Theoretical overview
For VCAA, writing about protest means exploring ‘conflict and contest, what it means to protest, the value of protest, the outcomes of protest, personal stories of protest, struggle, and war.’ Students may delve into historical and contemporary issues that have spurred protests, interpret the diverse and sometimes subjective meanings of ‘protest’ and reflect on their experiences with aspiring towards social change.
Protesting involves challenging systems of oppression and the ideologies embedded within them. Examples of such systems include white supremacy, patriarchy, heteronormativity, authoritarianism, social conservatism, colonialism and militarism - each systematically oppresses certain groups and privileges others. Ultimately, we protest to remedy imbalances of power, to restore or distribute power in ways perceived to be more fair.
Writing about protest also requires an imaginative approach to what protest looks like. We typically envision crowds marching or rioting, yet protest can take many forms. Acts of dissent include: refusing to give up a bus seat to challenge segregation, defying conscription laws as a conscientious objector, going on strike, delivering speeches that confront oppressors, standing up against your family at the dinner table, or holding a loved one’s hand at Pride. Think about the unique meanings of these forms of protest, and their ethical dimensions; what forms of protest lead to what kinds of changes? Is it necessary to create conflict to resolve injustice? Can peace exist without justice? We will explore some of these ideas in the ‘Ideas’ section.
Knowing the mentor texts
Kurt Vonnegut, Harrison Bergenon
In "Harrison Bergeron," Vonnegut depicts a future world where absolute equality is achieved. The authorities impose handicaps to suppress individuality and enforce conformity, distorting utopian ideals into a dystopian nightmare. As the VCAA notes, the story's language is both comedic and tragic, using satire and irony to highlight the folly of striving for total equality. In sustaining a metaphor of a handicapped race, common in horse and dog racing, Vonnegut posits the impossibility of achieving sameness without being dehumanized and losing our individuality in the process.
Emmeline Pankhurst, ‘Freedom or Death’
‘Freedom or Death’ is a passionate speech delivered in 1913 by British political activist and suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst (1858-1928). Describing herself as a ‘soldier,’ Pankhurst strives to persuade her American audience of the necessity of a suffragette ‘revolution.’ Repetition, metaphor and analogy imbue the speech with a vigor and conviction that is difficult to argue against - militancy, conventionally frowned upon, is rationalized through the analogy of the babies, one ‘patient’ and other who ‘impatient,’ who ‘cries lustily, screams, and kicks.’ As Pankhurst reasons, ‘we know perfectly well which baby is attended to first.’
Mark Gillespie, Friday Essay: On The Sydney mardi Gras March of 1978
The history of the relationship between queer communities and police institutions is long and bitterly unjust. For many openly gay men in the twentieth century, police brutality was a normalized occurrence, with authorities abusing their power to further homophobic hatred. Gillespie’s hybrid essay explores his personal experiences at the Sydney Mardi Gras March of 1978, a demonstration that ended with brutal beatings and arrests by the police. Gillespie’s piece intertwines personal reflection with historical facts to reflect on a journey that, as VCAA describes, ‘is far from over.’ The past continues to influence the present, and for many, injustice lingers without a sense of closure.
Meyne Wyatt, Monologue from City of Gold
Wyatt’s monologue from ‘City of Gold’ blends’ was performed on ABC in June 2020 in the context of Aboriginal deaths in custody, an issue which continues to pervade Australian society. Shortly after the first production of the play, in 2019, Aboriginal teen Kumanjai Walker was killed by a white police officer who was ultimately acquitted. The monologue captures Wyatt’s grief, and anger, serving as a political protest against racism and tokenistic reconciliation. Wyatt rebukes white Australia’s desire to force First Nations people into submission, as represented by the motif of being forced to ‘sit down’ and ‘stay humble.’ In addition to experimenting with the form of monologue, the text offers rich inspiration for students wanting to explore Indigenous activism in Australia or issues of racism and colonialism around the globe.
Ideas to explore
The meaning of equality: To reflect on the meaning of equality, consider the difference between equity and equality, or equal opportunity versus equal outcomes. How have social movements historically defined equality in different ways, and what challenges do they face in achieving it? You may also wish to explore Vonnegut’s dilemmas more closely, focusing on the relationship between equality and justice. Does true equality mean sameness? And does it always result in justice?
