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John Passant

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October 2016
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Keep socialist blog En Passant going - donate now
If you want to keep a blog that makes the arguments every day against the ravages of capitalism going and keeps alive the flame of democracy and community, make a donation to help cover my costs. And of course keep reading the blog. To donate click here. Keep socialist blog En Passant going. More... (4)

Sprouting sh*t for almost nothing
You can prove my 2 ex-comrades wrong by donating to my blog En Passant at BSB: 062914 Account: 1067 5257, the Commonwealth Bank in Tuggeranong, ACT. More... (12)

My interview Razor Sharp 18 February
Me interviewed by Sharon Firebrace on Razor Sharp on Tuesday 18 February. http://sharonfirebrace.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/18-2-14-john-passant-aust-national-university-g20-meeting-age-of-enttilement-engineers-attack-of-austerity-hardship-on-civilians.mp3 (0)

My interview Razor Sharp 11 February 2014
Me interviewed by Sharon Firebrace on Razor Sharp this morning. The Royal Commission, car industry and age of entitlement get a lot of the coverage. http://sharonfirebrace.com/2014/02/11/john-passant-aust-national-university-canberra-2/ (0)

Razor Sharp 4 February 2014
Me on 4 February 2014 on Razor Sharp with Sharon Firebrace. http://sharonfirebrace.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/4-2-14-john-passant-aust-national-university-canberra-end-of-the-age-of-entitlement-for-the-needy-but-pandering-to-the-lusts-of-the-greedy.mp3 (0)

Time for a House Un-Australian Activities Committee?
Tony Abbott thinks the Australian Broadcasting Corporation is Un-Australian. I am looking forward to his government setting up the House Un-Australian Activities Committee. (1)

Make Gina Rinehart work for her dole
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Sick kids and paying upfront

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Save Medicare

Demonstrate in defence of Medicare at Sydney Town Hall 1 pm Saturday 4 January (0)

Me on Razor Sharp this morning
Me interviewed by Sharon Firebrace this morning for Razor Sharp. It happens every Tuesday. http://sharonfirebrace.com/2013/12/03/john-passant-australian-national-university-8/ (0)

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Archive for October, 2016

Ban bigots, not refugees

I have argued for some time that the refugee movement must radicalise and, for example, close down the centres of major cities to win the campaign to bring them here. Otherwise we are, like Sisyphus, trapped in the eternal boulder rolling of defeat.

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The war in Syria and the western left

The Syrian war is not just a tragedy writes Corey Oakley in Red Flag. It is a crime of immense proportions. And it is clear as day who is culpable.

For the left to be relevant in the future, we need to solidarise with movements of the oppressed in the Arab world (and beyond), and at the same time form the alliances necessary in the West to take on the oligarchs that rule our countries for the 1 percent. The old “anti-imperialism” that targeted only the West will not do. And neither will a politics that subordinates domestic questions in the West to litmus tests of international politics, or allows hostility to Russia to turn into accommodation with Western imperialism.

Dear Attorney-General, please accept my application for the position of Solicitor-General

Some feedback on my poetry book Songs for the Band Unformed

I thought I would just reproduce what some have written about my first book of poetry, Songs for the Band Unformed.

For a friend

You are our friend
We yours too
It is time, to renew
Our bonds
Live long
Together

Guns for votes, the Australian Building and Construction Commission and double dissolution triggers

The Coalition Government in Australia is struggling with internal divisions and crossbench pressures, plus recent polls show it is “on the nose” with voters. To read the whole article click here on John Passant’s report in Independent Australia.

Our rulers can ease Syria’s torment by pulling out and leaving it alone

The Syrian war is an obscenity, a brutal meat-grinder that consumes mainly the innocent, writes Alex Callinicos in Socialist Worker UK. The initial popular revolutionary impulse that dictator Bashar al-Assad tried to crush by brute force still weakly survives. But it is now subsumed by the rivalries of imperialist powers and their local clients and allies. The fighting goes on because it is in these powers’ interests.

Some recent unpublished letters to the editor

Here are some of my recent unpublished mainstream media letters to the editor. This first one is a letter I sent to The Australian. (Yeah, I know. And no, there is no irony in the fact that the ‘newspaper’ with a fake free speech campaign for one of its cartoonists should refuse to publish this. Free speech is free speech for the rich and powerful and those who disagree within their set and acceptable boundaries.)

The politics of alone

The politics of alone Alone, again, Few comrades, and no friends Alone, again, reading Marx Between the darkness and the dark Is this our Facebook life? Entangled spaces wrapped in strife Debate becomes our hate And nothing, but nothing, awaits The nihilism of words Grasps the meaning of absurd And free among the fields Yields, […]

When will the left hear the cries from Aleppo?

In a response to articles by journalist Max Blumenthal, Ashley Smith in Socialist Worker US challenges the view that the Syrian Revolution has been manipulated by the U.S. from the beginning. We must stand in solidarity with genuine liberation struggles from below, regardless of which imperial camp they are challenging. Our slogan is neither Washington, nor Moscow, nor Beijing, nor Damascus, nor Tehran, nor Riyadh, but self-determination for oppressed nations and international socialism.