By Peter Boyle
"At a time when the major political parties are shifting sharply to the right, and with the far-right One Nation party threatening to capture a swag of seats in the Senate, it is time to turn to the left", said John Percy, the Democratic Socialists' candidate for the federal seat of Sydney.
"For nearly two decades, the Coalition and Labor parties have forced 'free market' policies on us: privatisation, generous tax cuts for the rich, and health, education and welfare cuts for the rest of us.
"The majority of working people have had enough, and they are deserting the major parties in droves. John Howard is forcing an early election because he knows his chances of re-election are diminishing by the minute.
"Letting 'the market' dictate how society is run has been a disaster. If we want a society where people's needs, not corporate profits, come first, then the main assets of society must be publicly owned and democratically managed. That is what the Democratic Socialists stand for. That is why a vote for us in the House of Representatives and in the Senate is a vote for real opposition to the economic 'rationalism' of the major parties."
Marina Carman, who heads the Democratic Socialists' NSW Senate ticket, maintains that the October 3 poll won't be about just the GST, though the capitalist media will do their best to present it as such.
"If you believe the Coalition and Labor politicians, this will not be a race-based election because the Senate allowed through John Howard's plan to destroy native title. But racism will be a major election issue.
"Not only will One Nation be using the election to promote its racist views, but unless a clear rejection of racism by the majority of people is signalled, either a Coalition or Labor government will continue to implement racist policies", warned Carman, who debated One Nation's David Oldfield on Network Nine's A Current Affair in July.
Carman points out that Labor has not committed itself, if elected, to repealing any of Howard's 10-point native title extinguishment plan, cuts to immigration, discriminatory two-year wait for welfare rights for new migrants, or approval for the Jabiluka uranium mine.
She argues that the major parties have failed to counter One Nation's racist offensive because they have both implemented racist policies while in government. "They, like Hanson, rely on racist scapegoating to divert attention from their failure to govern in the interests of working people. With a global recession nearly upon us, we must be prepared for this scapegoating to increase."
The Democratic Socialists will fight for:
- No GST: tax the rich not the rest
- Repeal of the Native Title Amendment Act
- Close Jabiluka and all other uranium mines
- Stop privatisation and expand the public sector
- Nationalise the banks and finance companies
- Full employment through a shorter working week with no loss in pay
- Self-determination for East Timor and democracy for Indonesia
- Women's right to choose abortion
- Repeal of the Workplace Relations Act, and 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ 45D and E of the Trade Practices Act
- Cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20% of 1990 levels by 2005.
[John Percy, 52, founded Resistance, the socialist youth organisation which now leads the youth movement against racism, in 1968. He is now the national secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party. Marina Carman, 24, is a leader of Resistance and vice-president of Sydney University students' representative council.]