En Passant

The task as I see it is to build Socialist Alternative so the left has a strong voice in Australia and a commitment to socialism from below and can help build the fight back against the attacks of the bosses and their Labor lackeys in Parliament, against job losses, against war and for better wages and conditions.

MALALAI JOYA will be speaking at Marxism 2012 Opening Night session in Melbourne! With her on stage this coming Thursday night 5 April from 6.30 pm at Melbourne Uni will be numerous other international speakers.

Industrial action to defend jobs and increase wages and protect vital programs is the way to beat the slashers and burners. We workers have been too quiet for too long and Labor and the Liberals have been able to ride roughshod over us and distribute more of our wealth to Gina and Twiggy and Clive. The time has come to say enough is enough. Make the bosses pay.

If we want to stop environmental destruction and live in a truly sustainable society, we have to abolish capitalism. The choice, to put it bluntly, is between capitalism and a habitable planet.

Develop and implement polices that redistribute wealth from the super rich to working people and the poor. Increase real wages, fix the gender pay gap immediately, tax the rich till their pips squeak, employ more teachers and nurses, invest in public transport, renewable energy and a universal Dental health care scheme …

And while we are suggesting a left turn, withdraw from Afghanistan, welcome (not imprison) refugees, end the Northern Territory intervention, recognise equal love…

Take on the bosses, not crawl to them.

People who wish to express solidary with ordinary Africans should do the opposite of what “Kony 2012” asks us to do. We need to reverse U.S. imperial policies of looting and repression, whether carried out firsthand or by local proxy forces. “Kony 2012” asks us to provide a humanitarian cover for intensifying these crimes.

Without a fight of any sort by unions the LNP in Queensland will rule the roost and ride roughshod over wages, conditions and jobs. But with a fight the cocky bastards could be sent back to their lair, licking their wounds and giving workers some breathing space.

The funeral of Margaret Whitlam and the pantheon of ageing and current Labor leaders who attended marks a symbolic burying of social democracy in Australia, although in reality the death happened long ago under Hawke and Keating. Zombie Social Democracy has continued more recently under Rudd and Gillard.

From ‘a deeply embittered’ non-Ph D person.

When the Sun kings of profit get challenged the ideology of their empires is threatened and the nudity of their worth stands for all ordinary working people to see. So having not lived in the real world of work, of labour, they do what they always do – invent a self serving story.

If the economy worsens or the Greens actually begin to exercise some power instead of being Democrats in waiting, what Palmer said about them will be a small taste of much worse to come as the rich maggots squirm and worm to protect their rotting patches.