Newsletter Editorial from Jacques Boulet
Dear Borderlands shareholders, members and friends…
As 2024 quickly runs to its conclusion, it somehow feels like the right time to make this my last Borderlands Newsletter editorial after having edited the newsletter for 27 years… more than a quarter century… and it has been quite a ride in the good company of you and a few hundred other readers…
Starting out in November 1997 with the invitation to Borderlands’ launch (on Sunday the 21st of December in Camberwell, at St Mark’s Anglican church – responded to by over 100 friends and others wanting to make a difference)… and then via the Newsletter usually four times a year… so around 110 newsletters not including the occasional ‘extra’ ones for events or programs and especially the extra ones during COVID in 2020-21, when nothing much ‘collective’ was happening and we were all mostly talking to ourselves …
So it feels like time to pass the ‘job’ onto Jorge who, in addition to being good with Newsletters, is so much better than I ever will be with all the IT intricacies … indeed, well beyond my rather moderate ‘Publisher’ – sometimes desperate – endeavours…
So thank you to all of you who have read, who have responded, who have passed on whatever it was you thought would be worth spreading further afield… and thank you ‘in absentia’ to all those who let me know that they weren’t further interested in receiving the newsletter… for whatever reason… Better that way than just let it ‘bounce’ or to just push the ‘delete’ key… And posthumous thanks you to all who have left us in the course of these 27 years… a growing number of close friends, collaborators and members…
Our move to Footscray in October 2019 – after a promising start – saw COVID stop us in our tracks five months later… for about all of 2020 and 2021… But things now really start to feel as if this is the place where we are meant to be… Finding our present place at 30A Pickett Street in the St John’s Anglican Church bluestone hall end-2020 and moving in April 2021 certainly made us feel part of the place, and ‘further-out’, of the rest of the ‘West’ of Melbourne…
Whilst we did ‘get’ some paid projects, they were few and far between but because of our hosting VU social work students on placement each year, we have managed to keep not only busy but maintain a trickle of income that helped paying the rent… Were it not for some very large gifts from a few of our present and past members, we would probably have had some money problems along the way… and we/I will remain grateful to them for that support forever…
But since mid-2023 we have started to see ‘movement’ with more networking, project applications, and our largest success: funding for the Borderlands/Footscray Community Garden and Learning Place… now well underway and producing kilos of produce and a group of keen volunteers keeping up with the development of the garden… And we’re hoping for other projects and programs we’ve applied for funding or have submitted proposals for…
As to my own plans about Borderlands, whilst not your Newsletter editor or Board member any more, I will continue to contribute to the happenings by and at Borderlands … the editorial work for the New Community journal (together with Seng – and with growing subscriber numbers) and the co-production of our weekly radio program (together with Jennifer, having ‘done’ almost 275 programs and with almost 200,000 ‘hits’ on the podcasts) and helping out with projects and student supervision will continue as long as I can and as I can be useful…
And from time to time, I may sneak in an article or another contribution to the newsletter… as long as I think I still have to something to ‘say’…
Meanwhile, for the ending of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, on behalf of the myself and the Board, I wish you all the happiest you can be in a political and social/ecological environment that – unfortunately – does not inspire or foster much happiness, peace and wellbeing… So whilst not reading my editorials anymore, it would still be nice to catch up ‘live’ at Borderlands or somewhere else, face-to-face or by any of the meanwhile ubiquitous social and not-so-social media…
Jacques
New Community Call for articles. Volume 23 # 1 Issue 89. Socio-Ecological Justice… can CD make it less of a pipedream?
2030 and needing to reduce our emissions by 45% is getting closer and as all the relevant figures on both ends of the ‘socio-ecological’ equation are NOT getting better FAST enough (just read Highway to Hell: climate change and Australia’s future—Joelle Gergis’ Quarterly Essay #94 and listen to Peter Dutton and his merry band of climate change deniers and try to stay calm and collected…!)… We really do need all hands on deck… Our window of opportunity to improve on both the ecological and the social sides as suggested in Kate Raworth’s ’Doughnut Economics’ seem to be rapidly closing… So we need a bit of Tim Hollo’s faith and hope as he details and illustrates them in his ‘Living Democracy’ book (2022), how we should/could revitalise our ‘bottom-up and ‘horizontalist’ credentials of Community Development and Community Organising… Let’s fill this coming issue with our living examples!
