An encouraging development
This issue of Green Left Weekly contains an important and encouraging development: Resistance magazine, a new publication that will be incorporated in each issue of Green Left.
Resistance magazine will be designed, written and produced by members of Resistance, the socialist youth organisation that has recently achieved national prominence through its campaigning against racism, particularly its organisation of secondary student walkouts in July, August and September.
Regular readers who buy Green Left Weekly on the streets probably realise that members of Resistance are the paper's most numerous and enthusiastic distributors. Resistance is also involved in writing articles, taking photographs, organising fundraising events and all the other activities necessary to Green Left's production.
But the decision to make the back cover and four pages of the paper available to Resistance is more than just a recognition of Resistance's indispensable role in producing and distributing Green Left Weekly.
Green Left has never been an end in itself. The aim has never been just to produce a reliable, accessible and informative paper for those interested in left and environmental movements and causes. Important as that aim is, it has always been seen only as a contribution to the creation of stronger movements and organisations fighting for social change.
From this standpoint, the recent expansion of Resistance's numbers and influence is extremely encouraging, and a development to which Green Left Weekly is pleased to have contributed. Resistance's popularity among young people in all walks of life is a sign of the potential that exists for a much stronger left in Australia. The decision to make part of the paper available to Resistance for its new magazine should contribute to the further growth and consolidation of this dynamic youth organisation.
Members of Resistance will continue to contribute to all the other sections of Green Left Weekly. Indeed, these pages, as always, are open to all who are active or interested in reporting and discussing important issues from a left and ecological standpoint. Resistance magazine will be a forum in which Resistance members can discuss activities, campaigns and ideas, and where people interested in learning more about Resistance can do so directly.
The launching of the new Resistance magazine is thus an act of optimism, a sign of confidence in the willingness and ability of young people today to take up all the struggles for a better world. Long may it — and they — flourish.