Why be an Activist Today?

Today we live in a world that upsets many. From climate change to poverty to war we face massive problems that for the sake of the planet, and its habitants, must be fixed.

But these issues are all so large and we as individuals often have little power to change the world. We can vote but we do not make the decisions on the issues that affect society.

Becoming an activist is about knowing you are not alone in caring for the planet. It is about standing up with others and making a statement. It is about pushing those with power towards making the concessions to both improve the world and instill a greater belief in the greater majority of our power to change the world.

Unlike work or school, no one is forcing you to be an activist. No one tells you to spend time fighting for a better world. In fact, for those in charge they would no doubt prefer if you did not care for politics because then they can continue to control your life.

Society today is run in the interests of those with the money, the capitalists. They own the companies we work for. Many of them walk away with massive profits from the work we do. They often also fund political parties that continue to rule against our interests and own newspapers whose editorial line reinforces the status quo.

Some will lead us to believe we live in a classless society. Yet, we have people who live in gated, security monitored communities while others live in ghetto like conditions and have to work multiple jobs. When we question society to harshly the systems protectors clamp down against us.

Politics is often seen as something politicians do in Canberra. But what they do there is make decisions about your life. Their decisions can have a big impact on your life, so it is important you defend your rights because if you don’t, who will?

Issues like your rights at work, school fees, affordable housing and helping the third world out of poverty are important to many. But ultimately we do not make the decisions that could address the problems of the world.

Building a society in which the people who are affected by the issues are able to make the decisions is what Socialism is ultimately about. It is a truly democratic society that values the rights of the greater majority over the minority that rules our world at present. It gives the chance for every individual to an equal chance at life.

So if you think the world is in need of fixing you should become an activist and to do this getting in touch with Resistance is a great start. Resistance is an Australia wide organization of young people who give a shit about the planet in which they live. They plan and collaborate with others to stand up for our rights and demand a better, more humane world.

Whether its by organizing a rally, educating others or getting involved in alternative newspaper, Green Left Weekly, Resistance members are aiming to make the kind of difference that can change the course of the world. But with each extra member Resistance can achieve so much more making us just that much closer to all of our aims.

So if you’re ready to make a difference to the world. Contact Resistance Today!

Check out the Resistance website at http://www.resistance.org.au/

Why are we sending more troops to Afghanistan?

Remember Afghanistan. It was that country we supposedly had “under control”, before heading illegally into Iraq. Howard’s latest announcement that we are too double our deployment in the country must leave many wondering what went wrong.

It was shortly after the 9/11 incident that we had committed our troops to fight the Taliban government and the Al Qaeda elements it supposedly supported. We were supposed to have caught Osama Bin Laden.

Al Qaeda and its leader had been aligned to America during the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in the 70’s. But this time, like too many times before, the old ally who hated the U.S. just as much as the Soviet’s, turned on its former ally who had made it so powerful.

The Coalitions idea of democracy has always been a sham. The election of the U.S. friendly President Karzai been the instigator of compromises made with the warlords, many of whom are ex-Taliban and drug lords, making the democracy dream, simply a mirage that doesn’t stretch far beyond the Presidential gates.

Women’s rights, has been squashed as decent invasion reasoning by women within the country. Afghan MP Malaya Joya was in Australia earlier this year saying that the repressiveness of the previous administration has not ended and has in a lot of cases got worse under the occupation.

The U.S. War on Drugs in the country has also shown itself as a sham. Poppy production has increased under U.S. occupation and now sits at over 50% of GDP and over 90% of the world opium trade. While many small poppy producers have been done out of their living and been strung up as culprits, big time war lords have been able to obtain amnesty from the law. The U.S. War on their country has eliminated a lot of the alternative industries, giving small time farmers no other real choice.

But what about the Taliban being so dangerous and can we really leave without them taking over again? The fact is that for every day we remain in Afghanistan, the resistance grows, Taliban and others.

Our forces in the country are destroying people’s lives while they continue to prop up and defend the sham democracy that is in place. The longer they stay the more deaths we are going to see, with the increased likelihood of Australian casualties. Leaving Afghanistan will take away the main recruiting tool for these groups and will, when fair, unassigned reparations for all the damage we have created is paid, it will finally let Afghans choose their own future.

When Guilt Loses its Meaning

With David Hicks admitting guilt to terrorism charges, right wing columnists have been quick to attack the many people who supported the campaign to bring home and free David Hicks.

Admitting guilt is usually a task usually assigned to those who have committed crimes. However, David’s court case, along with all those held at Guantanamo Bay, must leave many with a bad taste in their mouth.

The court setup at Guantanamo Bay had excludes itself from the Geneva Convention on human rights, it allows evidence obtained under torture as well as hearsay evidence. These laws would not stand up in any respectable nation. It was a court so dodgy it had to be set up on an offshore base, far from the law.

The charges were so uncertain it took five years to move the case to where we are today. They have been five years of justice denied. Evidence from Guantanamo Bay tells of the horrors of torture and the denial of basic human rights to the prisoners. Hicks went three years before even seeing a lawyer.

Ultimately, Hicks was in the wrong place at the wrong time probably doing something that many may not agree with. This doesn’t mean he committed any crime. If there was any evidence of him doing anything you would have thought that it could have been dug out after five years. Yet in the end, it was Hicks who possibly saw the plea as a way out who brought an end to the proceedings.

This is why we should not let Hicks stay a day longer in a prison whether it is one illegally placed on Cuban soil or one in our own backyard. A criminal conviction is supposed to be held by those who have committed a proven crime; we must never lose sight of this fact.