, which in turn can impact their willing ness to exercise their right to protest. Asylum seekers, for example – awaiting the outcome of a system that is seemingly intent on finding excuses to refuse their claims – may not want immigration services to know they have been politically active. For similar reasons, international students have expressed alarm about the possibility that their participation in a demonstration might detrimentally impact on their studies.
Anonymity protects against political reprisals. People taking part in an international solidarity protest may worry about negative consequences for relatives in their country of origin if they are identified as demonstrators (something Congolese protesters have previously told Netpol). The threat is not simply from the police in Britain, but repressive police everywhere.
Fight against Prevent. Young people (especially young Muslims) may be understandably wary of the negative impact on them of unwarranted attention from Prevent, the government’s mass surveillance ‘counter-radicalisation’ programme.
Protect against far-right “doxing”. Demonstrators may understandably worry their identities could end up on a far-right website or used to dox them by opposition internet trolls. This has been particularly the case for anti-fascist and Palestine solidarity protests.
You have the right to privacy. It is entirely legitimate to actively resist police surveillance, when you know it involves concerted efforts to gather intelligence on the structures, sustainability and strengths of protest groups, so the police can develop ways to undermine them.
Collectively we can reject the myth that face coverings are intrinsically linked to public disorder. A mask may represent the main deciding factor for many about whether they are able to exercise their rights to protest in the first place.
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