One of the lesser known, and arguably less serious, symptoms of Covid is vivid, surreal dreams. In the first flush of the infection, I felt as if I’d licked several LSD tabs and was being propelled along an uncertain psychedelic trip through — simultaneously — a fiery furnace and an Arctic tundra. One nightmare began to recur, to the point where I came to expect it as I dropped off at night. In my dream, I am stuck in the crowds on Parliament’s front lawn, desperately trying to remonstrate with the baying protesters as they mock me and pull off my mask.
What is unfurling in Wellington truly does seem like some fever dream. A small yet vocal minority of New Zealanders have set up camp outside the Beehive and are terrorising Wellington. Initially, I must admit, I was somewhat entertained by the shenanigans — from the horrendously disorganised convoy meandering across the country, having their social media groups infiltrated by mischief-makers hellbent on misleading drivers, to the fact that many protesters coming from the South Island didn’t seem to realise they would need a vaccine pass to make the ferry crossing. I giggled when I learned that Speaker Trevor Mallard had turned to sprinklers, James Blunt and Barry Manilow to dissuade the campers. I even almost admired the naivety and tenacity of a few protesters who had set up vegetable gardens.
But it’s no longer a laughing matter. The supposedly peaceful, freedom-loving camp has morphed into a grubby public nuisance, a stain on the city of Wellington. Violent threats have been directed against the prime minister and her colleagues; nooses have been hung up, and calls for the execution of certain politicians have rung out. Te Atiawa’s historical grounds have been desecrated, with human waste being tipped into gutters and waterways. Children are being harassed on their way to school, and police have been sprayed with unknown substances. A car was driven into the police the other day, and there have even been reports of faeces being thrown at police. Enough is enough.
Perhaps more surprising to me, more so than the literal faeces-flinging, are the desperate attempts by people I know and love to rehabilitate these protesters and excuse their abusive behaviour. It is utterly bewildering and incongruous seeing people whose opinions I used to respect seek to justify the poop-throwing by explaining it as an understandable reaction to vaccine mandates.
The protest lacks any sense of coherent leadership. It is, at best, a rag-tag bunch of different groups of people (Nazis and members of the alt-right included) united by misinformation and a sense of anger and frustration at what they perceive to be the eradication of their "freedoms". What is clear, however, is just how shallow and childish such an understanding of "freedom" is. The protesters’ flimsy and narrow-minded view of freedom is a uniquely selfish and self-centred one, lacking entirely in regard for the wider community, especially the vulnerable and immunocompromised. It is the understanding of freedom a child might have — a toddler who cannot fathom why he is not allowed to run out into the open road. It’s also ironic that despite the seagull’s chorus of "freedom, freedom" the protesters don’t understand how their actions are curtailing the freedoms of those around them — the freedom of Wellingtonians to get to work, to study, walk, or drive.
Freedom of choice — as each New Zealander still has regarding the vaccine — does not equate to freedom from consequences. There are myriad rules, strictures — "mandates", if you will — that have been sensibly set to prevent utter chaos from erupting. Where is the outcry over not having the "freedom" to drive beyond the speed limit? Why is there no hullabaloo over freedom-restricting seatbelts, food sell-by dates or airport security measures? Freedom to choose whether or not to take the vaccine does not mean that one can trample upon the safety and wellbeing of others willy-nilly. To insist otherwise is to be extraordinarily selfish. The restrictions imposed by the mandates — restrictions knowingly and willingly entered into — are reasonable, proportionate and entirely justified.
I wonder whether all of this is due in part to how unreal the pandemic has been in New Zealand over the past couple of years. In a country of fivemillion, New Zealand has had some of the lowest Covid case numbers in the world and only 56 virus deaths, precisely because of the strict border controls, social restrictions, lockdowns and vaccine mandates the protesters are so upset about. Unlike all of us in the UK and other virus-riddled countries, New Zealand has largely avoided the death and devastation wreaked by Covid.
Most New Zealanders haven’t lived with the spectre of Covid hovering above them. They haven’t had to video call loved ones lying in hospital beds, or attend online funerals for Covid deaths.
They haven’t had to worry about battling long Covid, or navigating an overloaded healthcare system — because the mandates and restrictions have worked.
I hope that my Covid fever dreams abate with time, just as I hope the literal nightmare on the Beehive’s front steps will soon dissipate. I also hope that the protesters might think of others, for once, and might spare some care and compassion for the vulnerable and immunocompromised, instead of waffling on ad infinitum about how inconvenienced or "oppressed" they are. Since when did freedom of choice equal freedom from responsibilities, or freedom from consequences? Go home, protesters.
- Jean Balchin, a former English student at the University of Otago, is studying at Oxford University after being awarded a Rhodes Scholarship.
