Sixty Alliance members and others checking SA out for the first time attended the Western Australian Socialist Alliance education and decision making conference on October 12.
Held over six hours on a Sunday afternoon, the conference included two plenary sessions, the first one opening the day’s discussion with a wide-ranging dialogue on globalisation, and the second dealing with the Alliance’s party building and campaigning work.
Workshops spread over the afternoon provided a framework for members to discuss the issues of free trade, Palestine, attacks on workers’ rights, political trends in Latin America and Australia’s imperialist role in the Asia-Pacific region, among others.
In his opening speech on globalisation, Barry Healy, co-convener of the new Perth Hills branch, commented: “Our lives are dominated by permanent insecurity and dissatisfaction", which explains “why there is a deeply felt resentment against the current capitalist order that shows sometimes as anti-globalisation demo’s, sometimes as an anti-war movement, but always as a feeling that something is basically wrong around the world and there just must be a better way".
The conference noted the successes so far of both the work we’re doing to expand the Alliance’s outreach and the leadership of SA activists in various campaigns.
Members voted to form four statewide caucuses to facilitate the co-ordination of Socialist Alliance’s work in the campaign areas of trade unions, anti-war, education and refugee rights. These caucuses are open to any SA member in WA who is involved in the area of work.
The conference also voted to take some concrete steps forward in the federal election campaign work before the end of the year, to support the SIEV-X refugee rights and anti-war “Stop Bush” protest, and elected a new state executive.