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Australia

, Australia launches national inquiry into sexual harassment, BBC, 2018

Discusses Australia’s decision to hold a national inquiry into workplace sexual harassment as part of the government’s response to the ‘Me Too’ movement.

, Environmental NGOs at a Crossroads?, Environmental Politics, Vol. 27, no. 6, 2018

This issue is focused on the roles of long established environmental NGOs (ENGOs), which often act as lobbying and advocacy groups seeking to influence government policy, and the potential of more radical campaigning groups. The introduction examines the implications of both approaches, as well as possible relations between ENGOs and protest movements. Other articles explore the role, strength and weaknesses of specific organizations, such as Friends of the Earth, and the problems as well as the benefits of transnational mobilization (as at the 2015 Paris Climate Summit). Topics covered include: an assessment of the effectiveness of transferring the US model of using the law to promote public interest environmental concerns to a European setting; the expansion of ENGOs in France; and a discussion of how to avoid conflicts of interest between indigenous peoples (concerned about economic opportunities) and environmental activists in Australia. 

, The Big Story: Black Lives Matter, [March 2018], New Internationalist, 2018, pp. 12-25

Introductory article by Amy Hall summarises the growth of BLM in the USA, discusses its global potential and spread to other countries, and notes the relevance of BLM in the UK.  Jamilah King comments on the US movement, both on its strengths and the divisions within it. Other articles examine how BLM relates to a history of  'a policy of black extermination' in Brazil, and to the struggle by Aboriginal people in Australia.

, The Big Story: Global Climate Protests, Guardian Weekly, 2019, pp. 10-14

Covers the demonstrations by school children and students in an estimated 185 countries with a photo of a protest in Nairobi, Kenya, and an overview of the protests in their environmental and political context. Coverage also includes brief statements from young activists in Australia, Thailand, India, Afghanistan, South Africa, Ireland and the US; the speech by Greta Thunberg to the UN Climate Action summit in New York; and 10 charts explaining the climate crisis.

See also: Milman, Oliver, 'Crowds Welcome Thunberg to New York after Atlantic Crossing ', The Guardian, 29 Aug. 2019, p.3.

Reports on Thunberg's arrival in New York where she was to address the UN Climate Action summit on reaching zero carbon emissions.

, #MeToo has changed the media landscape, but in Australia there is still much to be done, The Conversation, 2019

Report on the Australia response to the emergence of the #MeToo movement.

, Indigenous Activists Keep Carbon Below Ground, May-June 2020, New Internationalist, 2020, pp. 51-50

Brief account celebrating victory after years of campaigning by Indigenous Climate Action against Teck Resources, the company pressing for permission to build the tar sands Frontier Mine in Canada, which would have produced 3.2 billion barrels of oil over 40 years. Teck withdrew early in 2020, after 12 years of lobbying (indigenousclimateaction.com). The journal also reports very briefly that the Great Australian Bight Alliance, led by Aboriginal elders and local activists has in succession prevented Chevron, BP and (most recently) Equinor to abandon plans to drill for oil in the Bight (fightforthebight.org.au.)

, Indigenous deaths in custody: Why Australians are seizing on US protests, BBC, 2020

Explores the rise of Black Lives Matter protests in Australia in solidarity with the international response to the death of George Floyd, and also to highlight the long running tragedy of Aboriginal deaths in custody.

See also: Allam, Lorena and Nick Evershed, ‘The killing times: the massacres of Aboriginal people Australia must confront’, The Guardian, 3 March 2019.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/mar/04/the-killing-times-the-massacres-of-aboriginal-people-australia-must-confront

Special report on the killing, incarceration and forced removal from their land of Indigenous Australians over 140 years. The article offers an interactive map that shows the locations and date of massacres between 1794 and 1928.

See also: Dovey, Ceridwen, ‘The mapping of massacres’ The New Yorker, 7 December 2017.

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/mapping-massacres

The article reports on how historians and artists turned to cartography to record the widespread killing of Indigenous people in Australia.

