The University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) condemns the actions being taken by the re-elected President of the United States of America, Donald Trump.
In 2017, UMSU took the stance in Students’ Council 2(17) that:
1. UMSU stands firmly opposed to President Elect Donald Trump.
2. UMSU recognises and opposes the array of right-wing forces in Australia, including the Liberal government, Pauline Hanson and fascist groupings like the United Patriots Front, who have gained a confidence boost out of Trump's election.
3. UMSU recognises the positive role a protest against Trump can play in countering those forces and making sure a new right-wing consensus doesn't become mainstream
The re-election of President Trump is yet another addition to the general zeitgeist of conservative values and right-wing politics that has come to define the last few years of world politics. Unfortunately, the concerns discussed by Students’ Council in Meeting 2(17) have come to pass with the right-wing consensus becoming the new status-quo.
Australia stands at great geographic distance from the United States of America, and yet, habit and hubris lead us to continue thinking of America as our closest ally. This is seen in the recent actions of the Federal Australian Labor Government in showing support for the Trump Administration, alongside our military commitment to the AUKUS alliance. To quote the former Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating, on the issue of AUKUS:
“If we weren’t in Aukus, we wouldn’t need to defend it. If we didn’t have an aggressive ally like the United States – aggressive to others in the region – there’d be nobody attacking Australia. We are better left alone than we are being ‘protected’ by an aggressive power like the United States.”
The University of Melbourne Student Union in Students’ Council 3(25) has taken the following positions:
- UMSU condemns the new Trump government’s far right agenda.
- UMSU rejects any attempts to normalise Trump
- UMSU opposes the Labor government's attempts to collaborate with the American government thereby normalising Trump
- UMSU opposes the AUKUS military alliance
- UMSU recognises that cutting ties with America is the best way to begin to resist Trump’s far right political movement in Australia. UMSU condemns Elon Musk’s Sieg Heiling at the inauguration and fully opposes fascism