What has changed in 40 years?

January 26 marked the 40th anniversary of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. The establishment of the Tent Embassy in 1972 represented an historic watershed in the Indigenous struggle for self-determination.

The mainstream account of history teaches that it was the 1967 referendum that finally afforded rights and equality to Aboriginal people. This, however, was not the experience of Aboriginal people.

Aboriginal poet and activist Oodgeroo Noonuccal (formerly Kath Walker) said after the referendum: “Looking back, the only major improvement has been the 93% ‘Yes’ vote of the referendum of May 1967; but this improvement did not benefit the black Australians though it eased the guilty conscience of white Australians in this country and overseas.”

By Mel Gregson, Socialist Party

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Frequently asked questions about Socialism

With the rise of the Occupy movement, opposition to the existing political and economic order has gone mainstream. It’s hard to imagine that the bandana-clad woman on the cover of Time magazine – representing “The Protestor,” Time’s “Person of the Year” – has many nice things to say about capitalism, and the ubiquity of the Guy Fawkes mask – popularized by “V for Vendetta” – further underscores how widespread the idea of revolution has become.

However, this growing support for system change has not yet been matched by a serious public dialogue about what an alternative might look like. A new Pew poll published in December indicated that people in the US who are under 30 or black are more likely to favor socialism than capitalism, but this does not correspond to clear ideas of what socialism is or how a socialist economic and political system would work. We offer up this FAQ as a contribution to the discussion.

By Brandon Madsen

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Ian Angus and Simon Butler’s book ‘Too Many People?’ provides a great service to the workers’ movement by systematically demolishing a key argument of the Right.

Since the 18th century, capitalism and its supporters have tried to ‘blame the victim’ for the horrors of their system. Arguing that over-population is a key contributor to scarcity has been the key point made by these types - from Malthus in Marx’s day to sections of the environmental movement and the political Right today. (Malthus falsely argued that population grows exponentially while food supply only grows arithmetically).

By Stephen Jolly

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CWI’s Zhang Shujie speaks out at hearing in Sweden’s parliament

“I was warned that I could get several years in prison for ‘contact with a banned organisation’ and for ‘crimes related to national security’ ”. Zhang Shujie, a socialist from China, explained his ordeal at a hearing at the Swedish parliament on Thursday. He and subsequent speakers underlined how repression in China increased sharply early in 2011, when the regime was alarmed by the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia.

By Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI) reporters

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Masses in Cairo and other cities demand end to military rule

Yesterday, 25th January, marked the first anniversary of start of the revolutionary movement of the masses in Egypt, which eventually led to the fall of the dictator Hosni Mubarak. Yesterday, millions of Egyptians again took to the streets, celebrating the achievements of the revolution and remembering the martyrs killed by the police and army. Many protesters also demanded the removal of General Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the leader of the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), as well as calling for genuine democratic rights, real social change and to end poverty and joblessness.

An Eyewitness Report

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Total shut down across the country as the working class shows it owns society

On Monday 9 January, 2012, tens of thousands of Nigerians marched through the streets of Lagos in a demonstration against the removal of the fuel subsidy by the Nigerian government. As a result of this policy, the petroleum price has shot up from N65 to between N140 to N200. The cost of food, transport and basic services have soared by several percentage points as the market reacts.

Meanwhile salaries remain fixated despite soaring inflation while the N18, 000 (around US$120) national minimum wage remains unpaid in a lot of states. It is against this background that the huge burst of anger of the mass of working and poor people so early in the New Year can be understood.

By Democratic Socialist Movement (CWI in Nigeria) reporters

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The occupy movement brought opposition to capitalism from the margins into the mainstream

Despite near universal demonisation of socialist ideas in the corporate media and political establishment, according to a new Pew Research Center Poll half of young people aged 18-29 view socialism positively while only 43 percent react negatively to the term. In the same age group, only 46 percent have positive views of capitalism, while 47 percent view capitalism negatively.

While these numbers remain close, its notable that just 20 months ago, last time Pew asked the same questions, the numbers were reversed. At that time, according to Pew’s findings, a slim majority of young people, 49 to 43 percent, viewed socialism negatively.

By Ty Moore, Socialist Alternative (US section of the CWI)

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Peter Taaffe, from the International Secretariat of the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), looks at the outlook for 2012.

Government debt soars to ‘European’ levels following massive stimulus programme

As the global economy lurches towards renewed recession and financial turmoil, concerns are growing over the state of China’s largely state-owned banking system. For more than two years an unprecedented surge of bank credit has powered the biggest construction boom in history, sucking in raw materials from around the globe and ‘supersizing’ GDP (gross domestic product) growth rates for commodity exporters. But the chickens are now coming home to roost as Beijing’s mega-stimulus also sent debt levels soaring.

For over a year the government has imposed a credit squeeze to rein in rising debts especially at local government level, and to bring inflation under control. But Beijing’s clampdown has in turn led to a dramatic growth of the shadow banking system – of so-called underground banks (which are illegal) but also ‘off-balance sheet’ lending by state-owned banks.

By Vincent Kolo, chinaworker.info

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Stalinist nightmare continues

The death of the long time Stalinist dictator of North Korea brings no relief to the workers of the country. They suffered many years under Japanese occupation (1905-1945), then during the Korean war (1953-1955) and many, many years of the most ruthless Stalinist rule. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the economy of North Korea suffered setbacks and it is estimated that more than two million people lost their lives during famines at the end of the 1990s. North Korea is now one of the poorer countries in the world, but until well into the 1970s, the income per head of the population was higher than in South Korea.

By Gerbrand Wisser, Ofensief (CWI in Netherlands)

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