Volume 23 # 2 Issue 90. Revitalising the ‘Commons’ as a Community Development goal and means
At a time when ‘Creative Commons’ has become a much-used licence to reprint articles and other texts – also in this journal – it’s probably time that we, as community development practitioners and thinkers, start to use the concept as well to describe the ‘reason d’être’ for a great deal of our work. Indeed, many of the historical processes which have lead us to the loss of community and relational quality are associated with the ‘loss of the commons’, a process that started in Britain and Continental Europe about 600 years ago… and we’re still suffering from the encroachment of the ‘private’ in all manner of ways into our ‘common’ places (now probably referred to as ‘public’… but that has come to mean ‘state’-owned and controlled). There certainly have been growing attempts at ‘operationalising’ the ‘commons’ concepts to describe community development activism… and an entire journal has been dedicated to such activism and practice internationally… So we think it’s worth a try…
New Community 2025. It would be lovely if our readers would spread the news about this journal and help us increase the number of subscribers… www.nc.org.au
And please get writing! We need your contributions for this journal to be a true Community journal. Article guidelines or requesting a subscription can be obtained by contacting us by: Email: ncq@borderlands.org.au | Facebook: New Community or call Borderlands: (03) 9819 3239 or 0466 123 766
Language in Community Festival
Melbourne’s second Language in Community Festival, on Saturday December 14, was a fantastic success. The Festival was organised by ViệtSpeak and Angliss Neighbourhood House, and included a host of performers, workshops and other activities. Several hundred people participated in song, dance and conversation in a huge variety of language. The Festival has succeed two years in a row in highlighting the importance of language for meaningful multiculturalism and community diversity and exchange.
For more information and to stay in touch with the Festival organisers see:
Update on the Footscray Community Garden & Learning Place
Since August, when work on the Footscray Community Garden and Learning Place Project began in earnest, we have collectively turned a rather neglected-looking space into a construction site, and from there into a flourishing garden …
A massive thank you to all our volunteers, and to our dynamic and committed Establishment Committee. You’ve all helped build something very special and realised the original vision of a collective enterprise, based on cooperative labour and collectivist principles of distribution. Together let’s spread the word in our community and keep it going into 2025 and beyond!
For a full report go to the:
Fighting pollution and for liveability in the west: The Steel Cement campaign
In September, Borderlands was part of an initiative by 14 community groups, who signed a letter to Katie Hall MP with a range of concerns regarding proposals likely to amplify existing pollution and health concerns in the inner west (see that letter here).
The specific proposal that triggered this letter was the subject of a Maribyrnong Council report on Wednesday December 11, recommending that Steel Cement be given a permit to expand its operations in Yarraville [Steel Cement Pty Ltd TP53/2023(1)].
In the lead up to this Council vote, another letter was signed by a range of community groups and individuals, urging Marobyrnong councillors to vote against the recommended permit for Steel Cement. Council was also addressed in person by community objectors.
The public campaign was successful and Council voted unanimously against giving Steel Cement the permit for an expansion!
Read the full community letter of opposition.
Maribyrnong for Palestine Community Picnic
Maribyrnong for Palestine had an end of year picnic on Saturday December 14, at Harris Reserve in Seddon. About 30 local Palestine supporters came together to share in their combative spirit and support each other to keep fighting for Palestine. Maribyrnong for Palestine meets fortnightly at Borderlands Co-operative. The next meeting is Monday January 13, 6pm.
Empty Homes are a Crime Scene campaign
This small excerpt from the Herald Sun, republished by realestate.com.au gives a good idea of what the Empty Homes are a Crime Campaign is all about – much to the distaste of both the Herald Sun and the real estate industry …
Rental advocate and Victorian Socialists’ candidate Jordan van den Lamb and supporters have put “Empty homes crime scene” stickers on unoccupied Melbourne homes to raise awareness of the housing crisis. Social media agitator and rental advocate Jordan van den Lamb, aka Purplepingers, has been slammed for plastering empty Melbourne homes with stickers identifying them as vacant. Mr van den Lamb, who will stand as a Victorian Socialists’ candidate in the upcoming federal election, is encouraging supporters to put the “Empty homes crime scene” campaign stickers on residences that have been unlived in for an extended period, to raise awareness of the housing crisis. Part of the stickers’ fine print reads: “Please do not post this sticker. That would be illegal. Unlike this property being empty which is perfectly legal even when there are thousands of people in Victoria who don’t have anywhere to live.” And Mr Lamb, who founded the S**t Rentals website, said he was hoping the movement goes national and is taken up by people in Australia’s other capital cities. However, real estate industry figures have criticised the campaign, warning it could potentially encourage break-ins at targeted homes …
According to a new University of NSW and Guardian Report, 10,000 extra people in Australia are becoming homeless each month. Meanwhile, there is an estimated 100,000 vacant homes across Metropolitan Melbourne. That’s one in 20!
