Tom Bramble, University of Queensland
John Minns, University of Wollongong
The anti-globalisation movement in Australia
This paper is the product of continuing research on the movement which has been
variously described as anti-globalisation, anti-corporate and anti-capitalist
as it has emerged in Australia. Three major mobilisations will be dealt with:
11 September 2000 (S11) in Melbourne, 1 May 2001 (M1) in major cities around
the country and, although it was postponed, the preparation for demonstrations
against the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Brisbane and
the Commonwealth Business Forum in Melbourne in October 2001. The paper will
explore the dynamics of these movements. In particular, it will discuss three
questions related to their development. The first of these is the degree to
which participants within them have adopted a generalised anti-systemic and
anti-capitalist political framework despite having little previous experience
of activism in reformist campaigns. Secondly, the paper will look at the extent
to which these broad movements have contributed to other, on-going campaigns.
Finally, we will examine the influence on the anti-globalisation movement of
a relatively historically weak labour movement.
Email: john_minns@uow.edu.au
Verity Burgmann, University of Melbourne
The 'cancer stage of capitalism' and the politics of resistance
Until the rise of the anti-capitalist movement, lack of resistance has been
a feature of the globalising world order. John McMurtry has referred to the
present era as 'the cancer stage of capitalism': the host body's immune system
does not respond to the cancer's advance, because the communication systems
of host social bodies across the world are themselves subordinate to transnational
capital and largely reject and refuse to disseminate messages that identify
the source of the disease. The academic fashionability of post-Marxism is an
aspect of this failure of recognition and response. So too is the quiescence
of labourist or social democratic 'reformists'. Without social democracy's critique
and its practical solutions to age-old capitalist contradictions-such as how
to keep workers alive and well and functioning-globalising neo-liberal capitalism
appears increasingly to be a threat to itself. Even aside from the potential
for wholesale systemic crisis, neo-liberalism's assault on the economic security
and the social rights of the workers-on whom capitalism depends-is encouraging
new and deeper forms of anti-capitalist resistance that are potentially more
dangerous to capitalism than the restoration of the gains of social democracy.
Antonio Negri's notion of 'cycles of struggle' can be used creatively to interpret
the current moment. Reformists within transnational agencies, such as the WTO
and the World Bank, are now seeking to make the world safer for continuing corporate
globalisation by ameliorating some of its worst effects. Such developments have
been prompted only by protest movements threatening the legitimacy of unreformed
globalisation and highlighting its contradictions. Without anti-capitalists
to threaten revolution, global civil society would not insist upon reforms-and
the cancer stage of capitalism would proceed apace. Is anti-capitalist radicalism
therefore functional to capitalism?
Email: vnb@unimelb.edu.au
Drew Cottle, University of Western Sydney
Helen Masterman-Smith, University of Western Sydney
Fretilin: Resistance and survival
This paper is concerned with the East Timorese organisation Fretilin. It examines
its origins and the forms of its political resistance to the Indonesian invasion
and occupation, before the UN referendum. The emphasis of this paper will be
on the early years of struggle and the transformation of an ill-prepared organisation,
based largely around the Catholic Church, into a nationalist resistance movement.
The paper considers the ideologies and actions of Fretilin during this early
period, how they have managed to survive decades of colonial oppression, and
the organisation's responses to the changing political and economic terrain
since that time. Fretilin's role in guerilla warfare, social struggles, and
later civil disobedience will be examined. This paper questions some of the
substantial gaps in our understanding of the East Timorese resistance movement,
from the standpoint of Fretilin's political and social history.
Email: h.masterman-smith@uws.edu.au
Martin Hirst, University of Queensland
The ties that bind: Journalists and the nation-state
A political party attempts to position itself as the one which speaks for the
nation, by aligning itself with dominant groups or constituencies…Similarly,
other, less formally constituted groups of interests also make their bids for
temporary identification with the discursive category 'the nation'. Beer companies
define their product as the 'Australian' one; petrol companies mask their foreign
ownership…What is won is the capacity to speak on behalf of the nation. (Turner
1994, p.11) Throughout the 20th Century, journalists always believed they had
the capacity and the right to speak on behalf of the nation. The media also
seeks this capacity ? to express the emotional dialectic that constitutes a
nation (Mercer 1992). This paper examines why this is the case and begins with
an analysis of the dominant ideology that has historically bound Australian
journalists to the nation-dtate. The following sections then document historical
moments when the tension between national interest and class interest has been
evident in the press and media of the time. For the purpose of analysis and
discussion I have, where possible and appropriate, related this to the lives
and work of individuals who embody one or another of the values under discussion.
