Adelaide students reject red-baiting

Adelaide students reject red-baiting

By Arrow Tong

ADELAIDE — Following the success of the high school students' anti-racism protest on July 24, Charlie McCormack, One Nation candidate for Kingston, announced on July 27 that One Nation will hold its own rally to coincide with the next Resistance rally on August 28.

Sam King told Green Left Weekly that Resistance had been overwhelmed by the positive public response to the July 24 action but McCormack claims that his counter-rally is to protest at Resistance "using kids as foot soldiers".

High school Resistance activist Zoe Gordon replied, "students know why they're protesting and the fact that we have been portrayed as mindless 'foot soldiers' only underlines why we are rallying. Any One Nation protest will be racist."

Jeremy Cordeaux, a notoriously right-wing radio talk-back host, said that if the ethnic members of One Nation "came from communist countries, listening to [Sam King] talk about the virtues of communism and living under Fidel Castro would probably turn stomachs". Cordeaux described socialism as "doing as little work for as much money in as little time as possible".

King rejected the attempt to discredit anti-racist actions with red-baiting. During the Vietnam War, he said, organisations "from Quakers to the Socialist Youth Alliance" worked together to build a massive campaign which forced the withdrawal of Australian troops. "That is how to stop racism in Australia."

Although no students were suspended from school for joining the July 24 action, many have been punished by school administrations with after-school detention.

From GLW issue 327