BY ERIN KILLION
NEWCASTLE — The 150 activists who gathered for it will certainly long remember this year's annual Queer Collaborations conference, held here from July 9-13.
The formal agenda prepared by the QC organising collective included "coming out" workshops, queer theory panels, discussions on protesting at CHOGM, and tactics for beating HIV/AIDS — but possibly more significant than the formal agenda were the many debates, some heated, that took place during the conference.
A proposal moved by activists from Queers United to Eradicate Economic Rationalism (QUEER), Stop CHOGM and Resistance for the traditional conference action to centre on corporate greed was eventually adopted after much argument.
Resistance member Peter Robson told Green Left Weekly, "We supported an action that demonstrated active solidarity with those struggling in the Third World. In particular, we wanted to condemn companies that profit from drugs priced so high that millions of AIDS sufferers die for the lack of them."
Then, activists engaged in a fierce debate about the democratic running of the conference, after members of the QC organising collective claimed that it was the collective, rather than the conference, which should control what the conference discusses.
Under challenge from many conference participants, the organising collective cancelled the third day of the conference, including the anti-corporate action — a move which sparked even more debate.
The final two days of the conference discussed HIV/AIDS, and decided that the next QC would be held in Canberra.