By the time
Honi Soit returns to stands in Semester Two we will have a new federal government. Past editions that also directly preceded an election read heavy with hopelessness.
Similarly, this semester of Honi Soit rings loudly with the voices of students that have been let down by the institutions that claim to represent them. This semester, students have written about the systemic failure of the University to respond to sexual harassment and assault across campus. They have covered peaceful protests disrupted by riot police, and have reported on a budget where education was once again just a peripheral buzzword.
Yet, between these moments of frustration, triumph feels all the more special. Students across political factions celebrated as 5 women were elected to Union Board for the first time in history, and when an SRC lawyer and a refugee took the government to the High Court and won.
Take a look through our latest edition, where this mixture of hope and hopelessness resonates more clearly than ever. In News, read about a Vice Chancellor ignorant to the needs of students, then turn over to page 16 where the chants of our student activists are written as music.
People accuse this newspaper of not having much value. Yet if this paper and these stories can do one thing before July 2, it is to demonstrate the gross impact conservative governments have on young people, and that we demand more.
I don’t like to overemphasise what Honi is or what Honi does. It is just one voice in an overcrowded debate about the future of this country. But we shouldn’t sell ourselves short either. In a University where privilege is etched into the sandstone, the students who create for Honi attempt to inspire change. In a world that feels increasingly hopeless, it is these young people that give me hope.
