A spectre is haunting Hanson
The recent national high school walkout against racism has rattled Pauline Hanson and her One Nation chums. According to Hanson and minder David Oldfield, the action organised by the socialist youth organisation Resistance is proof that "communism is on the march" again in Australia.
They claim that each one of those 10,000 students at the rallies were "manipulated". High school students, they say, should not be involved in politics because they are "too young" to understand the world. A One Nation MP in Queensland even claimed that the high school walkout was tantamount to child abuse.
Reactionary columnists and radio hosts in the establishment media have chimed in as well, with predictable diatribes and cries of "reds under the bed".
Young people are demonstrating in large numbers because they realise that they, along with migrants, Aboriginals, sole mothers and others, are being scapegoated by Hanson and the major parties for the social and economic ills of the nation. High school students are not prepared to cop it sweet.
What One Nation, Labor and the Liberals really fear is a dynamic and youthful anti-racist movement which is prepared to take to the streets. Green Left Weekly staunchly supports young people's rights to actively organise against racism — or against any injustice of this profits-first system.
In the months to come, there will be further student protests and walkouts against racism, and Green Left Weekly will continue to be there, interviewing the students, young workers and unemployed involved.
There is no better way to keep in touch with the radical youth movement than with a subscription to Green Left. Green Left Weekly gives a voice to those young activists which the media choose to ignore and belittle. Green Left Weekly — It's your newspaper.