Mixed results in Wollongong SRC elections
By Justin Randell
WOLLONGONG — Wollongong University Student Representative Council elections were held on October 13-15. There were mixed outcomes for the left, with good results for the SRC and some setbacks in the National Union of Students (NUS).
The results are a warning to the campus left, which did not put forward a united campaign to keep the right out. Resistance was excluded from the major activist ticket by some Non-Aligned Left (NAL) members.
The Activate and associated feeder tickets won all executive positions it contested and five of the 11 general representative positions.
The only other serious electoral formation was an amalgam of right-wing Christians, Liberals and right-wing Labor (Unity). The right polled 40% of the SRC vote. Two NUS delegates went to the right-wingers, the Unity caucus, further strengthening the hold of the ALP on NUS.
Many activists are disillusioned with the left's campaign, and particularly with the way the NAL-dominated Activate ticket operated.
A striking example of the sectarianism of some Activate members was the selection of candidates for women's officer.
"Members of the Activate ticket were aware that a Resistance member and activist in the collective wanted to run for the position. In spite of, or perhaps in response to this, another woman was actively sought to run against the Resistance candidate", said Rebecca Mayhew, an activist in the Women's Collective.
"The left should consult with, or try to attract to their ticket, feminist activists on campus", said Jacquie Besgrove, an active member of the Women's Collective.
"The Women's Collective discussed the question of who should run for women's officer. The Activate ticket never consulted the Women's Collective, and their candidate for women's officer had not been to Women's Collective meetings, nor had she been a feminist activist on campus", said Besgrove.
Members of the Women's Collective campaigned to get the Resistance candidate elected ahead of the Activate candidate.
Activists who were part of the Activate ticket, some of whom are members of NAL, were also unhappy with the way it functioned. "The major problem with the formation of the 'left' ticket was its lack of a political basis", said Activate member Ben Langford, an environmental activist.
"It relied on a loose perception of 'like-mindedness' and 'independence'. But this like-mindedness didn't extend to shared awareness and dedication to political activism.
"It was based more on personal politics — at its worst, appearing to be based on shared socialising and prejudices. These prejudices were primarily against anyone perceived to be part of another group, particularly from a group that the NAL had something against."
"It seems to me that some activists focused on the health of their factions in NUS ahead of the movement as a whole. No really meaningful broad left could succeed when certain sections within the activist left placed loyalty to their factions above politics or capability", said education activist Dave Eden, who won the education officer position.
"Resistance proposed a broad left for the elections in first semester", said Angela Luvera, a Resistance member and feminist activist. "We will do it again next year, because it is important that the left act together against our common enemies, the Liberal government and ALP bureaucrats within NUS."