Rebellion, Civil Disobedience and Repression: Young People, Place and Protest in Australia

Abstract

This chapter explores the privatisation and enclosure of public spaces and natural environments, through state-driven repression of young peoples’ protest. I draw on adult constructs of young people as political actors, who are either framed as impressionable ‘adults in the making’ that are vulnerable to indoctrination, or as a danger to be monitored, managed and suppressed (Bessant in J Appl Youth Stud 3:223–240, 2020). Each of these constructs seek to marginalise young peoples’ political action. First, I show how school strikes, such as the 1998 anti-racism protests in Australia, and the 2019 School Strikes 4 Climate, were disparaged by political leaders and mainstream media as actions by young people who lack knowledge, and whose place is at school, not protests. I argue that through these actions, young people necessarily inserted themselves into the public debate on these issues, and made their political dissent visible in city spaces that are dominated by adults. Second, I highlight how (mostly) young activists use civil disobedience in Australia to challenge exploitative and extractive practices on land that has been claimed by the Crown. These actions resist the adult-imposed construct of these natural spaces as resources, assets and ‘natural capital’, by using their bodies to stop the economic exploitation of these places. Politicians and mainstream media have framed these activists as a danger to be policed, punished and penalised. Recently, state and federal governments have implemented a series of policies that criminalise protest, including civil disobedience, imposing heavy fines and potential prison sentences. This is a strong show of force, reflecting the authoritarian turn taken by neoliberal societies. However, this also highlights the weakening social licence for continued environmental exploitation at a time of climate crisis. Through their protests, young people are reconstructing cities and natural spaces as sites of resistance, by challenging the adult hegemonic control of space.