, Indigenous activists on tackling the climate crisis: ‘We have done more than any government’ - Video, The Guardian, 2021

The Guardian spoke to six young indigenous activists from the Ecuadorian Amazon, Chad, Alaska, Sweden, Indonesia and Australia about what they think about COP 26.

Bennett, Scott, Aborigines and Political Power, Sydney NSW, Allen and Unwin, 1989, pp. 167

General analysis, includes some references to protest.

Boylan, Jessie, Atomic amnesia: photographs and nuclear memory, Global Change, Peace & Security, Vol. 28, no. 1, 2016, pp. 55-73

Addresses how photography (using photographs taken in the USA and Australia) can illuminate the unimaginable, namely nuclear catastrophe, in order to fuel the imagination in the search for alternatives that lead to a world free of nuclear weapons.

Branagan, Marty, Global Warming, Militarism and Nonviolence: The Art of Active Resistance, Basingstoke, Palgrave, 2013, pp. 272

Explores high carbon footprint of military defence, argues for an alternative nonviolent defence, and advocates ‘active resistance’ of kind pioneered by Australian environmentalists.

Burgmann, Verity, Power and Protest: Movements for Change in Australian Society, St Leonards NSW, Allen and Unwin, 1993, pp. 302

See also Burgmann, Verity , Power, Profit and Protest: Australian Social Movements and Globalization Crows Nest NSW, Allen and Unwin, , 2003, pp. 393 .

Burgmann, Verity, Power, Profit and Protest: Australian Social Movements and Globalization, Crows Nest NSW, Allen and Unwin, 2003, pp. 393

Burgmann, Verity ; Burgmann, M., Green Bans, Red Union: Environmentalism and the New South Wales Builders’ Labourers Federation, Sydney NSW, University of New South Wales Press, 1998

On the initiation of ‘green bans’ – work bans by unions to prevent redevelopment of working class neighbourhoods and destruction of historic buildings and urban green spaces in Sydney. Between 1971 and 1974 42 separate bans were imposed and linked unionists with middle class conservationists. See also: Mundey, Jack , Green Bans and Beyond Sydney NSW, Angus and Robertson, , 1981

Burgmann, Verity ; Lee, Jenny, Staining the Wattle, Ringwood VIC, McPhee Gribble/Penguin Books, 1988, pp. 308

Cairns, Brendan, Stop the Drop, ed. Burgmann, Verity, Lee, Jenny, In Burgmann, Verity ; Lee, Jenny , Staining the Wattle Ringwood VIC, McPhee Gribble/Penguin Books, , 1988, pp. 308, pp. 243-253

On the 1980s revived movement against nuclear weapons, in particular Australia’s People for Nuclear Disarmament.

Chesterman, John ; Galligan, Brian, Citizens Without Rights, [1997], Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1998, pp. 288

On Australia. It includes some references to protests.

Collier, Cheryl ; Raney, Tracey, Understanding Sexism and Sexual Harassment in Politics: A Comparison of Westminster Parliaments in Australia, the United Kingdom, and Canada, Social Politics: International Studies in Gender, State & Society, Vol. 25, no. 3, 2018, pp. 432-455

The widespread problem of sexual harassment has made headlines around the world, including in political legislatures. Using public reports of sexism and sexual harassment, the authors highlight these problems in three countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Although sexual harassment is a global issue, the aim of this article is to show how the shared rules, practices, and norms of these Westminster-style bodies perpetuate sexist cultures that produce unequal and unsafe work conditions for female politicians. The findings highlight some of the unique challenges women face in their representational and policy-making roles.

Connors, Libby ; Hutton, Drew, A History of the Australian Environmental Movement, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1999, pp. 324

Survey from early concerns about conservation through the ‘second wave’ 1945-72, and the campaigns of 1973-83 up to the subsequent professionalization of the movement. Chapter 4 ‘Taking to the Streets’ covers ‘green bans’ and the anti-uranium campaigns; ‘Taking to the Bush’ looks at direct action on a number of issues, culminating in the 1982 blockade of the Franklin Dam; and Chapter 6 ‘Fighting for Wilderness’ assesses further protests around Australia. Chapter 8 considers the role of the Green Party.

