Australian political economy of violence and non violence

AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY OF VIOLENCE AND NON-VIOLENCE Erik Paul Australian Political Economy of Violence and Non-Violence Erik Paul Australian Political Economy of Violence and Non-Violence Erik Paul Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies University of Sydney Sydney, New South Wales, Australia ISBN 978-1-137-60213-8 ISBN 978-1-137-60214-5 DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-60214-5 (eBook) Library of Congress Control Number: 2016939227 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 This work is subject to copyright All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Macmillan Publishers Ltd London To Keiko ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am indebted to the anonymous reviewers of the manuscript and to Christina Brian and her team at Palgrave Macmillan This book also benefited greatly from the stimulating research, teaching culture, and friendly environment at the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS), University of Sydney vii CONTENTS 1 Violence Corporatism 11 Commodification 27 Enemies 43 Alienation 51 Non-violence 59 Heterodoxy 63 Justice 69 Human Rights 79 ix 100 AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY OF VIOLENCE AND NON-VIOLENCE Chantal Mouffe writes:Morality has been promoted to the position of a master narrative; as such, it replaces discredited political and social discourses as a framework for collective action Morality is rapidly becoming the only legitimate vocabulary: we are not urged to think not in terms of right and left, but of right and wrong The displacement of politics by morality means that there is now no properly ‘agonistic’ debate in the democratic political public sphere about possible alternatives to the existing hegemonic order; as a consequence, this sphere has been seriously weakened Hence the growing disaffection with liberal democratic institutions, a disaffection which manifest itself in declining electoral participation (Mouffe, 2002:1) Bauman and others are concerned about the hidden possibilities of a modern society to commit mass slaughter These possibilities exist because of the creation of conditions, including the manipulation of emotions involving mass fear and humiliation, which make it possible for a modern society to engage in the mass killing of others (Bauman, 2000; Moїsi, 2009; Young, 1999) An example is the installation and funding by the Howard government and wealthy and influential conservative individuals of the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney (Paul, 2012:38) REFERENCES Anderson, P (1998) The origins of postmodernity London: Verso ANU-SRC (2014, August 12) ANU builds social research capacity, finds decline in satisfaction with democracy Canberra: Australian National University-Social Research Centre Barns, G (2014, September 12) Beware the politics of panic in terror alerts The Drum, ABC TV. Australian Broadcasting Corporation Bauman, Z (2000) Modernity and the holocaust Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press Bauman, Z (2005) The demons of the open society Presentation at the London School of Economics, 20 October Bauman, A (2010) Living on borrowed time London: Polity Press Brown, W (2006) American nightmare Political Theory, 34(6), 690–714 Butler, G., Jones, E., & Stilwell, F (2009) Political economy now! Sydney: Darlington Press Crouch, C (2011) The strange non-death of neo liberalism London: Polity Duménil, G., & Lévy, D (2005) The neoliberal (counter-) revolution In A. SaadFilho & D. Johnston (Eds.), Neoliberalism: A critical reader London: Pluto Press STRUGGLE FOR DEMOCRACY 101 Duménil, G., & Lévy, D (2011) The crisis of neoliberalism Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Emerton, P (2006) Australia’s terrorism offence – A case against In A. Lynch & G. Williams (Eds.), What price security? Taking stock of Australia’s anti-terror laws Sydney, Australia: University of New South Wales Press Foucault, M (1980) Power/knowledge: Selected interviews and other writings, 1972-1977 New York: Pantheon Books Fraser, N (2013) A triple movement? New Left Review, 81, 119–132 Harvey, D (2005) A brief history of neoliberalism Oxford: Oxford University Press Harvey, D (2013) Contesting capitalism in the light of the crisis: A conversation with David Harvey Journal of Australian Political Economy, 71, Hocking, J (2003) Counter-terrorism and the criminalisation of politics: Australia’s new security powers of detention, proscription and control Australian Journal of Politics and History, 49(3), 355 Hung, H.