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Title: The Liberal Party Won
Author: Collective Action
Date: May 23, 2019
Language: en
Topics: Australia, Elections
Source: Retrieved on March 11, 2021 from https://web.archive.org/web/20210311113657/http://www.collectiveaction.org.au/2019/05/23/the-liberal-party-won-what-does-this-mean-for-anarchists/

Collective Action

The Liberal Party Won

The party that has rigorously championed the cause of the rich, powerful

and ignorantly fearful has won. Most disappointingly, the lack of

effective counter arguments from the so-called ‘opposition’ have left a

void the Liberal Party has gladly filled. We’re not convinced that the

working class are sadomasochistic or stupid, so why has all this come

about?

As Anarchists, the idea that our participation in shaping society should

begin and end with a ballot box once every while is laughable, even when

election time does sometimes come with a sausage sizzle. We have grander

visions for a more engaged and directly democratic society that is

fundamentally incompatible with capitalist governments. We have a vision

for a society based on freely associating communities that govern their

own interests and federate with other communities to make large scale

decisions — A classless and egalitarian society based on human need and

not profit. Without demonstrating this political motif in communities of

need, and without enlisting people actively in our vision, can we

rightfully be shocked that more working class people are buying into

right-wing narratives, centered around xenophobia, fear and trickle-down

economics?

If we want to make any kind of meaningful change to society, then our

mission has to be to build social movements that are capable of forcing

that change, regardless of which party is in power. It won’t be easy and

it won’t happen overnight but it needs to happen. There are deadlines

for this project, and we know the Liberal Party are too deep in the

pockets of the coal magnates to act in the interests of the planet. This

election may make the job more difficult but the job remains the same.

Leftists and activists have reacted with shame, disbelief, despair and

anger at the result of the Liberal Party election win. These reactions

show that the racism embedded in this country is somehow a surprise to

people or a deviation from the norm as opposed to being founding

principles of the Australian state’s colonial project.

Jokes about moving to New Zealand miss the point completely, especially

from those on the radical left. For those of us who are settlers, it is

our responsibility to dismantle, organise against and deal with The

colonial-capitalist project that is Australia rather than buggering off

and leaving First Nations Peoples in the dust. These reactions are

neither helpful nor do they get to the root of why this election

happened or how we should organise in its wake.

What shouldn’t be surprising about this election is that most of

Australia don’t see class or social equality the same way that we do. If

we are going to build movements that are capable of changing anything at

all we need to recognise that. Without detracting from the ability for

oppressed groups to analysis, dissect and challenge their oppression,

our work lies in having difficult conversations with people about the

issues that affect their lives. We need to stand and act in solidarity

with people targeted by a new and re-invigorated wave of Liberal attacks

on workers, women, gender diverse people, the disabled, migrants and the

poor. That requires organisation.

As Anarchists, we need to have thought-out alternatives to the

profit-driven capitalist society we find ourselves in. If we are against

profit as the fundamental driving force of decisions in society, then we

must offer some kind of plan for a society based on human-need.

If authority and power in the hands of disconnected rich, white men

acting in their own interests don’t answer the problems facing

communities of colour, indigenous, queer, gender-diverse and working

poor communities, then we must have a plan for how power might be placed

in the hands of communities and groups of people to govern their own

interests.

If we believe the state is a counter-intuitive way to achieve a

classless society without oppressive institutions, we must be ready with

ideas to pose about how we might reorganise this society without a

state. How communities might make economic and social decisions.

If we are for an international revolution where all oppressed people

lead their own emancipation, then we must think seriously about how our

organisational tendencies make that a possibility.

There are Anarchists that don’t like voting, that vote only on

consensus, that work only in small affinity groups. Any organisations,

campaigns and efforts we take part in must prefigure the structures,

principles and ideas that would make it possible to run large-scale

Anarchist operations and communities, enough to avert impending climate

crisis, rising homelessness and further land-grabs by the colonial

state. These communities and operations will have to involve as many

people as we’d need to undo the harms done by the attacks of those in

power; of colonialism, patriarchy and capitalism. This requires

organisation, structure, decision-making, coordination and action.

All of our efforts and strategies must be consistent with how an

eventual Anarchist society might actually be operated. Through this

practice in our outward-facing work, we show people that a world without

leaders is possible and thus show the merit of our ideas in action. If

we don’t organise to demonstrate and involve people in another possible

world, they cannot be blamed for choosing the one presented to them time

and time again.

We should be able to offer a vision to people of how an Anarchist

society might be better than what we’ve got now. If all we can do is

negate the world we live in without suggesting and building an

alternative, we leave communities with no avenue for change but the

charade that is the parliamentary process.

Too often Anarchists are the gatekeepers of Anarchism. Anarchism, if it

is to be successful, can’t belong to a subculture of people, to a

clique. It must belong to all people; to shape it, to implement it, to

make it better, more relevant and more effective. If we are committed to

gatekeeping Anarchism and not finding ways to bring it to people then we

will fail. If we are committed to being underground cells so concerned

with our security that we disappear into obscurity, we will fail. As

well as actions that might require security and trusted relationship,

there should be beginner, public-facing events that bring new people in.

This requires discussion and coordination that we don’t often see among

Anarchists in Australia — Long-standing projects of Anarchists to

discuss, dissect and disseminate Anarchist ideas to more people and to

demonstrate the possibilities of communities and groups organising for

human-need in a world bent around profit. This isn’t a call for people

to join our organisation, but for people to organise together in some

capacity.

Building the institutions, services, campaigns and initiatives necessary

to sway people to the cause of human-need and not profit, requires

meetings and a documented political memory. It requires making mistakes.

It requires space to learn and revise strategy. It requires trust built

with people who work together over long periods of time. It requires

voting on decisions. It requires agreeing on strategy and tactics. It

requires discipline and perseverance. If we don’t do this, we will fail.

Rather than lamenting this election, let it be a call to action. No one

that has been in the crosshairs of our government will have any doubts

that the Liberals, emboldened by this win, will strike harder. The

question is, what are we going to do about it?