Charismatic, enigmatic, even iconoclastic. These are just some of the words that could aptly describe, well, yours truly. As for Michael Hyde, if you want to find out what he's really like, you'll have to read his ASIO files ... or perhaps just the interview below.

This is the Definitive Interview of the man who was The Definitive Face of the radical student movement when the 60s boiled over into the 70s and the 70s were consumed by the 80s.

Read on.

Wipeout: Dude.

MH: Yeah, wadyawant?

Wipeout: Dude, why do you write?

MH: I used to tell my own kids stories and when I taught kids in the mid 70s they asked me where their stories were. They said that none of the stories they came across reminded them of anybody they knew and none of the places reminded them of where they lived. So that's how I began. (I should also tell you that it's a good excuse for getting a lot of time to yourself.)

Wipeout: Do you write as inspiration seizes you, or do you write more methodically

MH: I look for sparks — it might be an argument I witness, a lost kid, a newspaper article, something that's happened to people or something directly from my experience. Once I’m working on a story I am quite disciplined, i.e. I'm the one who has to write it. Nobody else is going to do it for me.

Wipeout: When constructing novels like Max and Tyger Tyger, how do you go about establishing connections with teenage readers?

MH: I research — I interview people who know a lot about the subject or activity (e.g. graffiti; surfing; suicide; footy). I take photos as well and put them on the wall next to my computer which helps me be "in" the story. I might also know a bit about what I’m writing about (e.g. the 60s; the Viet War; canoeing; boogie boarding — but I’m no expert).

Wipeout: What do you regard as the main agenda or central values of these novels?

MH: That people can push through difficulties in their life. That it's possible to change things that are horrible. That love and humour and talk and reflection and bravery and tolerance and honesty are necessary if you're going to live a full life with plenty of meaning.

Wipeout: Your more recent novel Hey Joe brings together different perspectives and experiences of the Vietnam war. As a leading anti-war activist, how were you able to get into the mind/s of Vietnam veterans?

MH: I interviewed them and read their writings. And often wondered what I would have done if I hadn't come across new ideas and interesting/helpful people and a family with progressive values and gone to uni — I might have ended up on a troop ship too.

Wipeout: Vietnam veterans seem to share a camaraderie today that protesters against the war don't, yet both groups went through very intense and very defining experiences. How would you explain that the lack of camaraderie amongst former comrades?

MH: Now there's an interesting question (not that the others aren't). I still know and am friends with a few from those times. And since I wrote Hey Joe I have talked a lot with them about what we did and what was achieved. I’ve also done heaps of interviews with comrades from the past, and every year there is a reunion to mark the fabulous July 4 demo against the Viet War outside the US Consulate in Melbourne.

But I kind of agree with you and am not clear as to why. But I think it's got something to do with (the following). Some people are embarrassed or cynical about what they did/achieved. Our radical actions and achievements are ignored, belittled, caricatured, attacked, and almost forgotten by the media and the inexorable bullshit from the powers that be. It's dangerous for capitalism to admit they were wrong and that we helped to change some parts of the world and society and us. We are also, as a bunch of people — although our arrogance was well-known — quite modest.

The above question is one of the reasons I wrote Hey Joe and the memoir I’m doing now. One more thing: I agree with Val Noone who reckons we should work to establish a monument/tree/whatever that would commemorate draft resisters, protesters, etc.

Wipeout: Protesters against the war believed that they were fighting in the interests of our soldiers who had been sent to Vietnam, but many soldiers felt bitter about the protests. For example, there was a "punch-a-postie" campaign sparked by postal bans. Do you think that reconciliation between veterans and former protesters is either possible or desirable?

MH: I interviewed one vet who was terrific, Les. He once said to me that he and I were two sides of the same coin — we were screwed by the same system. I always told the vets I spoke to what my politics were, which they generally appreciated. Although a couple, I felt, still had some seething resentment towards me.

Reconciliation is possible up to a point. There are still vets who reckon it was right to invade Vietnam. I think part of their psychological problems is that they feel in their bones that the war wasn't right. But it has never to be forgotten that the bulk of young men who went to fight came from the working class, the unskilled, etc. As usual, the workers have to fight the bosses' wars.

Also, I fully support the fight for them to be properly looked after, medically, employment, counselling. And they should receive full compensation for what they copped from agent orange. By the way, the US, Australian soldiers weren't the only ones to suffer. The Vietnamese people suffered horribly from agent orange. And still do today with miscarriages, deformities and so on.

To go back to your question — yes it's desirable and possible for some sort of reconciliation but just thinking about it, it'd be difficult. And I’m not sure what form it would take.

(I just remembered something — recently at a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the liberation of Saigon, I saw a vet approach a group of 8 draft resisters and tell them that he wished he'd refused. I don't know whether anybody exchanged names, phone numbers, etc.)

Wipeout: Whatever became of Bill Posters, the most prosecuted man in the history of protests?

MH: Dunno, but I’d like to.

Wipeout: Does it surprise you that some of your former colleagues in the anti-war movement actively support the war in Iraq? How do you think otherwise very intelligent people have been able to persuade themselves that America was fighting for world hegemony in one context but world democracy in another?

MH: I am against the invasion of Iraq. It is clear to me that unless there are wise and just decisions made re Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine and Israel that the terrorism will continue. I hate the way the word "evil" is tossed around these days — young people become suicide bombers almost as the last act of hopelessness and despair (although some of them wouldn't see it as this).

No, it didn't surprise me all that much. I also have some understanding of why they took such a stuffed up position but too complex and lengthy to go into now.

Wipeout: Is it still right to rebel?

MH: Yes. Absolutely!

Wipeout: How has your world outlook changed since the seventies? What "baggage" do you still carry, and what have you discarded?

MH: Yes, it has a bit but the same values are still there. I'm not a communist anymore but continue to support things like the current campaign to stop Howard's industrial agenda. I probably still carry some emotional/spiritual baggage from those days — it was a very emotional, intense, time of upheaval, on every level.

Wipeout: Does your profanity ever get you into trouble?

MH: Yes, but not much. I am Methodist Minister's son. My Dad never drank and never swore — so it's very obvious why I swear and blaspheme.

Wipeout: Apart from your profanity, does your Dr Jekyll have a Mr Hyde? Do you have a dark side?

MH: I never thought so, but according to my friends, wife and family, apparently I do. I'm apparently a bit strange when I’m in the middle of a writing a novel.

Wipeout: What do you enjoy most about your lifestyle, and what preys upon you the most?

MH: More time to write. Making sure we've got enough money to pay the bills gives me the irrits. The main thing that drives me nuts is the level of horror that still goes on in the world (racism, war, poverty, hunger, etc.) — especially when we have enough resources on every level for all humanity to live a wonderful life.

Wipeout: How do you relax away from writing?

MH: I have returned to social tennis which I do very badly. Love hanging out with friends on a Friday night, talking, listening to music, watching Collingwood win. I go to a few games a year. Going to the pics with my partner. Paddling, walking, watching telly.

Wipeout: What are you working on at the moment?

MH: All Along the Watchtower — it's a memoir of the 60s and the antiwar movement, etc. — in a way it's like a sequel to Hey Joe. I’m also writing a novel for 10 to 14 year olds called Goliath — a bodyboarding novel about a mythical giant wave and a giant shark.

And reading my ASIO files from 30 years ago.

 

Wipeout: Cowabunga, dude!

 

some of Michael’s oeuvre

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Wanna find out more about this dude?

Visit this site: http://www.vulgar.com.au/hydehome.html