Advance Australia Fair - Building Sustainability, Justice and Peace
Closing plenary - Working together to build an alternative
Sunday 31st July 2005

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Cam Walker

Friends of the Earth Australia

With the shift in power that came with the Coalition taking control of the Senate, things are certainly grim and I do not intend to underestimate the challenges we will face in coming years. However, I want to concentrate on both the positive developments we have already achieved and also the practical things I believe we will need to do if we are to ensure our campaigns and resistance over the next few years are effective and successful.

I have been lucky enough to attend many movement gatherings over the last month or so, including the Brisbane Social Forum, Students of Sustainability and EcoPolitics. I have been heartened by the sense of goodwill and solidarity I have seen at all these events and the lack of sectarianism and focus on petty differences. As we all know, the Left has often been far better at concentrating on the issues where we disagree rather than on areas where we can collaborate. In the current political climate this is no longer a luxury we can afford. We need to 'cast our net' widely when considering our allies and move on from destructive internal bickering. I feel that in this sense our movements are better than they were a decade or so ago. But we need to keep pushing ourselves and ensuring that old negative behavior does not reassert itself. The Left will come under increasing attacks in coming years and we will need to be careful not to internalise the pressure we will be under.

The context to my comments is, of course, the fact that Howard will be in control of the Senate at least for the next 4 years; but as we are already seeing, not everything will go his way. To maximise the opportunities that will come with this, we will need a mature approach, a sense of the big picture, and multiple strategies and tactics to be effective. I do not believe we will go forward during this time, but we can certainly stop a backwards movement in key areas like industrial relations, the rights of women, and Indigenous people and so on.

What we need to do

We need to remember that the coming struggle, as it intensifies, will impact negatively on many people, economically and emotionally. Accordingly we need to consider what support structures we have in place, both as individuals and also within our organisations. We should assess what the struggle will mean for us personally and how we will cope with long term campaigns, difficult economic and personal circumstances, and how we can better support each other. It will get harder to carry out activism on the dole or pension. Perhaps social movements need to look to the example of the unions and establish the equivalent of strike funds to support activists who lose their economic support.

We need to remember our allies

As Geoff Lakoff notes in his work 'Don't think of an elephant', there are 6 broad 'types' of progressive person: the socialists and those others primarily concerned with social and human rights, the autonomists, environmentalists, those of progressive religious and spiritual traditions, the civil libertarians and those concerned with identity politics. It will be important to look outside our specific 'group' to hold a broader sense of movement. Lakoff believes this is part of the reason that the Right has been so successful in recent decades, putting aside differences in private to be more effective in the public realm.

In the coming fight, we need to remember that trade unions will be the cornerstone of an effective resistance. It would be a tragic and strategic mistake for the unions to retreat to client based or 'bread and butter' approaches to trade unionism. We need to hold the model of the MUA dispute as an example of the power of socially engaged unionism at its best. In Victoria there is a special role played over the last decade or so by Trades Hall. It would be a disaster for the current leadership of VTHC to revert to a politically isolated form of activism and I would urge all those here with influence in the trade union movement to do what they can to ensure that Trades Hall remains a vibrant hub of community activism in Melbourne.

Within our organisations we need to look at the question of leadership and specifically training younger activists to share leadership roles in the coming half decade. Younger generations bring fresh perspectives and experiences to the struggle, and need to be consciously nurtured through formal training and informal mentoring.

We need to not let Howard get away with the use of wedge politics. Regardless of where we work, we need to keep and continually build links with other movements and organisations, to ensure there are both clear personal and organisational links from the most radical to the most conservative of the progressive forces. Otherwise it will be far easier for the Coalition to start to 'carve off' the more radical groups (at least in the realm of public opinion) as we are forced into the inevitable and necessary direct action, occupations and other forms of civil disobedience that will be required in coming years.

At the same time, we need to be careful and disciplined in choosing our actions and avoid those that will alienate potential allies.

We will need to also keep our courage. Threats to the tax status of larger groups will tend to make them more cautious, as will the fear of court actions and legislation and personal attacks on whistle blowers and other individuals speaking out against government policy. This is not a time to be quiet; successful resistance will require all good people to come forward and engage to the very best of their ability.

As Howard's agenda is enacted, most people will be negatively affected in one way or another. This will come with a mix of sweeteners and we should remember that the 'gravity' of mainstream Australian culture is to stay away from political action. We will need to use our personal networks and see talking with friends, family, neighbors and workmates as essential political activism, in order to educate and undermine media propaganda, and also to inspire and help shift growing discontent to action.

Then there is the hard part! Beyond the immediate political backdrop that we find ourselves in, we need to remember that we live in a remarkable time in the history of our planet. We live in an era of unparalleled ecological breakdown. The UN says that already we are consuming resources 20% faster than the planet can renew them. There is gross inequity between the rich and the poor worlds in terms of resource consumption. To 'balance' this consumption (that is, to help all people achieve the resources they need for a dignified existence) will apply even greater pressures to the planet. And climate change looms as potentially the greatest threat to humanity since the spectre of nuclear annihilation. Trade unions and all other progressive people and organisations will need to understand that all economic activity is ultimately dependent on healthy ecosystems. In practical terms this means letting go of some sectors and jobs (but thankfully the creation of new ones). As one example of this we could consider the 20,000 jobs created already in Denmark because of its embracing renewable technologies. There are similar job gains to be found here but it will require trade unions and others to understand and embrace sustainability as a core aspect of their activity and not just an add on they may consider occasionally.

Profound environmental awareness, the understanding that 'the economy is a sub set of ecology' has not yet taken hold broadly within the trade union movement. The US example of the Just Transition Alliance could act as a model for our work here. Just as trade unionists need to place ecological sustainability at the cornerstone of their work, environmentalists need to understand that common cause with workers is not just the occasional Green Ban – in the current climate it means active support for pickets and industrial disputes, joining union rallies and supporting all aspects of the opposition to Howard's conservative agenda.

More information

Friends of the Earth Australia www.foe.org.au

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