John Pat commemoration: Stop deaths in custody

The WA state parliament agreed to apologise to the family of the late John Pat who died 30 years ago, while in police custody, after a brutal assault by police. This is a significant development even if it did come 30 years too late and if it remains the case that none of the police officers involved have been charged or convicted.

Up to 100 people gathered outside parliament house in WA to commemorate the anniversary and to raise their voices against ongoing deaths in custody.

Why we ran as socialist candidates

Sam Wainwright and Margarita Windisch stood for the Socialist Alliance in the federal election in the seat of Fremantle in Western Australia and Wills in Victoria, respectively. Green Left Weekly spoke to them about their campaigns.

***

What were some of the highlights of your election campaign?

Margarita: People in the seat of Wills had eight candidates to choose from and we increased our modest vote in a quite polarised election, so that’s positive. We participated in four well-attended election forums and four rallies, putting forward socialist solutions to a range of issues.

In Wills, the Socialist Alliance were the only ones raising the idea of public ownership as a necessary precondition to addressing climate change, to reducing the crippling cost of living and developing real democracy in the economy.

We used polling day to build the September 21 refugee protest for which we got an excellent response. We had some Greens polling booth staffers who said they would vote for us because of our clear position on nationalising mines, energy and the banks.

Sam: I think we had a greater impact than ever before. At just under 1%, our first preference vote is still tiny in absolute terms, but since we first ran in 2004 where we got 350 votes, our vote has increased at every election, to 731 this time.

I think our presence and impact has also grown over this time. In 2007, the Greens preferenced us after Labor, but in 2010 and 2013 they put us ahead of Labor. That reflects a growing respect for our work and ideas among a layer of Greens voters.

Anecdotally, we got a lot of reports of Labor voters breaking the Labor how-to-vote and preferencing us second. I think we can say that the profile and respect we've won is greater than and advances in front of our first preference vote.

A highlight of the campaign had to be our trailer, which crisscrossed the electorate covered in signs, topped with flags, and pumping out AC/DC's “Thunderstruck” at full blast.

Why is it important for socialist candidates to run in elections?

Margarita: If we are serious about getting rid of capitalism then we have to demonstrate that through a range of means, one of which is participation in the electoral process, without adopting an electoralist or reformist outlook.

Sam: Socialists have lots of big ideas about how we can and have to change the world. Standing in elections compels us to try to test our ideas and explain them to a broader audience in a language people understand. It also creates a dialogue between us and the many good activists we work with who would ordinarily just vote Green or Labor.

Elections focus political discussion and give us an opportunity to explain why it's simply not possible to substantially redistribute wealth or stop run away global warming without extending democratic public ownership to strategic sectors of the economy. We pull our discussion with a section of the electorate to the left.

It is also a way to connect with a broader layer of people beyond the inner city suburbs. There is a lot of alienation in suburbia, partly fostered by a sensationalist and superficial media.

People’s feelings of neglect and abandonment by the two-party political system is further compounded by the lack of infrastructure and job opportunities. Elections give us the opportunity to distribute material that advocates working-class and environmentally friendly solutions to the neoliberal crisis.

This election we sought to very explicitly raise the need for more public ownership. While so-called expert commentators looked at us like we were mad for raising this, what was notable was what a good reception it got from everyday people, including rank and file members of the Labor Party and Greens.

It's actually a pretty easy case for people to understand. It's self-evident that the revenues of the fossil fuel industry itself should pay for the renewable energy infrastructure of the future, that it should pay for its own obsolescence.

This can only happen with democratic public ownership. People remember that the Commonwealth Bank used to be publicly owned, that Labor PM Ben Chifley had tried to nationalise the entire banking sector. They like the idea of a local community-owned wind or solar farm. Why not extend this logic to other sectors of the economy? In a modest way, we've started an important discussion.

In your opinion, why did Tony Abbott and the Coalition beat Labor? Has the electorate swung to the right?

Margarita: The centre of politics has shifted to the right over a period of years now. This is best demonstrated by the increasingly neoliberal and racist policies of the social democratic ALP.

This phenomena of a rightward shift of social democratic parties is not unique to Australia, it is also a trend experienced in Europe. At the same time, the Greens have stabilised themselves as a legitimate third force, to the left of the ALP.

More people gave their primary vote to the ALP over the Coalition, but it was the lowest vote for Labor since World War II.

