After almost 6 months in more or less hard lockdown, Victoria to some extent but  especially the  large area of metropolitan  Melbourne , are now starting to feel very similar to the former “Democratic Republic”  of East Germany, which was neither a republic nor democratic, but a one party communist dictatorship, a country  so wonderful that they built a fence/wall to prevent people from leaving! (Traditionally fences, walls and moats exist to prevent invaders).

Instead of barbed wire fence and a brick wall, we have a “ring of steel”. Instead of the communist rulebook we have the everchanging and incomprehensible “covid ” restrictions, instead of the Stasi we have police hunting down anti maskers in the street, arresting pregnant women for “incitement” on Facebook and in an extreme overreach of power, kicking mentally ill citizens in the head. Now they are working on a rule of incarcerating people  who voice anti government views online, Communist censorship at it’s  finest.

We still have access to some goods and services to keep us quiet, but others, like Australia Post, are buckling under the pressure and it takes an average of 14 days for a parcel to go from one suburb to another, some take much longer.

Now there are rumours flying around that the majority of Victorians are actually in support of Dictator Dan (There is even a “stand with Dan” cult/social media hashtag).

Personally, I find this hard to believe. There may be a small number of people who are not affected by the harsh rules, but most people are now more adversely affected by the lockdown than they are by the threat of Covid.

I have heard many stories of people quietly breaking the rules, leaving their suburb  or even the city to visit friends or family, walking outdoors or even indoors without a a mask (or positioning the mask below the nose), staying out longer than the prescribed one hour a day. Aussies are good at superficially complying while quietly doing whatever they want, as long as they can get away with it.

The majority of East German citizens also superficially complied with their one party state and draconian rules. One reason was that the government ensured full employment for all, so everybody had a job, government childcare and a roof over their head, even if most lived in ugly housing commission style flats and had to wait 10 years to buy a car.

They were also forced to comply because neighbours were encouraged to spy on each other and dob each other in for any anti communist sentiment. The threat was not just a fine, but incarceration, sometimes for years.

But as the Sovjet empire crumbled and loosened it’s hold on Germany and Bruce Springsteen played a 4 hour concert for half the citizens of East Berlin that was also broadcast on tv, they very quickly and suddenly had a major revolution and there weren’t too many people not taking part because in reality everyone knew that communism was a pile of horseshit. Even the notoriously taciturn borderguards were grinning from ear to ear, as they were letting people through the open gates.

At this stage Melbournians are still biding their time. Some of them still believe this will end soon and the outcome will be worth it. But if yesterday is anything to go by, there were more people on Elwood beach flouting the rules than ‘official ‘ protesters and travel around the city has increased for four weeks straight.

What will it take for Australians to say enough is enough , take to the streets in massive protests , throw away their masks and open their businesses and pubs without government permission ?

Two things: the jobseeker/ beekeeper payments will reduce in a week’s time, but the real reason will be Christmas. You do not take Christmas away from Aussies, it is simply impossible! Just like the Muslims would not give up on their family Ramadans, which brought on Victoria’s second or first wave, which ever way you prefer.

And Christmas in Victoria , as we all know, begins with the lead up shopping frenzy just after Cup Day and the mad socializing /catching up in all of December.

Of course Dick-tator Dan’s “roadmap” ends the lockdown supposedly in late October for that very reason, but there is no guarantee that he actually will, because as the world realizes that the Covid threat was nothing but a mass panic that mostly killed those who would have died this year anyway plus a few unlucky extras, Dan will be doubling down and by late October he will potentially not just be battling Covid, but all respiratory viruses in eternal lockdown. Then he can sell the economically ruined state of Victoria to China for peanuts , become rich himself for brokering the deal and retire to Queensland.

Make no mistake, like all dictators, he is a self-serving hypocrite and he will not stop until he is stopped and those who stand with Dan will also fall with him. Let’s just hope we don’t have to wait 27 years to see it happen.