Complacency vs. dissent: Complacency and apathy are often the target of protest movements. Those who are complacent are either satisfied with the status quo, or fear the repercussions of defying it. These individuals inhibit progress and perpetuate injustice, in contrast to those who choose to dissent regardless of the repercussions that they may face. Consider examples, both real or imagined, that demonstrate the dangers of complacency. Conversely, consider why some people may be entirely blind (or turn a blind eye) to the suffering of others.
The impact of protest: What does it mean for a protest to fail? What does it mean for a protest to succeed? Sometimes, a protest shakes the very foundations of a society. Other times, protests flicker out with little to no tangible change. But should these protests be dismissed as futile? Or can we find a way to value smaller, less visible actions? You may want to examine the short-term and long-term impacts of protests. How have acts of dissent shaped the world we currently live in? Or perhaps your own personal life?
The personal is political: Consider your own personal experiences, or others’ personal stories of protest. In exploring the relationship between our everyday lives and the broader political or social systems we live in, we can interrogate how the two influence one another. Gillespie, for instance, felt daily the effects of living in a highly heteronormative and homophobic society - his sexuality was hidden, since ‘living a ‘double life’ was a means of survival.’ Nonetheless, his personal story itself becomes a form of protest, a demand for a ‘living apology.’
Peace and in/justice: Martin Luther, in his ‘Alabama Tribute’ speech in 1957, proclaimed ‘I come not to bring this old peace which is merely the absence of tension; I come to bring a positive peace which is the presence of justice.’ Many activists and proponents of equality have suggested that conventional understandings of ‘peace’ are flawed if they do not include questions of justice. A country can be ‘peaceful,’ yet injustice can prevail in the shadows. In contrast, protesters are often portrayed as instigators of conflict - as ‘disturbers’ of the peace. To what extent should peace be ‘disturbed’ in the pursuit of justice?
Application
Let’s see how we can use these ideas when responding to different stimuli. In this section, we’ll demonstrate how to adapt pre-prepared pieces to fit different stimuli. It’s important to go into the exam prepared, so having some pre-written pieces ready to adjust to various stimuli is the key. Here is an example that we’ll adapt to different stimuli.
Sample Creative Piece:
Context: Toxic masculinity and the culture of misogyny in Australia
Form: Hybrid essay (personal/persuasive)
Audience: Australian women
Key ideas: the personal is political, the dangers of complacency
Key mentor texts (used for inspiration): Mark Gillespie’s ‘Friday Essay,’ Emmeline Pankhurst’s ‘Freedom or Death’
Main purpose/s: Argue, reflect (from the four key purposes: argue, express, explain, reflect)
Setting: Australia
Motifs, events and key images: misogynistic chants on public transport ; the Brittany Higgins trial; the spreadsheet incident )
Creative elements: metaphor, analogy
Adapting sample excerpts to different stimuli
This sample excerpt draws from Gillespie’s essay in its experimentation with personal reflection and ‘as-it-happened’ moments:
When the St Kevins boys chanted their misogynistic anthems on public transport, it wasn’t just a display of teenage immaturity. It was a public performance of dominance, a reminder to every woman within earshot that her safety was conditional, subject to the whims of those who see her as human. As a female student who uses public transport everyday to get to school, reading this news sent a chill down my spine. This was not just a chant, it was a war cry, a declaration of an unspoken war waged against us. But what did we ever do wrong?
Now let’s adapt this to the following stimuli:
Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced. – James Baldwin.
This stimuli emphasizes the importance of determination, of perseverance despite failure. It relates to the impact of protest, suggesting that failure does not equate to futility. Taking this into consideration, let’s revise our approach to the first excerpt:
When the St Kevins boys chanted their misogynistic anthems on public transport, it wasn’t just a display of teenage immaturity. It was a public performance of dominance, a reminder to every woman within earshot that her safety was conditional, subject to the whims of those who see her as human. And for me, their war cry worked - I sunk deeper into my bus seat and began wishing so intensely to disappear. But the woman next to me began rebuking the boys in the striped uniforms, shouting in a tone that reminded me of my mother telling me off. In that moment, I felt guilty of my presumption that my voice could not matter. Certainly, her indignation did not stop them, and the chants continued. Yet here was this woman, perhaps a mother, who knew much better than me that until we face misogyny in this country, nothing will change.