Interestingly, the swing away from the ALP wasn't really absorbed by the Coalition or the Greens, but by other conservative minor parties, such as the Palmer United Party. Palmer spent millions of dollars on his campaign and promised a boost to pensions. Some people also voted for him because he was “funny”, an apolitical protest vote.

The Greens are possibly tainted by their close alignment with the Gillard government and their participation in the Tasmanian government, implementing service cuts.

Sam: No, I don't think this is a valid conclusion.

Certainly some voters shifted from Labor to the Coalition. The Labor leadership circus genuinely alienated people, and their complete capitulation to the refugee-bashing agenda only served to legitimise the Coalition.

In Fremantle, Labor's primary vote increased while the Liberals’ dropped slightly. I think there were many countervailing currents; people who deserted Labor and went to the Greens over the refugee issue, people who gravitated back to Labor from the Greens over fear of an Abbott victory; and those who drifted away from the Coalition, Labor and the Greens to vote for Palmer's populism.

Meanwhile the Greens probably also lost some so-called "blue Greens" over their stand on refugees.

All these things were going on in different proportions in different electorates. This, combined with the high level of abstention and informal voting shows that the long-term decline of the stable two-party system in Australian politics is continuing.

[This interview with Sam Wainwright and Margarita Windisch was conducted by Mel Barnes for Green Left Weekly #982.]

Sam Wainwright: 'You can't fight coke with diet coke' at GetUp candidates forum

WA schools stand up to education cuts

Large stop-work rallies were held across Western Australia on September 19 to fight the Liberal state government’s education cuts.

About 15,000 people attended the rally in Perth and another 5000 attended stop-work meetings across regional WA, including 2000 in Bunbury, 500 in Albany, 520 in Pinjarra and 200 in Port Hedland.

Even small schools in the remote north-west of the state took part. A total of 62 schools were shut down for the morning.

The mass stop-work meetings were organised by the State School Teachers Union (SSTU), Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU/CSA), United Voice and the WA Council of State School Organisations.

This broad alliance drew the full range of school-based workers, including teachers, administration staff, library staff, lab technicians, gardeners, cleaners, education assistants and Aboriginal and Islander Education Officers.

Teachers turned out in force even though they were threatened with having their pay docked for attending.

Parents and school students joined in. Other unions also had a presence, including the National Tertiary Education Union and the Maritime Union of Australia. The stop-work meetings were also supported by the national Australian Education Union (AEU).

“We need everyone to give a kid a good education. That’s what it takes. That’s also what it takes to stand up for one,” United Voice secretary Carolyn Smith told the crowd.

Speakers at the Perth rally included SSTU president Anne Gisborne, United Voice secretary Carolyn Smith, CPSU/CSA assistant secretary Rikki Hendon, and Labor opposition leader Mark McGowan. Education minister Peter Collier was invited to speak but declined.

Premier Colin Barnett dismissed the industrial action as a dispute over pay. But unions stressed that the staff and program cuts do not just affect people’s jobs, but children’s education, urging the government to “put our kids first”.

Education cuts of this size affect the whole community. According to Gisborne, Ballajura Community College is set to lose $900,000, and Clarkson Community High School and Collie Senior High School are set to lose $600,000.

The funding cuts will affect Aboriginal educational support, libraries, financial management and specialised programs. Some schools are considering making cuts to history and English literature. Even literacy and numeracy education is under threat.

A freeze on the number of teachers is also planned, even though student numbers are increasing.

The dismissive attitude of the state government has further fueled mass anger. The government denies the cuts are happening, dressing them up as a funding reallocation.

Barnett also accused teachers of striking “for the sake of having a strike”.

The Barnett government is making these cuts at the same time as they are funding unnecessary and unpopular development projects all over Perth. One placard read “Money for education not stadiums”.

Barnett and Collier will meet with unions with the aim of discouraging further industrial action, but speakers at the rally in Perth promised the rally was to be the first step in an ongoing campaign to reverse the cuts.

Hendon said: “Communities all over the state are standing up and expressing their support for the campaign to overturn these cuts and this will only grow.”

[This article by Farida Iqbal was written for Green Left Weekly #982. Photos by Alex Bainbridge.]

Friends of Palestine presents RACHEL film screening

Palestine film screening:
RACHEL

A documentary by Simone Bitton

On 16 March 2003, the 23 year old American university student Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer as she tried to prevent the demolition of Palestinian homes in the Gaza Strip.

