Kylie Moon is 26 years old and is the Socialist Alliance's number one Senate candidate in NSW. She was the national coordinator of the "Books not bombs" student strikes in 2003 and is an activist in Sydney's Community Action Against Homophobia. Below, she gives a youth perspective on the upcoming federal election.
It came as no surprise to me to hear that Australian Idol thrashed the misnamed "Great debate" between PM John Howard and federal Labor leader Mark Latham in the ratings a couple of Sundays ago. Australian Idol's audience is overwhelmingly young, and young people in this country clearly do not care for what passes as political debate between two politicians with virtually indistinguishable politics.
A number of commentators have attempted to paint the obvious disillusionment felt by young people with both Liberal and Labor as evidence of "political apathy". However, if you scratch the surface you find that the problem is not that we don't care about political issues, it is just that we are not stupid and can see perfectly clearly that both Liberal and Labor do not act in our interests.
A poll commissioned by the Australian Democrats of 15-20 year-olds in January found that only 6% of those polled trusted politicians. Seventy-six per cent of participants believed the government is not doing enough to protect the environment. Eighty-seven per cent believed education should be publicly funded and 62% thought the current levels of student support are not adequate. Sixty-three per cent supported a treaty with Indigenous Australians. In South Australia, 93% of participants rejected having a nuclear waste dump in their state.
On the one hand, many young people see the Howard government moving in the exact opposite direction to our beliefs. On the other, we see the Labor "opposition" completely fail to provide any semblance of an alternative. In March last year, Howard defied the express wishes of the Australian people — which were clearly demonstrated by the largest mobilisations ever — to participate in the invasion of Iraq. Given this, is it any wonder that a recent poll revealed that a majority of young Australians don't believe we live in a democracy?
Far from being apathetic, many of us are utterly disillusioned with the pro-corporate, anti-people policies of the Coalition and Labor. Youth are looking elsewhere for solutions to racist, war-mongering and neoliberal politics. A July 7 Radio National program revealed that the two most popular political websites for Australian youth were firstly Michael Moore's website (<http://www.michaelmoore.com>), and secondly, Green Left Weekly (<http://www.greenleft.org.au>).
On September 23, Radio National presented a "young person's media guide to politics", which pointed out that most young people don't rely on the morning papers, TV or radio for political information, instead using the internet. Media monitoring company Hitwise's Tessa Court cited the popularity of anti-war websites and again mentioned Green left Weekly.
This generation has already proven our willingness to take decisive action when necessary. In the lead-up to the invasion of Iraq, secondary students across the country staged the largest student strikes in Australia's history, involving over 25,000 students all up in the "Books not bombs" protests. So much for any hopes the ruling class has that this generation does not care about injustice!
What young people are looking for is an alternative — we hate Howard but don't believe Latham offers much that is different. Socialist Alliance is about trying to build such an alternative.
It comes as no surprise that the biggest support for the Greens comes from youth. This is to be welcomed, and reflects the stand taken by the Greens against injustice on a range of issues. But Socialist Alliance believes we must go further and fight for a lasting alternative to the pro-corporate policies of Liberal and Labor. The alliance believes the solution to the problems so many young people see in the world lies in socialism — that is, a system where wealth is controlled by ordinary people and put at the service of society as a whole.
The Socialist Alliance stands for building a broad-based opposition to neo-liberalism, racism and war, both inside parliament and out. The alliance is about building a mass movement that can challenge the corporate system and build a socialist alternative.
That's why the Socialist Alliance, and no doubt scores of young people, will take to the streets on October 2-3 for the national protests to "End the lies", kick Howard out and force the withdrawal of Australian troops from Iraq.
From Green Left Weekly, September 29, 2004.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.