Living in a Western liberal democracy, we often take public institutions for granted. In reality, public education, healthcare, a robust media landscape and everything in between exist in a constant fight for survival. They depend on political but also social maintenance.
Often that lack of maintenance manifests itself in physical ways. The discovery of Legionella bacteria at Fisher library and asbestos sites popping up all over the city are tangible reminders that the role of government has to be an active one. Regulation, oversight and administration are imperfect and deafening but remain essential.
In this edition, you will find critics of those institutions. How we treat teachers, international students and those with chronic health conditions is an indictment that we as a nation have become politically stagnant. Medicare was repealed just six years after it was introduced for the first time in 1975 and winning the right of free education for all which took decades of protesting and radical union action. We will lose what we have if we turn our eyes away.
Examining the roots of our own campus activism in Sydney and promoting current pushes to free Palestine and combat the cost-of-living crisis remain the most important tasks Honi has.
You will also find a discussions of how cultural institutions shape those movements. The nationalism contained in museums and the messaging built into the popular novels we read often define how the average citizen engages with politics.
The announcement of the final report of the University Accord is an opportunity for a government that has played it safe since its election in 2022 to show voters they are willing to provide this socio-political maintenance we need.
To be a leftist is inherently the belief that people should have autonomy and ownership of politics. May this issue inspire you to take on that ownership emboldened by the collective need for action.