-F (2014) Canadianization? New Left Review, 88, 151–158 Johns, F (2014) The turn to data analytics and international law European Society of International Law, 3, Johnson, C (2004) The sorrows of empire: Militarism, secrecy, and the end of the republic New York: Metropolitan Books Kenny, M (2014, October 10) Ulterior motives show in push for new penalties Sydney Morning Herald Klein, N (2008) The shock doctrine London: Penguin Lane, M (2008) A thriving Asian studies is integral to a critical liberal humanities program University of Sydney, Max Lane blog on Indonesia, Southeast Asia and International Affairs Loewenstein, A (2015, August 6) Australia against ISIS: How much we actually know? The Guardian Mouffe, C (2002) Politics and passions: The stakes of democracy London: Centre for the Study of Democracy University of Westminster Moїsi, D (2009) The geopolitics of emotion London: The Bodley Head O’Neill, M (2014a, August 11) Apathetic Aussies ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation O’Neill, M (2014b, August 12) Poll data reveals Australia’s waning interest in politics, decline in support for democracy ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation Panitch, L., & Gindin, S (2013) The making of global capitalism: The political economy of American empire London: Verso Paul, E (2012) Neoliberal Australia and US imperialism in East Asia Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan Rainford, J (2014, August 30) Australians think democracy is failing Green Left Weekly 102 AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY OF VIOLENCE AND NON-VIOLENCE Rusbridger, A (2015, March 13) Why we are putting the climate threat to Earth front and centre Guardian Weekly Sentas, V (2014) Traces of terror: Counter-terrorism, policing and race Oxford: Oxford University Press Walters, B (2003) Slapping on the writs: Defamation, developers and community activism Briefing Series, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Williams, G (2014, December 15) Blood on many hands in CIA torture scandal Sydney Morning Herald Wolf, N (2007, April 25) Fascist America, in 10 easy steps The Guardian Young, J (1999) The exclusive society: Social exclusion, crime and differences in late modernity London: Sage REFERENCES Chenoweth, N (2014a, November 6) Global tax schemes exposed Australian Financial Review Gitttins, R (2015, August 12) A problem more significant than taxes Sydney Morning Herald Ludlow, M (2014, November 18) Bank throws Adani $US1b lifeline Australian Financial Review Maddison, S., Denniss, R., & Hamilton, C (2004) Silencing dissent (Working Paper No 65) Canberra, Australia: Australia Institute Ong, T (2014a, December 13) Blockading Australia’s largest coal mine Al Jazeera Pearse, G (2007) High & dry: John Howard, climate change and the selling of Australia’s future Sydney, Australia: Penguin Stone, G (2004) Perilous times: Free speech in wartime New York: WWNorton Todd, T (2014, October 10) ANU is top carbon emitter among unis Australian Financial Review Walport, M (2014, November 28) Fracking risk compared to thalidomide and asbestos in Walport report The Guardian Wroe, D., & Aston, H (2014, September 23) Fortress Australia Sydney Morning Herald © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 E Paul, Australian Political Economy of Violence and Non-Violence, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-60214-5 103 INDEX A Abbott government secrecy and deception, 101 war against ISIL, 76 Abbott, Tony praises coal export, 74 Aboriginal rights movement, 81 Aboriginal communities destruction of, 30 Aborigines incarceration rate, 82 land dispossession of, 82 secessionist movement, 91 Accord, 11 Australia 1983, 21 activism, 60 as engagement, 61 everyday, 85 Adani coal, 16, 73 coal to India, 78 advanced capitalist democracy, 98 adversarial society, 54 Agamben, Giorgio, agonistic debate democracy, 102 agonistic politics radical and different hegemony, air pollution and cancer, 35 particulate matter, 73 sickness, 73 alienation, 51 and drugs, 55 economic growth, 65 existentical crisis, 55 as social pathology, 55 in wake in fright, 55 Altman, Dennis, 55 Australian Labor