To commemorate the tenth anniversary of her death, Friends of Palestine WA and Students for Palestine (UWA) are hosting a screening of Rachel, a film by French-Israeli film maker Simone Bitton.

6:30PM THUR, OCT 10
Fox Lecture Theatre
University of WA
Entry by donation

For more information contact: 0406 944 008 or 0409 762 081

www.fopwa.org

DOWNLOAD: A4 poster (PDF)

DOWNLOAD: 2 x A5 flyers (PDF)

Remembrance ceremony: 30 years since the death of John Pat

NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION: STOP ABORIGINAL DEATHS IN CUSTODY

John Pat died 30 years ago, but there is still no justice!

Remembrance Ceremony * Rally * Apology Motion

When: 4.00pm, Wed 25 Sept 2013

Where: Parliament House, (Harvest Terrace, West Perth)

Speakers include:
Member of the Pat Family
John Bedford - Acting CEO of the Aboriginal Legal Service of WA
Lewis Abdullah - WA Young Person of the Year
Green Senator Rachel Siewert
Helen Ulli Corbett Co-founder & former Chair of the National Committee to
Defend Black Rights

Performances
HALO Dance Group
John Bennett will be performing with other musicians from the Murru CD &
Yijala Yala Project dedicated to John Pat

Organised by Deaths in Custody Watch Committee Inc

Information supplied by Deaths in Custody Watch Committee WA

Help Stop the Education Cuts

The State School Teachers Union, United Voice and the Civil Service Association - three unions that cover staff in public education - have joined forces to call a stop work meeting on Thurs 19 September to protest against the Barnett government education cuts.

Socialist Alliance supports this campaign and calls on all of our members and supporters who are able to attend to come and show support to these unions standing up to defend public education.

Details for the event:

9:30am, Thurs 19 September

Gloucester Park, East Perth

Check out the SSTU campaign website here (which includes directions on how to get there) for more details.

Petitions in support of this campaign can be downloaded from Sam's Freo Report.

Check out the Green Left Weekly reports on this campaign here (and this related report) or below.


See also the United Voice report on the September 3 stop work here.

Socialist Alliance will continue to work on this campaign. If you cannot make it to Thursday's stop work rally but want to help the campaign, contact Socialist Alliance (ph 9218 9608) to see what you can do.


Unions begin campaign to stop education cuts

The fight to defend public education is shaping up to be a key campaign against the cutback agenda of the Colin Barnett government in Western Australia. Thousands of teachers and education assistants rallied outside state parliament on September 3 in two separate mobilisations and further industrial action is planned.

The government claimed it has not cut education funding. However, the central issue is not about overall funding but the cuts to staffing levels. In August, the government announced they were planning to cut 500 education assistants and other support workers.

Also, 585 full time equivalent (FTE) teaching positions will be cut from next year, according to the opposition.

The government is trying to claim that there will not be cuts to teaching staff levels by ignoring the significant rise in enrolments expected next year due to WA's growing population.

Churchlands Senior High School is one example the government claims of a school that will be better off as a result of the school “funding changes”. However, school board chairperson Mark Lewer said this was “misleading”.

FTE teacher numbers at Churchlands are expected to increase next year. However, student enrolments will rise by an even bigger proportion. Using this year’s staffing formula, Churchlands will have four fewer teachers next year than expected.

It has also been reported that schools are planning to reduce the number of subject options for year 11 and 12. In response, the education department hierarchy has stepped in to direct schools to allow current year 11 students to complete their courses.

This move ignores the difficulty in maintaining programs when schools are not given the resources needed to do so and will do nothing to help students in future years.

Another example of the effect of the Barnett cutbacks is the attempt to close the Kulunga kindergarten in Hilton. This is a kindergarten that caters especially for Aboriginal children and provides a vital community service.

The union fightback against these cutbacks began with the two major rallies outside the state parliament on September 3. Close to 1000 striking education assistants organised by United Voice held a vibrant lunchtime rally in the rain followed by well over 1000 protesting teachers at an after-school rally.

The rallies were held only days before the federal election and the speaking platforms at both rallies had strong representation from prominent Labor figures including then-federal education minister Bill Shorten.

The state government dismissed the rallies as partisan election rallies. Incredibly, the government were particularly miffed that state education minister Peter Collier — the minister responsible for the cuts — was not invited to speak at the teachers' rally against the cuts.

