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The NBL was technically an alliance of individual students, rather than organisations. Nevertheless, with the exception of the Left Labor students, almost all of the left political organisations active in the student movement - such as Love and Rage, Socialist Alternative , International Socialist Organisation (ISO), Resistance , Workers Power , the Australian Greens - participated in the NBL at various times. Many of these groups participated as a bloc, which sometimes generated allegations of "stacking" and participation in bad faith. In the earlier days of the NBL, the primary fault line was between the large independent activist milieu that controlled the NBL (including at that time a significant radical feminist presence), and the Leninist Marxists (ISO, Resistance/DSP and Socialist Alternative). In the latter days of the NBL, as the radical activist milieu from the late 1990s dissipated, the main faultline was between Socialist Alternative, who came to control the NBL at a national level, and the Autonomous Groupings, including many environmentalists, pejoratively termed the " Swampies " by Socialist Alternative. This division led to the collapse of the NBL and the creation of separate factions for the 2005 NUS National Conference, with Socialist Alternative and the Grassroots Left sitting separately. Radical left-wingers have long been active within Student Organisation s in Australia and elsewhere. The Australian Union Of Students , the predecessor body to the current National Union, was dominated by such activists. The propensity of such groups to splinter and fragment has meant that many different, often competing, groupings have occupied similar positions on the political spectrum within the student movement to that currently held by the NBL. Generally, the pattern has been that existing groups fragment when the student movement is weak, leading to the formation of new splinter groups (e.g. 1993 NAL, 2005 Grassroots Left), and reunify when the student movement is strong, leading to the formation of new unified groups (e.g. 1999 NBL, 1987 Left Alliance). Given their organisational discontinuity, however, the radical (or non-ALP) left has shown remarkable political continuity within the Australian student movement over the last 30 years. The NBL was non-binding; that is, individual members were not required to follow caucus decisions on votes at NUS Conferences. It thus lacked the tight discipline exhibited by the Labor factions. Generally speaking its members co-operated fairly closely, however, and members were required to inform caucus representatives if they intended to vote against a caucus position (so that this could be taken into account when calculating votes). The NBL placed a strong emphasis on NUS's activist departments - Queer , Women's , Education and Environment - usually attempting to have candidates elected to these office-bearing positions and using them as a base to run radical campaigns. The creation of the NUS National Queer Department, including two quarter-time Queer Officers, was a long-time objective of the NBL (and its predecessors) that was realised in 2000. The Labor groupings had previously opposed the creation of such a department, but changed their position in response to the renewal of gay, lesbian and queer activism in 1999-2000. Between 2002 and 2004, the NBL also successfully fought against moves by Unity and NOLS to abolish the National Environment Department (which had been created in 1995 as a result of the efforts of the NAL). The NBL's National Office Bearers between 1999 and 2005 are listed below. A strong mutual antipathy existed between the NBL on one side and Student Unity and the Australian Liberal Students Federation on the other. Unity in particular generally attempted to prevent NBL candidates from gaining office, and placed severe strictures on NBL office bearers' budgets. The NBL in turn, attempted to have left-wingers elected in preference to Unity candidates. The NBL had a mixed relationship with the National Organisation Of Labor Students . NOLS had a traditionally close relationship with the NBL's predecessor, Left Alliance, but this closeness was only partially transmitted to the NOLS-NBL relationship. During the period of the NBL's existence, NOLS's strategy for maintaining control of NUS was generally to play off the NBL and Student Unity, prioritising deals with the former in one year and the latter in the next. This strategy was generally successful. NUS National Office Bearers from the National Broadleft, 1999-2005 2005 Education - Rebecca Barrigos Environment - Anna Rose Queer - Claire English 2004 Education - Paul Coats Queer - Tallace Bisset 2003 Education - Elizabeth Thompson Environment - Bonnie Rivendell and Eli Greig Queer - Rathana Chea 2002 Education - Camille Barbagallo Environment - Matt Skellern Queer - Emma Banyer 2001 Education - Kate Davison Queer - Mark Pendleton & Melissa Venville (left NOLS for NBL mid-2001) 2000 None 1999 Women's - Geneveive Derwent (fmr Left Alliance) |
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