Astroturf and populism in Australia: The Convoy of No Confidence

Abstract

The ‘Convoy of No Confidence’ was a trucking convoy that converged on Canberra in 2011 in a failed attempt to force the Gillard Labor government to an early election. At the time, there was widespread speculation that it was an ‘astroturf’ or synthetic grassroots movement. This article assesses the extent to which this alleged astroturf event exhibited populist elements, measured against Taggart's definition of populism. Unlike most Australian populist movements, which have been hostile towards all major parties (or all the big banks), the convoy's participants directed their anger almost entirely towards the Gillard government. In this, they were joined by Coalition politicians and right-wing media. The article finds that such one-sidedness is insufficient to characterise the convoy definitively as an Astroturf group, and therefore not genuinely populist. It also suggests that there may be a continuum between populist and astroturf movements.“不信任游”是2011年坎贝拉的一次失败的卡车游行，意在迫使吉拉德工党政府提前大选。这是一个“人工草皮”或合成的草根运动。本文根据泰格特的民粹主义定义，探讨了这次所谓草根运动到底包含多少民粹因素。与仇视所有主要政党的大多数澳大利亚民粹主义运动不一样，这次游行的参与者把愤怒完全投向吉拉德政府。因此，他们得到了联盟政治家以及右翼媒体的联手。作者发现，由于这种单面性，该运动算不上草根群体，并非真正的民粹主义。作者认为，在民粹与人工草根运动之间存在着一个量变的连续体。