ncq 92 nonviolent

Winter 2011 New Community Quarterly 35

Theme: Community Development–The Cream of the CropR

EFEREED

Communicating a Nonviolent Paradigm Through the Arts and Humour

Dr Marty Branagan, Peace Studies, University of New EnglandArmidale NSW 2351 Australia

Paper given at 2010 International Peace Research Association Conference, Sydney University

IntroductionTwo major and conflicting issues in global society are an environmental crisis of monumental proportions, and an appalling expenditure on militarism. Addressing the environmental issue means reducing military expenditure drastically and quickly. To do so requires an alternative means of conflict resolution to military ‘solutions’. Nonviolence is an important element of that alternative, as it has proven ability to achieve equitable outcomes against even the most ruthless of opponents. It is also an evolving praxis, with ‘active resistance’ being a new and proven element largely pioneered in Australian blockades, and then taken up by activists around the world. However, there is a significant gap between the reality of what nonviolence can achieve, and public perceptions of nonviolence.There is therefore a need to communicate to the governments, businesses and the general public a new paradigm –

a) that there is a grave, multi-dimensional environmental crisis (which has many and varied solutions),

b) that militarism is unnecessary and an unaffordable extravagance in this time of environmental crisis, and

c) that nonviolence provides a viable and evolving alternative method of conflict resolution, in all manner of situations.

For some, this paradigm is not new, and has been promoted in Australia through nonviolent actions and creative ‘dissent events’ for decades. Drawing from long-term experience as an activist artist, the author examines the use of the arts and humour in such actions, and argues that they are an important way of communicating information, emotion, and ideals. He shows how they can raise the public profile of an issue, reach wide audiences in a grassroots way, and create a critical mass of opinion, so that political and corporate and social change occurs. They can promote a carnival atmosphere where policing is difficult and conversion of opponents and third parties is more likely. Artistic actions, particularly if numerous and diverse, can impact on many people, either directly, or indirectly through alternative and mass media. Even the actions of an individual or small group can have a strong impact, particularly if they are aware of their power, are consciously linked around a focus such as a blockade, and they employ new communication technologies. ‘Active resistance’ techniques can also create a powerful symbolism that attracts and sustains media interest.

Environmental crisisThere are two major and conflicting issues in global society. One is an environmental crisis of monumental proportions. Climate change is widely recognised as the ‘single most pressing issue facing society on a global basis’ (World Meteorological Organisation 2010: para 1). The climate change debate finally hit the front pages of Australian newspapers in 2007 (eg Wilkinson 2007), after decades of calls from scientists (eg SMIC 1971; Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 1990; Union of Concerned Scientists 1992, 1997), the United Nations (1997) and activists (Sickel 2010; Friends of the Earth 2004; Branagan 1984). It battled concerted campaigns (such as by ExxonMobil) aimed at discrediting climate science and environmentalism (Union of Concerned Scientists 2007; Goodman 2008; Burton 2007; Burton and Hager 1999), battles which continue today (Hamilton 2010).

Part of the global environmental crisis, and linked to global warming, is a biodiversity crisis which has still has not reached the levels of publicity of climate change, but is no less alarming. We are living in ‘an era of “mass extinction.”… a wholesale shift in earth’s biota [which] will impoverish the planet for many millions of years to come’ (Strieker 2002, online; see also Suzuki 1997:3-4; Myers 1985:154).

The good news is that there are blueprints for the change needed to avert the worst of global warming and biodiversity loss (eg Barbier 2010; Gore 2006: Norton 2006), including the need to ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’, switch to renewable energy and improve public transport. This, however, will require a mass mobilisation of public opinion, accelerated environmental education, and action at political, corporate, community and individual levels. It is an immense task, but one that is hopefully not beyond us.

Many of the scientific challenges have already been met. There is consensus among international and national scientific bodies (with the odd, neutral exception) that anthropogenic global warming is occurring. Many alternative energy sources, agriculture systems and transport possibilities already exist, as demonstrated in Cuba, whose systems are now being widely replicated throughout Latin America (Yaffe 2010).

