From Toilet Paper Wars to #ViralKindness? - Berghahn Journals
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From Toilet Paper Wars to #ViralKindness?
COVID-19, Solidarity and
the Basic Income Debate in Australia
Anne Décobert
ABSTRACT: By examining seemingly contradictory reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic and
relating these to the basic income debate in Australia, this article explores the potential that
the socio-economic crisis provoked by COVID-19 presents for a transformation of welfare sys-
tems. Drawing on ethnographic observation, the article describes the emergence of grassroots
forms of solidarity in response to the pandemic. Within the context of the increasing hardship
experienced by Australians, ongoing failures of existing welfare systems, and inadequate
government responses to COVID-19, the groundswell of solidarity may coalesce with increas-
ing support for a basic income, creating a conjunctural movement that propels radical social
transformation.
KEYWORDS: Australia, basic income, COVID-19, inequality, precarity, solidarity
Five months on from the World Health Organiza- By examining seemingly contradictory reactions
tion declaring the COVID-19 pandemic, hundreds to the COVID-19 pandemic and relating these to the
of thousands of Australians have lost their jobs and basic income debate in Australia, this article explores
fallen into hardship due to the economic impacts of the potential that the current crisis presents for radi-
government-imposed lockdowns. As endless queues cal socio-economic transformation. The rise of grass-
formed outside Centrelink offices,1 existing social roots forms of solidarity, I argue, demonstrates that
security systems were rapidly overwhelmed. At the we are far from incapable of caring for others – others
same time, the federal government’s response to who may be strangers but with whom we share new-
the crisis has reproduced systemic inequalities and found feelings of intimacy as we all face a difficult
exclusions, despite Prime Minister Sco Morrison’s present and uncertain future. These movements in
claim that we are ‘all in this together’.2 turn present opportunities to galvanise support for a
The socio-economic crisis brought about by transition towards welfare systems that have solidar-
COVID-19 reveals cracks in existing welfare systems ity at their core.
and the need for radical transformation. At the same
time – if we are to believe public discourses – the re-
actions of many Australians to the pandemic would Selfishness or Solidarity
appear to epitomise the self-centeredness that is
commonly thought to be at the heart of our indi- Even before COVID-19 infections took off in Aus-
vidualistic, capitalist society. Yet beyond the media tralia and lockdowns led to mass job losses, another
hype and frequent reprimands from government crisis hit the country. From one day to the next, it
authorities, grassroots movements of solidarity have seemed that the veneer of civilisation had disinte-
flourished. grated; the shelves of supermarkets across the coun-
Anthropology in Action, 27, no. 3 (Winter 2020): 51–55 © The Author(s)
ISSN 0967-201X (Print) ISSN 1752-2285 (Online)
doi:10.3167/aia.2020.270311
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons A ribution Noncommercial No
Derivatives 4.0 International license (h ps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). For uses
beyond those covered in the license contact Berghahn Books.AiA | Anne Décobert try were stripped of that most prized possession elderly; from people with sewing machines who are fondly referred to by Aussies as the ‘dunny roll’; and making free reusable masks for community mem- a Hobbesian war of all against all had erupted, as bers; and from others who are offering whatever time desperate individuals ba led over the few remaining and resources they can share. This group is part of the packets of toilet paper (Hobbes 2018). #ViralKindness network, a movement of (at my last In reality, there were no shortages of essential items count) 205 community care groups across Australia in Australia (toilet paper being, apparently, an es- that connect people in need with others who are sential item). Yet the panic buying was very real and willing and able to help.4 Members of these groups, did lead to supply chain issues and empty shelves. initially strangers to one another, have connected Researchers from the University of New South Wales through social media as part of a bo om-up swell found Australia’s COVID-19 panic buying to be of solidarity that has taken place beyond the media the highest in the world (Keane and Neal 2020). spotlight. While other countries grappled with sky-rocketing There are also many examples of individuals COVID-19 cases, the Australian media focussed on and community groups supporting those who are brawls in supermarket aisles; shops imposed ration- excluded from government COVID-19 relief pro- ing; and the Prime Minister chastised the nation for grammes. In Sydney, restaurants are handing out ‘un-Australian’ hoarding (Martin 2020). meals to international students stranded by the pan- Yet despite panic buying being denounced as ‘un- demic. In Melbourne, individuals have been making Australian’, public discourse and