Issue 1285

News

Stolen lives on stolen land

More than 200 peopled protested the Labor government's funding increase to police, reports Alex Bainbridge.

The Socialist Alliance has successfully maintained its electoral registration with the Australian Electoral Commission, reports Alex Bainbridge.

Jim McIlroy writes the federal government is moving to extend the stigmatising cashless debit card, handing responsibility for vulnerable sectors to a private company.

Extinction Rebellion blocked Macquarie Street to tell the NSW government to get out of bed with Santos. AJ Tennant reports.

Markela Panegyres reports University of Sydney staff and students have been protesting the federal government’s attacks on higher education, management’s austerity measures and NSW Police's brutal policing policies.

A COVID-19 safe rally against a transphobic bill that attracted several hundred people was shut down by police, writes Rachel Evans.

Kurds and their allies are demanding the release of Abdullah Ocalan — “the Nelson Mandela of Kurdistan” — who has been imprisoned by Turkey since 1999, reports Peter Boyle.

Thai democracy activists held a sombre commemoration of the 1976 Thammasat University massacre on the steps of Sydney Town Hall, reports Peter Boyle.

Half-naked Extinction Rebellion activists protested outside the NSW Independent Planning Commission against its approval for Santos' Narrabri gas project, writes AJ Tennant.

The NSW government is facing growing opposition to its plan to build new incinerators in Western Sydney, reports Jim McIlroy.

Charges against 12 Extinction Rebellion protesters who took part in the Spring Rebellion last year have been dismissed, reports Duncan Roden.

For weary parents and restless students, the staged return to school in Melbourne is a welcome relief. But teachers, such as Daryl Croke, Mary Merkenich, Beth Muldoon and Carlene Wilson are warning about the risk of COVID-19 transmission in densely-packed classrooms.

Jim McIlroy reports on a new initiative launched by the Venezuelan government to coordinate greater international solidarity. 

A snap action was organised to show solidarity to Indonesian workers taking action against a new labour law, reports Jim McIlroy.

The nurses union has welcomed the recommendations of the royal commission into aged care but criticised its failure to mandate greater funding transparency for the largely private sector, reports Jim McIlroy.

Despite the IPC decision, opposition to Santos' industrial scale gas project in the Pilliga is growing, reports Rachel Evans.

Analysis

Public distrust in political parties and institutions is higher than it has been, yet we are a long way from where we need to be to even begin to challenge capitalism, writes Fred Fuentes. So what will it take to build the movement we need today?

The ICAC inquiry has shown that NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian knew enough to know she should not completely know something. Jim McIlroy  and Pip Hinman argue she should stand down.

Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s budget reply speech failed to offer an alternative course to the Coalition government’s gas and arms export-based vision, argues Peter Boyle.

Susan Price writes that despite widespread opposition, the NSW government is pushing ahead with its controversial Powerhouse Museum proposal next to the Parramatta River. 

The underlying gross domestic product trend shows the profit share is up to an historic high and the labour share is down. Since 1975, more than $4 trillion has been shifted from wages to profits. Paul Oboohov explains how it got to this.

The Labor Party's dirty tricks department has sprung into action to try to thwart the Greens' insurgent campaign to win the seat of South Brisbane in the October 31 election, reports Alex Bainbridge.

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg's budget was a chance to reset Australia’s failed climate policies. But, as John Quiggin writes, it favoured polluting technologies over a clean energy future.

Australian barrister Greg Barns explains to Green Left why the Australian government must step in and assist Julian Assange. 

World

The growing wave of student-initiated democracy protests sweeping Thailand since February are shaking the military coup-installed regime, writes Peter Boyle.

Indonesia's new omnibus law facilitates further capital expansion in the manufacturing and natural resources sectors while weakening the position of indigenous communities, farmers and fishers, writes Wagimanto.

United States socialist Paul Le Blanc talks to Green Left about the coming presidential elections and the threat of fascism in the US.

Six months after the first COVID-19 case was officially confirmed in Indonesia, it is clear that the government has failed to control the pandemic, write Rebecca Meckelburg and Charan Bal

The England and Wales Court of Appeal has overturned a court decision that denied the Venezuelan government access to its gold stored in the Bank of London, write Vijay Prashad and Carmen Navas Reyes.

Ed Aspinall reports the huge protests across Indonesia against the omnibus law, which have been violently dispersed by police, have resulted in more than 1000 arrests in Jakarta and surrounds alone.

Should the left fall behind the Biden-Harris presidential ticket to stop Trump? And will voting out Trump end Trumpism? Malik Miah explores these questions and more.

Culture

Alex Salmon reviews a new edition of Stephen J Pyne's book, which examines the history of fire and humanity’s attempts to shape and use it.

Chris Slee takes a look at a new book that explores the huge environmental cost of China's rapid economic growth over the past 40 years.

The Global Ecosocialist Network, in conjunction with System Change Not Climate Change will be hosting a conversation with authors Mike Davis and Rob Wallace.