Other formats

    Adobe Portable Document Format file (facsimile images)   TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

Salient. Official Newspaper of the Victoria University Students' Association. Vol 41 No. 18. July 24 1978

The Issues

The Issues

One widely expounded reason for the current low level of political activity and awareness on campus, is the lack of issues. This lack denies the left any base from which to reach out and contact both students and the society in general. While it is certainly true that there are no issues current in the sense that Vietnam and South Africa were causes of such contention a decade ago, the absense is clearly not due to an improvement in the world situation.

At present there is intense political struggle in the third world as people fight for their freedom against the spectre of Imperialism. While none of these struggles have produced wars of the magnitude, publicity and effect on New Zealand of the Vietnam war, the principles are the same, the bitterness as great, and our obligation to support the same. Only our level of commitment seems to have changed. The other great focal point for activity, South Africa, still exists. New Zealand has not severed its links with it. Indeed it appears that as the regime becomes harsher and more oppressive, our contacts with it are strengthened.

There is also another great issue, not present in the earlier era, the menace represented by Muldoon. Ironically the man who was elected on a platform of "Red Baiting", playing on people's fears of a state controlled socialist system, is dramatically increasing the amount of Government control over us all. The only matter for specualtion is just how far Muldoon will be able to go in building his oppressive State machinery.

We have already seen the three examples of the Abortion legislation, the SIS Ammendment Act and the massive display of force at Bastion Point. These are issues as large and important to New Zealanders as any we will face, and as the economic crisis intensifies, the state will bring even harsher action against the people of the country.

Beyond all doubt the issues are there. The difference is that in the ′60s the issues were created for us by the media, by similar activities overseas. This time around we have got to do it for ourselves. Hopefully the PSA will be the first step along this largely untravelled path.

In the light of this it seems facile to argue that the decline of the left is due to the disappearance of issues. The real fault in this area is in the inability of the left on campus to build issues out of them unaided.