Party, 93 American empire, 100 American imperialism blowbacks, 48 American imperial project neoliberal global economy, 43 Andrews, Kevin as Defence Minister, 48 Anglo-American capital, 13, 17 Australia, 13 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 E Paul, Australian Political Economy of Violence and Non-Violence, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-60214-5 105 106 INDEX anti-bases campaign coalition, 77 anti-coal movement, 73 anti-democratic forces, 61 Anti-Vietnam war movement, 64, 78 anti-war movement, 76 Assanges, Julian WikiLeaks, 84 Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 47 ASEAN + 3, 17 asylum seekers, 83 Atkinson, Meera, 33 Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility, 75 Australia new political economy, 100 public opinion, 15 taxation, 15 (private power) US client state, 46, 47 Australia Institute, 16, 65 Australian Border Force garrison state, Australian Conservation Foundation, 90 shaming polluters, 74 Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), 67 Australian Fair Trade and Investment Network, 78 Australian Greens, 94 capacity to mobilize alternative, 93 Australian Greens Party (AGP), 93 Australian Labor Party (ALP), defection to neoliberalism, 96 loss of principle, 92 loss of vision, lost its ‘raison d’être’, 93 Australian National University, 75 Australian Wheat Board corruption, 84 B Bangladeshi garment workers, 67 Barns, Greg, 101 Battin, Tim, 96 Bauman, Zygmunt, 97 another holocaust, manipulation of morality, 8, 101 Beazley, Kim support for war, 92 Bishop, Julie Ukraine sacred ground for Australia, 76 Branagan, Marty, 72 Brie, M., 61 Brown, Bob opposition to Iraq invasion, 77 Brown, Wendy, 98 Burchell, David, 29 Burgmann, Verity social movements, Burnside, Julian, 83 Sydney Peace Prize, 46 Buruma, Ian “Trumpism”, business welfare, 14 C Cahill, D., 66 Cambodia, 46 capitalism casualisation, 29 commodification, 28, 37 destruction of solidarities, 30 mental disorder, 53 moral bankruptcy of, 98 neoliberalism, 32 private education, 31 prone to crisis, 99 relation with nationalism, 99 social crisis, 65 victimization, 33 INDEX capture of the state private power, 21 transfer of public power, 21 casualisation as labor control, 29 Catholic schools government funding, 31 cell phones health risks, 39 centralisation of power corrupts democracy, 21 China conflict with, 47 Chomsky, Noam., 21, 61 civil disobedience activism, 61 Clemens, Justin, 37 climate change, 101 and global mobilisation, 101 coal source of coarse particle pollution, 36 coal exports Australia, 72 to India, 74 coal lobby, 72 commodification, 28 frames humans as objects, 37 of mental health, 53 concentration of power corporations, 37 consumerism health, 35 makes people sick, 35 sickness, 35 convergence, 89, 91 among environmentalists, 90 social movements, 89 Cooke, Richard, 20 corporate interests business welfare, 16 107 corporatism, 6, 11 neo-feudalism, 22 corruption Global Financial Crisis, 99 counter-terrorism as peace building, 48 criminalisation of non-violent social movements, 97 Crouch, Colin, 99 neo-feudalism, D Deleuze, G., 53 democracy common cause, 101 decline in support of, 96 as struggles, 84, 95 democratisation civil disobedience, 92 as confrontation, as democracy to come, political economy, private power, 17 radical democracy, 59 social democracy, 59 demonization of Muslims, 45 Denniss, R, 15, 29 deregulation, 13 speculation and corruption, 20 Dewey, John, 60, 62 Diesendorf, Mark, 90 disempowerment, 52 of local government, 32 divestment campaign human survival, 75 movement, 75 Dodson, Mick, 82 downsizing, 65 Duménil, Gérard, 99 108 INDEX E Eagleton, Terry, 98 ecological crisis, 90 ecological destabilisation, 90 ecological sustainability, 90 economic growth alienation, 65 social costs, 34 economics as ideological system, 63 ecosystems damage to, 37 education debt, 28 orthodoxy, 63 elections missing votes, electorate apathy, 96 Ellsberg, Daniel secrecy and corruption, 84 Ellul, Jacques, technological society, enemies boat people, 46 Englehardt, Tom terracide and terrarists, 71 environmental degradation, 90 environmentalism, 72 environmental movement fractures in, 91 equality new political economy, 100 Nordic countries, essentialization as exclusion, 47 extreme centre, F fair trade policy, 91 Fallujah crime against humanity, 84 Faulkner, John ALP’s challenge, 92 Federici, Silvia, 28 Fels, Allan, 