Dekar, Paul, The Australian No Uranium Mining Campaign, Peace Magazine, Vol. 16, no. 3 (Jul-Sep), 2000, pp. 27-26

See also: Milburn, Caroline , Australia: Women at forefront of Jabiluka resistance The Age, 1999

Douglas, Martin, Representations of Anzac: A feminist perspective, ed. Braun, Reiner, Krieger, David, Kroto, Harold, Milne, Sally, Teaching History, Vol. 52, no. 4, 2018, pp. 27-29

The Anzac legend has been traditionally dominated by white males and was increasingly brought under the spotlight with the emergence of feminist movements from the 1960s onwards. But it is was feminists that rekindled interest in Anzac in the 1980s with the Women Against Rape in War protests at Anzac Day events in the early 1980s. The Second Wave Feminist movement in the 1960s and 70s saw a significant shift towards a more specific focus on issues around violence against women, most particularly in the realm of domestic/family violence. The Australian feminist movement also opposed the Australian involvement in the Vietnam War and promoted the cause of nuclear disarmament.

Doyle, Timothy, Direct Action in Environmental Conflict in Australia: A Re-examination of Non-violent Action, Regional Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 28, 1994, pp. 1-13

Dyck, Noel, Indigenous Peoples and the Nation State: ‘Fourth World’ Politics in Canada, Australia and Norway, St John’s Nfld, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1985, pp. 263

Ellner, Andrea ; Robinson, Paul ; Whetham, David, When Soldiers Say No: Selective Conscientious Objection in the Modern Military, ed. Cinar, Ozgur Heval, Usterci, Coskun, Farnham, Ashgate, 2014, pp. 290

Explores theoretical arguments for and against selective objection, together with case studies from US, Britain, Australia, Germany and Israel.

Evans, Geoff ; Goodman, James ; Lansbury, Nina, Moving Mountains: Communities Confront Mining and Globalisation, London, Zed Books, 2002, pp. 284

Discusses role of corporations and governments in different parts of the world. Chapters 8-12 focus on resistance in Bougainville, the Philippines and Australia. Chapter 12 (pp. 195-206) covers the resistance to the Jabiluka uranium mine by the local Aboriginal people, supported by environmentalists.

Forward, Roy ; Reece, Bob, Conscription in Australia, Brisbane QLD, University of Queensland Press, 1968

Forward, Roy ; Reece, Bob, Conscription, 1964-1968, In Forward, Roy ; Reece, Bob , Conscription in Australia Brisbane QLD, University of Queensland Press, , 1968, pp. 79-142

Franceschet, Susan ; Krook, Mona Lena ; Tan, Netina, The Palgrave Handbook of Women’s Political Rights, ed. Ennaji, Moha, Sadiqi, Fatima, Vintges, Karen, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 784

Covers women’s political rights across all major regions of the world, focusing both on women’s right to vote and women’s right to run for political office. The countries explored are Afghanistan, Armenia, Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Cameroon, Chile, China, Colombia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand, Myanmar, Niger, Nigeria, Poland, Russia, Rwanda, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sweden, South Korea, Slovenia, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, the United States, Uganda, Uruguay, and Zimbabwe.

Greenwood, Ian ; McBride, Jo, Community Unionism: A Comparative Analysis of Concepts and Contexts, Basingstoke, Palgrave/Macmillan, 2009, pp. 264

Explores the diverse meanings of community unionism, provides case studies from the UK – the ‘London’s living wage’ campaign, and activism by black and minority workers and migrant workers – and from Japan, Australia and the US.

