Keep Left 2016 session highlights

Crisis, resistance and racism in Europe

As Greeks face the implementation of austerity by the once-heralded left party Syriza, workers are fighting back. At the same time, tens of thousands of refugees are making their way through Greece—and facing the brutality of Fortress Europe. The fascist party Golden Dawn has been trying to capitalise on it all, but they have faced resistance every step of the way. Now, Brexit has forced a massive debate about the role of the European Union. Don’t miss eyewitness Niki Argyri, Greek activist and anti-fascist, give an eyewitness view in Reform vs revolution: Syriza and the Greek experiment and The politics of borders in Europe: racism, refugees and austerity. Niki will also join our final panel, Uniting the resistance.

Following the second round of terrorist attacks in Europe, French politicians of all persuasions have plumbed the depths of Islamophobia—blaming Islam as a religion for terrorist attacks. It’s clear that Western war and racism breed terror, yet much of the French left has accepted a stereotypical view of Islam as backward and sexist and used ‘secularism’ as a justification to support crackdowns like a ban on the burqa. But a new hope has risen in the form of mass protests and strikes by French workers. Nick Riemer will weigh up the situation in an important session, Islamophobia, secularism and the French left

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution is a new, award-winning documentary about the legendary Black Panthers – and we’re screening it as part of Keep Left 2016! Full details here.

After the election: where to for the left?

The possibility of turfing Millionaire Malcolm at the July election has become more real. But even if Labor comes to power, we’ll still need to fight for Medicare, refugees and union rights. Keep Left will provide a great opportunity to reflect on the 2016 election and how we can shift Australian politics. Politics after the election: what fight do we need? will bring together key activists to discuss just this, while ‘Aussie jobs’, nationalism and the legacy of White Australia will be a place to discuss the problems of the nationalistic method of fighting against job cuts that has sometimes characterised the union movement’s approach in recent years.

Marxism 101

The philosophers have merely interpreted the world—the point, however, is to change it. So said Karl Marx. In a world gripped by the twin crises of the economy and the environment—and when Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn have repopularised the idea of socialism—don’t miss our two introductory sessions on the basic ideas of revolutionary socialism: Marxism 101: How Marx become a Marxist and Marxism 102: What do we mean by revolution? And as the planet heats up, we’ll discuss radical solutions to the climate crisis and if, to paraphrase the writer Naomi Klein, it really changes everything, in Tipping points and the climate crisis: is it too late for the green revolution?

Sexism and oppression

Men are from Mars, women are from Venus? Yeah, right. We’ll debunk resurgent, biological justifications for sexism in Sexism, biological essentialism and the myths of gender.

It’s little known that the roots of Australia’s women’s liberation movement lie in World War II. As masses of women moved into jobs previously closed to them, they began to organise—and ideas of what women can and should be began to shift. This important hidden history revealed in The war at home: Women, work and militancy in WWII.