By Pip Hinman
MELBOURNE — About 200 people attended a three-day Ecopolitics VI conference from September 25. Talks and panels covered a range of topics from environmental philosophy to politics and social movements. Although the attendance was lower than expected and academics far outnumbered activists, some lively discussions took place, particularly on the future of green politics in Australia.
One of the major themes in many of the conference papers was the need for the green movement to conduct a broad and inclusive discussion on tactics and strategies.
In one of three panel discussions on politics, social movements and the environment, Tim Doyle from the University of Adelaide, author of the controversial article, "The Green Elite in the 1987 Elections" (published in the Times on Sunday and Chain Reaction), argued that such critiques serve to clarify issues for the politically diverse green movement.
Doyle said he received hundreds of letters following the publication of his article, many of which accused him of playing into the hands of reactionaries and "strengthening the forces of darkness". He argued that one of the reasons for the lack of tolerance of criticism is the increased public profile of a professional bureaucratic elite which dominates much of the green movement's activities.
"This elite has developed its own subculture with very clear perceptions about how 'campaigns' should be 'won' and, indeed, what sort of 'wider movement' behaviour should be tolerated."
Doyle said that the green elite sees the environment movement, not as a social movement, but rather as a large formal organisation. Any critique from within the movement is perceived merely as negative criticism.
If this view continues to dominate movement activities, he said, the environment movement will cease to be a social movement and become little more than a peak interest group or political party. "The existence of critique is paramount (if not actually a defining characteristic) of the continued development of social movements."
Addressing the topic "Greens in government: Getting there and being effective", Drew Hutton from the Queensland Green Party suggested that Greens in parliament could act as a sort of ginger group to push the Labor Party to take green concerns seriously. Hutton said the Green Party needed to see itself as part of a movement for broader social change and that it had to seek allies. The first such electoral alliance, he said, should be with the Australian Democrats, but alliances could also be made with the left.
WA Greens Senator Christabel Chamarette said that there were advantages and disadvantages for the Greens currently in parliament. ns were part of "a creative minority, free of party constraints", the fact that they did not have the balance of power and required at least one ally to call a division in the house limited their impact in parliament, she said.
Chamarette also discussed the limitations of greens focusing solely on parliament to achieve change. "It's not just a matter of putting good people into parliament ... the system has to be changed. We have to be radical and revolutionary, not transformist or reformist. The community wants a devolution of power. They want accountability. The greens have to be different."
On the question of allies, Chamarette noted the electoral successes of green, independent and socialist candidates in the recent Queensland elections and said that the left had an important role to play in the green movement.
In another panel on green political action, representatives of the Victorian branch of the ALP didn't persuade many that the greens should orient to Labor rather than set up a new political party. Andrew Titherley, a former Movement Against Uranium Mining activist, said that Labor had "good will" towards the green movement and — to the amusement of the audience — cited the famous 27-minute phone call between then Prime Minister Bob Hawke and then ACF president Philip Toyne just before the 1987 elections as evidence of this.
In discussion, the independent candidate for Footscray, Colleen Hartland, as well as others, pointed to Labor betrayals on the environment and privatisation questions (among others) as evidence of the need for progressives to go beyond the Labor Party.
[Next week's Green Left will contain more coverage of Ecopolitics VI.]