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Defending democracy and civil rights

In recent years governments have cracked down on the right to protest by strengthening police powers and applying criminal penalties to protest action. This process has been accelerated over the past two years - with governments particularly targeting those standing-up for peace and justice for the Palestinians in the context of Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Victorian Socialists want to defend civil liberties and political rights – and we want to empower people to democratically control every part of social life.

What we think

  1. Socialists defend democracy and want to extend it to every part of social life.
  2. Capitalism is incompatible with genuine democracy because it establishes private, dictatorial control over the economy. This also means that capitalism constantly threatens limited, parliamentary democracy.
  3. Socialists defend political rights, including freedom of opinion, freedom of speech and freedom of organisation.
  4. Social rights – including the rights to food, housing, healthcare, education and so on – must be instituted to maximise democratic participation and to create a more just, free and equal society.
  5. Australia’s constitution, government, legal system and state institutions originated in British settler-colonialism, were built on the dispossession and genocide of Aboriginal people and are geared to serve the interests of capitalism. Consequently, they must be replaced.

We'll fight to

  1. Divert spending on policing and state surveillance into spending on social services.
  2. Repeal authoritarian ‘anti-terror’ laws
  3. Abolish ASIO and all spy agencies
  4. Repeal data retention laws
  5. Adopt a Bill of Rights
  6. End the racist targeting by police of First Nations people, Muslims and African Australians
  7. Abolish imprisonment for non-violent offences of poverty and non-payment of fines
  8. Prosecute corporate tax evasion and other corporate crimes including environmental vandalism
  9. Support prevention programs, community-oriented and therapeutic rehabilitation schemes and alternatives to imprisonment
  10. Fully fund legal aid and the community legal sector
  11. Abolish private prisons
  12. Legislate against any police involvement in industrial disputes