Essay on "Australia Social Movements Contemporary"

Essay 7 pages (2035 words) Sources: 10

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Australia Social Movements

Contemporary Social Movements in Australia: From Radicalism to Compromise

The intercession of information technology proliferation (i.e. internet, cellular phones, handheld mobile communication devices) with the intensification of globalization has had the impact of transforming the way in which states relate to one another. The combination of these factors has functioned to erase many of the theoretical borders that have obstructed economic activities between nations of different cultural and ethical dispositions. Australia's proximity to Asia renders it a regular and favored trade partner to many nations on the so-called Pacific Rim. Australia's generally respected geopolitical stature makes it an immediate point of contact in the region for many smaller Asian nations and principalities. Though this brings with it certain economic advantages for Australia within the context of its region, it also foists considerable responsibility on Australia to function in a positive diplomatic capacity, to protect its own security interests and to remain tuned into the inherent dangers of an import-based economy. Simultaneously, Australia must continue to evolve in the areas of racial equality, environmental protection and economic classicism. In short, the schema presented by the thrust toward globalization have instigated broad social, cultural and economic change. And, according to Sylvan (2005), with this change has come a change in the way that social movements are organized, motivated and oriented. So denotes the discussion hereafter, which considers the manner in which Australia's contemporary social movements have tempered the class-based radicalism of the social movements from recent history in favor of more amenable, cooperative and realistic goals.

It is appropriate to initiate the discussion with a definition of the terminology 'social movement,' particularly as this relates to contemporary usage. Here, the text by Diesendorf (2008) notes that a social movement is one which has emerged with the pointed intention of bringing about social improvement, instigating progress and engaging in the political process absent a leadership role in the broader political establishment. As Diesendorf phrases this, "?social movements are a powerful means for ordinary people to successfully create positive social change, particularly when the formal channels of democratic political participation are not working and obstinate powerful elites prevail." (p. 2)

This denotes that the movement will inherently have emerged in opposition to some aspect of the functional establishment's activities, orientation or policy. Social movements therefore tend to rely on popular consensus, public mobilization and the connection of these features to the political, legislative and electoral processes. Diesendorf makes the argument that most of the salient social movement groups operating in Australia today are driven by what are viewed as governmental failures and, consequently, reflect the drive of citizens and grass roots agencies to positively redress these failures. It is thus that an extremely prominent example of a social movement with contemporary distinction is the environmental movement.

Where social action in Australia's past tended to reflect the emergence and refinement of democratic representation -- particularly as this has related to racial, ethnic and class issues -- today the preoccupation of such movements seems largely centered around providing a counterpoint to government inaction. As the Diesendorf text points out, failures on the part of both the administrations of Prime Ministers John Howard and Kevin Rudd to meet promises on the reduction of emissions, the improvement of conservation efforts and the tightening of regulations on corporate polluters have been met with explicit action on the social movement front. Most particularly in the case of the article by Diesendorf, there is a clear balance on the part of many social movements aligned with the broader environmentalism call which highlights one of the main byproducts of their efforts. Indeed, many social movement groups use today's vast and proliferated information technology channels to distribute what amount to 'report cards' on public officials and government agencies. Here, Diesendorf essentially presents just such a report card, as demonstrated by the balance of criticism and praise for the Rudd administration in particular. In Rudd's case, the environmental movement acknowledges a combination of positive promises and disappointing legislative action, indicating that Rudd, for instance, "promised $500M to renewable energy deployment over 7 years, but allocated nothing to solar, wind or biomass in 2008-09 budget" and further that he "ratified Kyoto Protocol immediately, but failed to support strong international target at Bali." (Diesendorf, 4)

Social movements such as that comprised of myriad strands of the environmental call to action work today to tap into the public will as a way of altering electoral priorities. Therefore, the 'report card' approach denoted above demonstrates such movements as being willing to participate in mainstream political contexts which still using more public and organic channels for engaging in open and honest discussion on crucial social issues. In this instance, the critique levied against Rudd is offset by positive remarks that suggest a willingness on the part of such groups to work with public governmental figures and to coax them toward positive policy initiatives.

This demonstrates a fundamental distinction between today's social movements and those that dominated the Australian landscape just a few decades ago. Indeed, social action is today an accepted strand of the political fabric, with fundamental relevance to the way that voting patterns trend, that legislation is debated and that parliamentary power is defined. Certainly, this is not to suggest that social movements are in any regard a part of the power-structure in Australia. As our definition denotes, these movements are typically developed out of a sense that this power structure must be guided or pressured to make progressive decisions. Still, this does distinguish the modern notion of social action considerably from that which permeated Australia during the mid-60s and throughout much of the Cold War. It was during this time that -- as in much of the rest of the world -- racial discord, civil rights movements and socialist ideologies helped to drive a highly radical set of social action initiatives into motion. As Scalmer (2009) indicates, these radicals "were, so the argument ran, the social actors of the future . . .Many Australian radicals were impressed by these ideas, and they seemed to sum up the rhythms of recent history. From 1965, a wave of political protest crashed across the Australian polity. It began with protests against racial segregation, the Vietnam War, and conscription, and soon swept up students, trade unionists, indigenous people, Christian believers, and many else besides. 'Black liberation' was followed by 'women's liberation,' 'gay liberation,' and even 'tree liberation.'" (Scalmer, p. 1)

Quite certainly, this is consistent with the ideological wave that was visible in contexts such as France, the United States and Southeast Asia as well, where student groups had taken to a most active and aggressive position on instigating social progress. Spurred in particular by the desire to define socialist progressiveness as something separate both from the Western modes of capitalism and the Soviet totalitarian brand of communism, such groups would be inevitably defined by a determined resistance to mainstream and institutional modes of governance. Indeed, as two major world powers in the U.S. And U.S.S.R. vied to prove their respective forms of governance as superior, the radical movements of the time would be forced to adopt a stance in defiance of both. Thus, Scalmer indicates, the participants in the social action movement would be "critics of industrial society; advocates of post-material values; democratically organized; staffed by the new middle class; and devoted to the most radical and extra-parliamentary of actions" (Scalmer, p. 1)

As the research conducted here demonstrates, this does stand quite in distinct to the mores of social action as they permeate Australia today. Indeed, where movements centered around subversive activities, public protests, radical actions and displays of civil disobedience, today there is an altogether more realistic notion of social action as requiring the participatory approval of the broader political system. An excellent example of this is the anti-nuclear movement in Australia, which has undergone critical changes in the way that it approaches its ambitions. Initially, this was a radical action movement that centered on the interest of disrupting nuclear energy generation through public demonstration. In the 1960s and 1970s, Green (1998) reports, the anti-nuclear movement was comprised of roughly 100 interrelated or independent groups that assembled peaceably but in practical opposition to such issues as uranium-based weapons proliferation, environmental destruction and the human rights implications of uranium mining. Through the use of massive anti-nuclear marches, localized protests and nation-wide peaceful demonstrations, "the movement disrupted and jeopardised some nuclear projects (in particular uranium mines), and undermined the credibility and authority of the nuclear industry and the state. Despite the successes, however, the '70s movement did not fundamentally threaten Australia's nuclear industry, and the movement declined during the 1980s." (Green, p. 1)

This declination was due at least in part to the longterm capacity of government's such as Australia's to ultimately quell the social protest movement through the use of capital force. Essentially, the economic viability of the nuclear movement trumped the capacity of protest groups to intervene. These groups became disaffected and irrelevant, largely… READ MORE

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