Students plan activist left tickets

Students plan activist left tickets

BY JAMES CAULFIELD
& RUTH RATCLIFFE

CANBERRA — Student activists here are laying plans to end conservative domination of the student associations at the University of Canberra and the Australian National University, setting up tickets for upcoming association elections calling for a new left-wing direction for both organisations.

Meetings held on both campuses have expressed interest in an election campaign which stresses student activism in broader movements, such as the upcoming September 11 protests against the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Melbourne, and on campus-specific issues, such as the UC Union's refusal to resource political clubs.

Marcus Pabian, the coordinator of Resistance on UC, commented "the UCU decision to refuse to affiliate Resistance has the same result as the Liberals attempted 'voluntary student unionism' legislation — it turns student unions into mere service providers. Activists aim to run an election campaign that will reinvigorate progressive political discussion and activism on UC. Resistance believes that political clubs are an integral part of this".

ANU Resistance Club coordinator Keara Courtney said the aims for an activist left on ANU are "to win back students to an activist perspective, on what is historically viewed as a left-wing campus".

The incumbents in the student association have come under criticism for their attitude to activist campaigns. Incumbent education officer Maciej Wasilewicz has opposed the student association contributing to the S11 protests, for example, claiming that it is not a student issue.

Courtney commented: "The anti-people policies of multinational corporations and governments definitely affects students, as does the environmental devastation wreaked by members of the WEF. So, student associations can and should play a leading role in these campaigns."

From GLW issue 414