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From Contestation to Autonomy: The Staging and Framing of Anti‐Hanson Contention
Author(s) -
Scalmer Sean
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8497.00228
Subject(s) - dissent , framing (construction) , politics , public sphere , ideology , political science , publicity , citizenship , autonomy , democracy , media studies , public space , sociology , law , political economy , history , architectural engineering , archaeology , engineering
The rise of Hansonism provoked a campaign of demonstrations, rallies, marches and walkouts. This movement was frequently received within the media as violent, disruptive, and illiberal. However, I argue that anti‐Hanson contention represented a noteworthy form of active citizenship. It contested the presence of the One Nation Party, undermined the ideological claim that Hanson represented ‘ordinary’ Australians, and garnered substantial publicity. The anti‐Hanson campaign was concerned not only with the staging of dissent in public space, but with how that dissent was framed within the public sphere. Reflecting these public dynamics, the anti‐Hanson movement moved over time from a reliance on contestational gatherings, that directly opposed the One Nation Party in physical space to autonomous gatherings, that attempted to create separate spaces of anti‐racist politics. Ultimately, therefore, the campaign can be understood as a flexible, democratic and self‐reflexive form of political mobilisation.