2016-09-08
Jonathan Sri
Within a fortnight of being sworn in as a city councillor, I was on the front page of Queensland's Courier Mail alongside the headline “Brisbane's Greens councillor caught inciting protestors to break the law.”
In progressive circles, getting on the Courier's front page is something of a badge of honour, and is generally considered a good sign that you're making powerful people nervous. While the clickbait headline was a bit of a beat-up, the ensuing debate showed that Brisbanites have wildly divergent ideas about how elected representatives should conduct themselves in office.
Predictably, the Lord Mayor fell back on the old cliché that I should be a law-maker and not a law-breaker (perhaps unaware that that turn of phrase was originally popularised by the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, an activist who strongly advocated for civil disobedience in situations where those who ran the government proved unwilling to respond to the needs and demands of marginalised groups). Many others applauded my stance, noting that they had voted me in specifically because I promised to push for systemic change. But the whole issue raises broader questions about what kind of political party the Greens are becoming, and what strategies and tactics we should be adopting.
Changing the system from within
In reflecting on our failure to make significant gains at the most recent federal election, I know I'm not the only person to recognise that the Greens have gone to a lot of effort trying to convince the electorate that we're a serious mainstream political party at a time when many voters are fed up with serious mainstream political parties. The votes for the two major parties were historically low, and yet the Greens have not yet connected with that widespread disillusionment.
In the current political landscape, a broad strategy that revolves around gradually winning a few seats each election and using the balance of power to make incremental policy changes that can be quickly reversed by more conservative governments is not particularly effective nor does it make an inspiring, movement-building narrative.
That's why here in Brissie we've been supporting and even co-organising direct action campaigns to resist property developer corruption and the commodification of housing.
As I see it, my job is to listen to (and amplify) the demands of ordinary Brisbanites, identify policies and solutions that meet those demands and are in society's long-term interests, and work with residents to get those policies implemented. Part of this involves providing residents with information about the inner workings of city council and the political system so that they can find the most effective pathways towards social change. In short, my job is to help residents change the rules.
Removing obstacles to progress
Right now in Queensland, many of the 'conventional' pathways for effecting change are completely blocked when it comes to policies relating to affordable housing and sustainable development. No amount of evidence-based debate, petition signatures, media scrutiny or diplomatic lobbying of LNP councillors is going to change this unless it's backed up by a strong, broad-based grassroots movement that significantly interferes with the system's capacity to generate profit for those at the top of the pyramid.
So it would be deceptive and misleading for me as a councillor to tell residents that they should continue expending time and energy writing detailed submissions when it's clear that such submissions are highly unlikely to yield meaningful positive change.
So far, my office staff and I haven't actually organised any arrestable actions. We have, however, organised a number of protests (including several that blocked off streets), and have facilitated various meetings and training sessions where people unpack and discuss the ethics and strategic effectiveness of different forms of direct action, plan hypothetical actions, and learn from experienced activists about their experiences of civil disobedience. This is a small but significant shift from the approach of many progressive politicians, who might tacitly support certain forms of direct action, but don't want to be seen to be resourcing or publicly endorsing actions which break the law.
Returning power to the people
I take the view that our current political system is not as democratic as it pretends to be. The big end of town exerts strong direct and indirect influence over all levels of government in Australia. In this context, where certain laws, policies and regulations do not reflect the will of the people, and could not reasonably be described as being in society's long-term interests, using civil disobedience to challenge such laws is not only justified, but necessary.
Residents elected me to help them take back the power from the big end of town, and reduce the development industry's undemocratic influence over council and state government. That's what I intend to do. If we want to radically transform our current political system, we'll have to be willing to break a few of its rules.
Jonathan Sri is a Councillor for the Gabba Ward in Brisbane. His email signature is "To be truly radical is to make hope possible, rather than despair convincing", which encapsulates the Greens perspective on political action.