I think a number of events have taken the steam out of the movement

1. The Apology - has given the Aboriginal community and progressive non-blacks a false hope in reconciliation and real progress in the conditions for original peoples

2. the movie Australia - has been a media experience that has consolidated those feelings

3. The 2020 Summit has brought most of Australia’s young leaders into the establishment and created personal patronage and ties to Team Rudd and the oligarchs who run Australia

4. Climate Change - the climate movement has been co-opted by the Carbon Finance and Corporate Sustainability / Sustainable Development lobby - and coralled into being the baddies in the ETS - witness Barneby Joyce

5. the messianic cult around the Progressive Presidency of Obama… there are some small improvements in staffing, but, I doubt policy changes will go beyond a bubble in Carbon Finance

6. Crikey - a Liberal party stalking horse endlessly reveals the dirt on the corporate-state system, but overall promotes that system. Its the gonzo journalism version of The Economist. Gonzo, of course is cheap to produce.

7. Commercialisation of SBS and the ABC: advertising and commercialisation, corporatisation of these public broadcasters presents a shallow and formulaic take on Australia. Infotainment shows such as The Chaser, Gruen Transfer etc offer a free kick for the corporate-state elites. A bit of harmless fun at their expense each week, the emotional pressure is removed.

8. Fairfax/News Ltd oligopoly: corporate advertising agencies for the remaining corporate oligipolies that dominate Australian industtry and life. Again, present a world that is a comic book.

9. Imperial Presidency of Obama - the canonisation and coronation of Obama has mesmerised the world and has created a system of personal patronage direct to Obama - via the social networking system MyBarackObama - that is unprecendented. Like the Kennedy era, an entire generation will is obsessed with the personality cult. Even critiques on the left are distracted by the personality and are having a hard time looking through to the institutions unchanging beneath.

10. Totalistic Conspiracies - Zeitgeist etc - the 911 Truthers are absorbing many on the young into totally dehabilitiating totalistic and unreliable conspiracy cults

11. Low-intensity democracy - GetUp, Facebook - in Australia we have a media driven low-intensity democracy, that functions more like a corporatist state. i.e. big corporations form cartels, and work closely with government to run industry and the economy. GetUp is supposedlt the netroots resurgance of democracy, but feels more like a low-intensity, single issue, low budget, social marketing and campaining vechile for the centre-right i.e Labor Party and some of the big establishment NGO’s

I think there is real hope with the solidarity work being done between the indigineous peoples from South America and the Australian aboriginals.

other than that, as far as I can see, from Nimbin Australia, there is NO Australia-wide movement that is connecting in any meaningful way to the greater movement.

Australia is insulated from the problems of the world because of our isolation, the size, the resources - especially coal, uranium, agricultural products - that subsidise our consumerist lifestyles and brain dead world views

I must admit, I am often very, very pessimistic… but, am working through this regardless

During WSF2008, I took an ambitious responsibility for reporting outcomes of 3 Aussie events; as I recollect a Melbourne Invasion Day march, a Perth lady organising a local, individual, holistic event and the Playford Rock Oz concert. Auntie Sue had just transited Playford (in northern Adelaide) on her Melbourne-Uluru pilgrimage.

There was some good community radio coverage, themed in Sydney & Melbourne, although you can forget commercial or news coverage with hot summers, Australian Opens, Test series, etc

Invasion Day was massively subdued this year. I don’t recollect seeing a single flag of the original owners flying, and the younger generation has developed a zest for the Australian flag (and its nationalistic xenophobias). Maybe 2010 as a nationwide Invasion Day observance?

chris

Cheers - Louise.

Great job, great initiative putting the word out there.

Yes, an ASF is much needed. The local forums have surfaced the breadth and depth of activism regionally, now we need to bring it all together.

There have been several attempts to put an ASF together. We should learn from there efforts.

My own view is that it would ne a mistake to try to create an event first, I feel it needs to start as an on-line network that somehow can serve the community. After establishing a working on-line network, I feel an event is more plausible.

Look forward to working with you

Jose Ramos