Theme: Community DevelopmentThe Cream of the Crop

REFEREED

Communicating a Nonviolent Paradigm

Through the Arts and Humour
Dr Marty Branagan,
Peace Studies, University of New England
Armidale NSW 2351 Australia
Paper given at 2010 International Peace Research Association Conference, Sydney University

Introduction

Two 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 longterm 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 crisis
There 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 earths 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.

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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.

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).

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).

Maintaining fear, a constant state of war and a perpetual

(but occasionally changing) enemy (as in Orwells 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.

Militarism is also a drain in resources, with the brain drain

of scientists - more than onehalf 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.

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 Rudds and Obamas
recent decisions to increase military spending, or with the
failures of Copenhagen.

Any environmentally-sustainable future requires a rapid

shrinking of militarism (Branagan 2009).

The power of the military-industrial complex

and its mates
The 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 overbureaucratic 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 Murdochs News Corporation, and CNN by
Time Warner. The members of the boards of directors

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 praxis
Firstly, 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 (OShea 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 nonviolences success against even the most
ruthless of dictatorships and totalitarian governments
(Ackermann and Duvall 2000; Powers and Vogele 1997;

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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 paradigm

To 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 medias 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 Stalins 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,
thered be no more wars (quoted in Larson & MicheelsCyrus 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 businessas-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).

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

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

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Figure Two: Blockaders uncomfortably locked-on at

Jabiluka (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
NEFAs 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 citybased 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

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Figure Three:
Benny Zable
atop his radioactive
waste barrels
(photo: Leigh
Howlett).

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; Irans Netwar 2009), and this
internationalisation has proved an important tactic in past
campaigns from Gandhis 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

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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 peacebuilding.

Creating critical mass: From Little Things,

Big Things Grow
So 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 peacebuilding, employing a conception of power that according
to Vandana Shiva (1989) fundamentally challenges the topdown 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 Universitys Anarcho-Silly Faction

This 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 ODonnell 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.
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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 antiuranium 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).

42 New Community Quarterly

Volume 9 Number 2 = Issue 34

Theme: Community DevelopmentThe Cream of the Crop

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