Glass invited all candidates to submit a statement about why they’re running in the Guild elections and why you should vote for them. This statement is being published as received from the candidate.
Voting opens MONDAY 23rd OCTOBER 2023. You can read all candidate statements here.
I am Elowyn Gampe, a proud NUS nominee for Left Action. Left Action is an activist ticket and the official ticket of Socialist Alternative, Australia’s largest revolutionary socialist organisation.
The QUT Guild is the highest student representative body at the university. As a union, it fights for the rights of the student body. Or at least it should. They used to fight to protect students by organising protests and action on issues affecting students. And they won. Student unions in the past played vital roles in fights across wider society. The fight for marriage equality and the BLM rally in Wollongong stand out. Right now the QUT Guild is a weak service union at best, organising toga parties and trivia in the Bot-bar instead of fighting the root causes of the issues hurting students, such as the cost of living crisis. The Guild, refuses to take action, organise campaigns and protests and push to solve the issues affecting students. As socialists we believe the QUT Guild needs to be run as an activist union and take on the issues hitting the students hard.
From sexism, to racism, to the cost of living, Left Action is the only ticket that will fight around the big issues facing students. We campaign year round and many students have witnessed our activism first hand. The trans-rights rallies against far-right transphobe Posie Parker , and the Roe V Wade solidarity protest for abortion rights last year stand out. More recently the Mint My Desk strikes and the recent protests against ‘No-vote’ racists exemplify us bringing left wing activism into the union. With the support of students, Left Action would be able to reach a larger number of students and foster a student body that fights for the issues we all care about.
The National Union of Students (NUS) is Australia’s national student representative body. By voting 1 for Left Action you will be ensuring that activist voices, like mine, are demanding action on issues that wannabe politicians don’t want to organise around. Without a real force of activists the union will fail to improve the current conditions students face. Our opponents are proud to advance their future careers by shaking hands with university administrators while doing nothing about education cuts that happen every year . We understand that the point of a union isn’t to beg those in power for small concessions . We understand that to get changes you need to involve students in the fight for a better world.
If you believe the QUT Guild should be a political body that fights for and wins student rights, then vote 1 Left Action for an activist union.
