In his wartime State of the Union Address of 11 January 1944, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt put forward a social liberalism embodying a fundamental economic program integral to liberal-democratic juridical and political rights, to which critics of capitalism can have no objection. Described as Roosevelt’s unfinished revolution, this 2nd Bill of Rights is needed now Read More…
Energy Declaration
The Playford Declaration Here in South Australia we are in the midst of an energy transition from fossil fuels to renewables plus storage. We applaud what the former State Government has achieved in the construction of renewables and battery storage; the solar subsidy it announced for low income citizens; and the planned move to Read More…
Left Unity General Meeting w/ guest speaker Mr Azou Bouilouta
Date: Sunday 27 May Time: 1pm Venue: The King’s Head Hotel, corner of King William and Sturt Streets, Adelaide, South Australia Guest of honour will be Mr Azou Bouilouta, proprietor of Le Souk Restaurant, 99 Gawler Place in the city and the stall of the same name in the Central Market. Mr Bouilouta will instruct Read More…
Syria: Could brinkmanship and bluster lead to global conflict?
While it is too soon yet to be certain, a second Trump attack on Syria appears to have passed off without escalating into a regional or general war. According to early reports, some 100 missiles were fired against Syrian facilities, allegedly involved in chemical weapons production, and most were shot down. According to U.S. Read More…
Syria: Bombing not the answer for peace says IPAN SA
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s reckless support for a military strike by the US demonstrates Australia’s lack of independent foreign policy. A spokesperson for IPAN (Independent and Peaceful Australia Network) said “Surely it’s clear that any military exchange between Russian and US forces threatens the lives of millions.” The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Read More…
SA Election: St. Patrick’s day poll – a state derailed?
The election on March 17 of Steven Marshall’s Liberals with a bare lower house majority in the Assembly, on the back of lackluster small target campaigning, opens a new and more bitter phase of class struggle in South Australia. Claiming an intent to get SA back on track on tried and true Tory policies of Read More…
SA Election: Jay Weatherill’s return prospects are too close to call
Today is St Pat’s Polling Day and by excellent campaigning against the odds Jay Weatherill has thrown the issue of this genuine multiparty contest into doubt, late polls notwithstanding. No-one in his position could have done more to make the return of a progressive coalition possible. LU members & friends who have not already cast Read More…
South Australian General Election 2018
This Saturday’s St Patrick’s Day poll is a major community event, and with all its limitations, when all is said and done, a festival of albeit historically limited democracy. Parliamentary elections are not, as the LeftUnity Constitution reminds us, the only form of politics, much less its be all and end all. But the Read More…
Tasmanian Election: Southpaw Backhander
The return of the Liberal Party government in Tasmania with a bare, reduced majority was not an unalloyed catastrophe for the progressive forces in the island State. Labor was returned with an increased minority on an issue of principle, pokies reform. This confirms the strong leadership of Rebecca White, who is arguably well poised Read More…
Book: Critical Realism for Marxist Sociology of Education by Grant Banfield
About the Book This book offers a critical realist intervention into the field of Marxist Sociology of Education. Critical realism, as developed by British philosopher Roy Bhaskar, is known for its capacity to serve as a conceptual underlabourer to applied fields like education. Indeed, its success in clarifying and resolving thorny issues of educational theory Read More…