Jordan van den Lamb, aka @purplepingers — the newly introduced Senate candidate for the Victorian Socialists — needs to speak about alternate options to capitalism.
“I don’t consider that we might know what that appears like till, you realize, there’s a cheeky little revolution. After which, you realize, the individuals resolve.”
The Senate bid shouldn’t be an altogether stunning transfer for the 28-year-old, who first garnered consideration for his “shit leases” web site and movies, and whose public name for squatting in empty properties attracted the ire of property homeowners and panel present hosts.
Whereas he’s largely identified for housing, van den Lamb cites his different areas of concern as Indigenous deaths in custody, assaults on staff (“not an enormous fan of that”), cuts to the NDIS (“um, no thanks”), and Australia’s involvement in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza (“if we may simply not do this, that’d be implausible”), noting his insurance policies will “largely be told by Vic Socialists platforms”.
When requested what he would say to followers involved about voting for a gaggle identified to be fractious — the Victorian Socialists is certainly one of a number of such events in Victoria, with disagreements between the Socialist Alliance and the Socialist Different having led to a serious break up in 2020 — he says most individuals contemplating voting for him “would know who they’re voting for”.
“I really feel like there’d be extra individuals voting for me as an individual than the Victorian Socialists as a celebration,” he says, deflecting considerably. “And also you’re going to get me.”
The Melbourne-based influencer is an attention-grabbing selection for the Victorian Socialists: a celeb candidate for the social gathering that’s dominated by the extra insular Socialist Different and doesn’t entice plenty of mainstream media.
He does, nonetheless, establish as “a little bit of a communist”, arguing that we’re at present seeing the results of late-stage capitalism.
“We’re treating [problems] as particular person points as an alternative of signs of the most cancers that’s capitalism,” he says, confirming that he needs to abolish the system relatively than reform it.
On condition that, I ask van den Lamb why he’s determined to channel his vitality into profitable a Senate seat — a reasonably distant prospect given the 550,000-odd votes required. Many on the far left eschew electoral politics, preferring to organise and agitate; a number of followers commented that they assist him, however nonetheless gained’t vote.
“So many individuals advised it in feedback and stuff like that,” he tells me. “And I simply slowly grew to become an increasing number of discontented with our flesh pressers, who have been simply behaving like cowards.” He can see some worth in being in Parliament, noting he’d like to make use of Senate estimates to level out “simply how shit of a job that they’re doing”.
“I haven’t modified any of the opposite strategies of activism, as a result of they’re actually extra necessary than partaking in politics,” he says. “However our flesh pressers resolve the strategies by which we’re exploited. So if within the meantime, we may be exploited a bit much less whereas we organise for higher outcomes, I feel that will be good.”
Almost about people who find themselves towards partaking with the system, he provides, “I completely hear the place they’re coming from, and to a big extent, I agree. However I’m of the non-public opinion that we are able to completely do each.”
Some have contemplated whether or not van den Lamb’s Senate bid is usually an try to boost his profile and draw consideration to his points. Does he truly suppose he has a shot at profitable?
“Yeah, it may completely occur,” he says. “However that’s not what issues right here. It’s that we’re speaking about alternate options to capitalism. It’s that we’re speaking about socialism, and that the federal government understands that individuals are indignant and might quantify simply how indignant individuals are by the quantity of votes that we get.”
It’s definitely a febrile surroundings by which to have a crack. The main social gathering main vote continues to plummet to new lows, amid rising disenchantment with Labor. In the meantime, the crossbench continues to extend in each dimension (welcome, Gerard Rennick) and affect. However there may be little likelihood of the Vic Socialists profitable a Senate spot, after claiming simply 0.57% of Victorian first preferences in 2022 — 0.0398 of a quota.
Election analyst Ben Raue says van den Lamb is an effective selection of candidate, interesting to voters who wouldn’t usually vote for the social gathering. However he shall be competing in the identical “lane” because the Greens, who secured 13.85% of the Senate vote in Victoria in 2022. Most states solely have area for one left-wing minor social gathering (and one cooker, as Bernard Keane wrote on Monday).
Van den Lamb would wish to select up “an enormous vote that got here from Labor” to be able to be aggressive, profitable votes within the center to outer suburbs that the Greens don’t — although that definitely appears to be a part of the Vic Socialists’ plan.
The Greens are, in some methods, the elephant within the room right here, having spent current years specializing in the identical points van den Lamb plans to marketing campaign on. He says their insurance policies don’t go far sufficient. 9’s CBD column lately drew direct comparisons between van den Lamb and Greens housing spokesperson Max Chandler-Mather; van den Lamb repeatedly makes the purpose that the Vic Socialists have a “no landlords pre-selection coverage”, whereas the Greens don’t.
I ask how his method would differ from Chandler-Mather’s, who has beforehand promoted @purplepingers on his personal socials.
“I really feel like I’m angrier than Max,” he says. “Not that he’s not indignant. I feel he does a implausible job. However like, for instance, Max has landlord colleagues, which makes a few of his speaking factors much more completely different to those who mine can be. Like Max wouldn’t be capable to say we must always abolish landlords, um, as a result of he’d be referring to his colleagues. And that’s no fault of Max. That’s the fault of his landlord colleagues.”
“On the finish of the day, they’re not a socialist social gathering. And subsequently their insurance policies, you realize, attempt to interact with the capitalist system. And that’s one thing I inherently disagree with.”
He might disagree with it. However it’s value noting that van den Lamb, by his personal admission, can also be open to partaking with the system — a minimum of till that “cheeky little revolution” arrives.
Will the problem of housing form your vote in 2025? Would you think about voting for van den Lamb? Tell us your ideas by writing to letters@crikey.com.au. Please embrace your full title to be thought of for publication. We reserve the fitting to edit for size and readability.
