By Michael Bramwell and Arun Pradhan
PERTH — Who is Resistance and what are they doing out west? Looking at the media coverage last year starts to give a (distorted) idea.
According to Channel 9 news, Resistance was infiltrating Perth high schools. The same story implied that Resistance were the people who burned down the French consulate during the anti-nuclear protests.
In the West Australian newspaper, Resistance was blamed when university students "rioted" and "violently stormed" DEET offices after a rally against education cuts. A letter in Community News described Resistance manipulating the 300 students at this action, who were presumably led astray.
Unlike the "journalists" behind these stories, when we set out to find out more, we decided to talk to Resistance activists. Corinne Glenn, a student at Curtin University told us about the "riot".
"Last year we held a peaceful occupation of DEET. The 300 students involved were not only empowered by the action but also managed to plan future events, from supporting May Day to campus meetings.
"Resistance initiated and chaired the occupation, and more recently we joined with other groups in organising the rally against Liberal Party's agenda for education. With unprecedented attacks in the form of HECS increases, Austudy restrictions and funding cuts, students literally have to fight for their right to education.
"We are working in the Student Unionism Network (SUN), organising students to support academics in their industrial action on May 29. We have started to make links with TAFE students, who have been hit hardest by this offensive. We are trying to bring academics, TAFE, high school and university students together for a large anti-budget action in August."
Resistance is not just a student organisation. Mark Abberton, currently unemployed, heads Resistance's solidarity work with Indonesia and East Timor. According to Abberton, Resistance has a priority of defending basic human rights. "That concerns all peoples, whether they be women, indigenous cultures, young people, the unemployed, workers and so on.
"It's particularly shocking that just 500 km from Australian borders in the nations of East Timor, Indonesia and West Papua there are daily acts of repression on a mass scale. It makes you question democracy in Australia when 'our' government has actively supported the Indonesian regime."
Resistance works with other solidarity groups and the East Timorese community to raise awareness around these issues. Abberton described some of Resistance's activities. "One of our main focuses will be the national day of action for East Timor on August 25. In the lead-up to this, we will be having regular information stalls, forums and a band night and film night on Perth campuses.
"We support the independence struggle of the East Timorese but make it clear that the blame does not lie with the Indonesian people, who also suffer under the regime. The Perth tour of Nico Wahid, an Indonesian activist from the student solidarity group SMID, will be instrumental in explaining this."
Vaarunika Dharmapala is currently involved in the Network of Women Students in Australia (NOWSA) collective with women from a range of groups and backgrounds. With other Resistance members and activists, Dharmapala also helped build events such as International Women's Day and Reclaim the Night. She explained why Resistance calls itself a "feminist" organisation.
"All working people suffer some form of exploitation under capitalism. Women's oppression is one of the most blatant examples of this. Women still face unequal pay, no control over their own bodies and an unattainable image of beauty that ends up being a prison sentence for countless women.
"In Resistance we have seen that young women are prepared to stand up and fight against inequality. Most of the people who joined Resistance and want to get active this year have been women. The NOWSA conference in Perth this year will provide an exciting forum for women to gain strength in themselves and will hopefully be the platform for future actions and initiatives to combat women's oppression."
Francesca Davidson, a worker in the public sector, explained, "We are involved in a broad range of campaigns. Particularly with the Liberal government's accelerated attacks on migrants, Aborigines, the public and welfare sector, we will be kept very busy.
"You will find our members at uranium collective meetings and in radiation suits as we help build actions to stop the opening of more uranium mines. We have held a successful politics in the pub entitled 'fighting the "new" racism' and have had discussions with Aboriginal activists about a civil rights march. Our growing number of high school members are planning to produce a newsletter called Student Underground taking up many of these issues.
Davidson points out that Resistance is not just a network of activists. "As socialists, we fight for each issue and against each attack. But it's not enough to just defend past gains — we are helping to build movements which can go on the offensive. We realise that the fundamental reason for oppression stems from profit being the driving force of our society.
"Real justice and change can occur only when people can democratically control society. This is why we make links between different struggles and fight for more fundamental changes. This is why we are ultimately fighting for socialism.
"By this I mean a society that can make rational decisions based on the needs of people rather than this mad spate of budget cuts and attacks on working people while corporations make record profits."
Short of such a fundamental change, Resistance argues, every social gain can be just as easily lost. "There are too many examples of this", says Davidson. "The free education won in the '70s has been driven back to the unbelievable attacks that we face today. A sane society would prioritise the things that this system is making inaccessible: education, welfare and health spending.
"It's easy to be overwhelmed by the attacks. It's hard to know where to start or what one person can do. By joining an organisation, each individual's impact can be multiplied. We emphasise helping each member gain the skills, knowledge and confidence to help build movements and organise these fights back. And because we are a democratic organisation, each individual can make Resistance their own and decide what actions we do."