It is the social scientists, publicists and educators who are now needed (Zax 2009) – to win the climate change debate, and persuade the populace what needs to be done, and how.

New Community Quarterly Volume 9 Number 2 = Issue 3436

Theme: Community Development–The Cream of the Crop

The costs of militarism

The other major and related global issue is the appalling expenditure on arms and military activities. This expenditure in financial terms was US$1.46 trillion in 2008, (SIPRI 2009), having increased since 1998 by more than 45 per cent in real terms (Stalenheim, Perdomo and Skons 2008:175). This is money that should be going into health, education, poverty reduction and reducing climate change.

The Australian government spends forty times more on militarism than climate change (Middleton 2008), and military spending here is increasing (Morton 2008), as it is in the USA (Greenwald 2009). In his first budget, Kevin Rudd cut spending on everything except the military, which he increased and will keep increasing at three percent annually until 2018 (Morton 2008). He will spend up to $35 billion on new naval submarines (Jennett 2009).

Militarism is also a drain in resources, with the ‘brain drain’ of scientists - more than one–half of all research physicists and engineering scientists are engaged in military research (SIPRI 1985; see also Solingen 1994: 12). There is also the deployment of youth with all their energy and ideals, and the horrendous depletion of environmental resources needed to fuel the war machine. Finally, there is the pollution: the military-industrial complex is the single most polluting industry on earth (Thomas, 1995; see also Saito 2000), emitting masses of CO2 in the production and movements of its juggernauts.Any environmentally-sustainable future requires a rapid shrinking of militarism (Branagan 2009).

The power of the military-industrial complex and its matesThe military-industrial complex, however, is a powerful vested interest. Its immense finances translate into immense lobbying power. It is inextricably linked with the state (Kurlansky 2006:17-28). Porter (1994), describing the military foundations of modern politics, shows how our over-bureaucratic system of government was essentially created after World War Two and is a direct result of militarism.

The military-industrial complex has strong links to other powerful, polluting industries, such as oil, cars, planes, and nuclear energy (Andreas 2004:37-38). Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and General Electric are examples of corporations with a finger in several pies, including the lucrative military one.

The mass media plays a very important role in trumpeting the need for military solutions, and the need for continued high levels of military spending:

[US] TV networks are owned by some of the largest corporations in the world – NBC is owned by GE [General Electric], CBS by Viacom, ABC by Disney, Fox by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, and CNN by Time Warner. The members of the boards of directors

of these corporations also sit on the boards of weapons manufacturers and other companies with vested interests around the world, such as Boeing, Coca-Cola, Texaco, Chevron, EDS, Lucent, Daimler-Chrysler, Citigroup, Xerox, Philip Morris, Worldcom, JP Morgan Chase, Rockwell Automation, and Honeywell. In fact the corporations that control the television industry are fully integrated into the military-industrial complex. (Andreas 2004:58).

Maintaining fear, a constant state of war and a perpetual (but occasionally changing) enemy (as in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four) is a key element here. The same companies, such as ExxonMobil, that sponsored 24-hour coverage of 1991 Gulf War and that the US National Security Council admitted had helped them sell the war (Andreas 2004:57), are engaged in fanning climate change denial.

A pattern is obvious: the mega-corporations of the world, who make money from war and fossil fuels, are very keen to shut down environmentalism, nonviolence and pacifism, and they can do this through editorial control of their news outlets, and by using their immense collective wealth to fan fear of terrorism, promote war and aid climate change denial. The populace can in this way be persuaded to accept militarism and climate inaction with minimal questioning. We saw, for example, no uproar with Rudd’s and Obama’s recent decisions to increase military spending, or with the failures of Copenhagen.

How can this placid acceptance of the status quo be reversed? How do we change the belief that militarism is necessary to combat terrorists and dictators?

