Socialist Alliance (SA) launched its federal election campaign for the seat of Sydney and the New South Wales Senate on March 15 with a diverse crowd of community fighters.
“We live in dangerous times,” said Rachel Evans, who is standing in Sydney. “What we do now in our neighbourhoods, communities and unions will shape the future of our planet and the lives of future generations.”
Evans, a well-known LGBTIQ rights and housing activist, said the campaign would “unpick the lies” to counter racism, transphobia and Islamophobia. These are being used as diversions by the billionaires who are “are sucking us dry”.
“We are in an unprecedented housing and cost-of-living crisis … 70% of households are financially stressed and one in six children live in poverty.” She said SA has real solutions to the housing, cost-of-living and climate crises, “including a mass expansion of ecologically sustainable public housing funded by taxing the rich”.
Andrew Chuter said when it comes to the climate emergency, “it is a case of socialism or death”. Chuter is number two on SA’s NSW Senate ticket.
“We have already surpassed 1.5°C of warming and are on target to seriously exceed that. Instead of addressing the climate crisis, governments are prioritising destructive wars.”
Chuter outlined five key demands: 100% renewables by 2030; no nuclear power; scrap AUKUS; scrap all fossil fuel subsidies; and free and expanded public and active transport.
Peter Boyle, the lead NSW Senate candidate, told the room of activists that everyone is “part of the hope for building the future”.
“While the billionaire class is busy promoting hate, division, exploitation, war and ecocide, socialists stand for the exact opposite.
“We want a society based on solidarity and living together with nature. We want people to work together, stand up for each other, not fight each other and hate each other.”
Boyle said socialism is not just a “nice idea”, but a “possible and practical solution” for humanity.
“Your presence today is proof of the record of SA. You are here because we have worked together, and that is the most important skill in this period: the ability to unite with everybody in struggle to defeat this horrible offensive.”
Greetings came from a number of communities in struggle.
Chilean activist, unionist and musician Paula Sanchez, on behalf of the Latin American Social Forum and Chile-Australia Solidarity Committee, said: “We are here because we believe in socialism and believe in fighting and struggling for a better world.”
Sanchez, along with other Latin American musicians and activists, performed a number of songs.
Gazan-Australian activist Shamikh Badra, a member of the International Committee of the Palestinian People’s Party and founder of the Gaza Nippers program, thanked SA for supporting justice and freedom in Palestine “not just in words, but in action”.
“While other politicians stay silent or make excuses, SA has been clear: End the genocide, cut ties with apartheid Israel and stand with Palestinian people.”
Waterloo public housing tenant and activist Karyn Brown said SA “walk the talk” on defending public housing.
Paul Keating, Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) Sydney branch secretary, commented on SA’s “Change the System” placards.
“There is a long history of solidarity between the MUA and SA,” he said. “We believe in the same values; that nobody is left behind … we need courageous candidates ... and we support Rachel, Peter and Andrew because they stand against hatred of division and discrimination and stand up for the working class.”
Keating condemned Labor’s attacks on the Construction Forestry Maritime Employees’ Union and its draconian anti-protest laws, saying “both ruling parties” support authoritarian laws.
Kurdish community activist Baran Sogut said the presence of so many communities shows that SA “lives the principles of people before profit”. Sogut thanked SA for its continued solidarity with the Rojava Revolution, presenting the candidates with flowers.
Josh Lees, Socialist Alternative and an organiser with the Palestine Action Group, said there is an “urgent need to build the forces of resistance and working-class struggle”.
“We need to oppose not only the symptoms but also the root cause, the fundamental way that our society is organised for profit.”
Osama Youssif, from the Sudanese Communist Party, commended SA’s solidarity with the people of Sudan for more than 20 years.
“SA is a voice for minorities and working-class communities and that is why we support it and will be spreading the word among our community.”
Climate activist Zach Schofield said making change entails “actively building power in the community”. “That’s what Rachel [Evans] does; that’s what SA does.”
Mark Gillespie, LGBTIQ activist and 78er, reflected on the 1978 protest that became Mardi Gras and the need for marginalised communities to unite to fight for a better world. There is “space for a party left of the Greens in federal parliament”, he concluded.
[Get involved in Socialist Alliance’s election campaign here and donate via MyCause.]
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