The Green Bans Movement: Workers’ Power and Ecological Radicalism in Australia in the 1970s

Unconventional Labour: Environmental Justice and Working-class Ecology in the New South Wales Green Bans

“…Ultimately, Theeman employed a collective of hired standover men and police officers to forcibly evict as many as 80 squatters (but not Fowler) from the properties he owned in Victoria Street. As part of the evictions of 3 January 1974, Theeman's squad also destroyed residents' houses and made them unhabitable, removing wiring and other living essentials to prevent squatters from returning (Burgmann, 2008;Rees, 2004). Theeman's act triggered even stronger opposition from the BLF and other unions adhering to the ban, who committed to continuing the fight to prevent "the human costs of the alliance of political power and profiteers … [despite] the use of thugs as scab labour" (Burgmann & Burgmann, 1998, p. 212).…”

“…Even after the disappearance and presumed murder of VSAG organiser Juanita Nielsen in July 1975, residents' action groups and several unions continued to frustrate Theeman's efforts to redevelop Victoria Street (Burgmann, 2008;Rees, 2004). However, they did so without the support of Mundey and the BLF.…”

“…This article sets out to problematise the traditional conflation of the trade union movement with an Old Left that is only concerned with labour rights, to the exclusion of other, intersectional social justice issues (Barca, 2014;Stevis et al, 2018). The green bans have often been explained as a product of New Left influence on the unions (including in hagiographic work by those at the forefront of the movement) (see Burgmann, 2000Burgmann, , 2008. However, historical evidence suggests a different reality: New South Wales unions were already steeped in a radical tradition of social justice campaigning.…”

The Promise of the City. Adventures in learning cities and higher education. By David Wilmoth, Laneway Press, 2021, 350 pp., $39.95 (hardback), ISBN: 978‐0‐ 6450070‐3‐9 (hardback); 978‐0‐6450070‐4‐6 (ebook)

“…Clearly, the author has long been fascinated with cities as subjects of study and with the manner in which they, in turn, as assemblages, can “learn” (or indeed, choose not to learn) from mistakes made in the past by governments and their allies and adversaries of various political persuasions. Trade union green bans against inner‐city developments in Sydney in the 1970s are one obvious “resistance” example (Burgmann, 2008). By contrast, what have more commonly been lauded as “successes” by governments are often the outcomes of well‐funded lobbying campaigns on the part of powerful automobile and fossil fuel interests as well as engineering, land development, and building construction consortia (property capital).…”