Left-wing On-Campus Forum: Come along to a panel discussion on the LNP’s attacks!
6 months into his term and Campbell Newman has slashed over 7,000 jobs, defunded essential community services and attacked oppressed minorities such as indigenous and LGBTI communities.
5 years in power and the UQ Young Liberals, under the name, FRESH, have grafittied womens’ and queer spaces, assaulted political rivals and finally banned the electoral opposition.
UQ has seen two demonstrations with hundreds of students! Rallies against Newman’s cuts have been thousands strong. Both students and workers are under attack. Why is this happening and how do we fight back? Join our panel for a discussion:
Carl Jackson – UQ student and D4UQU activist.
Kat Henderson – National Union of Students Queer Officer and Co-Convenor of Equal Love Brisbane.
A speaker from the NTEU, the Union for University Staff.
12PM, Wednesday, 10 October
E302, Forgan Smith, UQ St Lucia Campus
Hi all,
Just wanted to send out a brief report about the campaign events that happened this week, and a shout out for future activity.
I am really pleased to report that this week we held two free speech campaign events at QUT Gardens Point, and they were a success. On Tues, we staffed a mass stall day on the campus, with help from Equal Love, NUs and Socialist Alternative. The campus was busy and we got to speak to lots of students about the undemocratic happenings in the Guild and on their campus. On Wed we had a speak out outside the University Council meeting, where we put Epic on trial for their crimes against democracy and free speech, and many students stopped by to hear speeches, sign our free speech petition and leave their details with the campaign. On both occasions the Epic Liberals turned up with a heavy security presence, and on Wed two police vans were also called on to the campus, but we were not intimidated, kept the events going and staffed some very busy stalls!
Please join us from 11am on Tuesday at Gardens Point for another mass stall extravaganza. It will be a great opportunity to continue to raise awareness about the undemocratic practices of the Epic Guild and end the semester on a high for free speech.
If you are interested in holding a stall for your club, collective or community organisation please contact me ASAP. All groups who support free speech on nthe campus are invited and encouraged to attend.
In other campaign news, the Refugee Action Collective (RAC) Brisbane and the Democracy for UQ Union campaign group have both passed motions in support of our free speech campaign. The text of the RAC motion was:
“This meeting of the Refugee Action Collective declares its support for the right to freedom of speech on university campuses, particularly the right to petitioning and other forms of activism. To that end we declare our support for the Free Speech Campaign at the Queensland University of Technology and against the recent actions of campus security, the administration and Student Guild in stifling political activism at that university.”
Lastly, check out our FB page and join it if you haven’t already http://www.facebook.com/groups/QUTFreeSpeech
See you on Tues!
Bec