Nonviolence: an effective but misunderstood praxisFirstly, alternatives to militarism must be offered. Developing and promoting nonviolence is a key element in this strategy.

In Australia, we have seen the efficacy of nonviolence in numerous social justice struggles, such as Charles Perkins’ freedom rides (Curthoys 2002), or the Gurindji land rights success (O’Shea 2006). In environmental struggles, bushwalkers initiated a successful campaign to save the Franklin River in 1983 (Law 2008) while in 1998 the small Mirrar Aboriginal clan, aided by students and environment groups, took on the might of uranium mining giant Energy Resources of Australia (ERA) and the Northern Territory government at Jabiluka, and succeeded (Taubenfeld 1998). Another example is where a commune of ‘ferals’ calling themselves the North East Forest Alliance (NEFA) took on the NSW government repeatedly in the 1990s over old growth logging, and often won (Ricketts 2003).

More importantly for the militarism debate, is the extensive evidence of nonviolence’s success against even the most ruthless of dictatorships and totalitarian governments (Ackermann and Duvall 2000; Powers and Vogele 1997;



Summy 1995; Martin 1990; Branagan 2009, 2004b). This is completely contrary to the popular view that nonviolence only works against civilised opponents, such as the British. In fact, the British were often far from civilised, and conquered half the world not by offering cucumber sandwiches, but with guns and bombs, massacres and concentration camps (Galtung 1989:21-2). How right was Gandhi, when asked what he thought of Western civilisation, to reply ‘I think it would be a good idea’ (Shepard 2008, online).

When they think of nonviolence, most people think of what was done by Gandhi and Martin Luther King. However, in Australia we have seen nonviolence develop considerably, to now include a form known as ‘active resistance’ (Doyle 2000:58). This involves groups such as NEFA using more radical actions involving innovative technologies where people are physically embedded in the ground, attached to objects (such as bulldozers, gates and trees) by chains, bike-locks, and home-made metal devices, or they build physical blockades such as tripods (Branagan 2008:310-319; 2004a; Ricketts 2003). Concurrent with this development is a democratisation of protest dynamics, where decisions about techniques are made by the activists themselves, in autonomous cells linked to the wider movements (Starhawk 2002). Active resistance has since been exported to the world, while new techniques have been introduced into Australia from elsewhere. Nonviolence is still in a process of evolution, and it would be aided by better resourcing, research, publicity and above all, practice.

Clearly, there is a significant gap between the reality of what nonviolence can achieved, and public perceptions of nonviolence (Martin 2008; Schock 2003; Summy 2000), such as that it is ineffective against ruthless opponents, or that it once worked but is now dated, or that it requires saintly people to lead it. Any serious environmental sustainability strategy needs to promote nonviolence as an alternative to militarism.

Communicating a green, nonviolent paradigmTo sum up my argument so far, there is a need for us to communicate a green, nonviolent paradigm:

a) that there is a grave, multi-dimensional environmental crisis, which has many and varied solutions,

b) that militarism is unnecessary and an unaffordable extravagance in this time of environmental crisis, and

c) that nonviolence provides a viable alternative method of conflict resolution, in all manner of situations.

The global environmental crisis is so enormous that averting it relies not just on governmental or corporate action, but requires the engagement of all of society (Wilson 1999:326). Communicating the nonviolent, green paradigm widely is needed to build up a critical mass of opinion. This will result in pressure being put on governments, businesses, communities and individuals to make change.

Yet how are we to communicate such a message? In some respects, the mass media in Australia has finally jumped onto the green bandwagon, being no longer been able to ignore the overwhelming tide of scientific and public opinion, and there are a plethora of stories now devoted to sustainable living, eco-tourism et cetera. There is however, still a long way to go.

