Vox pops from Socialist Alliance's 7th National Conference

The following vox pops were taken during Socialist Alliance's 7th National Conference, held in Sydney on January 2-5, 2010.

Bea Bleile
– outgoing SA national co-convener and New England SA branch

I'm very impressed by the great spirit of cooperation. We have a lot of work to do and the way we just this morning moved through some of the voting and everything is just fantastic.

It was inspiring – I came and I was quite tired, and I don't feel tired any more!

Bernie Rosen
– Sydney Socialist Alliance

It's been a very good conference. I've learnt quite a lot from my attendance, and I hope I'll be able to attend other conferences in the future.

Bronwyn Beechey
– Socialist Worker New Zealand

As somebody who was a member of the DSP for a number of years, it’s been really good to see the merging of the DSP into Socialist Alliance. I think it was absolutely the right decision. It's just been really good to see how that synthesis is happening in practice.

I'm very optimistic about the future of the Socialist Alliance. We'll be watching with interest from across the ditch and certainly we have many of the same struggles in common, so we'll keep up the solidarity and hopefully be able to learn from each other's struggles.

Dave Kerin
– Melbourne Socialist Alliance and an organiser with the Mining Division of the CFMEU in Victoria.

For me, I've got so much out of the conference. It's been I suppose the Socialist Alliance becoming a true alliance of a very broad cross-section of views that are of the historic left and then taking a diverse group of people and focusing us all on issues of concern to the globe at the moment and specifically in Australia.

For me it's been the fruition of many of years of work, where people first stepped outside their square setting up Green Left Weekly, and then onto the formation of Socialist Alliance. Then the massive evolution occurred, across the whole spectrum of the alliance, but particularly for the DSP comrades. It's been uplifting for me to see people step outside their square so courageously. It's been at times painful to watch because I've seen old comradeships and friendships temporarily cease, but history tells me people will rise above all that anyway.

It's a tremendously creative period of change that's now going to enable people like myself of the historic left who have been, if you like, almost unattached, to have a home now that provides us with support in our work. We've never ceased doing the work as socialists, but when you're doing that work alone you feel more worn out.

It's also a chance to go back to the other left organisations as well as left individuals and be able to say to left organisations that the prime mover in the Socialist Alliance, which was always the DSP, has made a tremendously courageous step and it’s time now that the rest of the left met half way.

Where that takes us – I'm not even going to suggest to the rest of the left that they join Socialist Alliance - but things like signing off on joint statements on issues of concern, points and programs in the trade union movement, peace movement etc, become more possible.

So it’s very, very exciting. I know I've got my work cut out for me now when I get back to the Latrobe Valley in Melbourne, in a new way.

The other thing for me, the big exciting thing, is the call from Venezuelan comrades and other left groups around the world for a Fifth Socialist International.

I'm a year and a half off 60 and, to see that goal, for my remaining life on the planet I'll be fully engaged in that along with Socialist Alliance.

David Bastin
– delegate, Canberra Socialist Alliance

It's been a good process to learn about what's going on and have a direct input into policy development - a very open and democratic process.

Jepke Goudsmit
– Sydney East Socialist Alliance and Kinetic Energy Theatre Company performer

To me the most positive thing was the diversity of the people and everyone sparking off one another – the sense of a holistic view coming from so many different directions.

And the opening up, the Socialist Alliance now being just the Socialist Alliance, with that greater entry for different perspectives to create a new definition of where we are going. For me that was a very positive step.

Julia Burder
– Childcare worker and Geelong Socialist Alliance member

I found the conference very inspiring and uplifting. I found that in a lot of the sessions I learnt a lot and it was really enjoyable.

Matt Garner
– Steelworker and Wollongong Socialist Alliance member

I found the conference to be really good. I thought it was very rewarding to go, and good to meet with other comrades from around the country.

