The International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE) is launching a campaign to oppose the anti-democratic decision by Macquarie University, in Sydney, to reject the affiliation of its club, despite having met all requirements.
The university’s action against the IYSSE was based on the fraudulent claim that the club shares “the same aims and purpose” as the Macquarie Socialists, affiliated with the pseudo-left group Socialist Alternative. The false assertion is refuted by a voluminous written record.
This is an act of blatant political censorship, which serves to bar students and youth from encountering and discussing a genuine socialist revolutionary perspective amid an historic breakdown of global capitalism. It occurs amid a broader assault on the IYSSE, in Australia and internationally, for its opposition to the US-NATO proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, and militarism more broadly.
In a video opposing the disaffiliation, Sharon, president of the IYSSE club at Macquarie, described it as “preemptive censorship.” She elaborated: “The ruling elite in every country is keenly aware that they’re sitting on a social powder keg. In the past, universities have been hotbeds of social and political opposition during times like these.”
“We don’t accept the attack on our club,” she went on, “and demand that the university overturns its decision and affiliates our club. Otherwise, the decision will be a precedent and a battering ram against the right of students to politically organise.”
In Newcastle, a city in regional New South Wales, IYSSE members Robert and Youp registered their opposition to the Macquarie disaffiliation.
In Melbourne, IYSSE members of clubs at La Trobe University and Victoria University also spoke out against Macquarie’s attack.
At this week’s IYSSE meetings, clubs in Sydney, Melbourne, and Newcastle unanimously passed resolutions to oppose the disaffiliation. The resolutions stated: “If the decision is allowed to stand, it sets a dangerous precedent for anti-war and left-wing voices on campuses around the country to be silenced.
“This comes amid far-right attempts to shut down IYSSE events around the world because of our principled stand against the US-NATO imperialist proxy war against Russia in Ukraine. Only the IYSSE presents a genuine anti-war perspective based on the unification of the world working class in a common struggle against the capitalist nation-state system.
“We resolve to develop an active and broad campaign to fight for the overturning of the decision to block our affiliation at Macquarie University as part of the broader struggle for freedom of speech on and off campus.”
The IYSSE calls on all students, youth, and those who defend civil liberties to join us in fighting this attack on democratic rights.