And how are we to get around the mass media’s support for militarism, and the placid acceptance by the public of military activity and spending? How do we change common furphies such as that the world is becoming more violent, or that war is part of human nature? How do we promote the Seville Statement, which says there is nothing that predisposes humans to war-making (UNESCO 1986). In fact, although we push each other around in the playground, we quickly learn better ways of interacting, so that in fact, most human interactions are peaceful. Nor is there more war now. There are in fact fewer and less bloody wars, largely due to UN interventions (LaFranchi 2005),

Humour, imagination and the arts.Petitions, letters to editors, lobbying, publishing papers are all valid means of activist communication. But this is often criticised as a negative message presented in an earnest but dull way (Peatling 2003).

This is where we turn to an important element of nonviolent social change, the use of humour, imagination and the arts, or what Scalmer (2002) terms ‘dissent events’. All these elements have long been used in the cause of progressive social change. Before discussing how, we must first note that they have also been used by corporations and governments for purposes that are far from nonviolent or green. Regimes such as the Nazis or Stalin’s Russia cleverly used the arts to promote their totalitarian ideologies and to sell their wars (Clarke 1997). Painters have long glamourised militarism, as have composers and film-makers. As author Sophie Kerr wrote, ‘If peace … only had the music and pageantry of war, there’d be no more wars’ (quoted in Larson & Micheels-Cyrus 1986:221).

Despite indisputable climate change, we are bombarded by slick, sexy advertisements for cars - on billboards, newspapers, television and as product placements in films, such as the James Bond series - while four-wheel-drives are shown charging through (and eroding) pristine creeks, accompanied by dramatic music.

So the arts can definitely be used for maintaining business-as-usual for an economic system reliant on fossil fuels and militarism. However, this also shows us that the arts can be a powerful agent in shifting public opinion. The arts have an ability to communicate complex ideas in simple but powerful ways (Curtis 2005:15). They can also affirm beliefs and provide a spiritual dimension that makes people more connected to the natural environment (Curtis and Curtis 2004:3).



The Australian campaigns mentioned above all featured strong elements of the arts, in a variety of combinations. Frank Hardy promoted the Gurindji struggle and wrote about it in the Unlucky Australians (1968). A later song, ‘From Little Things, Big Things Grow’ by Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly (1991) immortalised the struggle. The Franklin River campaign was extraordinary for banners of Benny Zables (now in museums such as the Powerhouse and the National Museum), breath-taking photography, and music, with original songs filling two songbooks worth (Bock et al 1983; see also Law 2008: 152-153). Anti-uranium blockades at Roxby Downs in 1983 and 1984 were notable for performances. The 1998 Jabiluka blockade featured many innovative arts, including a People’s Court, involving a massive puppet judge, that preceded a civil disobedience action. Jabiluka also featured rock bands, sculpture - including a lizard car ‘lock-on’ (Figures One and Two) - and imaginative ‘dissent events’ around the country.

I have argued elsewhere that the use of the arts by activists is a widespread and effective tool of nonviolence and social change in Australia (Branagan 2008: 342-374; 2005a; 2005b; 2003a; 2003b), and that humour is often involved (Branagan 2007a; 2007b). Many different art-forms are used, and they have various and often multiple functions. They

create innovative nonviolent protests that engage audiences and attract media attention through characteristics such as novelty and creativity. They have an ability to aid efficient and effective communication, to educate and persuade, and, ultimately, to convert. These benefits, along with the ability of art-forms such as music to prevent violence, bond and encourage activists, enables movements to spread widely and rapidly, and erodes the numbers and power of opponents. They aid movement sustainability and tactical objectives. Journalistic activism, using art-forms such as film-making and writing, further spreads the ideas, sounds, images, ideals and emotions of protesters to wide audiences via the mass media, the internet and flourishing independent media.

Bob Boughton and I have also argued that the arts greatly benefit environmental education and learning within movement (Branagan 2006; Branagan & Boughton 2003). Components such as humour and music break down resistance to environmental behaviour change, and educate people in a variety of holistic ways - emotional and physical as well as on several intellectual levels. By bringing a carnival atmosphere to rallies they reduce the possibility of violent clashes, and create ‘liminal’ settings that are conducive to deep learning. Such learning leads to empowered, radicalised and informed individuals and communities, able to create effective, sustainable social change.

