How anarchy can order the World

Capitalism is a system designed to protect property rights. It relies on individual interests in land and goods. These rights are backed up by the legal system with its machinery of law and order. Anarchy is often defined in modern vernacular as the opposite of law and order. However, it has also been said that: ‘Anarchy is one of the most abused and misunderstood words in common usage’ (Masters, 1974). This chapter will discuss anarchy as an alternative political system, and assert that a Stateless society is not necessarily a lawless one. Indeed, my research has shown that local communities can successfully regulate themselves. In this chapter, l will discuss three examples of grassroots anarchist movements which are setting the scene for the future. These include the Occupy Movement, Green Governance and urban scavenging. These very different but connected activities draw on the concept of the ‘commons’ and assert that global harmony relies on the successful sharing of common resources, a process that often begins at local level. In contrast to the well-known ‘tragedy of the commons’ thesis espoused by Garrett Hardin, writers such as Elinor Ostrom argue for a different form of regulation that flows from the ‘bottom up’. This regulation embraces local knowledges in finding ways to share global resources for the benefit of all

Dancing in the streets: Political action and resistance in Melbourne

Music and dance can be viewed as modes of resistance to state power. Local laws in Melbourne, such as the Activities Local Law 2009, prohibit behavior in public spaces that cause a “nuisance”—a term that, according to the regulation, is defined by its “ordinary common meaning.” Thus unauthorized dancing in public spaces, and the music that accompanies it, is often restricted as forms of public “nuisance.” Such restrictions seem geared toward controlling aspects of the city that do not fit a commercial purpose. Occupying space with unauthorized dance and music offers the opportunity to create a temporary space of resistance and provides room for the inclusion of minority groups on city streets. Auto-ethnographic accounts of involvement in underground dance parties and “Reclaim the Streets” protests are used in exploring these ideas, which are underpinned by an engagement with the work of Henri Lefebvre and Michel de Certeau, both of whom argue the case for a more open and accepting city

Flash mobs and zombie shuffles: Play in the augmented city

In this chapter I will explore flash mobs as a form of mediated youth culture that exemplifies the shifts occurring in the ways that we view and use ‘real’ and ‘virtual’ public spaces

Magee v Wallace

Magee v Wallace [2014] VSC 643 may appear, prima facie, as an insignificant case with little relevance for wild law. It is an appeal from a Magistrates Court decision, Wallace v Magee, about minor criminal damage under s 10 of the Summary Offences Act 1966 (Vic). Kyle Magee pleaded guilty to charges of causing damage to an advertising hoarding. Magee pasted over, with flour and water, an advertisement by a multinational corporation with bill posters containing his philosophy. While Magee’s act could be viewed as a simple case of criminal damage, it becomes more complicated when explored in context. Magee is an activist who is acutely aware of the impact many corporations on the environment. Magee’s painting and posting over corporate advertising is a form of direct action aimed at raising awareness, and spark a conversation about how we can save the planet. This can be achieved, Kyle believes, through a free and independent media, where ordinary citizens have a right to be heard. His court actions rely on the Victorian Charter of Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006

Former people of planet Earth v the World Corporate Alliance

This landmark judgment is set in an intergalactic virtual courtroom 800 years into the future. This is a post-Anthropocene judgment where all complex life on Earth has ceased to exist, due to human destruction of the environment. The concurrent application, hearing, and judgment, delivered by Artificial Intelligence in 12 milliseconds, draws on over 1000 years of applied law, discovered by the alien species in computer databanks, maintained by the existing corporate inhabitants of the Earth. In this post-human future, the Intergalactic Court of Justice hears a case against the collective negligence of global corporations which dominated Earth prior to its destruction and determines whether the planet is available for immediate colonisation non-vitae. The case will examine the origin and development of the corporation as the architect of destruction of the biosphere, formerly known by its inhabitants as Earth, using information taken from the extinct species’ global databases

