John Englart, a leading campaigner for social justice and climate action, died unexpectedly at his Fawkner home with his beloved chihuahuas, Juliet and (Indiana) Jones, close by.

John was involved in campaign groups locally, nationally and even internationally. He was a prolific writer and photographer, and his writings remain a valuable resource.

Online, John often used the name Takver after a character in Ursula Le Guin’s novel The Dispossessed. Takver was an ordinary person, who strove for “fullfilment in their lives with honesty, integrity and social conscience.”

This was how John sought to live his life.

John came from a long history of radical social activists. Ted Englart. his grandfather, was a unionist and prominent Queensland communist. Uncle Vince Englart and father Kevin Englart were blacklisted by ASIO during the anti-communist hysteria of the 1950s. Kevin, a maths teacher, overcame political blacklisting by moving interstate.

John, whose full name was Kevin John, was born on February 16, 1955 in Brisbane, the second child of Kevin and June Englart.

His radicalisation started at school. After the family moved to Sydney in 1970, John participated in Vietnam Moratorium protests with his parents. He started documenting the social movements of the 1970s in his diaries and with photographs.

John became involved in Sydney’s emerging gay and lesbian movement in 1973. He supported the Builders Labourers Federation’s Green Bans to protect Sydney’s heritage and open space. He also became involved in anti-uranium campaigns, via Friends of the Earth. As a dedicated cyclist, he participated in and helped organise many Rides Against Uranium.

Much of John’s life, from 1975 to 1990, revolved around the Anarchist movement in Sydney. His experience in the short-lived Federation of Australian Anarchists made him determined to do anarchism differently. In 1977 he became a founding member of Jura Books, Sydney’s longest running Anarchist bookshop.

After a split in 1982, John left to establish the Black Rose Anarchist Bookshop in Redfern. From those experiences,........

© Green Left Weekly