Grenfell, Damian, Environmentalism, State Power and “National Interests, In Goodman, Protest and Globalisation: Prospects for Transnational Solidarity (A.6.a. General Titles), Annandale NSW, Pluto Press, pp. 111-115

Covers ‘Stop Jabiluka’ campaign by Aborigines and environmentalists in Kakadu National Park.

Hamel-Green, Michael, Antinuclear campaigning and the South Pacific Nuclear-Free Zone (Rarotonga) Treaty, 1960-85, Melbourne, Proceedings of the 14th Biennal Labour History Conference, 2015

This paper examines the role and contribution of antinuclear and civil society efforts to establish a regional nuclear free zone in the period up to the signing of the 1985 South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone (SPNFZ) Rarotonga Treaty. The Treaty negotiated under the auspices of the South Pacific Forum (now Pacific Islands Forum), the regional organization of independent South Pacific island states, Australia and New Zealand. The antinuclear campaigns that led up to and contributed to the negotiation of the Treaty began some 25 years earlier and may be divided into three broad waves.

Ivanitz, Michele, Democracy and Indigenous Self-Determination, ed. Carter, April, Stokes, Geoffrey, In Carter, April ; Stokes, Geoffrey , Democratic Theory Today: Challenges for the 21st Century Cambridge, Polity, , 2002, pp. 307, pp. 121-148

Compares Australia and Canada

King, Peter, Australia’s Vietnam: Australia in the Second Indo-China War, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1983

Laffin, Arthur, Swords into Plowshares, Volume Two: A Chronology of Plowshares Disarmament Action, 1980-2003, Foreword by Daniel Berrigan., Eugene, OR, WIPF and Stock Publishers, 2010, pp. 110

This is the second volume of the history of the direct action movement launched by radical Catholics in the USA, whose tactics were taken up by Protestants and committed advocates of  disarmament in both the US and Europe. Protests have over the years been directed at a range of ICBMs designed to carry nuclear warheads, Trident submarines, and nuclear weapons plants. This volume, which includes individual accounts and information on trials of protesters, covers actions not only in the US, but in Australia, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK.

Mandle, W. F., Going It Alone: Australia’s National Identity in the Twentieth Century, Ringwood VIC, Penguin, 1980

Chapter on ‘Donald Macleod and Australia’s Aboriginal Problem’, pp. 174-89 covers Pilbara strike and Pindan movement of late 1940s.

Milburn, Caroline, Australia: Women at forefront of Jabiluka resistance, The Age, no. 13 March, 1999

Mundey, Jack, Green Bans and Beyond, Sydney NSW, Angus and Robertson, 1981

Nepstad, Sharon Erickson, Religion and War Resistance in the Plowshares Movement, New York, Cambridge University Press, 2008, pp. 204

This book examines the development and evolution of the Plowshares movement from a social science perspective, looking at issues such as ‘tactical legitimation’ and sustainability in relation to the US movement, and also analyzing ‘intermittent resistance’ in the German, Dutch and Australian movements, and ‘internal implosion’ in the Swedish movement.  It also  assesses the UK movement.

Neubauer, Ian, Catching the Cops, New Internationalist, 2019

Reports on a new app, created by the Sydney-based National Justice Project, that enables Aboriginal people to record police discrimination and violence against them. It is being adopted across Australia. The author sets this Australian initiative in the context of disproportionate jailing of Aborigines and frequent police discrimination, as well as the wider global movement to use film to highlight police injustice, with examples from the USA and Canada.                            

Noone, Val, Disturbing the War: Melbourne Catholics and Vietnam, Richmond VIC, Australia Spectrum, 1993, pp. 333

Peacemaker, Australia’s Draft Resistance and the Vietnam War – Statement by Michael Matteson and Geoff Mullen, Peacemaker, Vol. 33, no. 9-12 (Sept-Dec), 1971

Statements by two anarchists in the draft resistance movement, who went underground and then to jail, commenting critically upon it. An introduction by Takver notes the important role played by individual anarchists and anarchist groups in the anti-war movement.