35 Ferguson, Thomas investment theory of politics, 13 Flanagan, Richard, Flannery, Tim, 37 sustainable population size, 91 Floyd, Glen brief of evidence, 48 Foley, Garry, 31 foreign companies tax minimization, 14 Foucault, Michel, 5, 60 fracking technology health hazard, 74 Frankel, Boris, 15 Fraser, Malcolm close down US bases, 76 US danger to Australia, 76 Fraser, Nancy, 95 Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), 16, 47 Freil, S., 29 Fromm, Erich, 52, 55, 60 G Galilee Basin coal Queensland, 16, 73 Galtung, Johan violence, garrison state, 44 George, Susan, 21 GetUp!, 85 passive activism, 85 Gindin, Sam, 100 global governance as neo-feudalism, 98 globalised planet human survival, 101 global tax, 84 INDEX green house gas emissions Australia, 36 Greenpeace India’s ban against, 78 stop coal campaign, 73 Greens Franklin River, 93 Greiner, Nick, 31 Grudnoff, M, 15 Guattari, F, 53 Gulf War ‘turkey shoot’, 84 H Hamilton, Clive, 52, 64, 65, 72 Harvey, David, 99 Hawke government decline in union power, 66 hegemonic crisis South China Sea, 48 Hickie, Ian mental illness, 52 Hirst, Martin, 65 Ho, Christina, 31 Hoddinott, Dorothy Holroyd High School, 46 ‘homeland’ security, 44 Howard government fossil fuel lobbyists, 72 Howard, John invasion of Iraq, 48, 77 lied about Iraq, 76 human habitat poisoning of, 96 human rights bill of rights, 91 human rights movement, 81 humans as commodities, 37 109 human survival climate change, 101 Humphrys, Elizabeth, 77 hunger for war, 76 I incarceration, 45 Indigenous, 45 Indigenous rights, 82 inequality capitalism, concentration of power, 18 economic growth, health, 34 losers and winners, 19 neoliberalism, 54 taxation, 90 unequal power, 19 unfair tax system, 22 wellbeing, 19 International Criminal Court Action Group illegal invasion of Iraq, 48 invasion and occupation of Iraq Australia, 76 invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, 92 investor state dispute settlement (ISDS), 16 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), 101 Islamophobia, 45 J Jennings, Kate the Outback, 55 Johnson, Chalmers blowbacks, 48, 100 justice, 71 110 INDEX K Kennan, J terrorism, 48 Klein, Naomi, 6, 100 disempowerment, 92 L Laclau, E., 59 land degradation, 37 Land Rights Act 1976 (NT) dismantling of, 82 Lane, Max, 98 Langton, Marcia, 83 Lévy, Dominique, 99 Lloyd, C., 21, 90 longevity and inequality, 37 Lowe, Ian, 37, 72, 90 M Machiavellian personality, 55 Macnab, Ken adversarial society, 54 Maddison, S., 60 maldevelopment, 51 Manus Island, 46 Martin, John OECD, 18 Marx, Karl capitalism, 59 materialism having mode of existence, 52 McCaughey, Winsome, 55 McGorry, Patrick, 52 Medcraft, Greg ASIC, 20 mental disorder, 52 and nutrition, 55 as rebellion, 53 and social control, 53 young people, 53 mental illness, 34 metadata governance by algorithms, Michels, Robert Iron Law of Oligarchy, 94 Miliband, Ralph, militarisation of public life, 43 of society, modernity and the holocaust Bauman, Zygmunt, 101 money politics, 13 transparency, 22 morality manipulation of, 98 Morgenthau, Hans, 77 Mouffe, Chantal, 59 agonistic struggle, chain of equivalences, 89 manipulation of morality, 8, 102 passions, N nationalism and militarism as antidote to neoliberal rule, 99 National Security State, fortress Australia, 44 wars, 43, 47 National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU), 67 Nauru, 46 neoliberal capitalism as neofeudalism, 22 neoliberal corporate security state Australia, and pacification, 54 neoliberal corporate state, INDEX neoliberalism as economic rationalism, 64 ideology, 64 neoliberal state depoliticise social problems, 98 and moral escapism, 77 Newcastle closure of the steelworks, 38 non-violence, 59 activism, 60 direct action, 61 Nordic countries incarceration, Nuclear Disarmament Party senate seat, 75 O organized labor decline of, 66 Oxfam corporatisation of activism, 67 richest people, P pacification, 54 Palmer United Party, Panitch, Leo, 66, 100 Parkin, Scott, 92, 93 peace movement, 76 Pearse, Guy, 70 Pearson, Noel, 82 Pickett, Kate, 19 Piketty, Thomas, global tax, 84 transparency, 83 Pilger, John Utopia, 82 Pine Gap US intelligence base, 77 US ‘war on terror’, 77 111 plutonomy Anglosphere, 18 political economy Americanisation of, 78 of non-violence, 100 as a political project, 100 and structural violence, 54 University of Sydney, 64 US capitalist empire, political economy movement University of