BY PETER BOYLE
SYDNEY On March 13, the Sydney Labor for Refugees group decided to oppose the attempted exclusion of members of the Democratic Socialist Party, International Socialist Organisation and other activist left groups from the Sydney Palm Sunday 2002 committee.
In doing so, Labor for Refugees joins other groups such as the NSW Greens, the Italian immigrant workers organisation FILEF, the Australia East Timor Association and many individual movement activists in opposing this undemocratic policy.
The policy of political exclusion was initiated by a handful of disgruntled activists who failed to impose their conservative agenda on the Sydney Network Opposing War and Racism (NOWAR), the open activist group which organised several successful rallies and marches against the war on Afghanistan last year.
This group headed by former Communist Party member Peter Murphy decided that they did not want to work with activist left organisations and set up a new group called the Working Group Against War and Terrorism, which later transformed itself into the Palm Sunday committee. The committee adopted a political exclusion policy, using the device of restricting participation to invited groups and individuals.
This committee decided to make Compassion for Refugees the focus of the silent march on March 24, while at the same time excluding members from three activist committees which are playing major roles in campaign for refugee rights in Sydney: the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC), Free the Refugees Campaign (FRC) and Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP). These three groups have been responsible for organising the biggest marches and rallies for refugees held in Sydney this year and have also organised several successful suburban community rallies and public meetings.
The Sydney Palm Sunday committee claims to be broad, with representation by invitation across racial, religious, social and political divides, with no group dominating, but ALP and pro-ALP groups are clearly dominant in the committee.
On March 11, under pressure from opponents of the ban (particularly the NSW Greens), the committee belatedly began to make some concessions, accepting some activist groups previously excluded, such as the FRC, ASAP and RAC. According to committee organisers, the socialist youth group Resistance has only been accepted as an observer, a category that appears to have been invented in the midst of hasty attempts to fend off the mounting criticisms of the policy of political exclusion.
More and more activists are realising that they have to take a public stand against this exclusion policy which could set a dangerous precedent for the movement. Who decides who meets the criteria of being politically acceptable enough to be invited to campaign committees? And on what basis?
Readers who would like to support the campaign for political inclusiveness in the movement should contact me at <peterb@dsp.org.au> or (02) 9690 1230.
[Peter Boyle is a member of the national executive of the Democratic Socialist Party.]
From Green Left Weekly, March 20, 2002.
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