Joan Carey 21 April 2009

Sometimes Joan would participate in the discussion but not always. I do remember that Joan like many of the political activists of her generation would have her note paper and a pen and write down points she valued or to assemble her thoughts for a contribution she might make.

I dwell on these details because I remember musing to myself on this day how different our younger and older generations of activists are in how they go about organising and communicating. Joan and her colleagues at these events did not interrupt each other by taking mobile phone calls or peering at their blackberries.

I obviously accept that every generation take action in their own way. Political activism increasingly takes many new forms but the consistent, solid, hard working, face-to-face work that was the hallmark of Joan I would argue should always be central to how we organise.

Last week after we head that Joan died I spoke to Joan’s friend Wendy Kerr. It was good to share memories at this time. Wendy described Joan as an “always there person”.

I had never heard that expression before but I saw Joan working away for the causes she felt so passionate about when Wendy uttered those words – an always-there person. There was no fuss, no ego - what there was was that hard work with a personal friendly touch – the skills that every progressive organisation needs.

World peace, the disarmament of nuclear weapons was what Joan worked so hard for, what she was so passionate to achieve. Joan did not stop working for this most important cause.

Joan had been part of the huge anti-nuclear campaigns of the 1980s when we saw hundreds of thousands of people take to the streets. These were the years when People for Nuclear Disarmament had thousands of members and an active team of volunteers and some paid workers. Joan was part of that team.

But as the years rolled on the numbers fell away but the urgent need to achieve disarmament remained. Joan kept on working on this most important cause to safeguard humanity and our very planet.

Joan was one of a small grouping that not only did the organisational work at PND but they kept that all important political message about disarmament alive.

Often this meant revisiting old campaigns that we thought we had won. In the 1983 Joan was part of a broad based campaign to stop the then US President Ronald Regan introducing his version of star wars that would have seen nuclear war waged in outer space. After a world wide outcry this madness was dropped from the nuclear plans of the world’s powers.

Twenty years later another US president George Bush moved to revive these star war plans and Joan was still there campaigning against this madness. She joined with colleagues in the progressive movement to approach prominent people to sign a letter to Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell when they visited Australia, opposing what was euphemistically called ‘strategic defence’.

This is just one example to illustrate the consistency and dedication Joan brought to her work for world peace.

Joan was also an active member of Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Joan recognised that women only actions at times had their place in this society where discrimination is do deeply ingrained.

Her style of work was to work in a principled way were you got on did the work at hand – whether that was keeping the membership details, financial records, getting petitions signed or drafting letters to heads of state and attending public rallies.

We can draw a direct line from Joan’s work to the dismantling of the nuclear weapons arsenal that still threatens the security of this planet.

Yes there are still too many nuclear weapons in the world but there is progress thanks to Joan and many like Joan who have worked tirelessly in this area.

Since the height of the Cold War the number of nuclear weapons has been reduced from more than 70,000 to about 20,000 today. 

Despite numerous challenges in the path towards a world free of nuclear weapons Joan stuck with this cause. Her deep commitment to people and the planet was enduring.

I first came into contact with Joan in the 1960s at a teach-in – as they were called then – against the Vietnam War. Joan’s husband, Alex, was the leading academic voice against that atrocity of military destruction. Joan helped organise this event.

In the 1980s our paths cross again – at this time the threat of nuclear war was so real. Hardly a week would go by without some event being held and when I look back on those days I realise that Joan and a small grouping of mainly older volunteers and mainly women played a critical role in building that movement. In recent year Joan joined the Greens.

Joan lived life for others - thinking and acting for others, and for future generations.

Joan’s life holds many lessons for all of us.

Joan Carey was deeply committed to making this world a safer, fairer and healthier place for all of us. She made a huge contribution and we thank her for that.