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  Issue No 14 Official Organ of LaborNet 21 May 1999  

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Campus

Tales from the Frontline

By Ryan Heath

This week's successful VSU protests seem to have killed off Kemp's ideological agenda. We go live to the protest

Sydney, Wednesday: Students gathered at Town Hall to protest the attempted introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism in one of the largest student protests for several years.

Between 3 and 4,000 students from metropolitan, Newcastle, and Bathurst campuses turned out as part of a Nationwide series of student strikes called by the National Union of Students.

Voluntary Student (Anti-Student) Unionism (VSU) Legislation is an attempt by Education, Training and Youth Affairs Minister David Kemp to silence student dissent against the Liberal Government's policies particularly on Higher Education.

It is presented on the basis that by removing the current system of automatic membership of student organisations students will be given 'choice' and the freedom not to pay for services and representation they do not want.

The campaign slogan is response to this thinly veiled arguement by Kemp is "VSU: It's not about choice, it's about silence". VSU already exists in Western Australia and Victoria where the Court and Kennett governments introduced it upon coming to power.

Wednesday's protest was extremely successful on a number of fronts, but was marred by media beat-ups of events particularly on the commercial television networks.

The rally was due to begin at 1pm following a performance by the Solidarity Choir in the Town Hall courtyard. The rally began late as marshals struggled to fit the enormous turn-out into the area.

Following a stirring address by NUS NSW President Amanda Tattersall who outlined all the organisations which had been silenced by Howard and the Liberals before us (e.g. pensioners over nursing homes, the ABC, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Youth Policy and Action Coalition etc), and urged students to remain united, Natasha Stott-Despoja spoke.

Stott-Despoja's address was crucial because it locked the Democrats into defeating the legislation in the Senate, without condition.

Doug Cameron of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, and Assistant Secretary of the ACTU then spoke before the excited throng moved off onto George Street.

The impact of the rally was incredible, due to the both the enthusiasm of the students and the sheer colours and numbers of banners which has been produced for the occasion.

Leading the march was a street-wide "VSU = Silence banner", while a fifteen metre long banner was held above protesters head for office-workers to read: "Stop the Liberals crushing dissent".

The rally's next high-point was the spontaneous action of students to run into Pitt Street mall and stage a sit-down.

Following the initial charge, marshals were able to quickly arrange students to slow their pace until eventually stopping outside the new Grace Bros to chant "The students- united- will never be defeated" and "1-2-3-4 VSU out the door. 5-6-7-8 David Kemp's the one we hate".

The police having been so easily outmanoeuvred, were outraged, and spread the word that the key organisers were to be arrested if they didn't stop organising. Students then left the mall and returned to the planned route.

Next stop was John Howard's office in Phillip Street before a festival of student culture in First Fleet Park, Circular Quay.

Drawing on the overwhelming crowd support from the many who stopped their shopping or left their offices to see what the fuss was about, students kept up an intense chanting that has rarely been matched in student protesting.

However, problems with the police began upon arriving at John Howard's office.

Employing a traditional and visually spectacluar rally tactic of 'runs'- students 'ran' the last 100m to Howard's office where a stage had been put in place for speakers.

To their surprise their was no police guard whatsoever outside Howard's office.

As the crowd of 3,000 moved in around the stage, some of the protesters took the opportunity to get as close as they could to Howard's staff to ram the massage home. At this point police grossly overreacted and called a 'Code 1'- which mean 'Officer down'.

The response was to send between 10 and fifteen police rode into the tightly packed crowd on horseback and brought in other riot police on foot.

As I was successfully calling students attention back ot the stage the police began inflaming the students further by pushing the horses line forward and getting out their batons.

I repeated my call "If the police would get out of the crowd and stop attacking students we will be able to get on with the rally - can everyone please come back to the stage"- but to no avail. Further riot police and the tactical response squad was called in.

I continued the rally regardless in the hope that the police would wake up to their senses and realised no occupation and been planned, and that none was going to occur.

They had obviously decided otherwise- as speakers from the NTEU, Council of Post-Graduate Associations and students spoke to the crowd - Commissioner Peter Ryan was making statements to the media about events he knew nothing about and had not witnessed.

"It got ugly down there today". he was widely reported as saying.

What he and the media forgot to point out was that it was the over response of the police which incited the minority o f students get angry.Indeed, one of the two injured police officers was kicked by one of the force's own horses!

As the unprovoked brawl died down full attention was returned to the stage and the rally continued to place pressure on the government to back down from its anti-union, anti-students agenda.

The march then moved on peacefully to Circular Quay for performances by indigenous Australian bands and other speakers.

On Wednesday night's news, most stations covered the rally as their first item and were generally unfavourable.

They chose to focus on the ten minutes of police brawling and immediately took the side of police. The ABC was particularly sensationalist relative to the balanced coverage of events it usually provides.

The rally however, was a definite success. We succeeded in politicising more than 3,000 student if they weren't already political.

We delivered our message loud and clear to the 200,000 in the CBD at the time and we demonstrated again that the students- united- will never be defeated.

Postscript: On Thursday Senator Mal Colston effectively killed off VSU by indicating he would oppose it in the Senate.


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*   View entire issue - print all of the articles!

*   Issue 14 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Madame President
The new President of the NSW Legislative Council Meredith Burgmann has spent most of her life opposing authority. Now she has a chance to exercise it.
*
*  Unions: The ACTU Faces the Labour Hire Challenge
The enormous growth in labour hire and contracting out employment is creating a big challenge for unions worldwide.
*
*  History: The Wartime Women�s Employment Board
During World War II policy makers were forced to embraqce a unique wage-fixing method.
*
*  Labour Review: What's New from the Information Centre
View the latest issue of Labour Review, Labor Council's fortnightly newsletter for unions.
*
*  Review: Origlass Biographer Keeps Red Flag Flying
The self proclaimed 'ultra-democrat', Hall Greenland, has described his relationship with the Balmain legend Nick Origlass as "Freudian".
*
*  International: Paddy's Payback
But for the Timorese many Australian diggers, like retired wharfie Paddy Kenneally, would have died at the hands of the Japanese during WW2. Now it's time to return the favour...
*
*  Campus: Tales from the Frontline
This week's successful VSU protests seem to have killed off Kemp's ideological agenda. We go live to the protest
*

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Letters to the editor
»  Faction Calls Miss Point
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»  Don't Ignore the Class Divide
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»  Timor: Look at the Map!
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»  Songs of the Revolution Feedback
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