The Left dilemma for the Greens

Historic and theoretical differences between the Greens and the Left are significant. This paper outlines some of the tensions which the influence of the traditional Left inside the Greens could provoke. It does this by briefly outlining the Greens’ social movement origins in order to elucidate its characteristic differences with the Left's approach to social change and its end goals

Rebuilding the ship: a new model of democracy in emergence

[Extract from Introduction]: In this paper the authors will analyse in some detail the anarchist techniques and organisational practices which have been dismissed by political theorists as unworthy of further attention, and show that anarchist movements in the past anticipated and developed solutions to many of the dilemmas only now being discussed by theorists promoting deliberative democracy. We rely on both theoretical arguments as well as internal organisational evidence available to us from our personal involvement in green politics, especially the Australian Greens, to show that these solutions have been rediscovered and successfully adapted and adopted in Green movement and Green party organisational structures

Pediatric asthma and autism-genomic perspectives.

High-throughput technologies, ranging from microarrays to NexGen sequencing of RNA and genomic DNA, have opened new avenues for exploration of the pathobiology of human disease. Comparisons of the architecture of the genome, identification of mutated or modified sequences, and pre-and post- transcriptional regulation of gene expression as disease specific biomarkers are revolutionizing our understanding of the causes of disease and are guiding the development of new therapies. There is enormous heterogeneity in types of genomic variation that occur in human disease. Some are inherited, while others are the result of new somatic or germline mutations or errors in chromosomal replication. In this review, we provide examples of changes that occur in the human genome in two of the most common chronic pediatric disorders, autism and asthma. The incidence and economic burden of both of these disorders are increasing worldwide. Genomic variations have the potential to serve as biomarkers for personalization of therapy and prediction of outcomes

Emergent global patterns of ecosystem structure and function from a mechanistic general ecosystem model

Anthropogenic activities are causing widespread degradation of ecosystems worldwide, threatening the ecosystem services upon which all human life depends. Improved understanding of this degradation is urgently needed to improve avoidance and mitigation measures. One tool to assist these efforts is predictive models of ecosystem structure and function that are mechanistic: based on fundamental ecological principles. Here we present the first mechanistic General Ecosystem Model (GEM) of ecosystem structure and function that is both global and applies in all terrestrial and marine environments. Functional forms and parameter values were derived from the theoretical and empirical literature where possible. Simulations of the fate of all organisms with body masses between 10 µg and 150,000 kg (a range of 14 orders of magnitude) across the globe led to emergent properties at individual (e.g., growth rate), community (e.g., biomass turnover rates), ecosystem (e.g., trophic pyramids), and macroecological scales (e.g., global patterns of trophic structure) that are in general agreement with current data and theory. These properties emerged from our encoding of the biology of, and interactions among, individual organisms without any direct constraints on the properties themselves. Our results indicate that ecologists have gathered sufficient information to begin to build realistic, global, and mechanistic models of ecosystems, capable of predicting a diverse range of ecosystem properties and their response to human pressures

Local political marketing in the context of the conservative party

Local political marketing can be defined as marketing related strategy, activities, and tactics implemented by a political party in a local geographic constituency, in order to attempt to maximise aggregate potential voter satisfaction, and therefore maximise total number of votes and electoral support in the constituency. Through 12 in-depth interviews with Local Constituency Party representatives from the Conservative Party, the study found that local political marketing was acknowledged by a majority of respondents although this was not unequivocal, and was frequently conflated with campaigning. Local political marketing was associated with: visual identity, language/messages, values, image, communication devices, awareness raising, data management and targeting, and simplification. The support from higher levels of the party in local political marketing was varied across constituencies. There was evidence of growing coordination /influence by higher levels of the party in local political marketing. However, this tended to be in seats judged as ‘winnable’

Mass nonviolent protest, Australia

Mass protest serves either to pressure the government to change policy or to heighten awareness of the issue among the general population in order to effect policy changes. This has been a regular characteristic of new social movement activity in Australia during the past 40 years. These movements include those against the Vietnam War in the late 1960s and early '70s (especially the Vietnam Moratorium movement in 1970 when 100,000 people marched in Melbourne alone), the campaign against the Franklin Dam in the early '80s, the anti-uranium and nuclear disarmament campaigns of the '70s and '80s, the Reconciliation movement culminating in the Sorry Day marches by one million Australians in the year 2000, and large protests of a similar scale against the Iraq War in 2003

Direct action protest, Australia

Direct action has been used in Australia by groups involved in social movements such as the labor, indigenous, peace, and environmental movements. Such actions are usually undertaken by small, often autonomous groups wanting to make strong statements about social practices they regard as morally wrong. Sometimes, these actions are illegal and so constitute civil disobedience. The messages they are attempting to communicate are directed at ordinary people, urging them to join or, at least adopt, the same moral positions, rather than to governments or other representative institutions to change their policies

Connecting with political power: social movement activism and environmental law

What can historians of the environment movement offer those interested in environmental law? The two fields are so disparate that we thought we should provide a brief outline of the nature of social movements before discussing interconnections and the common interest in aspects of law reform. Social movements are notoriously unstable and fluid phenomena and their history and influence can only be understood in the light of this temperament. Yet they aim to extend the limits of the social system, which brings them directly into the legal arena. This article briefly outlines the nature of the environment movement and its need to connect with political power. It then discusses some of the environment movement's recent struggles in Queensland in order to highlight the many obstacles that social movements face in their interactions with political power. Even when successful, environmental victories can be undermined by public servants who fail to enforce new environmental laws and standards. We conclude that the environment movement has to fight not only for environmental reform, but also for increased accountability measures

Pediatric asthma and autism—genomic perspectives

High-throughput technologies, ranging from microarrays to NexGen sequencing of RNA and genomic DNA, have opened new avenues for exploration of the pathobiology of human disease. Comparisons of the architecture of the genome, identification of mutated or modified sequences, and pre-and post- transcriptional regulation of gene expression as disease specific biomarkers are revolutionizing our understanding of the causes of disease and are guiding the development of new therapies. There is enormous heterogeneity in types of genomic variation that occur in human disease. Some are inherited, while others are the result of new somatic or germline mutations or errors in chromosomal replication. In this review, we provide examples of changes that occur in the human genome in two of the most common chronic pediatric disorders, autism and asthma. The incidence and economic burden of both of these disorders are increasing worldwide. Genomic variations have the potential to serve as biomarkers for personalization of therapy and prediction of outcomes