The End of Protesting
Protesters who take to the streets or gather on university campuses like to believe that they can change the world. But they are relatively few in numbers when compared to the millions whose activism never moves beyond the safety (and relative anonymity) of the online environment. Have these online warriors reduced activism to mere performance – where empty gestures have become increasingly unproductive and nasty? Can hashtags truly liberate anyone? Is ‘digital activism’ threatening the legitimacy of those who personify a cause. Join a panel of seasoned activists who discuss what it really takes to make change – including the role of ethical restraint when your body is on the line.
David Benatar [STH. AFRICA]
David Benatar is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Cape Town. His books, which have been translated into multiple languages, include Better Never to Have Been: The Harm of Coming into Existence (2006), The Second Sexism: Discrimination against men and boys (2012), and The Human Predicament: A candid guide to life’s biggest questions (2017). He has held visiting positions in the United States, at Brandeis, Emory, and Princeton universities, and at National Institutes of Health, and in Canada at Western University, and the University of Toronto.
Jem Bendell [INDO/UK]
After 17 years working around the world with large companies, charities, politicians and UN agencies on issues of environment and development, in 2012 Jem Bendell settled back in the UK as a full professor in a business school. But after 10 years in that role, he quit to launch an organic farm school, Bekandze Farm, in Indonesia. Such a shift was seeded for Jem in 2017 when he took a year off to look more closely at the latest climate science and data. The resulting “Deep Adaptation” paper was downloaded over a million times and is widely credited with helping inspire the growth of the Extinction Rebellion movement. His book Breaking Together goes further by outlining a political ethos for an era of societal disruption and collapse. In his new way of life, Jem also plays devotional music and releases songs with the band Barefoot Stars. Jem blogs at jembendell.com
Meredith Burgmann
Dr Meredith Burgmann was an activist at Sydney University in the 1960s and 70s, protesting against the Vietnam War and Apartheid. She was arrested on many occasions, famously receiving a 2 months gaol sentence for disrupting a Springbok match at the SCG. She was heavily involved in the early Land Rights movement and the Green Bans that saved Sydney. She was an academic for twenty years and then elected to NSW Parliament as a Labor MLC. She was President of the Legislative Council from 1999 until her retirement in 2007.
Bronwyn Penrith
Bronwyn is a Wiradjuri woman who has worked all her life for equality and the recognition of First Nations people and their rights. She was the inaugural Chair of Moreton Consulting and is currently the Deputy Chair of Burbangana Group’s Board of Directors. She is currently on the Board of the Mudgin-gal Aboriginal Women’s Corporation near the Block in Redfern and a Director of the Redfern Foundation Ltd. She is also a recent past member of the Redfern/Waterloo Aboriginal Justice Group and the City of Sydney Aboriginal Advisory Committee. Bronwyn delivers mentoring training, cultural awareness and community education workshops. She is also a highly skilled mediator and is a registered Family Dispute Resolution Practitioner with the Australian Government Department of the Attorney General.
Ed Coper
Ed Coper is a leading communications expert and was on the front lines when the internet collided with democracy, growing Australia’s first online political movement GetUp to quickly amass more members than every political party combined. He powered Change.org’s global expansion into over eighteen countries and pioneered techniques to bring politics into the digital age, and has been behind the scenes of many of the last decade’s most prominent social movements. He has advised campaigns on every continent except Antarctica, and high-profile changemakers from Malala to Richard Branson. Ed founded the New York-based Centre for Impact Communications, which has led efforts to safeguard US elections from disinformation and overcome vaccine hesitancy. Ed also founded a New York City creative agency that serviced multiple Nobel Peace laureates, political and social leaders to scale their social impact. His groundbreaking campaigns have raised hundreds of millions of dollars for causes, won landmark social change and have featured in several museum exhibitions. Ed is based in Sydney and is director of the Populares communications agency.
We acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation - the custodians of the country in which we meet - and acknowledge their Elders, past and present.
While we believe in freedom of speech, the views and opinions expressed by the speakers are not necessarily the views of The Ethics Centre and our partners.