In the last few weeks, I haven’t been sleeping so well.

I wake up in the middle of the night, with an anxious feeling gnawing at the pit of my stomach. I lie in bed, trying to go back to sleep and breathing slowly and deeply to calm down and fall asleep. I fall into periods of a deep, helpless rage. I’m going for a lot of walks by myself.

Now, I didn’t get kicked or capsiscum sprayed in the eviction of Occupy Melbourne from City Square. I’m not one of those to experience real violence (of which there are quite a few). I did cop a fist to the side of the head when people were moved on up Swanston Street on the day of the eviction, but a thick ear isn’t anything at all in comparison to what happened to some of the folks I’ve met lately. However, I do feel like something is missing. Something that used to be there has gone.

When I started following the Occupy Melbourne movement, I was unconvinced of their value. I thought that there was a lack of focus, drive and, well, ability to ever get anything done. I thought they were a pale facsimile of a movement overseas that had real reason to fight.

At times, I still feel the same way. I’ve turned up to most General Assemblies, as the administrative gatherings of the movement are called and sat as circular arguments raged for hours. I’ve watched the kind of infighting that would make the back rooms of the Labor party look like a schoolyard shoving match. I’ve cringed at media appearances by protesters.

At other times, I see a bunch of people from all occupations and all walks of life — nurses, lawyers, even a retired combat medic — talking about how to make the world a better place. There’s a lot of time when you’re occupying and much of that is taken up with talking about new ways of doing things, how they could complement the system we’ve got, and how we can press for their implementation. There is, generally, the kind of respectful dialogue and patience while trying to reach a consensus that I haven’t seen anywhere else; certainly not in our corridors of power.

I still haven’t made my mind up about the total value of the action. I suspect it’ll be some time before I do.

What I am certain of is that there is something very wrong with the way we handle notions of protest and expression of political opinion in this country.

A belief in the inherent ‘rightness’ of the ways we conduct public debate has gone.

Since the eviction, the City of Melbourne has been using every trick in the book to neuter or defang the occupation. They’re not permitted to gather under the trees in their new encampment in Treasury Gardens, they are forbidden from erecting structures or holding signs, under the laughable decision that they constituted advertising. Most days see a turnout of police that I didn’t see on Oaks Day at Flinders Street station. Every meeting is attended by one or two plainclothed policemen, scrawling notes or videotaping proceedings.

Meanwhile, up the road at an East Melbourne abortion clinic, protesters have maintained a constant presence for the better part of two decades. They have harassed and physically prevented women from attending. Multiple articles have been written by a number of commentators calling on the council or police to act. However, they still remain, they still harass and intimidate women unimpeded by any police presence.

It seems that some voices, no matter how violent or intimidating, are allowed to stay. Others need to be dealt with as soon as possible.

The media has also played a role in demonizing the protesters. The Herald Sun published an Op Ed by Robert Doyle in which he made ridiculous, unverifiable claims about the City Square occupiers being armed. It also published letters calling for violence against a group of ‘selfish’, ‘unwashed’ and ‘unemployed’ protesters. Pundits such as Steve Price have called for the use of force against the movement. When they haven’t been demonizing the protesters, the media have inflamed the situation by speculating on the targets — such as the Queen - that the movement may act against.

It’s the public reaction that has really worried me the most. In conversations on social media, my getting clobbered by a cop was celebrated by a bunch of anonymous trolls. Every day, the Occupy Melbourne hashtag and Facebook stream is full of an unprecedented level of bile and hatred. Calls for violence, ethnic slurs and vile sexual epithets are leveled at anybody who mentions the action in a positive light.

I’m astounded at the level of aggravation a group of people sitting in a rarely used public space has caused. I’m relatively thick-skinned and I’ve been burned at times by the vitriol.

It’s obvious we have a problem in this city, in this country. Reactionary and simplistic thinking reduces what is a complex, ever-shifting movement and situation into a binary - capitalism vs socialism, employed vs unemployed, maintaining the system or destroying it. It is clear to me that many - and the most vociferous - people don’t see any elbow room for compromise or dialogue. The landscape seems bereft of critical thinkers, able to see that this movement might deserve more than a passing slur.

The Occupy movement in Australia will quite probably, in time, die out. However, the lessons it has taught many in how those in a position of power handle dissent will linger for a long time.

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Mike Stuchbery, the Tribune’s social conscience and dispenser of loving literary hugs, blogs prolifically at www.mike-stuchbery.com Follow Mike on Twitter @mikestuchbery

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