Stephen Jolly (born 1962) is an Australian politician, socialist activist, author and construction worker.[1] He currently serves as the mayor of Yarra and has been a councillor of the City of Yarra since 2004, initially representing Langridge Ward before being elected to MacKillop Ward in 2024.
Jolly was born in London to a Irish single mother who had left Ireland due to concerns regarding the predominant Catholic Church's attitude towards single parents.[2] He was raised in Ireland by his grandparents in a public housing estate.[2] Jolly moved to study at the University of Cape Town in 1977. In the early 1980s, he moved to Ireland and became involved in the Militant faction of the Irish Labour Party.[citation needed] In 1983 Jolly supported underground opposition to Robert Mugabe's regime in Zimbabwe.[citation needed] He moved to Sydney, Australia in 1985 with his Australian wife.[2] Jolly move to Melbourne after 1989.[2]
In 1989, at the age of 27, Jolly was a first-hand witness of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre while he was speaking to protestors and helped them organise.[5][6] Jolly was reportedly the only Westerner to address "the half-a-million strong crowd of students occupying Tiananmen Square".[2] 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.[7]
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.[2][8] During the occupation he stood on the front lines as police advanced towards them with raised batons.[2] In 2000, he supported and was involved in the S11anti-globalisation protests in Melbourne.[9] In 2011 and 2012, he pledged to support the Occupy Melbourne movement against corporate influence in politics.[10][11]
Jolly's socialist political stances have led to hostile reactions from far-right groups such as the United Patriots Front, which has promoted rallies and death threats against him.[12][13] In 2015, a man was charged over death and rape threats towards Jolly.[14]
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.[15] The party denied any cover-up.[16][17] Jolly and others who had left then established a new group, The Socialists.[18] In 2018 he joined the Victorian Socialists, 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.[19]
Political career
Local government (2004–present)
In 2004, he was elected as a Councillor for City of Yarra in the Langridge Ward, representing the suburbs of Abbotsford, Alphington, Clifton Hill, Collingwood, Fairfield, Fitzroy and Richmond.[20] Jolly was reportedly the first elected socialist councillor in Melbourne "since the Second World War"[citation needed].
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.[21] This resulted in backlash from the federal government whereby the council was stripped of its citizenship powers and the council being protested by nationalist groups.[22][23]
In 2024 Jolly was elected as the Councillor for the Mackillop ward.[24] Jolly ran with a grouping of independents named "Yarra for All".[25] The grouping picked up 4 out of 9 councillors, dislodging the Greens from power.[25] On 19 November 2024 Jolly was elected mayor of the City of Yarra.[26]
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, as the party was not registered with the VEC. In the 1999 Victorian state election he gained 12.0% of the vote.[27] 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.[28] Their 2010 campaign was supported by the CFMEU, ETU, and UFU, who raised $25,000 for the campaign.[29]
In February 2018, Jolly announced that he will be contesting a seat in the Legislative Council in the 2018 Victorian state elections as a leading candidate of the Victorian Socialists ticket.[30][4] Jolly stated this campaign attempted to fight for the programs promoted by international left-wing politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon.[31] The decision to run in the Northern Metropolitan Region has been considered controversial by Reason Party'sFiona Patten, due to the possibility of splitting the non-conservative vote in the count for the last seat.[32] This ticket was supported by a wide variety of trade union groups, including the ETU, NUW, CFMMEU, UFU, AMIEU, and VAHPA.[33][34] The ETU secretary Troy Gray justified this support over parties such as the Australian Labor Party, a traditional unionist party, by stating that Jolly was the only candidate representing "blue collar values".[33] The campaign was also endorsed by several public figures such as Noam Chomsky, Gary Foley, and Tariq Ali. Following allegations of an unspecified nature, Jolly split from Victorian Socialists in September 2019.[19]
^Jolly, Stephen (23 July 2008). "Eyewitness in China"(Web Page). The Socialist. p. 46. Archived from the original on 14 December 2018. Retrieved 5 October 2018.
^Walker, Frank (2 July 1989). "Sydney Man saw Beijing's Horror Night". Sydney Morning Herald.
^Bishop, Karren (4 June 1990). "Massacre Outrage Is Still Strong". Sydney Morning Herald.
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