Like all good revolutions, the Greens’ attempt has ended with a fatal, self-inflicted wound. What started as a positive, well-meaning, and future-focused environmentalist group is now ending in a negative, paranoid, schizophrenic mess. The Greens result in Queensland state election matches similar results in New South Wales state elections and Brisbane council elections, and is the beginning of the end for another minor party that started in the 90s. The Green dream is over.
But it’s overseas where the future of the Greens Party can be found. In Germany, the birthplace of the Greens, their most regional election saw its vote share drop to record lows. The biggest, and most unexpected losses, were in the youth vote, many of whom swung to the nationalist AfD party. This may seem strange – young people voting hard right? – but it makes sense when you consider what the Greens were supposed to be, and what the AfD now are.
The Greens are supposed to be the counter-cultural party, the ones standing against the regime. Instead, they became the school teacher-ish naysayers. Far from being edgy, they began policing language. Far from painting a vision of a brighter future, they banged on endlessly about perceived injustices of the past. Far from speaking truth to the regime, they became the regime.
The Greens have lost their sting. What started off as anti-elite, became the elite. If you want an example, consider now that the Greens leader, Adam Bandt, now has a Chairman’s Lounge pass with Qantas – the single most exclusive lounge in the country. Or the Greens members with multiple investment properties. We have Greens that stand up and play populist about the climate, but with the schtick of slender, overpaid, effete guys pretending to be a big blue-collar toughie in Parliament doesn’t really cut when your party has more double-barrelled names than the polo club.
Above all else, their failures come down to the fact that they live in a world of constant contradiction. They’re for fixing the housing crisis, but don’t want to address immigration. This is a terribly hard sell for any young person who is visibly outbid for a rental by international students. They’re pro-union, but anti-development. They want green energy, but not nuclear. They want to reduce emissions, but they want to import more people into a high carbon economy. They’ve tied themselves in knots–it’s no wonder there are dozens of stories of bullying and harassment in their offices – the stress of managing these contradictions must be huge.
No, the Greens are not the future. If you want the future, look to Germany and France. The young are rebelling – this time, they are not hippies, they’re against the hippies. They’re still against globalism, they’re still against big capital, only they’re looking at it from a different direction. They want cuts to immigration, a national identity, borders, homes, cheaper energy, the chance to build things in their country, and they don’t care about foreign conflicts.
The Greens grifted the youth vote, they sold out their most fervent voters for a pass in the Chairman’s Lounge. They told people what they could and could not say, they attacked their past, heritage, and nation. They tried to win voters by being vocal on foreign issues, at the cost of local votes.
In many ways, the Greens became what they hate the most: conservatives. They are now desperately trying to conserve a left-dominated political culture. But the new revolution is here. And the revolutionaries are right wing. The right wing revolution will be televised – just on TikTok.
