Alana Lentin: The Festival of Dangerous Ideas is a culture washing operation

On 11 August an anonymous group published an open letter to two ex-members of Pussy Riot. The group called on Masha Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova to withdraw from the Festival of Dangerous Ideas taking place this weekend at the Sydney Opera House, due to the links between the St James Ethics Centre, co-organisers of the event, and the government’s cruel and illegal policy of mandatory detention, Operation Sovereign Borders. I support this initiative.

The St James Ethics Centre’s board includes retired Major General Andrew James Molan, the paid special envoy of Operation Sovereign Borders and former chief of operations of the allied forces in Iraq. Until 19 July this year, the Board of the St James Ethics Centre Foundation, the Centre’s fundraising wing, also included Douglas Sneddon, director of the board of Transfield Services and chair of the Transfield Services human resources committee.

Transfield holds the $2.4bn contract to run offshore detention camps on Nauru and Manus Island. Sneddon formerly served as a board member and continues to be a major donor, as does Jim Molan.

Fodi is essentially a culture washing operation, like the Sydney Biennale, whose director Luca Belgiorno-Nettis resigned this year following outrage at the connections between the Transfield Foundation, which funded the Biennale, and its parent company. Fodi’s liberal audience pay to hear career radicals speak about “dangerous” subjects during “edgy” debates, but turn a blind eye to the unethical practices that events such as the Fodi and the Biennale inevitably cover up.

Also capitalising on the festival is superannuation fund Australian Ethical, which sponsors Fodi and whose head of ethics was previously with the St James Ethics Centre. From a culture washing perspective, Fodi is an even greater coup than the Biennale which is associated more with eastern suburbs socialites than inner west socialists who could not be accused of being cheerleaders for Scott Morrison and the Coalition’s border protection policies.

This is propaganda of a value far exceeding any front page of the Daily Telegraph. It is just the branding that any company getting their hands dirty for high stakes needs in these “dangerous” times, especially those involved in Australia’s illegal, yet highly profitable detention regime (currently costing the tax-payer $859,363 per person).

There are myriad ways in which even those who oppose the government’s racist policy are implicated, and not just by virtue of the huge tax bill it comes with. Many of us, including myself as a member of the National Tertiary Education Union, have our retirement savings mandatorily invested in Transfield through our superannuation fund, UniSuper. That is why NTEU NSW is mounting a campaign for UniSuper to divest from Transfield.

Yes, we should boycott the Fodi, but that in itself is a short term, aim. If you really want to see an end to mandatory detention, beyond symbolic gestures, look into your savings and retirement plans and speak to your colleagues, families and union representatives: the key to dismantling the system is probably there.

JR Hennessy: If Transfield’s aim is to launder their business ethics, they have failed

There is a shining truth at the centre of the Fodi boycott campaign: Australia’s offshore detention regime is a horror. The moral arguments in favour of locking the world’s vulnerable in prison camps are completely unserious, and advocated only by unserious people. It has come to light that two people deeply entrenched in the government’s system of asylum seeker oppression are associated with the board of the St James Ethics Centre.

But the centre, while purporting to be an “open platform for the exploration of ethical questions”, is largely decided on the issue of refugees in offshore detention: the brunt of their published content is overwhelmingly critical. Similarly, this year’s festival is loaded with pro-refugee speakers. If Transfeld’s goal in financially supporting think tanks is to launder their business ethics, they have failed spectacularly in doing so.

The open letter to Pussy Riot raises an important point: public knowledge of Transfield’s commercial activity is nearly non-existent. Yes, progressives should work to expose the cabal of government and business in building Australia’s border policy, and make transparent the public relations efforts of those who profit from it. But even though the platform upon which Pussy Riot will appear is fraught, we should take advantage of it and let the voices of freedom speak.

Supporters of the boycott refer to the ultimately effective protest of Transfield’s involvement in Sydney’s Biennale. But Fodi differs from the Biennale in that it provides a unique opportunity: an ideas conference in which many of the speakers oppose mandatory detention. Making Pussy Riot aware of the problematic corporate structure at the St James Ethics Centre is important. I would rather they, as advocates for freedom for the oppressed, speak at the festival with this in mind than deny themselves the platform altogether.

The endgame for any refugee advocate should be to delegitimise the government’s policy altogether. Fodi is a unique opportunity to undermine broader narratives by allowing a variety of new progressive voices to speak. Pussy Riot are staunch opponents of politics as justification for incarceration. It is hard to imagine their speech bolstering Transfeld’s commercial future or supporting Operation Sovereign Borders.

Supply chain divestments are an increasingly important part of protest in liberal democracies. The negative role of money in constructing discourse is potent. But our goal as progressives and human rights advocates is to expose the machinations of Australia’s unethical conduct – including the crony capitalist structures that fund it. Let Pussy Riot speak.

• Australian Ethical superannuation has responded to the debate. Their contribution is posted below:

Australian Ethical Superannuation is Australia’s leading pro-human rights, low carbon and coal-free investment choice.

Our investment decisions are governed by our ethical charter and we do not invest in companies that actively limit the rights of humans, such as those involved in the mandatory detention of asylum seekers. Any claims otherwise would be untrue, and unlike the vast majority of super funds, we are happy to disclose every single one of investments.

We believe that all Australians should be allowed to know where their retirement savings are being invested and if their fund is not transparent or they are not happy with the answers, they should divest and reinvest their money elsewhere.

Superannuation is a $1.85tn industry and each of us has the power to shape and create the kind of world we want to see by voting with our money.