I know this is not a popular opinion in progressive circles but the attacks on Hungarian leader Viktor Orbán as “anti-democratic” are overblown rubbish. It has gotten to the point where op-ed writers in The Guardian claim that “Hungary today is on the verge of full-blown autocracy” and “the war on democracy in Hungary is a war […]
22 Feb
Comments Off on Podcast: A rough guide to anti-politics
By @Dr_Tad I recently appeared on the Living The Dream podcast hosted by Jon Piccini (@jonpiccini) and Dave Eden (@withsobersenses), talking about the concept of anti-politics that Elizabeth Humphrys (@liz_beths) and I developed over the last five years here at Left Flank. I also responded to some of the misunderstandings and criticisms of the concept. […]
07 Jun
Last week I was interviewed on the wonderful ‘Living the Dream’ podcast. We discussed the Accord, neoliberalism and the ALP Hawke-Keating government. Our focus was on recent articles by Van Badham and Wayne Swan in The Guardian, and how the ALP and unions are attempting to understand and frame the experience of the Hawke-Keating government today. I discuss […]
13 Mar
The following is the text of a presentation I gave last week, as part of the Sydney Historical Research Network seminar series “History Now”. The week’s topic was “The History of Class Now”. It was originally posted at An Integral State. *** If the ruling class has lost its consensus, i.e. is no longer “leading” [or directive: dirigente] but only “dominant”, […]
26 Feb
Comments Off on Trump, Bannon & ‘deconstructing the administrative state’
When Donald Trump’s top two White House officials, Steve Bannon and Reince Priebus, appeared together at the American Conservative Union’s CPAC conference the other day, Bannon (the big ideas member of the duo) outlined the top three priorities or “lines of work” of the administration: The first is kind of national security and sovereignty and […]
03 Feb
A recent think piece by Spiked!’s theoretical guru, Frank Furedi, is an attack on the idea that anti-politics is any kind of solution to the current breakdown in authority of the political system. It’s worth examining Furedi’s case because it aligns with anti-anti-politics arguments currently found on the Left in its softer and more radical […]
21 Jan
GUEST POST BY DAVID RYLANCE So, what might we expect out of a Trump presidency? For Trump to maintain his prime source of power, he will not only need to uphold his existing anti-political position — which only got him over the line; no more or less — but will have to augment and expand […]
19 Jan
Now, some have suggested these laws are really about moralising; they are right. —Mike Baird, responding to criticism of Sydney’s lockout laws on Facebook, 9 February 2016 It was all I could do to not choke on my dinner as I watched journalists and politicians fawn over outgoing NSW Premier Mike Baird on the TV […]
16 Nov
Guest post by JAMES ROBERTSON The general elections on 8 November 2016 were a massive vote of “no confidence” in the US political establishment. Whether measured in the active support for Trump’s populist campaign or in the passive refusal of millions of voters to turn out for Clinton, the message was clear: millions of Americans […]
10 Nov
When I wrote my first Left Flank piece on Trump back in January, I concluded: All this suggests it is way too early to be sure that a Democratic nominee can easily beat Trump. Equally, a Trump victory should not be considered hard proof of a deeper right-wing shift in US society, or even a […]
08 Apr
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