White Speech, “Other” Speech

I recently finished Randa Abdul-Fattah’s book Coming of Age in the War on Terror that, while limited primarily to broad national conversations and a Sydney-specific context, provided a keen insight into the perceptions of kids who grew up with the “war on terror” following 9/11, particularly Arab and/or Muslim kids. While practically as white as it gets, I also grew up in this context – I was three in 2001, so any notion of a “pre-9/11 world” is foreign to me. But what isn’t foreign is my ability to form and express opinions on these topics, something I can do without any particular consequence (so far – if I’m on any kind of list I’d be honoured to learn about it and laugh). The same cannot be said for those without the privilege of Whiteness.

(Anarchist Federation readers can click here to read at the original source!)

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The Blind Watchdogs: Barriers of State, Capital and Platforms Against Contemporary Journalistic Practice

Journalism and the wider media landscape is often considered an important and fundamental pillar of modern liberal democracies, so much so that it is referred to as the “fourth estate” to ensure checks and balances are met in the halls of power. The ostensible watchdog role of the media has, however, been deeply criticised and questioned, with trust in the media seeming to decline further on a global scale (Edelman, 2023). While much of this distrust of the mass media is likely to be mired under accusations of “fake news” and misinformation – with different applications and meanings depending on which direction they are coming from – those buzzwords have been comprehensively covered since their popularisation during the US elections in 2016. A more critical examination of the media, including its role in society (both proclaimed and actual) and how that is carried out in practice, is perhaps better served by viewing journalistic practice through the lens of the overarching systems of power and connectivity in the current era.

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Plastic World: The Impacts and Possible Solutions to Global Warming’s Sibling Crisis

The following piece is an essay written for my Environmental Politics unit. Rather than staying safe with a topic like climate change, I decided to pick something I’d never properly looked into to research from scratch. Perhaps a mistake for this month’s sanity quota, but I genuinely enjoyed it, there are many references below, and it gave me a new reason to believe we’re irredeemably screwed as a species – nice!

Plastic pollution, along with greenhouse gas emissions and loss of biodiversity, has quickly become one of the largest anthropogenic threats to environmental health and stability, including that of human health. According to a European plastics industry body, Plastics Europe, the arguably conservative estimate is that over 390 metric tonnes of plastic was produced globally in 2021 alone, an over 20 metric tonne increase on 2020 when production “stagnated” due to COVID-19 (Plastics Europe, 2022). Despite the report’s positive outlook, it is projected this will double by 2040, with production and waste to both far exceed 1 billion tonnes by 2060 (Hood, 2022).

This essay will begin by exploring just how far spread plastic pollution – particularly micro- and nano-plastics (referred to just as microplastics from here) – is and the effects that has had and will have on land and marine ecosystems. While a lot has been said about plastic pollution in the oceans, most of it originates beyond that, and the long-term effects of microplastics in nature and in human health have only recently become a topic of serious discussion. A brief history of other environmental movements will be given to provide some possible pathways that could be taken. Following that, a few solutions and initiatives will be examined, including the UN Treaty on Plastic Pollution that began negotiations after a resolution for it passed in March of 2022. Some scepticism is warranted regarding the ability (and desire) of state and corporate actors to genuinely commit to a real shift from plastics, which will end the discussion with a brief mention of future possibilities.

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A Brief Word on Climate Action and Ecoterrorism

I don’t live in the US, but perhaps I should have a disclaimer on the off chance any 3 or 4 letter agencies come snooping for keywords: I have written previously about my anarchic approach to violence as a pacifist, and that piece was even cited by the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism as a point of opposition to violence. Leave me alone.

So, with that noted, bouncing off a conversation that took place in a university seminar I was at today, let’s talk about ecoterrorism.

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A Left Critique of the Voice – And Why I’ll Vote Yes

Somewhat shockingly, the anarchist has some concerns about the state and the implementation of the First Nations’ Voice to Parliament, something that has been a long-time coming since Turnbull rejected the Uluru Statement in 2017. Just as shockingly, the world is not an ideal place for idealism, so pragmatism must take some precedence in the short-term. But I still thought it worth discussing briefly how the Voice, in its current form, is flawed and limited from an anarchic perspective, followed by a fall to reality that stresses the urgency of ensuring its passing later this year.

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The NTEU Starts “Striketember” Industrial Action at UQ

01/09/2022

Today I was able to attend and participate in the National Tertiary Education Union’s strike action at the University of Queensland, where I am currently a student. It is the first of what will hopefully be many such actions taken both at UQ’s St Lucia campus and across other universities in Queensland and other states, with a clear message and clear demands – secure work, a real pay rise, and more control.

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What Are the Key Future Challenges Facing Australian Foreign Policy?

This is the second of two university pieces, this one responding to a question on what future challenges there are in the foreign policy space in Australia. I focussed on the climate crisis, an international issue that Australia could become a global leader in, not just for the obvious environmental reasons, but in support and solidarity with our geographic neighbours in Asia and the Pacific regions. Regional aid, climate refugees, and the urgent transition to a renewables revolution are some of the key challenges we are bound to face – and Australia is not ready.

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An Anarchist Perspective on the Role of the State in Indigenous Politics

This essay was written for my Indigenous Politics and Policy course in response to the following question:

Can contemporary settler states be reformed to serve Indigenous peoples, or is it necessary to explore political arrangements beyond the state?

I approached this from an anarchist perspective, suggesting that the white patriarchal nation-state, as described by Aileen Moreton-Robinson in The White Possessive, has limited potential for reform. Instead, Indigenous concerns, in my view, add another layer of reasoning for dismantling the current nation-state system. Reference list below.

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2021 Reading List (Part 1)

13/12/2021

I have not written anything for a while, having gone from taking a short break at the wind down of university and then straight back into work, and thought that I should get a head start on the yearly reading list review. I hope to add another one or two by year’s end, but I am quite happy with the amount I’ve managed to get through this year. List will be in the order I read them with comments looking back over them, and with a few exceptions I would recommend most of them. Also keep in mind the earlier in the year it was the less precise details I’m going to remember about the book, so bear with that.

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The Patriarchy: Reform or Displace?

17/11/2021

This is one of three mini essays submitted for a political science assessment. Given the limited word count and my struggles to adhere to “academic writing”, they’re likely not the best pieces, but ah well, uploading them for shits and giggles. This one discusses the patriarchy, some brief examples and history of it, and an intersectional approach to abolishing it. While not denying the importance of reform, it argues there must be radical change to ensure the full liberation of women in society.

Patriarchy, literally “rule of the father”, in its simplest form refers to the dominant role played by the father, by men, in the traditional family structure. In feminist thought, this definition is expanded to include the broader societal discussions of male dominance in most, if not all, aspects of life and their institutions. For many feminists, fathers as the centre of family life “symbolises male supremacy in all other institutions”, and that this “reproduces male dominance in all other walks of life” including “education, at work and in politics.” (Heywood 2021).

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