Michael Ascroft, Melbourne
On October 2-3, the socialist youth organisation Resistance, which is affiliated to the Socialist Alliance, held its 43th national conference at Trades Hall in Melbourne. Participants from Resistance branches across Australia met to discuss the past 18 months of Resistance's work in a number of campaigns, and the future directions for the organisation.
Key areas discussed were solidarity with the Venezuelan revolution, the campaigns for young workers' rights, refugee rights and against the war, and the fight against "voluntary student unionism". The conference also highlighted the urgent need to campaign against attacks on civil liberties.
The significance of the unfolding Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela was illustrated by the numerous Resistance members who had recently returned from the first Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Brigade. They described how the Venezuelan people, led by President Hugo Chavez, are carrying out a revolutionary process that has seen massive changes in health care, education, housing, workers' control and democracy. As this process deepens, the real possibilities for "socialism of the 21st century" are becoming apparent.
Resistance has also initiated a young workers' rights campaign, part of the wider fight against the federal Coalition government's industrial relations "reforms". The focus for this campaign has been on those workers in industries already affected by the introduction of AWAs (Australian Workplace Agreements or individual contracts) — largely fast food and other franchise businesses. On September 30, 50 protesters gathered outside the Nike superstore on the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets to launch the campaign.
The conference discussed how recent developments in the US anti-war movement, notably Camp Casey and the widespread publicity around Cindy Sheenan, as well as the 300,000-strong protest at the White House on September 24, raise the possibility of a resurgence of the anti-war movement in Australia.
Plenerary sessions were interspersed with workshops around such topics as feminism and religion, the political situation in Indonesia, the history of the ALP, and the free education campaign.
The conference heard greetings from Nelson Davila, Venezuelan charge d'affaires; Lilliany Patricia Obanda Villota, Colombian trade union activist; Lourdes Garcia Larque, student activist from the Autonomous University in Mexico; Craig Johnston, union activist and former political prisoner; Tim Gooden, secretary of the Geelong Trades and Labour Council; and Roberto Jorquera from the Democratic Socialist Perspective. A highlight was written greetings received from the Alcasa aluminium plant in Venezuela, the country's most advanced example of workers' management.
On October 3, conference participants joined a protest at the Supreme Court, scheduled to coincide with the first hearing of "terror" suspect Jack Thomas's case. This case, which highlights the threat posed by new "anti-terror" laws to civil liberties in Australia, as well as the bombings in Bali on October 1, framed the conference with a sense of the ramifications of the Australian government's part in the "war on terror". It also added a sense of urgency to the struggles that Resistance is involved in.
From Green Left Weekly, October 12, 2005.
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