Acts of Resistance
New club launched
GEELONG — Students at Deakin University in Geelong have formed a new Resistance club at the campus. Many students have already expressed an interest in the club, which is part of a new Resistance branch in Geelong.
Organiser Bronwyn Jennings said, "Geelong needs an activist organisation like ours, that can build campaigns around local issues but also broader concerns: against the privatisation of education, for example, or in solidarity with the struggles for freedom in Indonesia and East Timor.
"For instance, there is a lot of support here for the campaign against the Regional Forest Agreement, which will devastate the nearby Otway Ranges, and that's something that the new Resistance group here will be involved in."
The university's environment and women's collectives have expressed interest in working on joint campaigns with Resistance throughout the year.
Resistance member Graham Williams has written an article about East Timor for the student newspaper Planet and students have said that they will help organise screenings of John Pilger's Timor Conspiracy and the documentary Indonesia in Revolt — Democracy or Death.
By Jacquie Moon
Is Marxism Still Relevant?
BRISBANE — Seventeen students attended the first Resistance club forum for 2000 at the University of Queensland on March 1. The forum, titled "Marxism: outdated theory or guide to revolution?", was part of a national forum series being organised by Resistance.
The guest speaker, Graham Matthews, the organiser of the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP)in Brisbane, argued that capitalism was not solving the problems of society, that the analysis put forward by Marx was indeed correct and still relevant today.
"While capitalism has meant unparalleled growth and increases in wealth, the main problems of the world — poverty, unemployment, the collapse of the environment, the oppression of women, racism, and the subjugation of weaker nations by stronger ones — continue to be the inevitable product of this system", he argued.
On the same day, thirteen people attended a similar forum at the Australian National University. The presentation was made by James Vassilopoulos, Canberra DSP branch secretary. And at the University of Sydney, 25 people attended an introduction to Resistance meeting.
By Angela Luvera
Film night a success
LISMORE — A Resistance-organised screening and discussion of The Battle for Seattle, a documentary by Indie Media on the protests against the World Trade Organisation in November, attracted 30 people here on March 1.
A lively discussion followed about building solidarity between the struggles of workers and the environmental movement. One participant announced the formation of a collective to organise an event for May Day. The collective will meet on March 15, 6pm at the Lismore Workers Club.
By Kath O'Driscoll