Undoubtedly the union officials and Labor representatives at the rallies were trying to score points against Tony Abbott in the election campaign. However, the significant feature of both rallies was the vibrant mood and willingness to fight expressed by the participants gathered in the rain.

Since then, the State School Teachers Union has begun plans for industrial action that is expected to begin in the next few weeks. United Voice is also planning to continue this campaign.

Another attack on education (and workers' rights more broadly) is the threat to charge a $4000 annual fee per student for children of workers on 457 visas. One effect of this policy will be to drive these workers to send their children to private schools, thereby undermining state education as a whole.

This policy also ignores the fact that workers on 457 visas pay tax while they are in Australia and deserve full access to the range of social services, including education, that are available to all members of the community.

The blatant injustice of this policy has resulted in a lot of criticism and pressure on the government. It is trying to find a way to moderate some aspects of the policy without abandoning it.

The $4000 charge on only a section of the community is a blatant attempt at “divide and rule”. It is important that the union movement as a whole defends the rights of these workers by opposing this fee as an integral part of the campaign to defend education.

The fact that Barnett is already facing pressure on a range of fronts shows that a strong and united campaign involving industrial action and community protest is capable of defeating these attacks as well.

[This article by Alex Bainbridge is from Green Left Weekly #980 first published on September 14. Photos from the September 3 protests against cuts.]

Unions begin campaign to stop education cuts

The fight to defend public education is shaping up to be a key campaign against the cutback agenda of the Colin Barnett government in Western Australia. Thousands of teachers and education assistants rallied outside state parliament on September 3 in two separate mobilisations and further industrial action is planned.

The government claimed it has not cut education funding. However, the central issue is not about overall funding but the cuts to staffing levels. In August, the government announced they were planning to cut 500 education assistants and other support workers.

Also, 585 full time equivalent (FTE) teaching positions will be cut from next year, according to the opposition.

The government is trying to claim that there will not be cuts to teaching staff levels by ignoring the significant rise in enrolments expected next year due to WA's growing population.

Churchlands Senior High School is one example the government claims of a school that will be better off as a result of the school “funding changes”. However, school board chairperson Mark Lewer said this was “misleading”.

FTE teacher numbers at Churchlands are expected to increase next year. However, student enrolments will rise by an even bigger proportion. Using this year’s staffing formula, Churchlands will have four fewer teachers next year than expected.

It has also been reported that schools are planning to reduce the number of subject options for year 11 and 12. In response, the education department hierarchy has stepped in to direct schools to allow current year 11 students to complete their courses.

This move ignores the difficulty in maintaining programs when schools are not given the resources needed to do so and will do nothing to help students in future years.

Another example of the effect of the Barnett cutbacks is the attempt to close the Kulunga kindergarten in Hilton. This is a kindergarten that caters especially for Aboriginal children and provides a vital community service.

The union fightback against these cutbacks began with the two major rallies outside the state parliament on September 3. Close to 1000 striking education assistants organised by United Voice held a vibrant lunchtime rally in the rain followed by well over 1000 protesting teachers at an after-school rally.

The rallies were held only days before the federal election and the speaking platforms at both rallies had strong representation from prominent Labor figures including then-federal education minister Bill Shorten.

The state government dismissed the rallies as partisan election rallies. Incredibly, the government were particularly miffed that state education minister Peter Collier — the minister responsible for the cuts — was not invited to speak at the teachers' rally against the cuts.

Undoubtedly the union officials and Labor representatives at the rallies were trying to score points against Tony Abbott in the election campaign. However, the significant feature of both rallies was the vibrant mood and willingness to fight expressed by the participants gathered in the rain.

Since then, the State School Teachers Union has begun plans for industrial action that is expected to begin in the next few weeks. United Voice is also planning to continue this campaign.

Another attack on education (and workers' rights more broadly) is the threat to charge a $4000 annual fee per student for children of workers on 457 visas. One effect of this policy will be to drive these workers to send their children to private schools, thereby undermining state education as a whole.

This policy also ignores the fact that workers on 457 visas pay tax while they are in Australia and deserve full access to the range of social services, including education, that are available to all members of the community.

The blatant injustice of this policy has resulted in a lot of criticism and pressure on the government. It is trying to find a way to moderate some aspects of the policy without abandoning it.

