Stephen Jolly
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Stephen Jolly (born 1962) is an Australian politician and socialist activist. He currently serves as the mayor of Yarra and has been a councillor of the
City of Yarra The City of Yarra is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It is the second smallest LGA in the state (after the Borough of Queenscliffe) with an area of , and in June 2021 ...
since 2004, initially representing Langridge Ward before being elected to MacKillop Ward in 2024. Jolly was previously the president and lead candidate for the
Victorian Socialists The Victorian Socialists (VS) is an Australian political party based in the state of Victoria. The party's stated aims are "to put politicians on a worker's wage so they live like the rest of us" and "to get socialists into parliament who wil ...
during the
2018 Victorian state election The 2018 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 24 November 2018 to elect the 59th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for elect ...
.


Life and education

Jolly was born in London to an Irish single mother who had left Ireland due to concerns regarding the predominant
Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
's attitude towards single parents. He was raised in Ireland by his grandparents in a public housing estate. Jolly moved to study at the
University of Cape Town The University of Cape Town (UCT) (, ) is a public university, public research university in Cape Town, South Africa. Established in 1829 as the South African College, it was granted full university status in 1918, making it the oldest univer ...
in 1977. He moved to
Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...
, Australia in 1985 with his Australian wife. Jolly moved to
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
after 1989.


Activism

On Jolly's arrival to Australia he became involved in the
Militant The English word ''militant'' is both an adjective and a noun, and it is generally used to mean vigorously active, combative and/or aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in "militant reformers". It comes from the 15th century Lat ...
faction of the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
(later renamed to the Socialist Party), serving as Editor of its newspaper ''The Militant'' and as National Secretary until 2000. While working in construction, he has served as a shop steward with the Construction, Forestry, Mining, Maritime and Energy Union. In 1989, at the age of 27, Jolly was a first-hand witness of the
1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre The Tiananmen Square protests, known within China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations held in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, lasting from 15 April to 4 June 1989. After weeks of unsuccessful attempts between t ...
while he was speaking to protestors and helped them organise. Jolly was reportedly the only Westerner to address "the half-a-million strong crowd of students occupying Tiananmen Square". He noted in a 1990 news article that the protestors "never believed the People's Army would turn against them" and has since been involved in pro-democracy in China rallies. In 1993, Jolly and Militant was involved in a 360-day occupation of Richmond High School, organised to prevent the Victorian government from closing the school. During the occupation he stood on the front lines as police advanced towards them with raised batons. In 2000, he supported and was involved in the S11
anti-globalisation The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist m ...
protests in Melbourne. In 2011 and 2012, he pledged to support the
Occupy Melbourne Occupy Melbourne was a social movement which took place from late 2011 to mid 2012 in Melbourne, Australia as part of the global Occupy movement Participants expressed grievances concerning economic inequality, social injustice, corruption in ...
movement against corporate influence in politics. Jolly's socialist political stances have led to hostile reactions from far-right groups such as the
United Patriots Front The United Patriots Front (UPF) was an Australian far-right extremist group that opposed immigration, multiculturalism and the religion of Islam. Formed in 2015, the group has been largely dormant since their Facebook page was deleted fol ...
, which has promoted rallies and death threats against him. In 2015, a man was charged over death and rape threats towards Jolly. In 2016, Jolly led a mass resignation from the Socialist Party (now Socialist Action). He alleged there had been a cover-up of allegations of sexual abuse within the party. The party denied any cover-up. Jolly and others who had left then established a new group, The Socialists. In 2018 he joined the
Victorian Socialists The Victorian Socialists (VS) is an Australian political party based in the state of Victoria. The party's stated aims are "to put politicians on a worker's wage so they live like the rest of us" and "to get socialists into parliament who wil ...
, an electoral alliance combining the Socialist Alliance, Socialist Alternative, as well as non-party affiliated socialists. Jolly resigned from the Victorian Socialists in September of 2019 after the party executive voted to suspend his membership.


Political career


Local government (2004–present)

In 2004, he was elected as a Councillor for
City of Yarra The City of Yarra is a local government area (LGA) in Victoria, Australia in the inner eastern and northern suburbs of Melbourne. It is the second smallest LGA in the state (after the Borough of Queenscliffe) with an area of , and in June 2021 ...
in the Langridge Ward, representing the suburbs of Abbotsford, Alphington, Clifton Hill, Collingwood, Fairfield, Fitzroy and Richmond. In 2017, Jolly voted in favour of the controversial decision to cancel its Australia Day ceremony as a part of the Change the Date campaign. This resulted in backlash from the
federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...
whereby the council was stripped of its citizenship powers and the council being protested by nationalist groups. In 2024 Jolly was elected as the Councillor for the Mackillop ward. Jolly ran with a grouping of independents named "Yarra for All". The grouping picked up 4 out of 9 councillors, dislodging the Greens from power. On 19 November 2024 Jolly was elected mayor of the City of Yarra.