How does artistic activism communicate issues and paradigms to the masses?

Let us look at how artistic actions helped campaigns such as the Franklin, Roxby or Jabiluka. One of the major aims of campaigners was to raise the public profile of the issue, and create a critical mass of opinion in their favour, so that political and corporate and social change occurred. After years of lobbying and letter-writing had not achieved the desired results, direct action began. While this often had a specific aim of slowing forest clearing or mining, most organizers used direct action more for its symbolic significance, for its bodies-on-the-line drama that appealed to television crews and newspaper photographers. Indeed, activist and MLC Ian Cohen refers to it as ‘theatre of the environment’:

With the backdrop of river and ocean, police blue and forest green, gaudy boat and technicolour bulldozer, one has an exceptional setting for theatre. Theatre of the environment uses the vulture of the media (usually a tool of the establishment) to present the story; we dangle and perform, often in precarious circumstances, making ourselves and our act irresistible to the press. It is a play, an irreverent game, yet at the same time it provides a vital conduit for messages otherwise unable to be transmitted into a monopolistic realm. Lacking financial resources, we penetrate this powerful field as if by magic and in doing so create an alchemy for change (Cohen 1997:29).

Eventually, however, some reporters became ‘underwhelmed’ by the tameness and staged nature of such media stunts (Law 2008:168-170, 174-176). ‘Active resistance’ attempted

Figure One: Blockaders ‘locked-on’ to a ‘frill-necked lizard car’, in an active resistance blockade (photo: Jabiluka Campaign Office).



to be more effective at blockading, rather than just symbolic (although it too also relied on political and legal machinations). As NEFA organizer Aidan Ricketts (2006) notes, ironically NEFA’s active resistance techniques created a powerful symbolism that sustained media interest. So active resistance was a type of art-form in itself.

As part of this direct action or closely linked to it were more overtly artistic or humorous actions. Actions at Roxby for example involved jugglers, acrobats, musicians, and a group that ‘bound themselves together as one lizard unit and flopped at the most inauspicious times under the wheels of the shift bus or police vehicles’ (Cohen 1997:112). These people were not peripheral but at the forefront of civil disobedience actions, yet they also created a carnival atmosphere where policing was difficult. Once blockade spaces were established, theatre such as a revamped version of Macbeth, and ‘Hog Pork’, a satire on then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Branagan 2008:1999:200), along with colourful banners, props and costumes helped create a liminal atmosphere where conversion of opponents and third parties such as police was more likely. Surrounding this coalface activism were artforms that broadcast the action to the world. Photographs, stories and poems for example were sent to newspapers (mass media as well as alternative and grassroots publications such as student media), and these were often augmented by drawings (Figure Five).

In the Franklin campaign, the stunning Peter Dombrovskis photograph Of Rock Island Bend published in full-page advertisements in major newspapers (Law 2008: 224) was viewed by perhaps millions of Australians. Other photographs made their way into slide shows at halls and homes around the country, raising awareness and funds. Music was used at blockades to inspire, entertain, embolden and convert, while better-known musicians such as Goanna went under the name of Gordon Franklin and the Wilderness Ensemble to release ‘Let The Franklin Flow’ which was played around the country. I recall playing it on Radio Skid Row (then housed at Sydney University, later to be renamed Radio Sydney). The Australian Labour Party (ALP) decided to go with this tide of public opinion and support the campaign, and they were helped into power by thousands of volunteers who campaigned for the ALP because of its stand. The ALP remained in power for twelve years.