The $4000 charge on only a section of the community is a blatant attempt at “divide and rule”. It is important that the union movement as a whole defends the rights of these workers by opposing this fee as an integral part of the campaign to defend education.

The fact that Barnett is already facing pressure on a range of fronts shows that a strong and united campaign involving industrial action and community protest is capable of defeating these attacks as well.

[This article by Alex Bainbridge is from Green Left Weekly #980 first published on September 14. Photos from the September 3 protests against cuts.]

Free the Cuban Five - 15th anniversary marked in Perth

Yellow ribbons in solidarity

Australia-Cuba Friendship Society (ACFS) members in Perth picketed the US consulate on September 12 wearing yellow ribbons in solidarity with the call for the return home of the Cuban Five who have been held for 15 years in US prisons. Members expressed their outrage at the disgrace of the unjust incarceration.

The Cuban 5 are five Political Prisoners incarcerated for trying to avert terrorist attacks organized by right-wing CubanAmericans based in Miami against their homeland, Cuba.

Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labañino, Fernando Gonzalez and René Gonzalez were arrested on September 12, 1998 in Miami.

For 15 years, the Cuban 5 have suffered physical and psychological torture! They have been denied visitation rights of friends and family. They have endured solitary confinement and mistreatment and often been hindered in accessing their legal counsel.

ACFS members in Perth joined thousands of others globally to call on the Obama administration to end the injustice now. Members shared leaflets about the Five with people passing calling on them to help fight the media blackout in the US by posting the leaflet to friends and relatives in the US.

One of the Five, Rene Gonzalez, who completed his sentence but remained in the US because of an unjust order to serve 3 year probations in the US has finally returned to Cuba but says he will never truly be free until he is joined there by his four brothers.

The ACFS called on the Obama administration to immediately release the Five and allow them to return home to Cuba. The protest was closely monitored by consulate and state security personnel.




Tiles of Solidarity, Perth Western Australia

On Saturday 14th September, the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society, ACFS Perth unveiled the Tiles of Solidarity, a monument to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the unjust incarceration of the Cuban Five.

Under inclement weather conditions, friends in solidarity with the Cuban Five gathered at Solidarity Park in West Perth to unveil 5 Tiles of Solidarity. Solidarity Park has a long history for workers in Western Australia. The public land in front of the Western Australian Parliament was claimed by workers as a workers Embassy and five trade unionists involved in the occupation to claim the land were arrested.

The tiles have been placed on the back of the “Fountain of Youth” for permanent homage to the struggle of Five Cuban men unjustly held in US prisons since 1998.

Joe MacDonald, National President of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union CFMEU Construction Division unveiled the five ceramic tiles given to his union by the Cuban Construction Union, SNTC in 2009.
For years both the CFMEU and the ACFS searched for a home for the ceramic tiles featuring the faces of the Cuban Five. “Solidarity Park” (opposite Parliament House in West Perth, WA) that represents the unity in struggle of the trade union movement in Western Australia was chosen for this permanent homage to the Cuban Five. At great risk to themselves the Cuban Five are workers whose job was to monitor criminals in anti Cuban terrorist organisations operating out of Miami; groups that have been operating from US soil since 1959 and responsible for the deaths of over 3,400. The fight of the Cuban Five against terrorism in defence of their homeland made them victims of the US imperial policies on Cuba.

The only path to their Freedom is through a people’s movement and mobilising efforts that will free the Five Cuban heroes. Workers and their unions around the world can play an important role in this struggle.
Tie a yellow ribbon was played and yellow ribbons featured at the event to honour the call from Rene Gonzalez to use the ribbons that resonate for the average person in the US as a way to express longing for soldiers away at war and other absent loved ones.

Abbott's win: Don't agonise, organise!

A big thanks to all Socialist Alliance members and supporters for your efforts over the course of the election campaign.

In Fremantle there was a 2.7% swing to the ALP (41.6%) and a 6% swing away from the Greens (11.6%). I suspect this reflected people returning to the Labor fold because of the fear of an Abbott victory.

In a preferential system this doesn't make sense but is based more on mood than logic. In that context we're happy our vote has increased slightly, hovering around the 1% mark, even if we were hoping for a bigger increase.

There is absolutely no possibility of substantially redistributing wealth or stopping runaway global warming without breaking the back of the big business and fossil fuel mafia that dominate Australian politics.

This means extending democratic public ownership to strategic sectors of the economy. We're the only party to raise the call for public ownership and our campaign was an important opportunity to do this.

