Jill Sparrow
Encyclopedia
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
and was involved in free education campaigns throughout the early 1990s, as well as participating in nearly every left-wing political cause over the past decade (including her own defence campaign as one of the Austudy Five
Austudy Five
The Austudy Five was the epithet given to a group of five activists arrested in 1992 at a National Union of Students national demonstration in Melbourne, Australia. NUS had called the demonstration around the Keating Government's proposed abolition of Austudy as a student grant to be replaced by a...
).
Biography
Having spent her early years in the United States, Jill Sparrow was raised in MelbourneMelbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
and attended University there, working in Student Unions and at the early ISP Vicnet
Vicnet
Vicnet began in 1993 as a joint State Library of Victoria and RMIT University project to investigate the impact of the internet and online information on public libraries and the broader community in Victoria...
, an organisation providing free internet access and advocating community empowerment via freeing flows of information. She is the author, with Jeff Sparrow
Jeff Sparrow
Jeff Sparrow is an Australian leftwing writer, editor and former socialist activist based in Melbourne, Victoria. He is the co-author of Radical Melbourne: A Secret History and Radical Melbourne 2: The Enemy Within...
, of two books, Radical Melbourne: a Secret History and Radical Melbourne II: the Enemy Within.
As one of the founding members of Socialist Alternative
Socialist Alternative (Australia)
Socialist Alternative is a Trotskyist political organisation in Australia formed by an expulsion from the former International Socialist Organisation in 1995. It is one of the largest groups of the Australian far Left, claiming to have the largest active membership. With branches across...
, she has been active in various Trotskyist groups aligned to the International Socialist Tendency
International Socialist Tendency
The International Socialist Tendency is an international grouping of unorthodox Trotskyist organisations based around the ideas of Tony Cliff, founder of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain...
including the International Socialist Organisation
International Socialist Organisation (Australia)
The International Socialist Organisation was an Australian Trotskyist political organisation, founded in 1971, originally as the Marxist Workers' Group until it dissolved to form Solidarity in 2008 with two other socialist organisations...
.
She is currently at work on a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
project with Paul Voermans
Paul Voermans
Paul Voermans is a science fiction author, community internetwork activist and performer. A strong stream of his art is comic, though dark and surreal at times...
and is a founding member of Rumspringe Cooperative.
Non-fiction Work
Radical Melbourne, published by Vulgar PressVulgar Press
Vulgar Press is a publishing house based in Melbourne, Australia. Established in 1999, the publisher's stated aim is "the publication of working-class and other radical forms of writing". Vulgar Press publishes a number of books and magazines for alternative and non-profit companies and organisations...
, written in collaboration with her brother Jeff Sparrow
Jeff Sparrow
Jeff Sparrow is an Australian leftwing writer, editor and former socialist activist based in Melbourne, Victoria. He is the co-author of Radical Melbourne: A Secret History and Radical Melbourne 2: The Enemy Within...
, presents a guide through the first hundred years of political radicalism in Melbourne, focusing on the structures, streets and public places that remain today. It concentrates on identifying the physical traces of radical Melbourne, in the hope that geographical familiarity will provide a cultural and political bridge between the struggles of the past and the people of the present.
Radical Melbourne is a secret history of Melbourne, illustrated by rarely-seen images from the archives of the State Library of Victoria. The book originated in a series of tours conducted by the Sparrows. The authors say, "The secret history of this city seemed to us an inspiration." Controversial journalist and author John Pilger
John Pilger
John Richard Pilger is an Australian journalist and documentary maker, based in London. He has twice won Britain's Journalist of the Year Award, and his documentaries have received academy awards in Britain and the US....
called Radical Melbourne "a brilliantly original, long overdue unveiling of a great city's true past" and has spawned a sequel and Radical Brisbane, a similar book about the Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
capital, by Raymond Evans and Carole Ferrier
Carole Ferrier
Carole Ferrier is a Feminist Australian Academic. She is Professor in English at the School of English, Media Studies and Art History at the University of Queensland. She has many published works about feminism, socialism, literature and culture...
.
Radical Melbourne 2: The enemy within, also published by Vulgar, uncovers a story of secret police and secret armies, guerrilla artists and underground cells, militant unionists and intransigent peaceniks.
External links
- The Vulgar Press - Publisher of Radical Melbourne books
- Rumsrpinge Cooperative
- The History Cooperative - article on Radical Melbourne books