In the Jabiluka campaign, along with theatre and rock concerts at the campaign focus of the blockade, there were many city-based actions, such as in Brisbane at an ERA board meeting where ‘waiters’ offered water supposedly from Jabiluka tailings dumps to board members. Artists from around the country contributed paintings to RAJUM, an exhibition in Darwin, which raised awareness and funds. CDs and videos were released. Court-cases of arrested activists (which also had performance aspects), maintained media interest. This maelstrom of dissent events spread the word in high-profile or

grassroots ways into many different sectors of the community: art patrons, music lovers, radio listeners, newspaper readers. There was also a concerted effort to induce investors and shareholders to withdraw from support for the mine. This was very successful, no doubt helped by the extremely negative publicity the mine was getting from the artistic and other aspects of the campaign. Millions were withdrawn, and this was a major reason for the success of the campaign.

If we consider any of these artistic actions in isolation, they may seem insignificant. A critic might say, for example, that an individual such as Benny Zables (Figure Three) creating a banner will make no difference to the world. If we look, however, at a situation where thousands of people are creating banners, songs, paintings, photographs, poems, street-theatre

Figure Two: Blockaders uncomfortably ‘locked-on’ at Jabiluka (photo: Jabiluka Campaign Office).



References continued on page 41

and sculpture around a common theme whose symbolic focus is a dramatic blockade, then we have an impact on public opinion that cannot be denied.

Technology, globalised protest: Modern information technology can amplify this communication further (Martin 1996). A single person can now upload an image, story or video onto a webpage and have it seen by millions. Email ‘virus’ campaigns can do the same. Monitoring Twitter is now seen by movie companies as a more effective gauge of public opinion than focus groups (Kuang 2010). Online petitions can be signed by millions. The Australian web-based campaign group ‘Get Up’ is believed to have influenced the 2007 election of Kevin Rudd ( MacColl 2010). The University of New England-based student radio station TUNE-FM where I have performed occasional skits and radioplays since 1991, had a maximum audience of a few hundred in 1991; it now streams online to tens of

thousands. Recently in Egypt, Burma and Iran, footage taken on and broadcast from mobile phones has enabled protesters to get their story to the world via YouTube, Twitter and Facebook out (Powell 2010; ‘Iran’s Netwar’ 2009), and this internationalisation has proved an important tactic in past campaigns from Gandhi’s India to Apartheid South Africa.

Although the internet, like art, can be used for corporate enrichment (Mander 2001:42; see also Suaranta & Tomperi 2002:35-7), it has enabled protest movements to globalise. In 2003 we saw the single largest globally-coordinated protest ever, as up to thirty million people took to the streets against the invasion of Iraq by the United States and its allies (Simonson 2003:14). The internet facilitated protest organization, and enabled the spread of clever slogans such as ‘A village in Texas has lost its idiot’, ‘Axis of Evil? Access to Diesel!’ ‘There is no Path to Peace. Peace IS the Path’ or even the Lord of the Rings-inspired ‘Bush is a servant

Figure Three:

Benny Zable atop his ‘radioactive waste’ barrels

(photo: Leigh Howlett).



of Sauron. We hates him!’ The protest failed to stop the invasion, but it may have led to disillusionment with and then ousting of leaders such as Bush and Howard, the later withdrawal of a number of allies, and the scaling down of US involvement. Such a huge protest would become even more effective if accompanied by longer, more concerted protests, blockades, dissent events and other forms of peace-building.

Creating critical mass: From Little Things, Big Things GrowSo what I am advocating here is left-field, lateral, creative thinking in communicating a pro-peace, pro-environment paradigm. A song mentioned earlier – ‘From Little Things, Big Things Grows’ - is a musical depiction of a moving Aboriginal nonviolence campaign. It encapsulates the empowering notion that the actions of individuals and small groups can be powerful. This is particularly so if they are linked with others, and if they have an awareness of the worth of such actions. This paradigm uses grassroots democracy-making and peace-building, employing a conception of power that according to Vandana Shiva (1989) fundamentally challenges the top-down and barrel-of-a-gun model of power employed by militarism, states and corporations. It employs power-with and power-from-within, as opposed to power-from-above (Starhawk 1987). It is strongly eco-feminist influenced (see Schmah 1998:31), and utilises the ‘consent theory’ formulated by Sharp (1973:7-62) and later modified by Martin (1989), Burrowes (1996) and McGuiness (2002).

