i’m back covering the same advertisements housed in the tram shelter on the corner of william and lonsdale, out the front of the magistrates, county and supreme courts (i guess because it’ll be clear who is responsible as i’ve been there before, and i am challenging law that allows and protects corporate advertisements, so it is a somewhat appropriate place).
i had planned to get back to work one week after kyrou made his silly decision, but i held off as my lawyers were considering a further appeal and thought i would have a better chance of getting funding for legal aid if i wasn’t up to my old tricks (public opinion, i.e. the herald sun, could be against me if i started up again, and legal aid would want to distance themselves from anything that could cause them grief).
i agreed to hold off as i somehow, stupidly, felt somewhat responsible for kyrou’s bad decision — the initial thinking being that a further challenge in the victorian court of appeal could dispose of a few of kyrou’s most egregious conclusions.
eventually james and saul decided that, strategically, it was not in the public interest to take the appeal any further — this being because the victorian court of appeal might not interfere with the incorrect aspects of kyrou’s decision and would dismiss the appeal for their own reasons — this would lend tacit approval to all elements of kyrou’s decision, that being worse than what is now.
the final thinking was that kyrou’s decision should just be treated as an outlier, and other cases can just argue against elements of kyrou’s decision when necessary.
i defer to their judgement as i don’t understand the legal system at all — i’ll have plenty opportunities to run the same kind of case with the new charges anyway (possibly with more success because of the slightly different approach).
so i’m back covering the tram shelter ads, but this time i am not using paint, i’m doing it papier-mache style (using paper and wheat paste).
i firstly totally cover the ad, then i stick up messages that attempt to explain what i am on about (so i guess i’m now some kind of placard bearer, except i make the decommissioned corporate advertisement do the bearing).
i even put up a QR code to take those smart phone users straight to my site (partly because i think that’s funny) and i also write my website address for all those old-school people who type those things out like absolute suckers.
i also have begun wearing hi-visibility clothing again, for safety of course, but also because i am at work, so i should look professional (i think i also like the fact that it might make observers a bit unsure of the legitimacy of my actions and less likely to engage me while i’m working).
i have covered over the tram shelter ads three times now, on tuesday night about 2am (it stayed up all wednesday but was gone thursday morning), on thursday night about 1230am (which was gone the next day at 12 midday, they must have cleaned it off that same night, i don’t think they clean during the day), and on friday night (last night) about 500am (thinking that the cleaners should have finished their shift, i don’t know what days they work, but it is still up today — although i fucked up and put two of the same poster (leaving out an important one) because i packed my bag wrong cause i was half-asleep, oh well.
i leave a note each time to the police persons to tell them the name of the person responsible, my name (to save them the incredibly difficult detective work), and i invite them to call me up about it, as they have done before on the same number, but i have heard nothing so far.
the first night i went out, a uniformed security woman was standing inside the glass at the county court watching me towards the end, i thought she would have notified the police (i actually thought the police were going to arrive before i was done), but maybe she thought it was easier for her to do nothing at all.
i don’t know if the ad company cleaners are just cleaning it off and not reporting it to the company, or if the ad company is not reporting it to the police, or what is going on really — i guess it is possible the police have been informed but are not charging me yet for some reason.
i’ll just keep going and see what happens, i can’t imagine that the ad company won’t want me charged or that the police won’t want to charge me — it’s all a bit odd really.
i’ll post lots of photos when i can get around to it/figure out how to do it, or i’ll ask my friends to do it if i end up locked up before i get a chance.
