I have a friend who, along with his family, actively opposes the Howard government's iniquitous policies — the ones that throw asylum seekers in concentration camps and turn Australians into US lap dogs, making us targets for acts of retaliation.
My friend's wife, a full-time community nurse, makes regular trips to Villawood, visiting refugee families, bringing them things like baked goods as a gesture of support and caring. My friend's two young boys accompany their parents at rallies in support of refugees and opposing Australia's involvement in Iraq.
They were at the demonstration outside Coalition minister Philip Ruddock's house, protesting the refugee policy and they attended the End The Lies rally in Sydney before the election that attempted to focus voters on the lies the government has been responsible for — from the infamous children overboard disgrace to the non-existent threat of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction.
My friend is creative and dedicated. He does more than just march in the street with a sign. He attends organising meetings and dresses in costumes to draw attention to the humanitarian issues, trying to show that his opposition to government policies is not driven by hatred but the opposite, support for our common humanity.
On election night, after the results were announced, my friend's younger son, nine years old, disappeared into his bedroom where he was found crying. "After all the work and effort we've gone through, we've accomplished nothing", he said to his parents. "It's all gone to waste". What could they say to him? What can all activists who have worked hard, like my friend, say to themselves in light of how Australians voted?
My friend told me that he plans to concentrate on activities to educate people about what is taking place. He reasons that not understanding what is going on is the only explanation for why Australians voted the way they did. My friend has been a good influence on me. That a populace returned to power a government that neither represents their interests, nor takes into account the gross humanitarian outrages it has committed, is proof of the power of the ruling class to capitalise on fear campaigns and sidetrack important moral issues by distorting economic realities.
In 1938, Bertrand Russell, writing in Power, identified required conditions for "taming power", that is, creating an atmosphere where democratic processes — those that serve and benefit people — can survive. Contrary to what those who evoke "democracy" in every other sentence would have us believe, it is not a magic elixir. Democracies are beneficent only when requisite conditions are in place.
Russell identified psychological conditions as the most difficult to achieve. Fear leads people to blindly follow a leader who then is in a position to take advantage of their trust. In the extreme, war, and the threat of war is used to instill fear but the fear of being "invaded" by boat people or losing one's home in a rising interest rate market also cause people to vote foolishly for someone who does not have their real "interests" at heart.
Education, according to Russell, is the best antidote, making "societies least prone to collective hysteria, and most capable of successfully practicing democracy". He wrote that people need to be educated in relation to both character and emotions, to be "free from hatred" and to "acquire immunity" from the "eloquence" of "modern propagandists" who "have learnt from advertisers ... the technique of producing irrational beliefs". Sixty-five years on, these techniques and the technology have been honed to a point of irresistibility that Russell could never have imagined possible.
We also need to be aware of the overwhelming resources available for propagandising the conservative, selfish viewpoint and for advancing the interests of the wealthy and powerful . Apparent "truths" in support of these interests are parroted by the dominate corporate media in our life who control the story in service of their membership in the elite club and of their bottom line. Russell never knew how bad it would become.
My friend certainly has his work cut out. But he is not alone. Activist groups in the US work in isolation, not knowing about each other's existence according to Chomsky and Howard Zinn. My friend does not belong to the Socialist Alliance but he has worked with, and for, SA on many occasions.
Elsewhere, the work has already begun. Outfoxed exposed the Murdoch muck and mire in the US. "Time To Go John", is a pointed and talented work produced by 14 local filmmakers in a scant 11 weeks that documents Howard's horridness in all its manifestations. And there is Fahrenheit 911 and a host of documentaries being released in the US, working to make up for what the mainstream media omits from its news. Here in Australia, Green Left Weekly has just celebrated the publication of its 600th issue. It is going strong, attracting a broad left audience, telling us about each other, letting us know we are not alone.
Now is a good time for all of us, in light of the election results, to actively contribute to the education process, to keep the momentum for change going, to wrest control from the abusers, to contribute to the taming of power. We need to work together for common cause, in separate groups, coming together when necessary, or within the broad socialist alliance that SA offers. In the light of worsening economic trends in global capitalism and the predictable response from the Coalition government, it is likely that Australia will experience increasing social divisions in the near future and we need to be ready to restate the message stronger than before that Another Future is Possible. And then, some day, people with humanitarian values and their children, will not have to cry themselves to sleep on election night.
Austin Whitten
[The author is a member of the Socialist Alliance.]
From Green Left Weekly, October 20, 2004.
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