It's a good idea to discuss some of the policies and things in person, because I think when you just see something that goes around the mailing lists and things like that, it's not as good as having this face to face contact. You can generate a lot more ideas and things like that when you can actually discuss them and it facilitates a bit better feedback and things like that as well. So in that regard I think conference has been really successful.

Pat Eatock
- Sydney Socialist Alliance and Aboriginal activist

It's been a fantastic, energising experience. Right from the Saturday night the speeches were all fantastic, and when Uncle Henry played the didg it was so beautiful.

It's been such a comfortable conference – energising, inspiring, but most of all it's one big family, it's an extended family and Kooris can really relate to that.

The way the DSP dissolved themselves to become full 100% part of Socialist Alliance - they did it in such positive terms after the many years they've been together. They see it as a step forward. And it was just done so positively.

Aboriginal people, more than anyone else, have more to do with "organisations" - committees, secretaries, treasurers, presidents, and constitutions. The one thing they don't want is people standing up waving a piece of paper saying "look in the constitution, we can’t do that!". We’re tired of all that sort of nonsense.

This is the only organisation ... it took me a long time to become a member. I became a member last February and I'd been sort of hanging around with this mob for over a year before I made that decision. But that decision was based on the fact that the processes I see are so good. I don't really know how they have dispute resolution because there doesn’t seem to be any dispute!

I like the way people do things. I like the way people like [outgoing national co-convener] Dick can be emptying the garbage – it's the equality, the lack of crap. Not to say that I haven’t occasionally run into slightly paternalistic attitudes, but I can deal with it without it becoming a major issue or anything like that. And everyone is just so willing, so helpful, so understanding of the issues. And everybody gives everyone such good strokes, good feedback.

I'm around for a while I hope!

Peter Hughes
– Socialist Worker New Zealand

Great - that's all I can say! It’s really heartening to see such enthusiasm for a broad left project to promote socialism and build a working class movement.

I wish you the very best for your struggles and hope to in some way support that for the time to come.

Richard Downs
– spokesperson for the Ampilawatja walk-off

I think to me it's fantastic. It's given me an opportunity to meet people, to listen to the speakers, to feel the vibe. And my intuition tells me that I'm comfortable with the way the conference is going and what the Socialist Alliance stands for.

It's about grassroots people, it's about battlers, it's about standing up against climate change, human rights issues, racial discrimination.

It's about standing up against the government trying to push all the boat people back out, the refugees, when we should have the obligation to bring those people on board in our country. Because as far as we can all see you've got the Americans, the Australians and the Poms creating the refugees in those countries.

Those people have got nowhere else to go but back to Australia and yet we turn them away like they're lepers, outcasts, when we should be bringing them on board.

I'm feeling comfortable to be able to go back to my people and spread the message about Socialist Alliance and what it stands for. Because our people in the Northern Territory are fed up with Labor, we're fed up with the CLP. We're not happy with the two independent players there.

So we're looking for alternative parties. We're looking at the Greens, and now we'll probably start talking more about the Socialist Alliance, which is more in line with how we are and what we are looking at. So it's fantastic.

Rose Matthews
- Hobart Socialist Alliance branch

It's been a great conference. I've found 95% of comrades are fully engaged. I've been to several of the workshops and they're two hours long and you think "mm?", but people are fully engaged. It's been really worthwhile, and the collective brain coming together and coming up with amendments and stuff – it's been really good.

Sivaranjani Manickam
- Socialist Party of Malaysia

The Socialist Alliance conference is really impressive. Most of the procedures and everything are the same as how we are working in the Socialist Party of Malaysia.

There's lots of discussion about issues before they are making a decision on the policy, so it's really good.

It's really good and many members are taking part in the policy making process. It's a good congress to build the Socialist Alliance in the coming future. It's a good starting for this year, 2010.

It's been a really motivating thing for me so I can go back with this motivation and work more in my country.

Thank you to the Socialist Alliance for inviting me, it's been a very inspiring conference.

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