By Cass Ilia
NEWCASTLE — The first openly socialist campaign in the federal seat of Paterson for many years has been well received by voters. The campaign for the Democratic Socialists' candidate Alison Dellit has focussed on opposition to racism and youth unemployment.
The Democratic Socialists decided to contest the seat after statements by the sitting Liberal member, Bob Baldwin, that he would rather leave the Liberal Party than give preferences to the Democratic Socialists over One Nation.
"As Resistance organiser for the Hunter, I was involved in encouraging school students from Maitland and other areas in Paterson to attend the recent high school anti-racism rallies. Many of the young people who attended are too young to vote, but they are passionate about tackling the rise of racism in Australia", Dellit told Green Left Weekly.
"This includes the racism of Baldwin's Liberal Party, and Labor's as well. The Coalition has slashed immigration and migrant rights, and attacked Aboriginal services and land rights. The Labor Party supported most of the racist Wik bill, as well as some attacks on migrant rights."
On the day nominations closed, a staffer for Bob Horne, the ALP candidate for Paterson, rang Dellit to tell her she was stupid for running against Baldwin because it gave him "a legitimate reason to direct his preferences to One Nation".
Later that afternoon, two members of the ALP rang to ask Resistance to call off the anti-racism rally it was organising outside Baldwin's office that week.
Dellit replied that it was ludicrous to suggest that demonstrating against the Liberal Party would increase its chances of being elected. While many recognise One Nation as racist, the racist policies of the Howard government have gone unnoticed by many, and need to be highlighted, she said.
Raising the socialist flag in the federal election, far from giving Baldwin an "excuse" to preference One Nation, allows real solutions to be presented, she said.
The Democratic Socialists have used the campaign to popularise demands for the nationalisation of BHP and a shorter working week to combat unemployment. Such measures counter the pro-big business protectionism pushed by One Nation and the slave-labour work for the dole schemes of Labor and Liberal.
The reason why Labor attempted to stop Resistance and the Democratic Socialists from raising these ideas and building the campaign against racism was made clearer last week when it (and the Coalition) began scrambling for the preferences of One Nation voters.
As part of the Democratic Socialists' campaign, Dellit has visited schools to discuss racism, and attended public meetings. "I attended a meeting in Morpeth to discuss the Jabiluka campaign. It was attended by about 50 people, all of whom were passionate about getting involved in the fight to stop the Jabiluka uranium mine. They were really pleased that a young anti-racist activist had taken on Baldwin."
A radio debate between Dellit, the Greens' Nathan Ross and Aisha Polnett from the Australian Democrats was so successful that station 2NC plans a series of follow-up forums before and after October 3.