Pearse, Guy, The Climate Movement: Australia’s Patrons of Climate Change Activism, The Monthly, no. 7 (Sept), 2011, pp. 3-2

Penovic, Tania ; Sifris, Ronli, Expanding the feminisation dimension of international law: targeted anti-abortion protest as violence against women, Cambridge International Law Journal, Vol. 7, no. 2, 2018, pp. 241-267

International law has expanded significantly to encompass abuse of women’s rights, as a result of pressure from international civil society. There is now strong support for recognising violence against women as a human right issue. But attempts by women’s groups to promote consensus on reproductive rights, especially the right to safe access to abortion, have met with strong opposition or conservative religious bodies at both an international and local level.  This article includes a case study of local direct action in Australia against access to abortion, and also a wider evaluation of the impact of anti-abortion protest groups on women’s rights. It also examines how far legislation to limit anti-abortion activism in designated areas is effective, and how far such legislation is consistent with international norms and feminised international laws.

Pittock, Barrie, Climate Change: The Science, Impacts and Solutions, 2nd edition, London, Routledge, 0, pp. 350 (pb)

Pittock, a well known Australian climate scientist, examines the scientific evidence for climate change, including new evidence in the 2007 Fourth IPCC Assessment Report of the rapid melting of arctic sea ice. He also covers the possibilities of investment in renewable technologies, and examines the role of the (in 2009) recently elected Australian government.

Power, Jennifer, Movement, Knowledge, Emotion: Gay Activism and HIV/AIDS in Australia, Canberra, ANU Press, 2011, pp. 204

In three Parts: 1. ‘Fear and Morality’, 2. ‘(Mis)trust of Medicine, 3. ‘Grief and Activism’.

Provides historical background and uses interviews with members of early AIDS Councils and covers role of ACT UP.

Read, Peter, Charles Perkins: A Biography, Melbourne VIC, Penguin, 2001, pp. 392

Perkins has been one of the leading activists in New South Wales and his role in leading protests is described in some detail.

Reading, Anna ; Katriel, Tamar, Cultural Memories of nonviolent Struggles: Powerful Times, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, pp. 260

This is an acadmeic contribution to memory studies, but shows how preserving knowledge and stories of past movements affects present politics, and how nonviolent activists can learn from past campaigns. Examples examined include the suffragettes, Greenham Common, Polish Solidarity, US struggles against racism and Australian aboriginal campaigns. The authors also illustrate how one movement can influence others and stress the need to make archival and other sources (films, music, etc.) available.

Ridriguez, Samuel, Global Resistance to Fracking: Communities Rise Up to Fight Climate Crisis and Democratic Deficit, Madrid, Libros en Accion, 2015, pp. 153

This book, edited by the international coordinator of Ecologistas en Accion, covers 15 varied struggles against fracking around the world, and is intended to be a source of inspiration for continued resistance. Many are first person accounts, by those involved. Chapters cover personal opposition fracking in the courts or at the municipal level, resistance by local farmers to corporations backed by the government, as in Poland and Romania and the campaign for 'frack free' municipalities in the Basque territory of Spain. There are also accounts of resistance from Argentina, Algeria, South Africa, Australia, the UK (against drilling in Sussex) and Northern Ireland, and on the role of ATTA C in France. Includes a timeline and 'some snapshots' of the resistance, as well as some conclusions drawn by the editor.  

Roddewig, Richard J., Green Bans: The Birth of Australian Environmental Politics, Montclair NJ, Allanheld, Osmun, 1976, pp. 180

Compares Australian and US environmental activism in relation to their political and social context.

Ross, Liz, Revolution is for Us: The Left and Gay Liberation in Australia, Melbourne, Interventions, 2013

The author, an active socialist, argues contrary to widely held views that the left and working class supported earlier gay rights campaigns and that the left is central to Gay Liberation.

