Politicians and parliament: young people want change

Resistance is campaigning for the Democratic Socialists in the federal elections. NATASHA SIMONS interviewed three Resistance members about the campaign. Paul Howes is a 14-year-old student at Blaxland high in Sydney's West. He joined Resistance last July through the campaign against nuclear testing. Question: Why did you join Resistance? I joined because I wanted to make a difference in society, not just sit around and complain about social injustice, but actually get out there and campaign. I was also involved in the campaign against nuclear testing. I thought capitalism really stuffed up people's minds and I wanted to tell other kids about that and about socialism. When I joined, I was still a member of the Labor Party, but I was really disillusioned with them. Question: Why did you leave the Labor party? I joined the ALP because I thought I could change Labor and make it a real workers' party. But after a while I realised that Labor had gone so far right it was too late to change it. Even the left faction of Labor thought I was too radical. Another reason I left was the hierarchy and the lack of grassroots input. Question: How can young people who can't vote affect politics? Young people can have an affect on politics even if they can't vote through their schools and activist organisations like Resistance. One example of this was last year when up to 10,000 high school students nationally walked out of their classes to protest the Australian government's weak stand on French nuclear testing in the Pacific. In history, high school students have been at the front lines around the world, like in South Africa fighting against apartheid and in Burkina Faso they helped overthrow a dictatorship. Question: What do you think about lowering the voting age? Lowering the voting age to at least 16 years should be a right because we can be tried as adults in a court of law, and we can fight in the army, and in most other aspects we are treated as adults. But it's obvious that under Labor or Liberal the voting age will never be lowered because young people might then have a say in how they are governed. They're scared of that because young people are the ones who are most critical of the system and who most want change. Zanny Begg is a 23 year old student at Arts school. She joined Resistance in 1991 through involvement in the environment movement. She is currently the Brisbane Resistance organiser and the Democratic Socialist candidate for the seat of Brisbane. Question: Youth unemployment is estimated at around 30% and has become a big issue in the federal election campaign. What is the Democratic Socialists' solution to youth unemployment? The only real solution to unemployment is job creation. That's why the major parties fail to solve the problem — all they propose is endless training and work for the dole type schemes, and keeping young people longer at school. A common thing politicians say is that there is not enough work to go around. But there is work that needs to be done, like cleaning up polluted waterways or increasing hospital staff to help reduce waiting lists. We want jobs created in areas such as these, that benefit people and the environment. If corporate taxes were increased, there would be money to create these jobs easily, and pay decent wages. We believe to do this requires a reorganisation of our society, where people's needs are put ahead of the profits of a few. Question: What is the Democratic Socialists' policy on education? The Democratic Socialists think that education, because it benefits the whole society, not just individual or business, should be free and accessible for all. This is also what Resistance stands for and what young people have fought hard for. Resistance members played a central role in the free education campaign in the mid to late 1980s and we are part of the current campaign against up-front fees and attacks on student unionism. Tully Bates joined Resistance as a high school student in Adelaide in 1993. She currently works as a tram conductor in Melbourne and is involved in a cross-depot rank and file union group. Question: Why is Resistance putting energy and resources into the federal election campaign? I think most young people feel angry and cynical about the elections and politicians. They think it doesn't matter who gets voted into office because they'll break their promises and make our lives harder. So why should we bother to make a formal vote or get involved in any part of the electoral process? Resistance understands that the reason things don't change much whether we get Labor or Liberal in parliament is because first of all, real power lies with huge multi-national companies and not with parliament. These companies get to decide what really affects our lives — what goods and foods to produce, whether to protect or destroy the forests, whether to create jobs, go to war and so on. And they do so based on the profit, rather than the people, motive. Secondly, the two major parties both serve the interests of big business. But we also understand that elections are a time when more people are paying attention to politics; it's a time they feel that they can affect politics. This means that it's a time to tap into that interest and present what we see as alternatives to this rotten system. We don't think that fundamental change will come through parliament; it will come through lots of people taking action on the ground — in their workplaces, schools, on their campuses, in the streets. That's why campaigning during the elections is an important but more minor part of Resistance's campaigns. We are supporting the Democratic Socialists because, if they were elected, they would use those positions to strengthen grassroots mobilisations of people. Question: What does Resistance have planned for the remaining weeks of the campaign? When most people think about election campaigning, they think of handing out how-to-vote cards on polling day. Our campaign is much more than this. In the next few weeks Resistance in Sydney is helping organise a picket against Gareth Evans and Alexander Downer to protest against their foreign policy, for example on East Timor. We're running youth speak-outs in various city centres so young people can have a public say on issues that concern us. We'll also be distributing Green Left Weekly to get alternative news and views on the elections out to more people. We'll be letterboxing, holding campaign stalls and meetings, and also doorknocking in some electorates. We hope that a lot of young people will join us in the campaign, but we will be continuing to campaign for justice in East Timor, for women's rights, for the environment and so on as much after the election as before it.