Category: Unions

Living The Dream during #Ausvotes2019

[Edit – the audio file was replaces at 4pm 15/5/2019]

In this episode Jon (@JonPiccini) and Dave (@withsobersenses) try to work out if we have anything useful to say about an election that is all hype but actually a snoozefest. What does it tell us about the state of Australian society, what can anticapitalists draw from it? Are we about the #Changetherules or will Clive Palmer be leading us into a Kangaroo Reich? What happens the morning after?

We also address some criticisms we have received and try to muddle through some blindspots in our thinking.

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Stuff we mention includes:

Whiteness and Class Struggle

Anti-politics and how to watch election night

Fully Automated Luxury Communism? | Ash Sarkar meets Franco ‘Bifo’ Berardi

Whiteness Again

Sojourner Truth Organisation: Understanding and Fighting White Supremacy

Floodcast 10 Petition Me Daddy

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Living The Dream at Deebing Creek


In this episode of Living the Dream Feargal and Bill report from the campsite out at Deebing Creek. They have a chat with Shale and James about what is going on, the nature of the struggle, the relationships of solidarity that are being built and what they think will happen next.

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Follow the struggle at Deebing Creek here:

Yuggera Ugarapul Tribal Elders

Save Deebing Creek Mission

Sign the petition for a Commission of Inquiry 

Music by A.B. Original  (feat. Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu)

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Living the Dream with the Struggle to Decriminalise Sex Work

Image from Respect Inc

In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) chats with Elena Jeffreys (@ElenaJeffreys) from the sex worker organisation Respect Inc. Elena talks about the history of sex worker self-organisations, the conditions of sex workers in Australia today and the importance of the struggle to decriminalise sex work to improve the working conditions and lives of sex workers. Elena digs into the what is wrong with the ‘Swedish Model’, the negative and violent impact it has had on peoples’ lives, and the role that sections of feminism and the Left have played in instituting it. Content Warning – the episode mentions violence against women.

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Music by Goran Bregovic – (with possibly ambiguous lyrics)

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Living The Dream reads On Fairness by Sally McManus

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.

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You can find Jon’s article on Labor, Trade Unions and the White Australia Policy here:

            A White Working Man’s Country

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Living The Dream in 2019!

Living The Dream in 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!

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Stuff we mention 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

Music by Tom Waits

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What’s going on with Change the Rules? A report from the Melbourne Delegates Meeting 25th September

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(What’s going on with Change The Rules? There is a lot of hype out there but what is happening on the ground? Here is a report back from a friend and comrade of the Melbourne Delegates Meeting held on 25th September.)

Hey all, this is some notes I posted on my facebook page for friends and comrades about the delegates meeting held by the ACTU at Melbourne Convention Centre on September 25th. They weren’t meant for wider circulation but Dave suggested putting them on the blog, so please forgive the lack of formality and take them as an invitation to further discussion.

Continue reading “What’s going on with Change the Rules? A report from the Melbourne Delegates Meeting 25th September” →

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Living The Dream with the National Disability Insurance Scheme Ep 2

Turnbull-NDIS_AAP-Images_2017

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

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Living The Dream with The Maritime Defence Committee during the 1998 Wharf Dispute

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A Banner on the Main Gate of Patrick Stevedores East Swanson Dock in Melbourne.
© Takver. http://www.takver.com/

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 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’

Music by Rage Against The Machine

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Living The Dream at Labour Day 2018

labour day
Image by Collective Action ‘a revolutionary anarchist group based in so-called Melbourne, Australia.’ http://www.collectiveaction.org.au

In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) grabs a recorder and heads to the Labour Day rally. He interviews friends and comrades about the rally, what they think the impact of #ChangeTheRules has been, and if there is any opportunity to broaden and open up struggle? Due to a moments hestitation he didn’t try to interview Sally McManus as she walked past.

Music by Alistair Hulet

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