Kyle Magee: Ad-busting, exclusion and the urban environment

This is an article about freedom of communication, and how it is essential to democracy and the inclusive city.2 This struggle for democratic speech is highlighted by the case of Kyle Magee, a Melbourne activist. Australia is a liberal democracy that prides itself on its ability to protect citizens without a formal Bill of Rights embedded in its Constitution.3 Citizens rely principally on common law freedoms developed over hundreds of years by the judiciary. In recent times the High Court has recognised some implied constitutional rights to political freedoms. Among the implied rights is a right to political communication, which covers actions as well as speech. 4 Political communication generally takes place in the public sphere. The ‘public sphere’ includes both physical public spaces and the media. 5 However, the public sphere is crowded with commercial messages. Therefore, although there may be a right to speak within these spaces, the ability to do so is virtually non-existent without large financial resources

True Justice through deep listening on Country: Decolonising legal education in Australia

This article examines the impact of True Justice, a unique continuing legal education programme introduced in 2022 to increase cultural competency in legal practitioners. The programme achieves its purpose via the incorporation of First Nations principles and pedagogies, taking participants beyond the university classroom to learn deep listening on Country. The feedback from participants in the programme in April and May 2022 reveals the powerful experiences that are possible when the university classroom is abandoned in favour of place-based, trauma-informed learning. Incorporating not only First Nations perspectives but also pedagogies is particularly important in the legal profession, where, if these are ignored, practitioners and educators risk reproducing colonial models.</p

Cyberspace outlaws – Coding the online world

Online gaming creates unique public spaces of interaction. These spaces are both highly controlled but also able to slip through the regulatory net, as domestic legislation struggles to respond to fast-changing interjurisdictional environments. Inter- and transdisciplinary research hold potential to respond to questions surrounding the regulation of these online spaces, by exploring multiple perspectives. The authors of this paper each come from a unique starting point in their exploration of these issues. The paper will examine three spaces of regulation in online game world environments. It will look at (1) rules and regulations that governs online interaction in virtual spaces, (2) the ‘code’ that controls behaviour through game architecture, and (3) the laws that are developed by players inside the game world. The first part will analyse whether domestic law can be adequate to regulate a space that is not geographically fixed. The second will discuss how the coding of the game and its architecture regulate behaviours within the space. The last is a “bottom-up” regulatory system, originating within the gaming community. Where do these three layers of regulation interact with each other? What are the unique languages of these spaces? This paper is a starting point for further investigation into the regulation of online behaviours through interwoven rule systems.</p

Forty years of FOI: Accountability, policy-making and The National Innovation and Science Agenda

Executive power in policy-making has been the subject of longstanding jurisprudential and political debate. Innovation policies aimed at driving collaborative government and industry outcomes sit very much at the intersection of this tension. In the 1990’s Christopher Arup highlighted legitimacy concerns around ‘corporatist’ innovation policy involving greater government-corporate alliancing and selective policy measures, nominating procedural reform and audits to check policy-making power. However, the development of the National Innovation and Science Agenda shows these mechanisms to be less than effective. With the passage of 40 years since the Freedom of Information (‘FOI’) Bill was considered by a Senate Committee, it is timely to reconsider the role of public scrutiny in policy-making. While increased scrutiny is at least part of the answer to better policy, the FOI regime faces significant obstacles in achieving its objectives in the innovation policy space, if not at broader levels within government policy development. Against the backdrop of recent calls for greater confidentiality in the policy-making process, it is argued that increased secrecy is not the answer

Hot in Helsinki: Exploring legal geographies in a DIY sauna

This paper will question the boundaries of the law through an analysis of alternative spatial practices in the urban environment. Examinations of counter-cultural uses of public space can employ legal geographies to unsettle law’s closure. By exploring urban regulation, the objectivity of both law and space can be called into question. This paper will discuss these ideas through a reinterpretation of the traditional Finnish practice of the sauna. This research took the authors to a do it yourself (DIY) sauna under a bridge in Helsinki. The DIY sauna utilises a gap in the regulatory net and creates its own system of rules operating outside of the laws of the State. The sauna community provides a template for alternative ways of using and managing space in urban environments