Where to for civil society in the next five years?

Over the weekend Neil Pharaoh did a radio interview on civil society and it got him thinking – what will be the future of  civil society on its current trajectory?

Civil society can be considered the community of citizens linked by common interest and collective activity. This exists across groups as broad as churches, sports clubs, volunteer organisations and not for profits and social purpose organisations. There are three macro trends impacting work across civil society from my perspective:

1. Civil society space is shrinking in Australia. 
2. We are becoming increasingly individualistic on the progressive side of politics.
3. Changes to power shifts are causing counter reactions.

Let’s dive into shrinking civil society spaces: while globally Australia still ranks well in democratic indexes and discussions, we have seen a huge deterioration in civil society in Australia over the past decade and some of our transparency measures.

Despite me not agreeing with the anti-covid protestors, the harsh anti-protest laws which were imposed during lockdown have not really been rewound.  For environmental and other activists, engaging in protests in public roads is now largely banned, and even at George Pell’s funeral the counter protests had to take the NSW Police to court and mediation to land on their ability to protest.

We all need to stand up for the right to protest – even for those we disagree with, and even during a pandemic – we have started the slippery slope on banning protest. Legal action is under way but we all need to defend the right to protest. 

This shrinking space is also aligned to increased police powers in most states & territories, and police often existing without independent checks and balances. For anyone who has ever complained about the actions of police, often it is another police officer who investigates and the outcome tends to fall on the side of the police. In some States very draconian laws around interactions with police mean that defending yourself from police overreach and violence results in mandatory sentencing.

If you think this isn’t an issue, historically things like Tasty Raids in Victoria, Mardi Gras in 1978 in Sydney, or multiple union campaigns through the 80s show that the police are often not right, often do overreach, and that defending yourself in that situation will now result in mandatory prison time. These laws are damning, and disappointing that it has been mainly Labor governments who have implemented them. We need to fight back on laws which hand more power to those with guns, and less rights to those in civil society. In recent times harbour bridge protests and jail for protesters shows this is still front and centre. 

The second major point is that the progressive side of politics is becoming increasingly individualistic. In short, after forty years of a largely neoliberal agenda, even the progressive left is thinking individual and not collectively. To secure changes we need to find things which we share, common passions, common views, common ideals, and bring people on a journey.

Yet if you have watched the rise of the discussions on intersectionality you may reflect that it is a highly individual agenda. No longer are we part of a broad group (humanity, human kind), or even a sub section of a group (LGBTIQ, women, person of colour, culturally diverse) but we need to identify as multiple tick boxes in a hyper individualistic way – this dynamic I find curious in a majoritarian democracy, where you need to secure a majority of people to get an outcome of change.

We need to build bridges not barriers, and being so individualistic means we focus on our differences, not our similarities. Civil society has big goals – as a collective we must ensure that we are creating safe spaces and platforms for those voices not often heard, or not previously heard. All the while using the commonality of our experiences to build sustainable social change.

The final big civil society issue is the “counter action” – whether Jordan Peterson or Andrew Tate, the conversations I am having with some younger men socially are somewhat alarming to me. These are smart guys, in their teens and twenties, who look up to, listen to, and engage actively with these types of people. This is a form of push back, or counter-revolution. This push back comes in many forms— from body image and steroids, to how we engage in football games. A recent review of the book “of boys and men” by Andrew Anthony at The Guardian dives into this further.

Progress towards equality is never permanent – civil society will be better placed to protect the change we have fought for and won – if we spend a bit more time considering the push back and being more strategic along our path. For us to move forward as a broader civil movement understanding who responds to our advance and why will become more important.

So while I have raised three massive issues in this article about the role of civil society, and I do not expect unanimous views across all of them, I am hopeful that we can start to think of them as we champion change, and raise expectations.

Happenings on the Hill is a fortnightly column focusing on all things politics, policy, campaigns, and advocacy. Focusing on both Federal and State & Territory politics, stay tuned for updates around political trends and elections, lobbying and advocacy news, and hints, tips and ideas on government engagement that are specifically written for the social purpose/for purpose sector.