Loud Fence is getting louder. The spontaneous movement is being welcomed by more and more schools across Ballarat because even as a gesture it sends a loud and positive message of support for victims of sexual abuse. The simplicity of ribbons fluttering in the breeze, hung from school, church and institution fences also belies more powerful elements underlying its growing appeal.
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The first of these is healing. The abuse of innocent children in a multitude of institutions, not just the Catholic Church, is now an accepted fact. The Royal Commission has moved on to harder questions of how and why this happened but the days of denial are over. Ballarat was one of the first cities in Australia to face up to this dark past; both in the courage of individual victims speaking up, the advocacy of investigators, the ineluctable reality of sordid court cases and the consensus of how a relatively small number of abusers could leave a widening legacy of malaise. The confrontation and revelations were painful but with realisation the healing can begin.
Now Ballarat is also leading the way in how to move forward from all this wreckage. Loud Fence has characteristics that speak volumes about the way ahead. It is a movement not about blame but the recognition of suffering. It draws from the deep wellspring of human empathy and highlights it as one of the most powerful resources to draw from the errors of the past. It is universal. Not that abuse affected all but that the suffering of innocents is something we universally deplore. A gesture that says to all, no matter how distant from the acts or the consequences; this was done to children and it was wrong.
It is also about solidarity. One of the darkest legacies of these crimes was to drive its victims out into a wilderness of guilt and self-destruction. But this gesture says in the simplest of ways the community recognises the wrong and is with you now. It is inclusive because it embraces not just victims but all those who have the courage to face the past and say this cannot happen again. It is also one of the first positives to emerge from a negative history and these traits; empathy, inclusion, solidarity have the genuine strength of hope.
Ephemeral, meaningless, opportunistic and inconsequential; the detractors and cynics will say. But The Courier would argue that it is what these ribbons really stand for that matters and they are qualities a community cannot live without.
