The innocence of student protesters - they can't see their puppet strings

If you're going to get mixed up in radical politics then at least know what you are getting involved in. Make what we like to call an adult decision - though you will note that many adults fail the test. Understand that fundamentalist politics is a lot like fundamentalist religion: it seems to have vibrancy and energy at first but is ultimately superficial and contradictory and dogmatic. You'll notice a high churn rate.

Be under no illusions, either, that leftist fringe politics is any less susceptible to pettiness, egomania, overarching ambition, personality disputes and despotism than any other sort of politics. In fact, you'll probably spend more time squabbling with other socialists than you do opposing the capitalist order.

I'm hoping, of course, you don't take that route. It would be such a waste of your spirit. For there was a fine democratic spirit about on March 5. Even accounting for the young man who took the mike late in proceedings to denounce John Howard as a "cocksucker" (and other choice phrases), it was a relatively civil affair. This crowd was boisterous and feeling just a bit rebellious. Except for a bunch of kids out of school with a big cause as justification and the egging on of a few radicals, it was one well-behaved excursion group.

I liked the fact that home-made banners were far more prevalent than the mass-produced clichés of fringe political organisations (one girl used the back of a poster board for the film Enemy at the Gate - an interesting comment, I thought, on the prospect of a street war for Baghdad). A couple of kids had modest little no-war signs made from paper plates with glad-wrap rolls for handles. I want to see more of this do-it-yourself spirit if you hit the streets again. Do it yourself, organise yourself, think for yourself and don't wear a Che T-shirt.