Whose Streets? Our Streets! Activist Perspectives on the Australian Anti-capitalist Movement

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of the Australian anti-capitalist movement of 2000-01 as seen through the eyes of its activists. On the basis of 35 interviews conducted in mid-2002 we examine the background of the activist layer, the nature of the social networks and connective structures which shaped the Australian anti-capitalist movement, the character of the mobilising structures that were used to organise the protest movement, the degree to which the Australian movement was connected to international activity or learned from international political theorising, the tactics that were used at the protests, and the political frameworks that shaped the thinking of key activists. We conclude with some considerations as to the strengths and weaknesses of the movement.To be published by Social Movement Studies (UK) (2004) 2

Collective identities and formal ideologies in the Irish grassroots pro-asylum seeker movement

“…The global justice movement and anti-capitalism, although more developed, contains SMOs with similar origins to those of radical anti-racism (Bramble and Minns, 2005) and again, the issues raised in this paper are perhaps relevant, especially as to how to accommodate those individuals whom might be considered reformist. The migrant rights movement and its components such as anti-racism and anti-deportation in the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere in Europe is also in part clearly connected to smaller left-wing parties (Lentin, 2004).…”