Sydney University’s Anarcho-Silly FactionThis discussion has taken us to many geographical locations. Let me ground it now, by mentioning a Sydney University (SU) connection to the Franklin and Roxby actions. Here in that period, a small but influential group characterising itself as ‘anarcho-silly’ used the arts extensively in the cause of progressive student politics. Influenced by writers such as

Hunter S. Thompson, illustrators such as Ralph Steadman and performers such as Monte Python, they employed performance, gonzo-journalism, cartoons, illustrations, poems, editorials, fiction, radio skits and music. Activists such as Aldis Ozols, Armin Wittfoth, Mick O’Donnell and this author (aka ‘Sum-One Else’) used performance and the student media to take over the Union Recorder magazine, get onto the Student Representative Council (SRC) and make front-page news (‘Column Eight’ 1984). The group also ran programmes on Radio Skid Row, and later formed a collective with other Left groups such as the Blue Stocking Collective, the Socialist Alliance and the ALP, to run another newspaper, Honi Soit.

The anarcho-silly faction attempted to promote a radical ethos in an entertaining way through the papers and radio, and through their presence at SRC meetings and activities. They supported the student occupation of the Economics Building over cuts to the radical Political Economy course (SPEC 1983), and later proposed that the university adopt permacultural principles where possible. They publicised the Franklin, Roxby and Daintree rainforest issues (see Branagan 1983a, 1983b & 1984d). They wrote about protest dynamics, such as the use of consensus decision-making (see Smekal 1984). They promoted peace, and helped swell the numbers of peace marchers in the massive Palm Sunday rallies – in which 350,000 Australians marched in 1985 (Wittner 2009).

Some members of the group were also involved in the largely-female S.U. Environment Group, which organised a bus and travelled to the 1984 Roxby Downs anti-uranium protests (Figure Four), where many of them were arrested. On their return, they published numerous articles, poems and photographs by the participants (eg Meikle 1984; Smekal 1984; Oldroyd 1984; Branagan 1984a, 1984b). Other SU participants also contributed (Ingram 1984; Mullin & Vincent 1984; Berrier & Worsoe 1984; ‘I Like the Flowers’ 1984). These were accompanied by some fine drawings by other members of the alliance (Figure Five). Anthony

Figure Four:

1984 Sydney University

blockaders at Roxby Downs.



Albanese, then an ALP member of the SRC, and now a Federal minister attempting to maintain an anti-nuclear stand, may well have been influenced by the strongly anti-uranium zeitgeist.

The anarcho-silly front group the Anti-Satanist League fulminated against US Christian fundamentalists on campus, while its Dr Hunter S Thompson Appreciation Society was a vocal advocate of marijuana legalisation. The latter group met next door to here. Its nervous neighbour was the SU Chess Club, whose nervousness grew as the society grew in size, flamboyance and open civil disobedience, until the riot squad ended the situation with a raid and a number of arrests in 1985.

Conclusion

To summarise, we face today a global, multi-dimensional environmental crisis involving global warming and catastrophic biodiversity loss. One of the causes of this crisis

is global militarism, which is a heavy polluter and resource consumer. There are, however, environmental solutions. An important one is the replacement of militarism with nonviolence, which is an effective method of social change, and one that continues to evolve, as shown by the development of ‘active resistance’. Applying and communicating these solutions, however, is hindered by vested interests, in which the military-industrial complex (closely linked to the state and the mass media) is firmly anchored.

Artistic activism has proved an effective tool in many nonviolent campaigns, communicating specific issues and a nonviolent, green paradigm to large audiences. By improving and better resourcing artistic activism, and capitalising on new global communications systems, this paradigm may be spread faster. It would be complemented by the innovative, determined and powerfully-symbolic ‘active resistance’, and other forms of peace-building.

Figure Five:

Illustration by Adam Long accompanying Branagan (1984b).



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