Growing up in Australia, I always thought we had it pretty good. From hearing the repetitious “the lucky country” slogan throughout school, to a life undisrupted by war, and to what appeared to be an overall contentedness in Australian society, it seemed that the attitude was widely shared. Sure, there was always this politician or that politician that did something outrageous (WorkChoices comes to mind), that would make people change their mind when voting time came around, but on the whole there wasn’t much that could mobilize Australians out of our collective apathy. It became frustrating as a young adult to see successive governments do little about minimizing our carbon emissions, or change their conservative stance on gay marriage. But while these issues anger myself and many in our generation, the apathetic way in which we grew up made us feel powerless to do anything besides sign a few petitions online. We feel insignificant in the face of massive corporate power, which is all most of us have ever known, so we have collectively shrugged our shoulders, thrown our hands up in the air and said, “what are you gonna do?”
How times have changed in recent months. I, like many other young Australians, was positively crestfallen after the LNP victory in September last year. In fact, the whole election process was disillusioning because of the lack of choice. It seemed that both major parties were in a race to the bottom on morality, pandering to the lowest, racist, homophobic common denominator in Australian society. Egos and the right to rule were prioritized above the good of the public and intensive policy debate. The dreaded Abbott was voted in by a convincing majority. A man who has passed innumerable remarks that reveal him as sexist, racist, homophobic and simply fucking stupid ( i.e disputing the science of climate change), it was actually impossible to prepare myself for how much worse it could get. After the first few weeks following the election, I could no longer bring myself to read the news daily. It was simply depressing, story after story of Abbott landing on the side of corporate interests and corporate greed, on the side of the rich, on sheer human cruelty. I despised what Australia was becoming, and I was happy to high-tail it out of the country on student exchange.
But something strange has been happening in the last month or two. Tempers are rising. Australians are getting fed up. I was blown away to read about the massive turn out of “March in March”, against Abbott and his many policies, which brought out between 10,000-12,000 people in Sydney alone. I’m glad that it wasn’t organized or supported by the ALP, or even by a single agenda, because the ALP is just as guilty of cruel asylum seeker policies and of pandering to the lowest common denominator, rather than having a political backbone. No, this was a protest of so many things that Australians are fed up about. As it turns out, there are a certain number of atrocious things one can do to stir us out of our apathy. From his government’s disgustingly inhumane treatment of asylum seekers, to his stance on gay marriage, to his disregard for Tasmanian forests, to his self-appointed status as Minister for Women, to his vendetta against the ABC, to his attack on low-income workers, Abbott has proved he is capable of bringing out passion in ordinary Australians that have grown up in a culture of apathy. Fiery, passionate anger, directed at none other than himself. Many of the signs at the March in March rally are simply priceless. From the sobering:
To the poignantly funny:
And to classic, Aussie straightforwardness:
Another sign, simply featuring the word “Noted”, harks back to a recent Abbott backlash, an eloquent yet scathing speech by WA Greens Senator Scott Ludlam. Here is the video in all its unadulterated glory if you haven’t yet come across it. In it, Ludlam slams Abbott for the numerous times he has firmly and irresponsibly landed on the side of “predator capitalism” and corporate interests at the expense of ordinary Australians and marginalized groups. He simply thanked Abbott for pushing voters that would have never considered voting Greens to support them, because of the “blundering and technically illiterate assistance of your leadership team”.
I first viewed this video when it was at 80, 000 hits on YouTube. Over the next week I kept a check on the video, and today it stands at a hefty 784,000 views; not bad for a speech given by a Greens member to an almost-empty Senate chamber in WA. Something in this political commentary, or many things in fact, resonated with an Australian audience. Ludlam stood up to the plate and represented those among us who are horrified at Abbott’s cruelty and complete lack of regard for human life, the environment and so much more. Discussing his misdeeds in such detail was proof to ourselves and to others that we are not simply fear-mongering, hippy left-wing nuts, but that we have legitimate reason to be appalled and righteous.
We are in for a long three years, there’s no doubt about it. All of the things that Abbott and his government have done has been in the space of six months, so we can probably expect that things aren’t going to take a turn for the better for some time. But the fact that six months has stirred so much passion for justice inspires hope. As an expatriate my heart is positively swelling with pride right now to be Australian. Finally, I am being represented in a way that is congruent with my values as a left-wing feminist who believes in equal access to healthcare, education; who believes in the fundamental human right to safe haven in our prosperous nation; who believes that renewable energy is the future and protecting our environment is in the best interests of all of us. Australians stirred out of their collective apathy by passionate justice is an Australia I am proud to represent overseas.
Critiquing Culture 