When the US decides that it’s time to destroy a nation, it’s a “pre-emptive” strike. If the people in that nation fight back, it’s terrorism. A study in the British medical journal
The Lancet estimated in October 2006 that Iraqi victims of Washington’s “pre-emptive” war totalled 650,000 — 2.5% of the country’s population. “Collateral damage” is a hood pulled down over the ugly truth, that civilian casualties are climbing each day that the occupation continues.
The corporate media — the fabled “free press” — is a major force trying to convince people not to speak out against the system that lets this carnage happen. Violence, oppression and prejudice are portrayed as the norm and as reasonable responses to “threats” — like Iraq’s terrifying and non-existent arsenal of weapons of mass destruction.
But young people have the power to fight for a better world — though it is often unnoticed and untapped. A million students took part in the “march of the penguins” in Chile last year (named after high school students’ distinctive uniforms), rocking the country in protests sparked by neoliberal attacks on education. In France, hundreds of thousands of students, in conjunction with unions, took to the streets to oppose a government law that would discriminate against young workers. The movement forced a government backdown.
In Australia there’s also a record of young people taking action in defence of their rights, and the rights of others. In 2003, Resistance initiated the Books Not Bombs student walkouts, mobilising thousands of young people in opposition to the invasion of Iraq. Last year we organised a student strike against the Howard government’s Work Choices legislation, and this year we have organised a student strike to coincide with the APEC summit in Sydney, calling for workers’ rights, real action on climate change and an end to the Australian-backed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
We have a responsibility to this world, and young people have to be the conscience of the nation. Together, we can wage, and win, the struggle for a better world. In Venezuela, young people are part of the Bolivarian revolution led by the government of President Hugo Chavez that aims to build “socialism of the 21st century”. They are part of a process that is building grassroots democracy and redistributing wealth from an exploitative minority to the poor majority. It’s an example that shows that we don’t need to live in a world of injustice and inequality.
Resistance is an organisation of young activists that believe that a better world is possible — but we have to fight for it. If you want to change the world, join us and help make a difference.
[Tess O’Brien is a member of the Wollongong branch of Resistance. Brianna Pike is Resistance’s national coordinator. Visit
http://resistance.org.au for more information.]
