This study involved interviews with a sample of individuals who protested in opposition to public health measures introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic. These interviews were analysed to explore the motivations for participating in protest activity.
Protesters were motivated by strong personal grievances based on perceived negative experiences and deterioration of their or their family’s personal circumstances. For many respondents, these grievances were shaped by and amplified by adherence to conspiratorial ideologies and sovereign citizen beliefs. The combination of grievances and conspiratorial beliefs fostered mistrust and strong anti-government sentiment. For many, the response by government had steeled their resolve to protest.
These findings demonstrate the diverse and sometimes extreme views that can motivate people to participate in protest activity against government authority.
References
URLs correct as at March 2024
ABC News 2021. Anti-lockdown protesters clash with police in Melbourne, smaller demonstrations in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-21/anti-covid-lockdown-protesters-clash-with-police-in-melbourne/100396458
ASIO—see Australian Security Intelligence Organisation
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) 2023. Director-General’s annual threat assessment 2023. https://www.asio.gov.au/director-generals-annual-threat-assessment-2023
Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) 2022. Director-General’s annual threat assessment 2022. https://www.asio.gov.au/resources/speeches-and-statements/director-generals-annual-threat-assessment-2022
Bartlett J & Miller C 2010. The power of unreason: Conspiracy theories, extremism and counter-terrorism. London, UK: Demos. https://demos.co.uk/research/the-power-of-unreason/
Basit A 2021. Conspiracy theories and violent extremism: Similarities, differences and the implications. Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 13(3): 1–9. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27040260
Bavas J & Nguyen K 2021. Dozens arrested, hundreds fined as police disrupt Sydney anti-lockdown protest. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-08-21/nsw-police-arrest-47-issue-260-penalties-anti-lockdown-protest-/100396384
Bertuzzi N 2021. Conspiracy theories and social movements studies: A research agenda. Sociology Compass 15(12). https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12945
Burns M, Bally J, Burles M, Holtslander L & Peacock S 2022. Constructivist grounded theory or interpretive phenomenology? Methodological choices within specific study contexts. International Journal of Qualitative Methods 21: 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069221077758
Butler J 2022. ‘Occupy Canberra’: Behind the anti-vaccine protests at Parliament House. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/feb/04/occupy-canberra-behind-the-anti-vaccine-protests-at-parliament-house
De Coninck D et al. 2021. Beliefs in conspiracy theories and misinformation about COVID-19: Comparative perspectives on the role of anxiety, depression and exposure to and trust in information sources. Frontiers in Psychology 16(12). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.646394
della Porta D 2018. Radicalization: A relational perspective. Annual Review of Political Science 21: 461–474. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-042716-102314
Douglas KM & Sutton RM 2023. What are conspiracy theories? A definitional approach to their correlates, consequences, and communication. Annual Review of Psychology 74: 271–298. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-032420-031329
Douglas KM & Sutton RM 2015. Climate change: Why the conspiracy theories are dangerous. Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists 71: 98–106
Elias M 2023. Neo-Nazis, the freedom movement and sovcits don’t want the Voice. But for different reasons. https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-feed/article/neo-nazis-the-freedom-movement-and-sovcits-dont-want-the-voice-but-for-different-reasons/03raex09d
Jolley D & Douglas K 2014. The social consequences of conspiracism: Exposure to conspiracy theories decreases intentions to engage in politics and to reduce one’s carbon footprints. British Journal of Psychology 105: 35–56
Khalil L & Roose J 2023. Anti-government extremism in Australia: Understanding the Australian anti-lockdown freedom movement as a complex anti-government social movement. Perspectives on Terrorism 17(1): 144–169. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27209223
Klandermans B 2004. The demand and supply of participation: Social-psychological correlates of participation in social movements. In DA Snow, SA Soule & H Kriesi (eds), The Blackwell companion to social movements. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing: 360–379
Klandermans B 1984. Mobilization and participation: Social-psychological expansions of resource mobilization theory. American Sociological Review 49: 583–600
McGowan M 2021. Where ‘freedom’ meets the far right: The hate messages infiltrating Australian anti-lockdown protests. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/mar/26/where-freedom-meets-the-far-right-the-hate-messages-infiltrating-australian-anti-lockdown-protests
McKenzie N & Lucas C 2021. Far-right protester charged by counter-terror police amid talk of killing Daniel Andrews. https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/far-right-protester-charged-by-counter-terror-police-amid-talk-of-killing-daniel-andrews-20211117-p599qx.html
Morgan A, Cubitt T & Voce I 2024. Participation in anti-authority protests and vulnerability to radicalisation. Research Report no. 31. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology. https://doi.org/10.52922/rr77413
Pantucci R 2022. Extreme right-wing terrorism and COVID-19: A two-year stocktake. Counter Terrorist Trends and Analyses 14(3): 17–23
Peucker M 2021. Suppressing dissent and ignoring grievances increases risk of far-right radicalisation. Centre for Resilient and Inclusive Societies. https://www.crisconsortium.org/blog/dissentandthefarright
Simon B et al. 1998. Collective identification and social movement participation. Journal of Personality and Social psychology 74(3): 646–658. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.3.646
Sturmer S & Simon B 2004. The role of collective identification in social movement participations: A panel study in the context of the German gay movement. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 30(3): 263–277. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203256690
Van Prooijen JW, Krouwel APM & Pollet T 2015. Political extremism predicts belief in conspiracy theories. Social Psychological and Personality Science 6: 570–578. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550614567356
Van Stekelenburg J & Klandermans B 2010. The social psychology of protest. Current Sociology 61(5–6): 886–905. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392113479314
Van Stekelenburg J & Klandermans B 2009. Social movement theory: Past, present and prospect. In I van Kessel & S Ellis (eds), Movers and shakers: Social movements in Africa. Leiden: Brill: 17–44. https://doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004180130.i-260.11
Van Stekelenburg J, Klandermans B & van Dijk WW 2011. Combining motivations and emotion: The motivational dynamics of collective action participation. International Journal of Social Psychology 26(1): 91–104. https://doi.org/10.1174/021347411794078426
Vegetti F & Littvay L 2022. Belief in conspiracy theories and attitudes toward political violence. Italian Political Science Review 52: 18–32. https://doi.org/10.1017/ipo.2021.17
Vergani M, Arranz AM, Scrivens R & Orellana L 2022. Hate speech in a Telegram conspiracy channel during the first year of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Social Media + Society 8(4). https://doi.org/10.1177/20563051221138758
Waldek L, Droogan J & Ballsun-Stanton B 2022. Online far right extremist and conspiratorial narratives during the COVID-19 pandemic. Report for the NSW Department of Communities and Justice. Sydney: Macquarie University. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.5732611
Wilson C 2022. Sick, paranoid, poorer and disorganised: The aftermath of the Convoy to Canberra protests. https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/02/18/aftermath-of-the-convoy-to-canberra-protests/