A representative of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and the All India Students Association will attend the Resistance national conference, to be held in Melbourne July 5-7. The AISA is a mass organisation with hundreds of thousands of members, and has been involved in campaigns to defend education from privatisation and against fee increases, as well as broader social issues. It has also run student candidates in state election campaigns.
Indonesian activist Nico Wahid will also attend the conference. Nico is a member of Students in Solidarity with Democracy in Indonesia (SMID), the largest progressive student organisation in Indonesia and part of the growing movement for democracy in that country. SMID has also been involved in supporting the struggle for a free East Timor, and many SMID activists were part of the December 1995 embassy occupations in Jakarta; these were the first such actions to involve both East Timorese and Indonesian protesters.
Also attending the conference will be representatives from the Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as from the East Timorese freedom struggle. The international guests will be speaking at a number of panels and workshops, including a panel on the struggle for socialism in Asia and the launch of a joint international solidarity manifesto.