Bright spots in an overall bleak national result were the return of the Greens Adam Bandt and Scott Ludlam. Bandt's return with an increased primary vote and not dependant on Liberal preferences is especially significant.

We all know the Abbott-Barnett cuts will come thick and fast. But the front line in the struggle for a better and more caring society and one that lives in peace with the natural environment was always going to be in the streets, on the picket lines, at our places of work and education and in our communities.

That would be true even if Rudd had scraped back in.

We can do no better than live by the slogan inspired by African-American civil rights activist Florence Rae Kennedy:

Don't Agonise, Organise!

[By Fremantle election candidate Sam Wainwright.]

Help needed: not too late to volunteer to help Socialist Alliance on Saturday

It will make a difference how many people will vote for the only consistently anti-corporate candidate running in WA. You can help on polling day by helping to hand out how-to-vote info for the Socialist Alliance in Fremantle.

This video clip shows Sam Wainwright explaining the importance of a number 1 vote for the Socialist Alliance.

The greater the left vote, the maximum pressure there'll be on Labor to take a stand on the side of working people, students and all those left behind by the mining boom - and the greater boost it will be for the campaigns of resistance that will need to continue whether ALP or the coalition win.

If you're in a position to help the Socialist Alliance election campaign in Fremantle by handing out how-to-vote cards to people on polling day, please get in touch now: 0413 976 638.

P.S. Everybody is welcome to come along to the Socialist Alliance Election Night party on Saturday night at the Fremantle Workers' Club.

Friends of Palestine presents Five Broken Cameras at Curtin Uni

2013 ACADEMY AWARD™ NOMINATED FILM

Please join the Curtin Friends of Palestine and Curtin Centre for Human Rights Education as they present this incredible work of documentary filmmaking.

Entry is free but at the filmmaker’s request any donations will go to Palestinian activist organisation ‘Anarchists Against the Wall’.

12th September 2013

6:30 pm start

Tim Winton Theatre (Bldg. 213.101)
Curtin University

Bookings through CHRE5BrokenCameras.doattend.com

Publicity material
DOWNLOAD: A4 poster

DOWNLOAD: 2 x A5 flyers

Socialist Alliance election night party

Join us on election night for a relaxing night while we cheer on the results of Socialist Alliance and other progressive candidates and throw shoes at the Rudd and Abbott when they make their appearances on TV.

NB: Delicious and cheap food will be available on the night. No need to stop off for a meal beforehand.

6pm, Sat 7 Sept

Fremantle Workers' Club
5-9 Henry St, Freo

Ph 0413 976 638

Attend on FaceBook: www.facebook.com/events/171670946350937

How to vote Socialist Alliance in Fremantle

To make any difference to us, you need to give your number 1 vote to Socialist Alliance.

We recommend giving a number 2 preference to the Greens and then Labor before Liberal. This will help elect a Green candidate if that is possible and will help elect an ALP candidate if not. All of the far right and populist parties running in Fremantle (which in every case we judge to be worse than the Liberals) have been preferenced on our ticket in ballot-paper order. In effect this is giving all the far-right parties equal last since they come after Greens, Labor and Liberal - they won't be counted.

In seats where we are not running and the senate, we recommend a vote for the Greens with preferences to Labor before Liberal.

In the lower house, you have to number every square for your vote to be valid.

In the senate, you may either place a "1" in the Greens "above the line" box (group S) or you may vote "below the line" for candidates in your own order of preference, being sure to number every square.

* * *

Help spread the word by "liking" and "sharing" this photo on FaceBook.

Amber Maxwell: Queer fighter and socialist

Amber Maxwell was a great activist. She was one of the most dedicated young cadres of the Socialist Alternative Perth branch, and a co-convener of Equal Love WA. She committed suicide on August 24. She was 20 years old.

I consider myself lucky that for a year and a half I worked with her in the queer struggle. I considered her a comrade and I cared about her.

In the queer movement, we understand that youth suicide is really a form of murder. Like all transgender youth, Amber was terribly abused by our society. She was homeless. Numerous crisis accommodation services rejected her because they didn’t accept her as a real woman.

Amber contributed a great deal to society, even though society treated her with absolute disdain. Even while she was homeless she campaigned hard for equal marriage rights. She was also one of Socialist Alternative’s top paper sellers in Perth. I see Amber’s commitment and activist discipline as a lesson for the rest of us. I imagine that Amber gave her all to the socialist movement because it was the only source of hope for a genuine improvement to her situation, and that of other transgender and homeless people.