policy o en per- and donating reusable facemasks for asylum seekers. petuate an image of individual Australians as selfish. In Darwin, a group of international students estab- In the state of Victoria, lockdowns have been accom- lished ‘Kindness Shake’, a programme supported by panied by strict penalties. Police roam the streets, local businesses that distributes free meals to tempo- empowered to hand out on-the-spot fines of AUD rary visa holders. And so the list goes on. 1,650 (GBP 900) to rule-breakers. The media con- Disaster studies demonstrate that social capital and vinces us that such heavy-handed measures are nec- networks of care between members of society are key essary. When, a er the initial easing of restrictions, to resilience (Aldrich 2012). Yet common representa- the Victorian government re-imposed lockdown in tions of many (if not all) individual Australians as July due to increasing community transmission of selfish and as posing a threat to others can feed into a COVID-19, media stories of individuals breaking the toxic ‘nocebo effect’, which undermines our together- rules abounded. A KFC birthday party that ended ness and resilience as a nation. In Humankind, Rutger up costing an impressive AUD 26,000 (GBP 14,350) Bregman (2020) argues that public discourse contrib- in fines was cited repeatedly as proof that individu- utes to a ‘nocebo effect’ – a self-fulfilling prophesy als’ selfish behaviour was pu ing lives at risk (ABC whereby, since we are led to believe that humans are News 2020a). Meanwhile, in daily press conferences, selfish, we then act in selfish ways. The ‘toilet paper the Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, endeavours wars’ are a case in point. In their study of panic buy- not to alienate the population, for example demon- ing, Michael Keane and Timothy Neal (2020) found strating empathy for people who have tested late no correlation between drastic escalations in panic or failed to self-isolate because they feared loss of buying and increases in domestic COVID-19 cases income from precarious jobs; but at the same time, or lockdown restrictions; instead, media coverage of he draws a ention to individuals who are ‘making hoarding in Australia was a more determining factor. a selfish choice’, such as by refusing to wear a mask The influence of the media was highlighted in many (ABC News 2020b). And while individuals display- discussions I have had with Australian residents ing such ‘selfish’ behaviour are a small minority, the about their reactions to the pandemic. In a recent con- mainstream media creates the impression that anti- versation with my local pharmacist, the young woman social behaviour is widespread. explained that it had not initially occurred to her to However, in response to the pandemic, grassroots stock up on toilet paper; but when she watched news support networks have actually emerged throughout reports of empty shelves, she felt what Australians call the country. In my neighbourhood, a group called ‘FOMO’ (‘Fear of Missing Out’); and so she rushed to ‘Northside Melbourne CoronaVirus Outreach’ con- Woolworths and bought as much as she could. nects young and healthy individuals who are able Discursive representations of selfishness can le- to help others with those who are vulnerable and in gitimise heavy-handed governmental control and need.3 The group’s Facebook page abounds with posts further undermine social trust. Individual members from young adults offering to deliver supplies to the of the public become subjects as well as instruments 52 |
From Toilet Paper Wars to #ViralKindness? | AiA
of state surveillance and power, with those who ‘dob beyond the scope of this article to enumerate. The
in’ (i.e. report) breaches of lockdown rules recast as other typical argument against a basic income is that
protectors of society. In this ‘new normal’, we risk all it encourages laziness and dependence. In Australia,
ending up each other’s guards in a warped version this argument has come to be connected with the ‘dole
of the panopticon effect, where individuals cannot be bludger’ stereotype.
trusted to police themselves and so police each other The term ‘dole bludger’ was invented in the early
(Foucault 1989). 1970s, constructing ‘welfare recipients as parasites
Yet as described above, COVID-19 has also trig- upon “ordinary Australian” taxpayers’ (Archer 2009:
gered a surge in solidarity. Through grassroots sup- 177). Through media and government discourse, the
port networks, individuals have assisted those who term became part of the Australian vernacular; the
are more vulnerable or have fallen through the cracks welfare state came to be represented as the cause of
of the federal government’s COVID-19 response. At a economic problems rather than their cure; and the
time when the failures of existing welfare systems are shi towards neoliberalism was legitimised. The
highlighted and ever more Australians are experienc- stereotype of the ‘dole bludger’ represents those on
ing precarity, these movements also offer opportuni- welfare support as shirking their social responsibili-
ties to galvanise support for a basic income. ties and presents welfarism as contributing to a kind
of ‘culture of poverty’ that encourages indolence.
