For those of you who have me on Facebook, you may, MAY have noticed that in the last 6 months or so, I’ve jumped on my Greens soapbox more than once (conservative estimate). There is reason to the rhyme.
The Greens may not take up this line as their official slogan, but here’s the nuts and bolts of it: Aren’t you sick of this shit? Governments that refuse to properly tax multinational corporations, that refuse to acknowledge evidence when “crafting” policy about the environment, the economy, and social welfare? A government that politicises refugees to the point where they’re being raped in detention and Abbott acts like it’s in inevitability we must accept? Constant foot-in-mouth comments abound, more revealing about values and ideology than mere missteps from the person elected to represent us. I don’t know about you, but I am sufficiently embarrassed.
Aren’t you over an Opposition that essentially rolls over and dies on the grave of our civil liberties at great economic cost, in some weird bipartisan effort against the scary terrorists who apparently can only be caught by metadata? (Hint: they can’t). I seem to be hearing a bit recently about how we have to support Labor if we want any real change in parliament. “Change from within”, etc. Now, Greens, myself included,scoff at this line, because it always seems to apply to Labor when it’s used. That doesn’t mean we oppose the sentiment in a general sense. Sure, change can happen from within. It happens in The Greens all the time. Hell, all our policies are crafted through this very system. But mechanisms need to be in place to allow change to occur. The Greens is founded on grassroots democracy, and in NSW specifically, mechanisms are in place (such as reaching consensus amongst ordinary members) that allow the party to be a place of growth and dynamism.
Sing me this song though: When was the last time that the Left faction of Labor had a huge impact on the party? Beyond some tokenistic bone thrown to keep you on the hook? Foley only just came round to accepting marriage equality after what, like a decade of it happening in so many other developed and developing countries globally, and after over 60% of Australians were revealed to support it. That’s hardly brave, paving the way, or standing up for human rights. And the federal government didn’t even bother passing it before they were ousted in 2013.
If we are to examine the facts, if there has been any “change from within” from Labor, it’s been from the right faction of the party. Adopting a “fuck off, we’re full” asylum seeker policy, continuing NT intervention in indigenous communities that has resulted in more children being taken off their parents than during the Stolen Generations , supporting proven ineffective (and astronomically expensive) data retention laws. On the state level, they should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves after ICAC investigations revealed how deeply corruption runs in the party. Convinced that Labor will stop CSG mining and stop the sale of public assets? You only need to look at the recent Queensland election to see Labor’s hypocrisy at its height: campaigning on a platform against building a coal port in The Great Barrier Reef, they’ve turned around a month after election and given the ok to the whole plan. I don’t know about you, but I don’t trust them to stick to their word. Whatever you think Labor was before, they’re not now. Gillard herself admitted that Labor are not a progressive party. This is absolutely correct. If you consider yourself progressive, Labor does not stand for you.
Some people vote Labor because they think they are the closest they will get to a progressive party that has any power; an unhappy strategy vote. Some voters that I’ve spoken to in the course of the Newtown campaign reluctantly believe that a two-party system is the only future ahead for our democracy. This is only true if you vote like it is; a case of thinking it making it so.
There has been a widespread belief that The Greens is only a protest party. Firstly, I want you to think about why you believe this. Who told you? Which media outlets supply this information, and why might it be in their interests to tell you this? We are often told that we have no vision or alternative to offer. To that I call bullshit. For an uplifting, inspiring spiel about the intricacies of The Greens plan for the future, listen to Senator Scott Ludlam’s Welcome to WA speech here, viewed almost 1 million times. Take a look at our kick-ass fully-costed Transport plan for NSW by 2020, and a $20 billion infrastructure and housing plan. Or just wander over to the ‘policies’ section of the NSW Greens website, and have a browse for yourself. We have a vision, mates. And it’s achievable.
I have been getting steadily more involved in The Greens. Honestly, it’s been so goddamn rewarding to be working within a grassroots structure and having intelligent policy discussion and debate. I really believe that there is potential for the party to make a marked difference in the future of Australian politics. We already have in the past when we’ve held the balance of power in the Senate. And we’ve influenced public debate on things like the environment when a decade ago the major parties wouldn’t touch these issues unless you gave them a bottle of Grange.
So wherever you are in NSW this Saturday, from the Western Suburbs to the Northern Beaches, from Newtown or Balmain to Lismore or Ballina, If you consider yourself a progressive, I ask you to give your vote to the Greens. I know I will be.
Critiquing Culture 