The 36th annual national conference of the socialist youth organisation Resistance will be an important stepping stone towards the protests against US emperor George Bush's visit to Australia in September for the APEC summit.
Held over July 5-8 at the Glebe Town Hall in Sydney, the Resistance conference will not only bring together young radical and socialist activists from across Australia, it will feature activists from the region in order to globalise our solidarity against the gathering of warmongers and climate vandals at APEC.
Since the student uprisings against the Suharto dictatorship in Indonesia, Resistance has maintained its links with student activists who led the revolt in Indonesia, and a number of them have attended previous Resistance conferences. This year, Gusti Galuh Ratna Sari, a member of the National League for Student Democracy (LMND) and one of the international relations staff for the newly formed political party PAPERNAS, will be sharing her experiences of young people fighting back against neoliberalism and imperialism.
In greetings on behalf of the LMND to last year's Resistance conference, Sari wrote: "Today's crisis of global capitalism is experienced throughout the world. That's why we will work to strengthen the connections between the movements generated by people's oppression under capitalism. The building of links between the international left must also become important in building the movement."
Next month's conference will also feature a young socialist activist from across the Tasman. Julia Espinoza is a member of Socialist Worker (New Zealand) and an organiser with Climaction, Auckland's climate change coalition, and Solidarity Union. Espinoza is also active in the Venezuela-Aotearoa Solidarity Team.
The ability to share our experiences in struggles against neoliberal globalisation, war and environmental destruction, and in campaigns for a better world, with activists from the Asia-Pacific will make the Resistance conference an essential meeting place for people planning to protest against Bush and APEC in September.
Another reason to make the trip to Sydney on July 5-8 will be the presence of Venezuela's Charge d'Affairs in Australia, Nelson Davila. Venezuela's government and people are leading the fight against the US empire and, at the same time, beginning to create a socialist society.
To provide more information about this inspiring revolution, the Venezuelan embassy is organising a special conference in Sydney on July 7. It will mark Venezuela's Independence Day and Resistance will be setting aside this day of its conference to enable people to attend the embassy conference and learn more about the first socialist revolution of the 21st century.
For more information about the Resistance conference, or to register for it, visit <http://www.resistance.org.au> or phone Fred, Emma or Farida on (02) 9690 1230 or (02) 9690 1977.