Why the left polled poorly at Griffith
By Conrad Barrett
BRISBANE — The recent Griffith University Student Representative Council elections gave a startling wake-up call to the left.
The SRC has for many years been dominated by a combination of non-affiliated left activists and members of the National Organisation of Labor Students (NOLS) — until this year, when the ALP centre-right dominated team, Vision, won a landslide victory.
The non-affiliated left ticket, Activate, received a high vote but failed to win any executive positions. It secured two of the five NUS delegate positions.
The election loss has provoked some soul-searching. Many theories are circulating. One is that many of the environmentalists on campus missed out on voting altogether because of a snap Jabiluka rally; another is that the non-affiliated left simply had too little propaganda and was not visible enough.
More decisive, however, was the non-affiliated left's decision to split from NOLS in this election (leading to NOLS joining the Vision ticket) and not to politically differentiate themselves from NOLS and Vision.
This left many students confused because Vision and Activate both claimed to be left-wing tickets. Both focused largely on campus-specific issues such as the administration of common rooms and the campus club, and both tried hard to proclaim themselves independent of party politics (apparently being non-aligned is a selling point!).
Activate failed to emphasise the role of the union as a campaigning body and in building a mass movement against fees and education cutbacks.
The fact that there was a sentiment for such a campaign was demonstrated by the relatively good results gained by the Socialists, a ticket dominated by the International Socialist Organisation.
Whilst the Socialists ended up retreating to sloganeering, calling on students to keep the Liberals out of the SRC, they did run on their record as campaigners against fees at Griffith.
The result for the left was due, in part, to its inability to inspire students about the possibility of beating the attacks on education and a lack of campaign unity. This includes the lack of a strong, vibrant and inclusive Education Action Group and, as a consequence, the lack of a broad left activist ticket.
Overcoming these failings will be key to strengthening the position of the left next year.