When did activism become a dirty word?

Mr Taylor is not alone in his condemnation of activism. Nationals leader Matt Canavan has said, “We will not let activists destroy Australia with their ideology that makes not one degree of difference.” In an address to the National Press Club in June, Pauline Hanson attacked “the activists in [the ABC’s] ranks”.

The message is clear: activists are a threat to Australia and our way of life. 

I couldn’t disagree more. Australia needs activists, and right now it needs activists more than ever.

“Activist” is a label, not a description.  People who work for change inside institutions are typically labelled lobbyists or advocates. People who push for change from the outside, through protest or direct action, are labelled activists. Often, though, the two groups are doing much the same thing – the difference is your point of view.  The label “advocate” or “activist” typically says more about the person using it than the person doing the activity. For many politicians, the term “activist” just means someone whose cause you oppose.

By most measures, Senator Canavan and Senator Hanson are activists too. They see something they think is wrong, and they campaign loudly to change it. Canavan often dresses up in high-vis work gear like a miner (he is a former management consultant). Senator Hanson wore a hijab into Parliament.  These are forms of advocacy and activism. 

Activists built modern Australia.  For most of human history, kings and emperors ruled by birthright, might made right, and people without power or wealth were oppressed or enslaved. Activists changed that. Many of the rights we now take for granted were won by people who were labelled troublemakers and worse in their day.  There is a long list of social reform driven by activism, including:

• the rights of women and First Nations people to vote and stand for Parliament
• the eight-hour day
• equal pay
• land rights
• environmental protection
• marriage equality.

Many reforms that were once dismissed as radical are now mainstream.

Activism doesn’t always succeed, and it isn’t always welcome. Movements can form on every side of an issue. Some tactics alienate the public, and disruptive protest can hurt people who were never the target. But the answer to activism we disagree with is more informed debate and engagement, not laws designed to silence one side.

Activism has real benefits for individuals and communities. The many studies of activist movements show that it can:

• drive reform: grassroots pressure delivers laws that politicians alone won’t
• hold power to account: exposing corruption, corporate overreach and abuses of human rights
• give a voice to the overlooked: refugees, workers, young people and others whom institutions ignore
• shift attitudes: on issues like mental health, gender equality, discrimination and the environment
• channel frustration peacefully: it offers a more constructive response to injustice than reactions grounded in desperation and violence
• strengthen people and communities: research links working for social justice to greater life satisfaction, and it builds belonging and leadership.

For charities and not-for-profits, advocacy and activism do more than put a cause on the agenda. Acting together builds connections and makes organisations stronger, even when the change they’re seeking doesn’t come.

Charities have the right – and the responsibility – to be advocates. The High Court’s 2010 Aid/Watch decision and the Charities Act 2013 confirm that advocating for change can itself be a charitable purpose. Charities have a clear legal basis for the advocacy and activism that has driven so much of our national progress, providing they are not breaking the law.  Given the rising divisive politics of selfishness, these core provisions that legitimise advocacy for charities in Australia may need to be protected over time.

Australia faces global disruption, climate change and a difficult economy where inequality is increasing. When political leaders promise to legislate against activists, charities and not-for-profits must not be intimidated into silence. The best protection for our right to advocate for our cause and our communities – both inside and outside of the political process – is to keep advocating.

If we’re going to achieve the kind of Australia we want to live in, we need more activists, not fewer.

David Crosbie has been CEO of the Community Council for Australia for the past decade and has spent more than a quarter of a century leading significant not-for-profit organisations, including the Mental Health Council of Australia, the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, and Odyssey House Victoria.