How to Make a Revolution
Universities need more public funding
Qld students ready to defend free speech rights on campus
Police arrested and handcuffed two Brisbane-based activists, Rebecca Barrigos and Sid Zaoichi, after they set up a stall and petition against the state government’s budget cuts at a Brisbane university campus on September 21. Brisbane Resistance member Liam Flenady spoke to Barrigos about the arrests and the campaigns against austerity and for free speech in Queensland.
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What were you and fellow activist Sid Zaoichi campaigning for on campus and why was security called to evict you?
Sid and I were at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) [Kelvin Grove campus] to petition against the Liberal National Party’s (LNP) budget cuts, which have seen 14,000 jobs lost in the public sector.
Tassie equal marriage bill goes down, but campaign vows to fight on
Tasmania's upper house voted against equal marriage on September 26. The bill, co-sponsored by Labor Premier Lara Giddings and Greens deputy Nick McKim, passed the lower house on August 30.
But after a two-day debate, eight of the upper house's 15 MLCs voted against the bill, mostly fearing a High Court challenge and claiming that it was a federal and not a state issue.
The Student Movement and Student Unions
University
students have begun to organise on campus, in many cases alongside
tutors and lecturers, on a scale not seen for many years. With both
governments and university managements pushing to run universities as
profit based degree factories, this organisation of students and
staff has been a positive step forward in defending the right to a
quality affordable education. While students have been organising it
is important to note the role that the traditional student unions
have played in this process.
