A few brave Singaporeans unfurled this banner in front of the iconic Marina Bay Sands, in a country where any public protest is illegal without prior approval and approved protests are only allowed at one park (and the authorities already said all registered protest applications relating to Gaza will be denied)
If they were foreigners they would almost certainly be deported. As citizens they’ll definitely see some legal action
I mean this is a country that put a man in jail for 15 days for holding up a smiley face sign (they’ll say ‘he should have chosen the fine, but that’s not quite the point)
I grew up being told (by teachers!) that if I made my political opinions known I would almost certainly be sued out of existence and out of my pants. That’s why I am awed by the people back home who do choose direct action
@skinnylatte Every time I see something like this outside the US, I realize how much we stand to lose with another trump election. All the things I grew up with and saw being refined and improved will all vanish in a heartbeat.
So many people don't realize how bad it can get. Arrested for a smiley face is an example.
@RegGuy some people are perfectly fine with authoritarian world orders. Like the thousands of Americans who do live in my country and tell me things like ‘you don’t know how much better you have it over here’. Sure, if you’re an American who gets to live an expat life there, who doesn’t have any political opinions about the place.
Although there are already plenty of other forms of horrific political repression in America with any administration
@skinnylatte I did my master's thesis on the internet and democratization in Malaysia and Singapore, and some of the ways the PAP government went after individuals were WILD. The education minister sued a college student studying abroad for libel because he criticized a policy on his blogspot.
@realmaplesyrup that student who was being sued is now the head of AI policy for New York City. Oh wait, different student, different minister. So many. Ahahah
@skinnylatte I just have been for work a month in Singapore and I felt so unbelievably uncomfortable. A culture suppressing any non conformity is scary. Every rule is enforced by fines, how do you see people of this is your way of dealing with them?
It is deeply impressive when people in this context do protest.
@Lazarou we took British colonial rules and perfected it (many of our existing legal structures for such repression were British laws against communists in the mid 1900s, such as speakers corner and lawful assembly rules, we kept them and expanded upon them, mostly because they don’t feel we need to pretend to be a democracy)
@Lazarou from a post colonial perspective there’s something cathartic about seeing the British and Dutch states arresting people at protests, when I was told so often that ‘only savages do that’, but from a global solidarity perspective it’s also WTF, authoritarians are everywhere
@skinnylatte if I'd have been there and seen that, chances are I would have loudly applauded... Would I too have been arrested? Quite possibly. Sad!
I'm so happy they did this though!
Add comment