This paper demonstrates that the Australian media is and always has been, with
few noteable exceptions, firmly attached to an emotional dialectic of the national
interest. The exceptions, I argue, are evidence for the existence of a grey
collar ideology - that is a class consciousness - among some newsworkers. Consequently
I discuss how these 'ideological spectacles' (Grattan 1991) operate in relation
to the coverage of significant Australian foreign policy and domestic political
issues of the past decade. Throughout this paper I have applied an approach
I call 'media archaeology' ? the excavation, sifting, sorting and classifying
of media 'artefacts' ? as a way of illustrating my argument that Australian
journalism has, for the most part, always been sympathetic to a world-view characterised
by the so-called 'national interest'. That is, a position generally supportive
of the emotional dialectic which informs the 'narrative' of the 'nation' ? the
ideological belief that the elected government embodies the national ideals,
interests, culture and consciousness on our behalf.
Email: m.hirst@uq.edu.au
Rick Kuhn, Australian National University
The tradition of Jewish anti-Zionism in the Galician socialist
movement
One of Zionism's stock tactics has been to conflate Zionism and Judaism. Just
as there are Jewish opponents of the racist Israeli state today, there have
always been opponents of the Zionist strategy for dealing with anti-semitism.
Rather than examining the largest Jewish socialist organisation in eastern Europe,
the Bund in the Russian empire, this paper considers the attitude of its sister
organisation in the Austrian Empire, the Jewish Social Democratic Party of Galicia
(JSDP). From the its first public statements, on Mayday 1905, the JSDP emphasised
its fundamental commitment to the class organisation of the Jewish workers,
solidarity with the international working class and a commitment to class struggle.
On the basis of this position, the Party explicity rejected Zionism. Not only
in programatic terms, but also in its organisational, industrial, electoral
activity the JSDP combatted the influence of Zionism and Labour Zionism. Like
the Bund, the JSDP had considerable success and rapidly overtook the influence
of Zionism in the Jewish working class.
Email: Rick.Kuhn@anu.edu.au
Ashley Lavelle, Griffith University
The ALP and class struggle: A case study of the Whitlam Labor
Opposition's response to union unrest in the late 1960 and early 1970s
It is nowadays somewhat platitudinous to associate the Australian Labor Party
with class struggle. However, history shows that dramatic increases in class
struggle can impact on the ALP in important ways. This paper examines, from
a Marxist perspective, the effects on the Whitlam Labor Opposition of the rise
in industrial conflict in Australia in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is
argued that the most notable effect of the biggest upsurge in trade union unrest
since the end of WW1 was the militant, class-conscious rhetoric of many Labor
MPs, who were often compelled to advocate direct action as the only, and best,
option available to unions as a means by which to achieve wage and other gains.
However, the effects were not simply rhetorical, with the Clarrie O'Shea strikes
in 1969 producing in Labor a much tougher policy on the abolition of penal clauses.
The party leadership was forced spectacularly in 1971, as a direct result of
union pressure, to retreat from the policy of retaining some penalties in order
to deter strikes. Similarly, the Whitlam Opposition's pledge of a shorter working
week to Commonwealth public servants cannot be seen in isolation from the urgency
with which the question was approached by the union movement at the time. Some
commentators concluded then that, as result of all this, Whitlam had failed
in his objective of ridding the party of its trade union-dominated image. The
paper concludes on the question of how a major rise in class struggle would
impact on today's ALP. It is proffered tentatively that, while such a development
would elicit a weaker and more cautious response from a leadership arguably
more removed from union activists and its working class constituents than at
any time in the party's history, it would nevertheless, all things being equal,
lead to a radicalisation on the part of many individuals and sections of the
party, and may well induce significant policy changes.
Email: A.Lavelle@mailbox.gu.edu.au
Kyoung-Hee Moon, National Centre for Development Studies,
Australian National University
Dualism of development: What has changed and what hasn't
changed in terms of the pattern of female employment in the Korean apparel industry?