Decades a er its emergence, the ‘dole bludger’ dis-
The Basic Income Debate course remains deep-rooted in Australia, where it is
now o en used to argue against a basic income – if
The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated trends we were all to receive a basic income, without hav-
that analysts have warned us about for years: widen- ing to prove that we were at least trying to find a
ing inequalities within and between countries; the de- ‘proper job’, we would essentially all become ‘dole
crease in secure forms of employment; and the growth bludgers’.
of the ‘Precariat’, whose grievances Guy Standing Evidence from countries that have adopted cash-
presaged could fuel dangerous social instabilities (Fer- transfer programmes indicates that a basic income
guson and Li 2018; Milanovic 2016; Standing 2010). would not actually promote idleness or dependency
Australia’s welfare systems were never designed to (Banerjee et al. 2017). Moreover, a basic income en-
deal with these new realities. They are ‘designed for ables a rethinking of how we value people’s contri-
last century, with a binary way of thinking about em- butions to society. A er all, people can and do con-
ployment that’s no longer the experience of casual, tribute in multiple and meaningful ways to society,
contract and gig workers’ (Baskin 2020). without this being through waged employment – a
In Give a Man a Fish, James Ferguson (2015) ar- trend that will only increase as automation replaces
gues that, in a world in which many will never get many lower-skilled or routine jobs in the coming
a ‘proper job’, we must move away from the idea of years. The COVID-19 pandemic and movements of
human survival being dependent on waged labour solidarity that have emerged in recent months pres-
and towards the idea of a ‘rightful share’. Citizens ent significant opportunities for increased recogni-
would have a right to an income based on a share in tion of the value of unpaid care work and other social
ownership of national wealth. In a lecture at the Uni- contributions beyond waged employment.
versity of Melbourne in 2018, Ferguson then argued As increasing numbers of Australians find them-
that presence rather than membership should be the selves unemployed and in precarious positions, it
basis for social obligation. Through their presence is also likely that there will be growing sympathy
in Australia, denizens like international students or amongst members of the public for those previously
migrants would be entitled to a basic income – some- labelled as ‘dole bludgers’. At the same time, calls for
thing that can be seen as not only morally right but a basic income have multiplied in recent months, the
also as a sensible socio-economic strategy, given the topic no longer being the exclusive domain of le ist
contributions that such individuals make to Austra- advocates and now entering into mainstream pub-
lian society. lic debate. With precarity increasingly recognised
A basic income is a regular financial payment as contributing to Australia’s public health crisis – as
made to all members of society and not linked to spe- in the example of individuals who do not get tested
cific conditions. One of the most common arguments or self-isolate out of fear of losing income from pre-
against this is that it is too expensive – an argument carious employment – arguments for a basic income
that has been dismantled in many ways, which are are gaining force. Together with the movements of
| 53AiA | Anne Décobert
solidarity described above, the present moment thus Notes
offers opportunities for radical social transformation.
1. Centrelink is the government service that provides
social security payments to people entitled to wel-
Conclusion fare support.
2. https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Busi
The COVID-19 pandemic has in reality led to a ness/Hansard/Hansard_Display?bid=chamber/
groundswell of solidarity in Australia. While the focus hansardr/247e20e8-7bbe-4712-afcb-c8833dc6a228/
of public discourse has o en been on acts of selfish- &sid=0013.
ness, the real danger lies in a ‘nocebo effect’ that denies 2. https://www.facebook.com/groups/24675327534
solidarity and undermines social resilience. Con- 98978.
versely, the rise of grassroots solidarity movements 3. h ps://viralkindness.org.au/#groupSearch.
demonstrates a drive for togetherness and caring for
others. At the same time, increasing calls for a basic in-
come in Australia stand in opposition to a deep-rooted
discourse that posits welfare recipients as parasites References
upon society. While the ‘dole bludger’ discourse rein-
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ANNE DÉCOBERT is a Development Studies scholar and Bregman, R. (2020), Human Kind: A Hopeful History
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and movements for social justice. She is currently a Lerner Publishing).
Lecturer in Development Studies at the University of Ferguson, J. (2015), Give a Man a Fish: Reflections on
Melbourne. the New Politics of Distribution (Durham, NC: Duke
E-mail: anne.decobert@unimelb.edu.au University Press).
54 |From Toilet Paper Wars to #ViralKindness? | AiA
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