State government campaigns


Socialist Party (1999–2016)

Jolly has attempted to contest the Victorian electoral district of Richmond as a member of the Socialist Party several times. In these elections he stood as an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
, as the party was not registered with the VEC. In the
1999 Victorian state election The 1999 Victorian state election was held on Saturday 18 September 1999 to elect the 54th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 members of the state's Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Victorian Legisl ...
he gained 12.0% of the vote. They re-contested the seat in the 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014 state elections, with lesser success. During these elections the party campaigned for policies such as free public transport, promoting the local arts scene, and
anti-capitalism Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. Anti-capitalists seek to combat the worst effects of capitalism and to eventually replace capitalism with an alternati ...
. Their 2010 campaign was supported by the CFMEU, ETU, and UFU, who raised $25,000 for the campaign.


Victorian Socialists (2018-2019)

In February 2018, Jolly announced that he will be contesting a seat in the Legislative Council in the
2018 Victorian state election The 2018 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 24 November 2018 to elect the 59th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for elect ...
s as a leading candidate of the
Victorian Socialists The Victorian Socialists (VS) is an Australian political party based in the state of Victoria. The party's stated aims are "to put politicians on a worker's wage so they live like the rest of us" and "to get socialists into parliament who wil ...
ticket. Jolly stated this campaign attempted to fight for the programs promoted by international left-wing politicians such as
Jeremy Corbyn Jeremy Bernard Corbyn (; born 26 May 1949) is a British politician who has been Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Islington North (UK Parliament constituency), Islington North since 1983. Now an Independent ...
,
Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...
, and
Jean-Luc Mélenchon Jean-Luc Antoine Pierre Mélenchon (; born 19 August 1951) is a French politician who has been the ''de facto'' leader of La France Insoumise (LFI) since it was established in 2016. He was the Deputy (France), deputy in the National Assembly ( ...
. The decision to run in the
Northern Metropolitan Region Northern Metropolitan Region is one of the eight electoral regions of Victoria, Australia, which elects five members to the Victorian Legislative Council (also referred to as the upper house) by proportional representation. The region was create ...
has been considered controversial by Reason Party's
Fiona Patten Fiona Heather Patten (born May 1964) is an Australian politician. She was the leader of Reason Australia (also known as the Reason Party) and was a member of the Victorian Legislative Council between 2014 and 2022, representing the Northern Met ...
, due to the possibility of splitting the non-conservative vote in the count for the last seat. This ticket was supported by a wide variety of trade union groups, including the ETU, NUW,
CFMMEU The Construction, Forestry and Maritime Employees Union (CFMEU) is Australia's largest union in the construction, forestry, maritime, textile, clothing and footwear production industries. The CFMEU has offices in all capital cities in Austr ...
, UFU, AMIEU, and VAHPA. The ETU secretary Troy Gray justified this support over parties such as the
Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...
, a traditional unionist party, by stating that Jolly was the only candidate representing "
blue collar A blue-collar worker is a person who performs manual labor or skilled trades. Blue-collar work may involve skilled or unskilled labor. The type of work may involve manufacturing, retail, warehousing, mining, carpentry, electrical work, custodia ...
values". The campaign was also endorsed by several public figures such as
Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...
,
Gary Foley Gary Edward Foley (born 1950) is an Aboriginal Australian activist of the Gumbaynggirr people, academic, writer and actor. He is best known for his role in establishing the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972 and for establishing an Ab ...
, and
Tariq Ali Tariq Ali (;; born 21 October 1943) is a Pakistani-British political activist, writer, journalist, historian, filmmaker, and public intellectual. He is a member of the editorial committee of the ''New Left Review'' and ''Sin Permiso'', and co ...
. Following allegations of an unspecified nature, Jolly split from Victorian Socialists in September 2019.


Bibliography

* ''Eyewitness in China'' (Melbourne: Socialist Party, 1989) * ''Behind the Lines – Richmond Secondary College: a school that dared to fight'' (Melbourne: Global Books, 1996) * ''That Which Surrounds Us: Refugees, Racism and Capitalism in Australia'' (Melbourne: Socialist Party, 2002)


References


External links


Official Twitter account
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jolly, Stephen 1962 births Chinese democracy activists 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre Living people Politicians from Melbourne 21st-century Australian politicians Australian builders Victoria (state) local councillors Australian socialists Leaders of political parties in Australia Irish emigrants to Australia Trade unionists from Melbourne Australian trade unionists Irish expatriates in South Africa Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom University of Cape Town alumni