By Tony Iltis and Nikki Ulasowski
WOLLONGONG — The participation of more than 400 secondary and tertiary students in the rally against cuts to education here on August 29 showed the potential for a broad and militant student movement against the Liberals' attacks.
Despite threats of disciplinary measures by school authorities, more than half of the protesters were high school students. Yet before the rally there was much debate on the Wollongong University Education Action Collective (EAC) about if and how high school students should participate in the rally.
Arguments made against the Resistance-initiated high school walkout included that walking out might be illegal and this "could reflect badly on the EAC and Student Representative Council"; that high school students should not mobilise without the prior support of the Teachers Federation and/or school administrations; that high school students couldn't vote and therefore were not an important section of the community; and that, since the August 29 rally was on the university campus, we should seek to mobilise only university students and staff.
Behind most of these arguments was the conservative premise (popular with authoritarian school principals) that school students are too young to think and act politically for themselves. This was particularly evident in the comment by the NSW National Union of Students' small and regional campuses officer, also a member of the Non-Aligned Left (NAL), who complained about "Marxist organisations recruiting secondary students who don't know any better".
Resistance believes that, to resist these cuts, it is necessary to build a movement that is broad enough to unite secondary and tertiary students, workers in the education industry and the general community. As those who bear the full brunt of Vanstone's attacks, secondary students are an important part of such an alliance. This was demonstrated in the clarity and conviction of the high school students who spoke at the August 29 rally.
While obtaining the support of the Teachers Federation and parents' organisations is certainly desirable, it is possible (and often necessary) to mobilise high school students without such support. In fact, mobilising high school students is in itself a way of reaching the wider community — during the building of the August 29 rally, Resistance received a number of phone calls from supportive parents.
Similar arguments to those used against the participation of high school students were also raised to oppose a proposal that a motion be put to the rally calling for the release of Budiman Sujatmiko, Dita Sari and other Indonesian pro-democracy student and worker activists arrested by the Suharto dictatorship. Non-Aligned Left members and SRC office holders claimed that such issues were "not relevant" to Wollongong University students, whom they characterised as "difficult enough to interest in education issues". At the rally, the motion was put anyway by a Resistance member and received unanimous support and vocal applause.
At the heart of this debate is the question of whether to broaden progressive movements by making demands which are as few and apolitical as possible (thereby not scaring anyone away), or by raising relevant political demands which respond to and reflect issues of concern to a wide range of people under attack.
Resistance remains optimistic about the campaign against education cuts and hopes that the experience of August 29 and ongoing fight back activities convince others of the need to build a broad and inclusive campaign to fight education cuts.