I had never heard of Monica until now, but have just received this in an email.
If you aren’t aware of Monica Smit yet, you may want to be. Monica started Reignite Democracy Australia (RDA) last year as an individual going live on Facebook. RDA has gone from strength to strength in leaps and bounds since. Perhaps think GetUp, but RDA is nothing at all like GetUp. Monica was arrested 20 days ago on ‘incitement’ charges and has been held in isolation in a rather hardcore Melbourne prison.
RDA has become a threat to Labor (and Liberal) agendas and of the several political prisoners that have been arrested and jailed over the past year, Monica is the first woman (as I understand it). To be granted bail, RDA had to be dismantled. Monica, without a second thought, refused bail and chose to remain in prison and in forced isolation. A new bail hearing will take place on Tuesday I believe. RDA had also been in the process of registering a political party (they might have much more success in remaining a grassroots activist organisation). It reeks of the arrests of political opponents carried out in previous regimes that are supposed to exist somewhere else in a faraway land and not in Australia.
Her partner, Morgan C Jonas (MCJ Report), is now an established journalist / presenter. His criticism of the Andrews Labor Government (and also the Morrison Government) has made him a prime target. His studio was raided shortly after Monica’s arrest, and all of his equipment was seized.
This is the only news report I could find on her: Anti-vaxxer and anti-lockdown activist Monica Smit charged with incitement so she really does exist.
Bail conditions magistrate Luisa Bazzani imposed included barring Ms Smit from publishing anything that could incite breaches of the health orders.
She was also ordered to follow a court-imposed curfew between 7pm and 6am and remove any material that incited opposition to the health officer’s directions within 48 hours.
“I do wish I’d known before we spent all this time on bail that your client was intending to refuse to sign a bail order,” Ms Bazzani said.
At least 4000 people went to the August 21 rally held in the Melbourne CBD, and Ms Smit is alleged to have encouraged people to attend the protests through authoring and transmitting posts on the encrypted Telegram app, prosecutor Anthony Albore told the court.
Leave a Reply