Karen, 27, social worker

I grew up in a small country town; my family were really religious and went to church every Sunday. I always had this feeling that something was wrong but it was hard to formulate what it was as I didn’t have the words or the knowledge to even articulate it. When I was 15 I became a vegetarian and all my friends and my family started calling me a hippie and that was probably my first experience of wanting something different. I was still a Christian at that stage but I was starting to have issues with how the church related to women and sexuality.

I went overseas when I was 18 and I didn’t read the bible for the entire time I was away and came back and realised that it obviously had no relevance to my life. Then I went to university and I was exposed to left wing politics. I was around people in Love and Rage who were libertarian communists and influenced by autonomism. The biggest revelation to me, however, was getting involved in feminist organising I think feminism has more impact on me than anything else: it cuts across how I see class, race and sexuality.

Being involved in setting up the Midnight Star social centre and the Balloon Factory squat was important for me. Having discussions about creating spaces within society which are autonomous allowed me to see the possibilities of what can happen. I have always been a bit of a law abider, so being in the squatting scene really made me confront issues of breaking the law, breaking into buildings and doing things which are potentially quite risky.

Responding to sexual assault has been a huge part of my life for the last few years. I was sexually assaulted and this was an intense experience which I had to deal with. But I have also found this inspiring as I do believe that society can change, and communities can change and people can change and I don’t want to give up on working towards that change. When I was sexually assaulted the community I was in was not very supportive at all and I moved out of that community as a result of that experience. I have sought to challenge this in the communities I am in now. I think we have to face up to the reality that it happens and not be afraid to talk about it. It makes a huge difference for people who have been through this experience to be believed, accepted and taken seriously. It can be very depressing at times but also uplifting to challenge something which is a horrific manifestation of what can happen in people’s lives and is a total barrier to achieving other forms of social change.

It is interesting this idea of community. It is bandied around but is what we actually have a community, how cohesive is it, how supportive is it, or is it just a social network? I feel like I have the closest possible to a community under capitalism, I don’t feel like my community is cohesive, but I do think it is the best we can do. On an international scale tool I find it so amazing that people who reject capitalism have been able to create a global community - I could go to any country in the world and find people who would welcome me. That is something that most people don’t have. I think being part of a community forces people to be more respectful and allows them to have better relationships and care for people because they reject the individualistic way of living.

I did not disengage from formal education at all. I was doing a community welfare degree at the University of Western Sydney and this was very much a part of my politicisation. It was actually one of my subjects which lead me to my first political action. I was doing a course called Community Development and Social Change and as an exercise the lecturer got us to write down on the blackboard all the things about the university we would change if we could. The class got all riled up and we decided to march to the SRC with our log of claims. This lead to a lengthy student occupation of the university administration and eventually we ended up having most of our demands met.

…I have been questioning my sexuality for a long time but I never let myself openly explore that until after I left university, I think partially because of the sexual assault I was closed off . Going to the women’s only “Scooter” gigs was amazing: seeing women performers sing about their lives and their sexuality and being independent and lesbians and totally out and not afraid to be what they want to be was so powerful. When I first saw it I felt really jealous that people could be like that. Seeing women together, kissing at clubs and stuff, I didn’t even know that I wanted it at first I just knew that it looked good and that I was somehow envious. And slowly this had an impact and I thought there is no reason that I can’t be like that. Becoming part of a queer community has enabled me to become so much more comfortable with myself. I was never a person who would talk about sex, or who would feel comfortable to be experimental or any of that kind of thing, so I think being involved in collective struggle has meant that I have been able to challenge a lot of things about myself.

…Hearing about the refugee breakout at Womera was probably the thing which has politically inspired me the most. Being in Sydney and hearing about it was just incredible. Knowing that it was possible to do that made me feel like there was some hope for what we could achieve. I think at the time I was feeling like we were just a bunch of students prattling along and we were not making any difference and that one of the first times I went – fuck we are actually changing the world.