February 17, 2019
In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) chats with excellent comrade Alexander Brown about the anti-nuclear movement in Japan. Alexander talks about the role nuclear power plays in Japanese society, the pre-Fukushima influence of the New Left, the freeter movement and alter-globalisation struggles, the impact the Fukushima disaster had, the tactics and strategy of the movement, its links with the global wave of ‘squares’ and ‘Occupys’, what’s happening now and the increasingly importance of solidarity in East Asia. Alexander really digs into the thought, concepts and understandings of the movement.
You can find Alexander’s book, thesis and blog below.
Anti-nuclear Protest in Post-Fukushima Tokyo
Power struggles: the strategies and tactics of the anti-nuclear movement in contemporary Tokyo
Love From Tokyo
February 10, 2019
In this episode Jon (@JonPiccini) and Dave (@withsobersenses) review ACTU Secretary Sally McManus’ book On Fairness.We try to dig in to how McManus fails to understand the actual dynamics of capitalism – rather blaming bad people and bad ideas for the problems we face. This means the book points us in the wrong direction. Rather we need to address the core dynamics in our society if we want to fight exploitation and oppression today and struggle for and create a society where we can live lives worth living.
You can find Jon’s article on Labor, Trade Unions and the White Australia Policy here:
A White Working Man’s Country
January 8, 2019
2019! Wooooo! In this episode of Living The Dream Jon (@jonpiccini) and Dave (@withsobersenses) take off the party-hats, pick the streamers from their shoulders of their tuxedo jackets, set aside the Champagne flutes and have a chat about what 2018 was all about what we think is going to happen in 2019. Climate Change, fascism, #libspill, disaster communism, power prices, radical social democracy, #changetherules, #metoo, book recommendations and angry clowns air boxing whilst riding unicycles – this episode has it all!
Some stuff we talk about includes:
Cronulla 2.0? : Racist assembly @ St Kilda Beach, Saturday, January 5, 2019
Kieran’s Review
Stephen Wertheim – Return of the Neocons
Keir Milburn and Bertie Russell - What can an institution do? Towards Public-Common partnerships and a new common-sense
Cinzia Arruzza - From Women’s Strikes to a New Class Movement: The Third Feminist Wave
Endnotes – The Holding Pattern
Salvage Editorial Collective - Salvage Perspectives #6: Evidence of Things Not Seen
Out of the Woods - The Uses of Disaster
The Dig - The Green New Deal with Kate Aronoff
Madeline Lane-McKinley - #MeToo From Below
What’s going on with Change the Rules? A report from the Melbourne Delegates Meeting 25th September
Jobs You Can Count On – a secure work future for Australia
Goodbye Neoliberalism
Class War #73 Class War is Dead…Lone Live the Class War
The Universalism Debate
September 16, 2018
In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) and Jon (@jonpiccini) catch up with Simon Copland (@SimonCopland) again. We talk about how despite the plebiscite being a fantastic victory the Left (for lack of a better term) seems determined to see it as a defeat and what the impact of this is. Simon also talks about going to, live tweeting from and then writing about a recent Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux talk and his thoughts about how the struggle against reaction can be renovated.
Things we mention include:
Simon Copland - Racists on speaking tour: rethinking our response
Alison Pennington - On the Plebiscite: Beyond Defeatism, Moralism and the Politics of Scarcity
Red Action - Declaration Of Independence
You can find Simon’s work here and our older episode with him here .
September 5, 2018
In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) chats with friend of the show Michael. Michael talks about how the NDIS has changed the experience of those that work in care and community services, how it has impacted work conditions and how it has undermined the kind of care that those on the NDIS receive. We also talk about what does this mean for struggle around these issues? What are the unions doing? What are the workers doing? How does this impact with a larger question about the struggle against poverty in Australian society?
This is the second show we have done on the NDIS. Our first episode can be found here
August 21, 2018
In this episode Dave(@withsobersenses) and Jon (@jonpiccini) chat with Padraic Gibson (@paddygibson) about his research into the Communist Party of Australia and its early, or lack there of, engagement with Indigenous struggles in the 1920s and 30s. Not only is the history fascinating but Paddy also really digs into what was wrong with socialist and communist thought at the time, and the inheritance of Marx and Engel’s work, that made it hard for the CPA to connect with these struggles. How and why did this change? And how do these concerns play out today?
Sadly Jon’s internet dropped out 15 or 20 minutes into the conversation
Paddy is a member of Solidarity and his work can be found there.
Paddy would like to acknowledge that the history about the links between the Garvyist movement and Aboriginal activists in Australia in the 1920s he talks about comes from John Maynard’s book Fight for Liberty and Freedom
Paddy was nominated as an interviewee by John Passant when John donated to Living the Dream. Thanks John!
June 27, 2018
It has been twenty years since the Wharf Dispute between Patrick Stevedores and the Coalition Government on one side and the Maritime Union of Australia, the Trade Unions and supporters on the other. This was (so far) the last set piece national confrontation between Capital and Labour over a specific industrial dispute to happen in Australia. In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) chats with Nick Southall about the Maritime Defence Committee. The latter was formed by comrades outside of the industry to provide meaningful support for the struggle. What happened during the dispute and are there implications for class struggle today?
Articles mention include
Nick Southall Getting the Gong – A Tale of Two Cities
Shane Reside Rules made for breaking: beyond ‘Change the Rules’
Picture: A Banner on the Main Gate of Patrick Stevedores East Swanson Dock in Melbourne.
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