For those involved in building activist campaigns, a common challenge is knowing how to connect with the wider community, encouraging their involvement and highlighting the importance of the issue being protested, whether it be climate change and the dangers of the fossil fuel industry, solidarity with the Palestinian people in a time of genocide, or anti-racism.
While mass rallies and marches are often the go-to approach for activists, there has always been scope for creative activity to play a part in shaping how wider society thinks about an issue, with some artists inserting the issues on the streets into their work.
We can trace a long thread from Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez, Archie Roach and John Butler for music, and from the Theatre of the Oppressed to Boorloo/Perth’s Yirra Yaakin Theatre Company. Alongside this have been several groups who have brought their creativity to the streets, including Bread & Puppet theatre and the Junkadelic Brass Band.
One recent example of the latter is the Voices for Climate collective, a choir based in Walyalup/Fremantle, which has participated in various street protests and civil disobedience initiatives, raising consciousness about fossil fuel companies in particular.
Choir member Petrina Harley told Green Left she had been involved in several memorable activities since joining, including an action where singers walked four floors of the WA Museum Boola Bardip, wearing t-shirts reading “Drop Woodside” while belting out an adapted version of “The Seed” by Aurora. This action drew attention to the museum’s exhibitions that, while encouraging conservation, are sponsored by Woodside — one of the biggest polluters in the state.
“We did not seek permission for that, the Museum officials had no clue how to react and were scurrying around with security and walkie talkies trying to work out how to make us leave,” she said.
“There was risk involved ... and the rebel in me loves the feeling of acting up against the establishment!”
The choir was established by fellow activist Kris(ten) Morrissey, who like Petrina was involved in the Disrupt Burrup Hub campaign. It has grown in strength and confidence, performing at events around Boorloo and Walyalup.
“We’ve performed at many rallies, like the March for Forests, outside Parliament House, outside the Labor Conference, and the recent Stop AUKUS rally on street outside Wesley Church,” Petrina said.
“We help draw crowds, provide a bit of song to break up speeches and rally crowds to help build atmosphere.
“But as we started to grow and rehearse regularly, we decided to do actions ourselves to draw attention to climate issues. Some of these included changing the words of well-known Christmas carols, donning Santa hats and singing in Perth’s city malls.
“We recently took part in a night of protest songs as part of Unruly WA, a 3-night exhibition that looked at the history of protest in WA over the past two decades.”
Although her original motivation in joining the Voices for Climate collective had been a personal one, Petrina said her experience there had taught her the power of creative expression in activist settings.
“Originally, I didn't consider the choir as another vehicle for activism,” she said.
“It was more a way to take a break, do some singing to rejuvenate if you like, as I had had quite a few intense years of arrests and court cases and was starting to feel a bit burnt out. Singing brought me joy.”
Augmenting this is her background in theatre, including stints at Curtin University’s Hayman Theatre, and a theatre school at Bethnall Green in London. These provided important lessons in the power of this creative medium to connect people emotionally.
“That same power is why I think creative protests are just as important as the big marches,” Petrina said.
“The chanting marches are great for building solidarity, that sense of empowerment people feel when marching in big numbers but the creative protests really speak to the humanity in people.
“Like a recent Palestine rally in Boorloo, where chants were replaced by absolute silence and people simply carried pictures of dead Palestinian children and so onlookers could not help but focus on the sheer number of human lives, children's lives lost instead of getting caught up (or tuning out) in just the politics of the conflict.
“Reaching people emotionally, reminding people of our shared humanity I think is the purpose of creative activism.”
Likewise, she said humour could be employed within protest spaces to reach out to people.
“Another action I took part in was the Fossil Fuel Crime Walk, where I was a clown improvising alongside giant puppets, the Junkedelic band and satirical characters as part of the Fringe Festival,” Petrina said.
“We gathered a crowd and walked through Perth stopping and performing satirical skits outside fossil fuel companies’ headquarters, and the Magistrates Court where I and many others have been trialled and charged for civil disobedience!
“I am currently rehearsing as part of a flash mob that will perform somewhere during the Land Forces conference, to try and bring the message of peace not war by again appealing to people's humanity through dance and song.”