Lessons To Learn

[Ed: I hadn’t been arsed enough to reflect upon my experiences and knowledge infusions at Ed Con – until now. (Technically, I started writing this post a bit ago but never tied it up til now.) So here you go – retrospectively speaking.]

Update: Dear Nic has very expertly and kindly fixed up my template so that it shows as it should, on IE. Much gratitude and kudos. :)

For all the horror stories I’d heard about the screaming matches between “evil right-wing neo-cons” and “crazy ludicrous lefties” at many an ed con, today actually went off to a pretty good start.

I was particularly impressed by the candour of Roger Cook, the inaugural president of the AUS (Australian Union of Students), when he shared his own experiences as a student activist, and – more importantly – his insights on the way forward for the student movement, in an impending age of VSU.

What touched me about his speech was – his honesty in the admission that the activists of his time had “thrown away the baby” by focusing too much on lobbying, and neglecting to make the (then) AUS more relevant to students.

He was not the only one to emphasise on the practical, day-to-day benefits for students for the continued survival of the student movement. Even the media representatives from the West Australian and [another media house which escapes me], who presented a media workshop, stressed the importance of delivering the student discounts and other visible benefits, in keeping the connection alive between students and student representatives.

I think this was an extremely useful nugget of advice for all student activists, particularly at a time when the very existence student organisations is under siege.

Personally, I feel that the real issue of the whole VSU scandal (yes, scandal) is that of silencing the student voice – extinguishing political dissent. More than just being an all-too-familiar phenomenon back home, the increasing shift towards social conservatism – the kind that uses stability or security (take your pick) as a pretext for quelling “inconvenient” political expression – which is amassing increasing momentum in major western “liberal democracies”, forces me to think harder about the roadblocks and pot holes on the bumpy road for social change. And democracy.

However, the vast majority of constituents – oh how I hate the word; they are humans with dignity and voice, not political commodities – do not relate to the politics nearly as much as they do to the pragmatics of representation and advocacy. People need to see the tangibles.

I recognise the necessity in being responsive to those we claim to represent, inasmuch as it may be an inevitability in the course of delivering the real product: advocacy.

I inevitably drew connections between the Australian student movement and the much, much broader, global one that Student Rights Watch may potentially grow to be an integral vehicle of.

It’s difficult to say anything now, because we’re barely even done drafting our constitution – which I see still many inadequacies in – but, there are many aspects which cannot be generalised between a national peak body and an international rights lobby NGO of sorts. Membership. Funding. Organisational structure. Decision making. The advocacy itself. There’s more.

Nevertheless, I believe the way in which SRW may be made relevant to students is different in different socio-politico-cultural contexts. Heck, I think it’s in fact necessary to be agilely responsive to the various situations we will inevitably be faced with.

Yes, there is much work to be done.

And I am excited about the challenges – and change – ahead of us.


Technorati: Australia, higher education, activism, politics