Australia’s warning to protect politics from violence

Democracy is not war. It is not violence. It is not threatening to imprison the enemy or making personal attacks. It is not revenge.

But the country, which considers itself the largest democracy in the world, has a painful history of violence, including attempted murders and successful assassinations.

And we in Australia should remain vigilant and never allow the battle of ideas, sides and debates to degenerate into personal attacks, threats and, above all, violence or anything perceived as incitement to violence.

Shortly after former President Donald Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania, the Republican candidate paused as his Secret Service agents attempted to escort him off the stage. Trump raised his fists in the air and yelled, “Fight, fight, fight.”

He made this statement at a rally in honor of his hopes for the presidential elections in his own country.

Who is he at war with? The Democrats? The American people? Those he considers “woke” or “weak,” or those who hold different values? His 81-year-old rival, President Joe Biden, whose chances of success in November seem to be dwindling with each of his speeches?

No one can predict how someone will behave after being shot: whether they will show panic, calm, weakness, courage, or perhaps even immediately call for a “fight.”

But a clenched fist as a sign of “fight” shows the extent of the division in the United States.

Trump had no way of knowing that the shooter, as the FBI has since revealed, was a twenty-year-old man from Pennsylvania – a member of the Republican Party who had donated to a progressive cause aligned with the Democrats. A man who looks painfully young, whose name will be at the center of the wild conspiracy theories we’re about to see emerge – and a byproduct of America’s gun culture. He wasn’t yet old enough to vote, but he was already years old enough to afford a semi-automatic rifle.

In the immediate aftermath, numerous theories began to circulate. Some claimed that the Democrats had staged the action, others that Trump’s team had “staged” it. The risks associated with both parties would surely far outweigh the potential benefits.

This shooting is a tragedy. One person is dead – a father who died trying to protect his daughters – and others are injured besides the shooter. It could have been worse, with multiple casualties given the powerful weapon in the hands of a twenty-year-old man. It could have resulted in Trump being killed, live on television, and that would have sparked catastrophic violence across the country.

Photos of Trump with his fists in the air and his face covered in blood have gone viral. A former president who spread the lie that the election he lost was stolen is now a martyr. This time he has the pictures and the wounds to prove it. He has called on his supporters to “fight.”

The division of America and the violence it has unleashed are a warning to Australia and every other country seeking to protect its democracy.

Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have issued statements expressing relief that Trump is doing well and saying violence has no place in society. Rejecting violence in politics is essential, as is a way of life and communication that reflects these values.

Democracy is a competition, not a war.