Labor’s “solution” to the housing crisis is to pour money into developer pockets to build more dwellings, many of which will become investment properties and AirBNB style accommodation. There is a simple solution:
- A mass build of public housing (which would also put downward pressure on private rentals);
- End tax incentives for property investors; and
- State and local government restrictions and heavy permit fees for short term rentals.
EMPTY HOMES ARE A CRIME SCENE! THEY NEED TO BE IDENTIFIED.
Climate Adaptation Fair
A Climate Adaptation Fair is coming to town! It will showcase all things climate adaptation through stalls, workshops, and talks.
The fair will be from 10am-4pm on 8 February 2025 at Borderlands Co-op in Footscray. It’ll be a day of celebrating and uplifting community-led climate adaptation!
What can we – the people – do to keep each other safe? There will be information on adapting to locked-in climate change impacts – how we keep each other safe.
What are we – the people – already doing to keep each other safe? Those already implementing projects in their communities will share their story and knowledge, so others can be inspired and learn how to do the same in their communities.
Borderlands Community Advocacy & Activism Training Day
Saturday February 15 at Borderlands Co-operative
- Recollections from the frontlines: A dotted history of community activism in Melbourne
- Hands-on workshop: Basic skills for organising campaigns: strategy, tactics and organisation
- Case studies: Framing issues and community engagement & mobilisation
- Case studies: Establishing local community action groups
- Round circle conversation: Sustaining the momentum of campaigns, movements and organisations
Everyday there are millions of people globally and in our neighbourhoods working to make the world we live in a better place. Many are trying through individual efforts, often connected to others and sometimes working in groups and organisations. Many people become community activists for a month or a year, or more, and some for a lifetime. In collective efforts these activists not only magnify their impact, but they also become part of making history. Social change is impossible without collective, constructive and organised community action. This series of training sessions will give you an opportunity to explore activist histories, interrogate concepts in strategy and tactics, and build-on your activist skills.
The Activist Training Summer School will be taking a limited number of registrations. Use the Enrolment Form below. The Summer School will include some pre-reading, which will be made available in hard copy and digital form to all participants. Sessions will consist of a brief introduction by facilitators and be followed by workshop activities and discussion. Some discussion points will be provided in advance as part of the pre-reading pack.
Speakers and facilitators will be added once confirmed.
Borderlands Activist Group
If you are a Borderlands Member or Shareholder, you are welcome to come to our monthly Activist Group Meetings. Help us organise community events and campaigns, and support and develop Borderlands projects. Meetings will happen monthly on the fourth Thursday of every month, starting 5.30pm at the Borderlands Co-operative.
Borderlands Co-operative works as a hub for community projects and organising: activating communities for social & ecological justice. This involves a lot of project work, and taking up initiatives that help raise awareness and build community capacity. Contact us if you are interested in joining Borderlands and being part of our Activist Group. Jorge 0416 200 922.
Regenerating Communities: Community Development in Victoria
Announcing: Community development conference in 2025
A gathering of active citizens, practitioners, academics, policy makers and social impact folk to check in, share news, network/connect and build momentum for a continued commitment to participatory development practice and social justice.
Staying in touch with Borderlands Co-operative
If you no longer wish to receive the Borderlands Newsletter please email jorge@borderlands.org.au to cancel.
Some articles of recent interest
Endless onslaught: Would Israel’s Mordechai be attacked as ‘antisemitic’ in Australia. By Henry Reynolds. Dec 10, 2024.
How the US and Israel Destroyed Syria and Called it Peace. By Jeffrey D Sachs. Dec 12, 2024.
Syria: What Comes After the Despot? An Interview with Anand Gopal. Interview by Bhaskar Sunkara. December 11, 2024.
Gustavo Gutiérrez’s revolutionary mission. By Jorge Jorquera. October 2024.