I think I finally understood a little bit about student politics this morning, as I lined up to confirm my registration for Edcon.
It’s 9am. There is an hour scheduled for this (it will take much longer somehow) before the fun starts in the first plenary. There’s a ton of people around, people that look and carry themselves unlike anyone I know in my rather insulated regional life.
Ahead of me two people screaming at each other. Just completely going at it. Like red in the face, veins popping, spit flying going at it. Incomprehensible, rambling diatribe. No one bats an eye, of course.
I’m almost certain normal people don’t scream at each other at nine in the morning before a conference starts. And that’s what I now understand: Edcon and student politics isn’t populated by ‘normal’ people in any sense of the word. I think if I bear that in mind, I can perhaps survive this week with my sanity.
I want to say that my reporting with the Tertangala is the first presence at Edcon from a regional campus in 10 years. The unfortunate reality is that no one can remember the last time someone from a regional campus came. The NUS (National Union of Students) is dominated by the major cities, but Wollongong has representation in the Small and Regional office, held by Cheyne Howard. The NUS’ Education Conference is meant to be a space where attendees can share ideas, network, attend workshops, and engage in discussion with their fellow upstanding peers. The reality is that it is messy, but also intriguing and riveting in ways I didn’t anticipate. An accusation that can’t be levelled at student politics is that it is boring, although the same could probably be said about watching a pile of garbage erupt in flames.
One combatant in the screaming match was holding a few newspapers emblazoned with the title Red Flag. I asked a fellow student journalist what it was, to which he replied, ‘Don’t ask.’ This stack of newspapers indicates they were one of the infamous ‘Trots’ or a member of the Socialist Alternative (SAlt)faction. They accosted me multiple times to buy a copy. I had my integrity questioned over and over, before, after many refusals to hand over $5 for it, being succinctly and aptly described as ‘lame.’ That being said, go print media!
The other person must have been either Student Unity (the right Labor faction) or National Labor students (left). There were also Grassroots attendees, a broad church of leftist activists primarily based in USyd. The indiscriminate yelling dissuaded me from asking.
This is important, because the ideological worlds that everyone here in Edcon inhabits is the only thing that allows you to understand it. In fact, it seems to explain the screaming quite rationally for the attendees. SAlt are antagonists, everyone acknowledges that, either because they want to make a meaningful difference to the NUS and society (to SAlt themselves) or because they are in a cult (to Unity and NLS). This is a joke, but I don’t mean to make it at SAlt’s expense exactly, (I had a few urge me not to take them and Edcon as a joke) but more just to illustrate the ridiculous ideological toxicity of this world.
The rest of the day was filled with the drama and yelling that I was told to expect. This is just a few hours of exposure to this complex world of student politics that I’ve been thrown into today. What does all of this mean for advancing student issues?
I’ll posting recaps of what happened each day for the week. Check out all of the Tert’s socials for more updates.