By KEVIN OVENDEN The struggle against the most pernicious and entrenched neo-Nazi force in Europe is at a critical moment. At stake in the dramatic arrests of Nikolaos Michaloliakos and other leaders of the Golden Dawn in Greece is not only the immediate future of a Nazi party that has 18 MPs, with 7 percent [...]
25 Sep
From ΚΕΕΡΦΑ / KEERFA- Movement United Against Racism and the Fascist Threat. The cold-blooded murder of 34 year old artist Pavlos Fyssas in Keratsini by thugs of the Golden Dawn in a Nazi ambush has sent shockwaves through millions of people, not only in Greece but around the whole world. Eight months ago, it was a [...]
23 Sep
By MARC NEWMAN This article continues the analysis of Labor’s crisis — especially in terms of its meaning for trade unions and social movements — begun here. Despite the defeat of the ALP, the election was not a crushing victory for the conservatives. Fewer seats fell than expected, and some of the LNP gains in the lower [...]
19 Sep
Last week in Athens I attended a teachers’ demonstration. The protest took place in the evening, the day before schools returned for the year. Cuts to education in Greece are savage, and teachers have been on strike for most of the semester already. I spoke to an art teacher, who advised that the entire art [...]
18 Sep
In the first of two posts on the modern crisis of Australian Laborism, MARC NEWMAN looks at the roots of the ALP’s problems in its embrace of neoliberalism in the 1980s. *** Labor’s voter base remained stable for the bulk of the 20th century, through numerous changes in political circumstances. It only dipped below a 40 [...]
11 Sep
My post-election analysis, including the contradictions of the Greens vote, went up at the Overland website on Tuesday. Lots of good discussion and debate in the comments, also. The Greens’ entry into the alliance was made possible because it took advantage of the rejection of both major parties in 2010, but with the ALP in [...]
06 Sep
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My long-form essay on the trajectory of the Greens since 2010 is now up at Overland Journal‘s website, and will be in the print edition due out next week. No comments option at Overland, so feel free to comment below. The rise of the Greens represented a historic realignment of the Left of Australian politics, [...]
05 Sep
by MARC NEWMAN Reflecting on the campaign so far, its possible to advance a few ideas about current events, likely trends, and Left strategy. The Age/Nielsen poll published on Monday (see graphic at the end) showed some very interesting things about Queensland. Fully 16 percent of the voting public are intending to vote for right-wing [...]
04 Sep
My major essay on the recent trajectory of the Greens will be in the Overland print edition next week, but you’ll all be able to read it online before the election on the journal’s website. Meanwhile my latest piece at the Overland site, on the strange mood afflicting the Left during this election campaign, came out last Friday and resulted [...]
30 Aug
This piece was written for the UK Stop the War Coalition’s website. It may seem wearily familiar — a rush to war, disputed intelligence dossiers and a determined effort to proceed without even UN Security Council authorisation. There are echoes of Iraq ten years ago, and it casts a long shadow upon the mounting political [...]
04 Oct
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