Sydney, 90 politics of fear, 97 politics of fear and panic and hatred, 8, 101 population control disciplining, 53 post-traumatic disorder, 34 power capitalism, as unaccountable private tyrannies, 61 power relations institutionalized, 61 preemptive strike doctrine, 44 prepare for war, 44 Private power, 13, 14, 21 privatisation, 12 of education, 31 of torture, Professor Gillian Triggs Australian Human Rights Commission, 46 public interest private power, 17 public opinion, 20 about democracy, 96 Public-Private Program (PPP) privatisation, 12 public trust, 20 decline, 20 public universities as corporations, 32 purpose of Australia?, 112 INDEX Q Queensland coal, 73 R racism, 61 radical democracy, 3, 59 Ramsay, T, 21, 90 Ranald, Patricia, 78 Ranciere, Jacques, 16 Refugee Action Coalition Sydney, 83 refugees abuse of, 46 detention, 83 rendition Scott Parkin, 90, 91 republican constitution Bill of Rights, 91 ReWorking Australia, 66 Reynolds, Henry, 76 Rhiannon, Lee, 93 Richardson, D, 15 right to know financial transparency, 84 secrecy, 83 right to seek asylum, 83 Roosevelt, Franklin D threat to democracy, 21 Royal Commission on Child Sexual Abuse, 34 ruling class power disempowerment, 54 Rusbridger, Alan climate change, 101 S Scalmer, S, 60 Schultz, Julianne Steel City Blues, 38 secrecy as corruption, 84 deep state, 84 in government, 84 political inequality, 84 security state covert operations, 85 Sheil, Christopher inequality, 22 Snowden, Edward, 83 social ‘cleansing’ removal public housing tenants, 32 social movements commonality, 91 political voice, 92 State Bank of India, 16 Stilwell, Frank, 51, 90 inequality, 19 Stone, Geoffrey democracy, 84 structural violence economic costs of, 35 inequality, 54 maldevelopment, student debt, 28 superannuation asset value, 21 Sweden incarceration, Sydney gentrification, 38 Sydney Peace Prize, 83 T Tariq, Ali, taxation, 15 tax havens, 14, 15 Tax Justice Network of Australia, 66 trade union membership decline of, 30 INDEX Transatlantic Trade Partnership (TTP) grand design, 18 who benefits?, 17 Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA), 47 Transparency International, 84 Trio Capital fraud, 20 U unequal power, 54 unequal power relations social relations, Union Aid Abroad, 67 union power, 66 United Voice, 66 universities as instruments of foreign policy, 98 University of Sydney, 64, 65 Political Economy, 64 uranium oxide exports to India, 74 US client state Australia, US democracy at risk, 100 US detention and torture, US imperialism blowbacks, 48 US military bases closure of, 91 US nationalism, 100 US Studies Center Howard government, 102 V Vietnam war widespread moral condemnation of, 77 violence, alienation, 52 capitalism, climate of fear, 97 cost of, 35 destruction of solidarities, 29 disease of affluence, 52 environmental, 36 human suffering, incarceration, as inequality, neoliberal capitalism, 71 preventable, punitive legislation, 97 structural, structural cost, 34, 35 Sweden, against women and children, 33 W Wake in Fright, 55 Walker, Betty and Bob, 12 Wallerstein, I., 60, 61 Walport, Mark fracking risk potential, 74 Walters, Brian, 92, 97 war crime against humanity, 76 against others, 44 ‘war on terror’, 44, 98 counter-terrorism, 97 enemies, 97 new authoritarianism, 98 politics of fear, 98 wellbeing, 65 whistleblowers, 85 Whitlam government 1975 coup against, 96 overthrow of, 64 113 114 INDEX why Australia went to war against Iraq, 76 Wilkinson, Richard, 19 Williams, George freedom of the press, 97 Wolf, Naomi fascism, 100 Wollongong closure of BHP, 38 destruction of a community, 38 Workplace Relations Act 1996, 30 world view, 64 Wran Committee Higher Education Act 1988, 28 Wright, E., 60 Y Young, Ian, 75 .. .Australian Political Economy of Violence and Non -Violence Erik Paul Australian Political Economy of Violence and Non -Violence Erik Paul Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies University of. .. Author(s) 2016 E Paul, Australian Political Economy of Violence and Non -Violence, DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-60214-5_1 AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY OF VIOLENCE AND NON -VIOLENCE Australia’s neoliberal... 2009) The task of a critical political economy is to provide an explanation for the violence AUSTRALIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY OF VIOLENCE AND NON -VIOLENCE structured in the institutions and political,