Humorous Political Stunts: Nonviolent Public Challenges to Power
An exploration of how creative activists combine humour with seriousness via stunts to create change, including case study – John Howard Ladies’ Auxiliary Fan Club.
Format
Case Studies
Civil Resistance against Climate Change: What, when, who and how effective?
New research considers what Australian climate activism – specifically climate change civil resistance – looks like, how it is changing, and what it is achieving.
First Nations Resources: Start Here
A guide to First Nations campaigning and activist resources in the Commons Social Change Library including stories and perspectives.
Tasmanian Wilderness Society blocks dam construction (Franklin River Campaign) 1981-83
Tasmanian Wilderness Society activists blockaded the Tasmanian Franklin below Gordon Dam site, proposed by the Hydro Electric Commission.
Australian Rainforest Action Groups boycott Malaysian rainforest timber, 1988-1994
Australian Rainforest Action Groups blockaded ships bringing rainforest timbers logged in Sarawak, Malaysia.
International groups boycott Nestle products to end indiscriminate advertising, 1977-1984
Nestle artificial baby milks infant formula marketing Third World International Baby Food Action Network.
Hazara asylum seekers hunger strike on Nauru, 2003-2004
Hazara refugee asylum seekers engaged in hunger strikes to protest their continuing detention by Australia on Nauru.
Australian women protest conscription during Vietnam War [Save Our Sons (SOS)], 1965-1972
Save Our Sons opposed military conscription for Australia’s role in the United States invasion and occupation of Vietnam.
Australians general strike for right to unionize, Brisbane, Australia, 1912
Brisbane unionists organised a general strike in 1912 to protect and enhance the rights of tramways workers to organise.
Billboard Utilising Graffitists Against Unhealthy Promotions (BUGA UP) campaigns against tobacco advertising, Australia, 1978-1994
Civil disobedience actions reversed tobacco advertising messages to show the negative health effects of cigarettes.
Australians campaign against nuclear power and uranium mining, 1974-1988
Street marches and trade union action typified Australian resistance to the building of nuclear reactors and uranium mining and export.
Dilemma Actions: the power of putting your opponent in a bind
A study of 44 dilemma actions over the last 90 years examines the many benefits of creative protests for social movements.
Australians block cricket and impede rugby tour of apartheid South Africa, 1971
Anti-apartheid protesters impeded the South African Springboks rugby tour, and stopped the cricket tour, to protest racial inequality.
Thanks But No Tanks: Learnings from Disrupt Land Forces [Brisbane: 2021]
Actions and learnings from Australia’s Disrupt Land Forces Campaign at the Brisbane’s 2021 Land Forces weapons expo.
Greenpeace and Sea Shepherds force Japanese seafood company Nissui to sell stakes in whale hunting ships 2005-2006
Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd initiated a consumer boycott against Sealord Tuna to end whaling by its parent company, Nissui.
Australian Aboriginal workers strike for fair wages and equality, 1946-1949
Indigenous pastoral workers in the Kimberley region of Western Australia struck for equal wages and full civil rights in the late 1940s.
Indigenous Gurindji win Land Rights in Australia (Wave Hill Walk Off) 1966-1975
The Gurindji of Wave Hill Station (Northern Territory) protested by a walkout against low wages, leading to the land rights movement.
Greenpeace pushes for global ban on CFCs 1986 – 1995
Greenpeace International agitated for a ban on chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) to protect the global ozone layer from ultraviolet radiation. This case study describes the campaign.
Greenpeace pressures Coca-Cola to phase out HFC refrigeration for Olympic Games in Australia 2000-2004
Greenpeace International agitated for Coca Cola to desist from HFC refrigerants prior to the Sydney Summer Olympics in 2000.
Torres Strait soldiers stage stay at home strikes, 1943
Torres Strait Islander soldiers strike to end discrimination in the army during World War Two.