Note how certain elements are changed to emphasize the sentiment expressed in the stimuli. The speaker wishes ‘to disappear’ while a new character, ‘perhaps a mother,’ is introduced as the heroine - her outspokenness, though immediately ineffective, is presented as significant, thereby reinforcing Baldwin’s argument.
Let’s try adapting it to a different stimuli, this time a poem:
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
– Maya Angelou
The poem speaks to feelings of powerlessness and determination - a the lonesome ‘bird’ and the ‘grave of dreams’ suggest a personal story of oppression. There is also a strong sense of injustice - ‘his wings are clipped and his feet are tied.’ With stimuli that refer to things and images, it is a good idea to employ these as symbols in your text. So let’s have a go at using the symbolism of a ‘caged bird’ in modifying our first excerpt:
When the St Kevins boys chanted their misogynistic anthems on public transport, it wasn’t just a display of teenage immaturity. It was a public performance of dominance, a reminder to every woman within earshot that her safety is conditional, that she is a caged bird, her wings clipped and her feet tied by the patriarchal hands that rule this country. Sitting beside them, the tram indeed began to feel like a cage - steel poles and panels trapped me in a chamber of vile noises and faces. I wanted to scream to them, ‘what did we ever do wrong?’
Once again, the opening of the anecdote is the same, yet the description of the event shifts to include the image and symbolism of the ‘caged bird’ - in this context, the tram begins to feel like a cage. Furthermore, the protagonist’s experience is linked to the collective experiences of women, whose ‘wings’ and ‘feet’ are metaphorically clipped by the culture they live in.
Adapting metaphors and analogies:
These two excerpts draw from Pankhurst’s use of metaphor and analogy:
Toxic masculinity festers in our schools and institutions like an untreated disease, inherited from our families, friends, and colleagues.
Just as a surgeon must exercise a tumor to save the body, so too must our society cut out these entrenched attitudes that perpetuate misogyny and place women at risk.
Let’s first adapt these to the first stimuli we looked at, the quote by James Baldwin.
Our metaphor and analogy already work quite well with the stimuli, but let’s have a go at rephrasing them so they reflect Baldwin’s point even more closely.
Toxic masculinity festers in our schools and institutions like an untreated disease, inherited from our families and friends. For decades, women in Australia have tried to cure this disease. Their efforts are not in vain, and we must continue their legacy. For just as a surgeon must must exercise a tumor to save the body, so too must our society cut out these entrenched attitudes that perpetuate misogyny and place women at risk.
In this case, we have added two short phrases that again emphasize the necessity of protest regardless of whether that protest is immediately effective or not. The problem continues to exist despite attempts to ‘cure this disease,’ but our ‘efforts are not in vain.’
Now let’s adapt the metaphor and analogy to the second stimuli we looked at, the poem.
The image of the ‘grave of dreams’ works quite well with our motif of disease, so let’s start with that. We might write something like:
Toxic masculinity festers in our schools and institutions like an untreated disease, leaving behind a grave of dreams. The dreams of young women, driven out of parliament or trapped under a glass ceiling. This grave of dreams reminds us that we need to keep the fight up. We must exercise the tumor to save the body…
Alternatively, we can avoid adding new images or motifs (since we already have that of the ‘disease’) and focus on emphasizing the idea of the quote:
Toxic masculinity festers in our schools and institutions like an untreated disease, inherited from our families and friends. This disease may feel totalising, but despite our disadvantages I know we can beat it. We have our voices, and that is all we need.
This revised version focuses more so on the idea of being at a disadvantage (‘his wings are clipped and his feet are tied’) yet using our voice to protest injustice.
Conclusion
We hope these examples will help you understand how to tackle the stimuli in a way that is perceptive, relevant, and seamless. Remember that most of the work happens before you enter the exam room - so plan, plan, plan! Experiment with your written pieces, and challenge yourself to edit and modify them to suit different contexts, ideas, and images. We wish you all the best of luck!
