The Morning Plenaries.
Each morning of SOS a plenary will be held, featuring special guest speakers from around Australia, including aboriginal elders, scientists, frontline activists, researchers, community organisers, historical figures, farmers, religious leaders, and everything in between: people who will shock, inspire and move you.
Tuesday 1st - Indigenous Sovereignty and Solidarity Australia always was and always will be Aboriginal Land. Environmental struggles take place on the land of Australia’s First peoples who have lived on this continent for nearly 70,000 years, and have never ceded sovereignty in the face of invasion, colonialism, genocide and environmental devastation. Australia’s Aboriginal cultures are some of the oldest surviving on Earth. All peoples working on environmental issues in Australia must firstly sit and listen to those communities upon whose land they tread. Our first plenary focuses on hearing these voices and learning the wisdom of Elders from across Australia, and is committed to building an environment movement that recognises the crucial intersection with Aboriginal struggles and the leadership that we must take from Australia’s First peoples. Wednesday 2nd - Crisis and Critique These two words have the same etymology, and each is bound up with the other. An update on the multiple ecological and social crises we face today and on the global social movements which could turn this situation around. Featuring: Dr Will Steffen - Former Director of the ANU’s Climate Change Institute, Will is an Emeritus Professor in the Fenner School of Environment and Society and a member of the Australian Climate Council. Will has been a leading proponent of the modelling of planetary boundaries, as well as the concept of the Anthropocene. Nicholas Rose – National Coordinator of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance (AFSA), Nicholas is an expert on food systems and the agricultural crisis. He is also coordinator of the Victorian Food Systems Network and director of the Food Connect Foundation. Dr Janette Lindsay – Deputy Director of the Fenner School of Environment and Society, Janette is a leading dynamical climatologist and renowned science communicator. Sonya Duus - PhD candidate at ANU, Sonya spent several years working on Bimblebox Nature Refuge in the Galilee Basin, and is now researching the history and current trajectory of Australia’s coal dependence. Dr David West - David West was until recently Assoc. Professor of Political Theory at ANU’s School of Politics and International Relations. He has taught for a number of years on Habermas and critical theory and the politics of social movements. He has written on continental philosophy, sexuality and social movements. His most recent book is Social Movements in Global Politics. Thursday 3rd - Movement History At this crucial historical juncture, it’s essential to learn from strategies and coalitions from Australia’s past that continue to shape the geographical, social and political landscapes we inhabit today. Dr Libby Connors – A senior lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland and co-author of A History of the Australian Environment Movement, Libby is also actively involved in the Lock the Gate Alliance and the Queensland Greens. Jack Mundey – Legendary figure in green and labour movement history, Jack was secretary of the NSW Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) in the early 1970s and among the principal architects of the ‘Green Bans’, a period in which union members systematically refused to work on buildings that put the interests of development investors ahead of urban environments and social equity. Due to the incredible efforts of the BLF, the word ‘Green’ entered international politics, the first women entered an Australian construction union, and Sydney’s Botanical Garden (among so many other significant sites) was saved from being transformed into a carpark. Holly Creenaune – Former Convenor of ASEN and highly experienced grassroots organiser, Holly is currently campaigning with Our Land Our Water Our Future, a community-based campaign against coal and gas development in NSW. Friday 4th - Theories of Change An open panel discussion featuring advocates of various strategies for social change, in order to compare their tactics and to contrast, perhaps, their ultimate goals. It’s certain that you’ll leave understanding more about the importance of other ways of acting politically and the theories of change that lie behind them. Nicky Ison - Nicky is a Senior Research Consultant at the UTS Institute of Sustainable Futures, as well as Director and Founder of the Community Power Agency, a highly experienced facilitator and organiser, and former ASEN convenor. Nicola Paris – Founder of CounterAct, a new organisation launched in 2012 to support communities in taking effective, creative and direct action on issues of environmental and social justice. Michael Poland – Current campaigner at GetUp!, Michael served the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) as Walk for Solar Project Manager and the Co-Director of Power Shift 2013. Charlie Wood – Champion of divestment campaigning around Australia, Charlie is 350.org’s Campaigns Director, leader of Go Fossil Free Australia, and has previously organised for AYCC and the Greens. Dan Musil - Former convenor of Melbourne University Environment Collective, longtime campaigner with ASEN and other grassroots organisations, Dan is now heavily involved in the Earthworker Cooperative and other work with Latrobe Valley coal communities. He is currently writing a phD on the potential for cooperation between coal communities and environmental activists. Saturday 5th - Building Bridges Kicking off SOS’s final day, dedicated to community organising and coalition building, ‘Building Bridges’ will highlight the deep importance of broad-based collaboration between different social groups normally considered outside of the environment movement: because sustainability is not a niche issue, and because a sustainable society is also a just one. Thea Ormerod – Chairperson of Australian Religious Response to Climate Change, a organisation that engages people of diverse faiths from around Australia with issues of environmental justice, Thea was arrested recently for a non-violent direct action against the construction of Australia’s newest and (planned to be) largest coal mine at Maules Creek. Dave Kerin – Involved in the Green Bans movement in the 1970s, Dave went on to found the Earthworker Cooperative and is its current Project Officer. Earthworker is in the process of setting up union-supported, worker-owned and controlled co-operatives manufacturing green technologies, offering an alternative livelihood to communities in Morwell, Latrobe Valley. Drew Hutton – Legendary lifelong activist, Drew was a co-founder of both the Queensland and Australian Greens and co-author (with Libby Connors) of A History of the Australian Environment Movement (1999). Drew is best known today as President of the Lock the Gate Alliance, a coalition of rural and farming communities transforming the face of Australia’s environment movement with hugely successful campaigns against coal and coal seam gas development. Wenny Theresia – organiser in grassroots campaigns and movements for over 10 years including within ASEN, from being a key organiser in the renewable energy campaign at the University of Sydney and the Camps for Climate Action in NSW, to Occupy Sydney legal support and most recently in the boycott of the Biennale of Sydney against the detention of asylum seekers. Plus one more speaker TBA! Facilitator: Samara Barchet is an organiser with the Sydney Alliance, a multi-issue coalition of faiths, unions and community organisations. She cut her organising teeth at the Oaktree Foundation as the NSW Campaigns Manager where she managed the StandUp4Change campaign, the 2010 MakePovertyHistory campaign, the 2011 NSW Live Below the Line campaign and the 2011 Action Lab. She has extensive experience working with community groups, with a particular interest in young people and in communities that don’t traditionally engage in civic or political life. |