By Sophie Williams & Belinda Selke
"The shameful events of yesterday had nothing to do with democracy or individual freedoms." That was how NSW Premier Bob Carr described the June 20 trade union blockade of the NSW parliament imposed to stop his government's attack on workers' compensation rights.
For the Labor premier, "democracy" means laws, mainly pro-business and anti-worker, being rammed through the ALP parliamentary caucus and then endorsed by a dutiful majority.
It wouldn't even occur to Carr or any other establishment politician — Labor, Liberal or Democrat — that decisions which will impact on the lives of ordinary people should be submitted to a serious process of consultation with those affected. For the professional politician, Liberal or Labor, that would be taking democracy — majority rule — to "ridiculous" extremes.
The recently launched Socialist Alliance, begun by nine socialist organisations, takes the completely opposite view of democracy and politics. First, it says that the reason ordinary people's input into the "democratic process" is limited to marking a ballot paper once every three years is very simple: any more power in the hands of ordinary people would undermine the interests of the powerful ultra-minority who really control the show — the corporate elites and the parties and politicians on their leash.
Think about it. What would be the fate of corporate funding for universities, "reforms" to Workcover, the destruction of old growth forests and Third World debt if ordinary people and not the likes of John Howard made the decisions?
The establishment version of "democracy" is in trouble. Mass anger is rising with the farce of "you-voted-for-us-so-just-cop-it-sweet", of profits before people. Actions like the S11 and M1 anti-corporate protests and the campaign to free refugees from detention centres are growing and putting the powers-that-be on the defensive.
These movements also underline the need for an all-round political alternative to the Liberals and Labor. The Socialist Alliance has been launched to meet that need. It seeks to unite socialists and other activists to build an active, fighting alternative to the mainstream political consensus.
The Socialist Alliance will stand candidates in the next federal election on a platform of total opposition to the corporate agenda of "economic rationalism". It will offer new hope to all those who have been attacked by the Liberals and ignored by Labor. It will be standing candidates to meet working people's crying need for genuine political representatives.
The Socialist Alliance thinks the unthinkable. For example, it argues that the GST can be axed, public health and education can receive more funding, privatised electricity and insurance companies can be taken back into public ownership and the funding needed to desalinate the Murray-Darling basin can be found by cutting the Coalition's huge increase in spending on military hardware.
But while it will stand in elections the Socialist Alliance is not electoralist. It will promote and support the sort of mass campaigns that can build resistance and become powerful enough to redistribute the wealth of society, create jobs, expand public services, improve welfare and reverse environmental decline.
Its candidates will have no privileges — policy decisions would be made by the members, and MPs' salaries beyond the average worker's wages will be given to the Socialist Alliance.
How can we be sure it can be all this? Because the Socialist Alliance will operate on the understanding that a successful movement for social change can only be based on the active participation of its members.
The establishment parties rely on the inactivity of their members and supporters, and stifling discussion. They would rather lull us all into believing everything is being taken care of, while pushing through policies that will fatten the pockets of their corporate masters.
The Socialist Alliance is not just about strengthening popular resistance to the policies the Bob Carrs want to ram down our throats. Through such resistance the alliance aims to go further, uniting workers and students to replace this unjust and cruel society with one based on co-operation, democracy and ecological sustainability.
In such a society people before profits would be the rule: every major industry would be converted to meet social needs and be publicly owned and democratically controlled and managed by its workers, and the community at large.
That's the alternative the Socialist Alliance will be fighting for at and beyond the next federal election. It appeals to all those who hate the Howard government but are disillusioned with Labor: Be part of the only serious force in this country that is going to speak out boldly for socialism and struggle at the coming elections and beyond!
[Visit the Socialist Alliance web site at <http://www.socialist-alliance.org>.]