Sawyer, Suzana ; Gomez, Edmund Terence, The Politics of Resource Extraction: Indigenous Peoples, Multinational Corporations and the State, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012, pp. 336

Studies cover Peru, India (Orissa), Philippines, Nigeria (the Niger Basin), Chad and Cameroon, as well as Australia and Canada.

Sethna, Christabelle ; Davis, Gayle, Abortion Across Borders: Transnational Travel and Access to Abortion Services, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2019, pp. 360

The authors examine how restrictive policies force women to travel both within and across national borders in order to reach abortion providers, often at great expense, over long distances and with significant safety risks. Contributors, who adopt both historical and contemporary perspectives, examine the situation culturally and politically diverse in regions that include Australia, Canada, Eastern Europe, Ireland, New Zealand, Poland, Prince Edward Island, Spain, Sweden, Texas, and post-Brexit referendum UK.

Showden, Carisa, Sexual harassment and assault on campus: What can Aotearoa New Zealand learn from Australia’s ‘Respect. Now. Always.’ Initiative, Women’s Studies Journal, Vol. 32, no. 1/2, 2018, pp. 73-80

The University of Auckland hosted a panel in September 2018 on preventing and responding to sexual assault and harassment on university campuses. The panel was organised by the Australian and New Zealand Student Services Association (ANZSSA), and included speakers from the University of Sydney and Universities Australia. Australian universities had launched a coordinated effort to address campus sexual assault and harassment in February 2016, and this panel served as a space for sharing their experiences and for Auckland staff and students to learn from them.

Stettner, Shannon ; Acherman, Katrina ; Burnett, Kristin ; Hay, Travis, Transcending Borders. Abortion in the Past and Present, Cham, Switzerland, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, pp. 360

This volume investigates different abortion and reproductive practices across time, space, geography, national boundaries, and cultures. The authors specialise in the reproductive politics of Australia, Bolivia, Cameroon, France, ‘German East Africa,’ Ireland, Japan, Sweden, South Africa, the United States and Zanzibar, and cover the pre-modern era and the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as well as the present day. Contributors draw on different theoretical frameworks, including ‘intersectionality’ and ‘reproductive justice’ to explore the very varied conditions in which women have been forced to make these life-altering decisions.  

Strangio, Paul, No Toxic Dump: A Triumph for Grassroots Democracy and Environmental Justice, Sydney NSW, Pluto Press, 2001, pp. 217

An Australian case study.

Summy, Ralph V., Militancy and the Australian Peace Movement 1960-67, Politics (Journal of the Australasian Studies Association), Vol. 5, no. 2 (Nov.), 1970, pp. 148-162

See also his MA thesis:  Summy, Ralph V., Militancy and the Australian Peace Movement: A Study of Dissent Sydney, MA Thesis, University of Sydney, , 1971, pp. 273

Summy, Ralph V., Militancy and the Australian Peace Movement: A Study of Dissent, Sydney, MA Thesis, University of Sydney, 1971, pp. 273

Willett, Graham, Living Out Loud: A History of Gay and Lesbian Activism in Australia, St Leonards NSW, Allen and Unwin, 2000, pp. 320

Account of gay and lesbian activism in Australia, from 1950s to 1990s, its successes and contribution to Australian society.

Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Pacific Women Speak-Out for Independence and Denuclearisation, Christchurch, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, 1998, pp. 80

Indigenous women from Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Belau, Bougainville, East Timor, Ka Pa’aina (Hawaii), the Marshall Islands, Te Ao Maohi (French Polynesia) and West Papua (Irian Jaya) condemn imperialism, war, ‘nuclear imperialism’ (in the form of nuclear tests) and military bases in the hope ‘that when people around the world learn what is happening in the Pacific they will be inspired to stand beside them and to act’. The book is a contribution to the Hague Appeal for Peace, 1999.

York, Barry, Power to the Young, In Burgmann, Verity ; Lee, Jenny , Staining the Wattle Ringwood VIC, McPhee Gribble/Penguin Books, , 1988, pp. 308, pp. 228-252