Dr Matthew Rimmer (ANU) will present The Fossil Fuel Resistance: Intellectual Property, Climate Activism, and Culture-Jamming. It promises to be an interesting and engaging evening.
Dr Matthew Rimmer, associate professor at the Australain National University (ANU) College of Law, will analyse specific stunts by The Yes Men, who impersonate big-time criminals to publicly humiliate them. They have created The Yes Lab which is devoted to helping activists use creative techniques to promote change.
We look at the legal conflicts by exploring the work of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) in the US, who defend free speech, privacy, innovation, and consumer rights in today's digital world. Lawyers, policy analysts, activists, and technologists at EFF fight for freedom primarily in the courts, bringing and defending lawsuits even when that means taking on the US government or large corporations.
Anti-coal activist Jonathan Moylan faces up to ten years imprisonment over the Whitehaven Coal Hoax. Was it an act of civil disobedience? A spoof? Culture-jamming? Misleading and deceptive conduct? Or corporate fraud?
2013 has seen a series of similar battles over climate change, culture-jamming and civil disobedience, supported by the likes of fossil fuel divestment champion Bill McKibben. The courts have been forced to tackle complex legal questions involving climate activism and its place in the politics of climate change. Dr Matthew Rimmer will discuss international debates over civil disobedience, identity correction, hoaxes, impersonation, climate activism and culture-jamming. He joins us via Skype.
Time: 6:30 - 8pm Monday 7 October 2013
Fritz Loewe Theatre (entry via level 2)
McCoy Building
University of Melbourne
Cnr Elgin & Swanston Streets, Carlton
Entry: Gold coin donation
Thank you to the University of Melbourne, Melbourne Energy Institute, our Zero Carbon Australia project partners for supporting us in bringing you this event.