The apparel industry has made a significant contribution to Korean economic
growth and accounted for a great deal of women's labour participation in the
process of industrialisation. In the past, particularly from the 1960s through
the early 1980s when the export-oriented industry was Korea's economic survival
strategy, women were predominantly absorbed in the apparel industry as a major
flexible low-waged labour resource, accounting for the success of the industry.
However, increases in labour costs followed by engagement with Korea's political
democracy and economic liberalism since the late 1980s appeared to transfer
a number of labour-intensive production lines, including the apparel, to foreign
countries with the availability of a lower-waged form of labour. As a consequence,
the contribution of the apparel industry has weakened in terms of economic growth
and workforce participation, specifically female. Meanwhile, despite such changes,
the poor qualities of women's work embracing low wages and location in low-profiled
jobs still remain in the contemporary Korean apparel industry. This cycle of
thriving and declining life of the Korean apparel industry and the pattern of
female workers' employment in the industry can be explained by the concept of
the new international division of labour, referring to the world system for
production both in capital-exporting countries and capital-dependent countries.
Therefore, this paper examines the historical trajectory and current state of
the Korean apparel industry focusing on changes in the female workers' employment
pattern. In order to seek the most appropriate explanations for these changes,
this paper uses an inter-disciplinary approach within the political and socio-economic
context of Korea. Preliminary findings of this research have shown that the
integrated theory of global capitalism and patriarchy in relation to the new
international division of labour is able to provide a deep understanding on
the pattern and condition of female workers' employment in the Korean apparel
industry.
Email: kyoung-hee.moon@anu.edu.au
Sam Pietsch, Australian National University
Government scapegoating of Jewish refugees in the 1930s
The quota imposed by the Australian government on Jewish refugees in the late
1930s has always been controversial. Most historians have held that the policy
was adopted because that Australian public was anti-Semitic, and in particular
that workers objected to Jews as a source of cheap labour. The policy is thus
seen as a reflection of the racism already present in the community. This explanation
ignores the sizeable support that Jewish refugees had amongst the community,
especially as victims of fascism. On balance the press was favorable, and the
labor movement particularly anti-Semitic. The ACTU and Sydney TLC both called
for increased numbers of working class refugees. Anti-Semitism did exist, but
it was not dominant in the community. Rather, the situation was one of ambiguity,
in which strong leadership could have an important influence on public opinion.
Instead, the government deliberately reinforced racial prejudice. Repeatedly,
the government stressed that they would not allow refugees to undermine work
conditions, despite the fact that their own inquiries showed the refugees posed
no threat to workers. Anti-Semitism was not confronted by this position, but
validated, reinforcing workers' fear of refugees. Why was this racist policy
adopted? It was not a response to demands by workers. Workers were also concerned
about immigration from Britain and Northern Europe, which the government encouraged.
In fact, scapegoating of refugees was precisely designed to aid large scale
immigration. By emphasising the perceived racial differences of the Jewish refugees
an object for the fear of workers was created, distracting attention from other
immigrants. The refugees thus acted as a lightening rod for criticism of the
government, a policy which seems to have been somewhat successful. The government
therefore showed it was prepared to encourage anti-Semitism in order to fulfill
the perceived needs of capitalism for an increased labour supply.
Email: sam_pietsch@yahoo.com.au
Michael Schiavone, Australian National University
Militancy and collective bargaining: The CAW and the UAW
1979-1996
This paper analyses the 1979-1984 United Auto Workers and Canadian UAW/Canadian
Auto Workers collective bargaining negotiations with the Big Three (General
Motors, Chrysler, and Ford) automakers and with GM in 1996. I demonstrate that
the Canadian UAW/CAW consistently achieved better contracts for its members
than the UAW. While the healthier state of the Canadian economy, and the role
played by the Canadian and US governments did contribute to the CAW's successes
and the UAW's failures during the 1979-1984 negotiations, it is a mistake to
believe these were the crucial factors in explaining the differences in the
contracts. It was the CAW's ideology and militancy, its us versus them mentality
when it came to dealing with business, and its preparedness to not give in despite
it being easier to do so, that led to the better contracts. In comparison, the
UAW had a belief in labour-management partnership and refused to fight for better
wages and working conditions for its members.
Email: Michael.Schiavone@anu.edu.au
This site maintained by Phil Griffiths. This page updated 30 September 2002