Amber, alongside many other people, was in the process of changing the world. The campaign for equal marriage rights has been one of the most powerful social movements in Australia, demonstrating that it is possible to take on the federal government and make genuine gains. This movement has won civil unions in several states and anti-discrimination legislation. It has also been the major driving force in a huge shift in Australian public opinion towards the acceptance of queer people.

Amber was building a better future for all queer people. It is so sad that she felt forced to cut her own future short. The disjunction between the positive social change she was creating and her own situation is very revealing.

If we look at things superficially it might seem as if queer oppression is nearly over in this country. We have had a string of legal victories. The Prime Minister now supports the right to marry. We have even been on the cover of Marie Claire.

But look more closely at the reality on the ground and you’ll see how far we are from queer liberation. People are still killing themselves. People are still carving barcodes into their arms. High school students are still beaten up. Parents are still kicking their kids out of home, and homeless queer youth are still refused crisis accommodation.

The situation of gay people, although improving, is uneven. Yet Amber’s story makes me think that the situation of transgender people has barely improved at all.

I admired Amber’s thinking about the queer movement. She had a strong sense that the queer movement rightfully belonged to her, and to people like her. Amber said that when we win the right to marry, we will throw a party to declare that it was not won by either of the major parties or even the Greens.

When we win, it will be a victory that belongs to the activists who fought for it, in particular the political left.

Amber won’t be there for our victory, but when we win I intend to shout what she said from the rooftops. She was correct that the queer movement was her rightful property.

The queer movement has never been driven by the comfortable middle-class white-picket-fence type of people who populate its peak lobby groups and who try to make it appear as white-bread as possible.

The movement at its most powerful has always been driven by people like Amber. Just take a look at ACT UP, started by people who were dying of AIDS, or the Mattachine society, initiated by working class queer communists living under McCarthy era repression.

Take a particularly close look at the Stonewall riot, begun by homeless transgender youth as desperate and as explosive as Amber. Compare Amber to Stonewall’s Sylvia Rivera and observe the parallels.

I loved Amber’s wide, spirited solidarity for the oppressed people of the world. It is totally fitting that the last thing Amber did before she died was to attend a protest for refugee rights. She not only cared about queers, but the working class as a whole. I would like to see everybody express the same solidarity for transgender people that Amber showed to so many others.

I loved Amber’s non-sectarianism. When she encouraged me to attend Socialist Alternative’s Marxism conference I got the distinct impression that she wasn’t only thinking of her own party’s political gain; she genuinely wanted me to see Billy X Jennings and to participate in an important political event.

Working together in Equal Love WA, we had the usual disagreements between Socialist Alternative and the Socialist Alliance (as well as the common ground). We were always able to resolve our differences amicably, because of our basic good will for each other and for the queer struggle.

Amber was enthusiastic about the unity discussions between Socialist Alternative and the Socialist Alliance because she could see the prospects for a more powerful socialist movement. If we all conduct ourselves like Amber, unity is possible. I also think we have a duty to people like Amber to try and make it happen.

Amber had some bold plans for the queer movement. She wanted leftists and progressives to educate themselves more deeply about trans politics and experience. I agree that we all need more of an education. As well as listening to the trans activists in Australia, we can also do some reading. Leslie Feinberg, Patrick Califia, and Sylvia Rivera are good authors to start with.

Amber also wanted us to commemorate the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) on November 20 in Perth this year.

This would be a bold political move — to my knowledge there hasn’t been a specifically trans themed protest in Perth since 2002. Sadly she won’t be able to see her ideas come to fruition. It is up to the rest of us to implement them. It makes me sad to think that if we do TDOR rally in Perth, Amber will be one of the people we will be commemorating.

I will remember Amber not primarily as a suicide victim, but as one of the fieriest queer activists I have known in my 10 year involvement in the movement. I regret that I never told her she was a fantastic comrade.

Losing her has made me realize how much we have to treasure the young people in socialist organisations —whether or not they are in the same organisation as we are.

One minute of rage for Amber Maxwell at Perth Equal Marriage rally 31 August 2013


[This obituary for Amber Maxwell of Socialist Alternative was written by Farida Iqbal of Socialist Alliance for Green Left Weekly #980.]