The other side of the story.
24 May
The rage of a new generation
On the evening of May 5, Chris Gall and his fellow activists ran through the streets of the inner-Sydney suburb of Ultimo seeking refuge. They had just interrupted the live broadcast of the ABC's Q&A program with a noisy protest against the federal government's higher education changes, forcing the show to halt for several minutes. The students were evicted from the ABC studio by security guards and they ran, unsure if they would be pursued.
They ended up, predictably enough, at the pub. The loose collection of Greens supporters, Young Labor activists, Socialist Alliance and Socialist Alternative members caucused around a jug of beer at Bar Broadway to gauge the effect of their protest.
''We were all together and we had beers, but this is the 21st century, so we were all on our smartphones responding to social media,'' Gall says. ''We were pretty happy at how successful the action had been. We were pretty surprised.''
The protest had been planned meticulously, as least by the often-chaotic standards of student politics. One young woman smuggled in a large painted banner on her person, and another young woman, Ridah Hassan, stood up to ask a decoy question of Education Minister Christopher Pyne, which allowed her fellow protesters time to unfurl the banner behind the panellists.
''We did have to think about it quite a bit because security would be on us in an instant if we gave ourselves away,'' Gall says.
They got away with it, but was it a success? What did the students actually achieve, apart from thoroughly irritating Tony Jones, the show's equable host?
''It was straightforward,'' Gall says of their intentions. ''Nobody was talking about the impending deregulation of the education sector. We needed to catch the public's attention in the lead-up to the budget.''
The Q&A protest was merely the opening act for a newly invigorated student protest movement, a movement further galvanised by the higher education measures announced in the budget, which include a 20 per cent cut in the Commonwealth's contribution to a degree, the deregulation of university fees and the introduction of a real interest rate on student loans.
Last week, when Foreign Minister Julie Bishop made a visit to Sydney University, she was shouted at and jostled by angry students, and on Monday former Coalition front-bencher Sophie Mirabella was interrupted by angry students while giving a lecture at Melbourne University, where she is now an academic. Security escorted her from the room but she later returned to finish her lecture.
On Wednesday a ''National Day of Action'' on education brought thousands of students to the streets in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. On the same day Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Pyne cancelled a planned visit to Deakin University's campus in Geelong, citing ''security fears'', and on Thursday evening Pyne had to be smuggled past protestors at Sydney Uni where he was a judge at the John Howard Debating Cup, an annual event hosted by the university Liberal Club.
This is an excellent outcome as far as 23-year-old arts student Tom Raue is concerned. Raue, the vice-president of the Sydney University Student Union, was involved in the Bishop-jostling incident and the Thursday evening Pyne protest, although he denies claims by Pyne that the Bishop-jostling incident constituted assault.
''We want to show these Libs they are not welcome on the campus they are basically destroying,'' says Raue. ''For a change of government it takes an array of actions and I want to be part of that. Big movements start out small. Any pressure we can place on the government is good.''
The government, for its part, denies it is under any pressure from protesting students. On Wednesday Pyne told Sydney shock jock Alan Jones the Australian Federal Police had advised him and the Prime Minister to stay off the Deakin campus because ''it would put innocent bystanders potentially at risk of being assaulted by marauding students''.
The Education Minister identified the group Socialist Alternative as being behind the protests. Ridah Hassan, 22, who is a Socialist Alternative member and education officer for the Sydney University SRC, was involved in both the Q&A protest and the Sydney University incident with the Foreign Minister. She rejects any suggestion the protest against Bishop constituted assault, or that the footage of the event alienated any average members of the public who might otherwise have backed their cause.
''It definitely wasn't assault,'' Hassan says. ''This is not someone who was frightened, it is someone who was smug and bemused by the whole situation. The message is clear that Liberal politicians are not welcome on our campuses and we have the right to express that to them.''
The Socialist Alternative, Hassan says, is an anti-capitalist organisation but the education campaign, which goes by the name ''NSW Education Action Network'' is a separate vehicle made up of diverse left-wing groups. She says they are funded by members and supporters.
''I am not worried about marginalising people. It is clear that many people support us because this budget is an attack on working people.''
Gall says the group puts a great deal of thought into its tactics, to make sure they are received well by the general public. But there is only so much they can control. ''Sometimes things can become un-tactical and even un-moral but we are not anywhere close to that point,'' he insists. ''We try to work out beforehand how things will be received but … students are furious and upset and we can't tell them to sit there politely while these people cut our education. Students are going to protest.''
Ben Spies-Butcher, a senior lecturer in sociology at Macquarie University (who is also an office-bearer for the Greens), says protesters have an ''important agenda-setting role''.
''They say things that aren't said elsewhere, they are also able to politicise people and educate them on what they can do. That's a healthy part of civil society functioning.''
Spies-Butcher says that the Coalition's main voter base is obviously not among higher education students, but the protesters are part of what political scientists call the ''radical flanking effect''.
''They expand the terms of public debate. They help organise and mobilise people and they train people how to understand politics. As you can see by the current frontbench, the same process has happened to them and they all ended up being cabinet members. The points [government members] are making now about these students are not dissimilar to the points they were making about left-wing students back then.''
Sarah Hathway, 23, is studying a diploma of community services work at Gordon TAFE in Geelong. She is a member of the youth wing of the Socialist Alliance, known as Resistance. She says there has been a surge of interest in political activity since the election of a Coalition government.
''It's a bit of a hard slog because in recent times students are not so engaged,'' she says of her student activism. ''But in the last 12 months, there has been more interest and more willingness to hear different ideas. Social media is huge for building protest. Most young people are on Twitter and Facebook.''
David Pink, a Sydney University student and former president on the university's SRC, says Sydney University has always had a strong tradition of social activism but ''the difference now is a lot more students are interested in taking part of a movement for fairer higher education policy''. ''There is a lot of anger against this government. It is seen as reverting to the American model of education. Job markets are not great and these students will be graduating with huge debt.''
Pink says conservative governments are good for business. ''Especially during the time of a Liberal government, every generation responds pretty strongly with protests.''
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/the-rage-of-a-new-generation-20140523-38u7u.html#ixzz32cGD4N1F
