En Passant

PM Morrison has bowed to public pressure, announcing he will address homophobic legislation but the extent to which he delivers remains uncertain, writes John Passant in Independent Australia. To read the whole article, click here.

Nicole Colson in Socialist Worker US reports on the outpouring of solidarity for the victims of the horrific Orlando mass shooting – and the need to challenge the tide of racist scapegoating of Muslims. She says, among other things, that ‘at the heart of the Orlando massacre is an uncomfortable reality that most media and political figures won’t examine: The way that toxic bigotry can metastasize into violence, especially in a society with easy access to the most deadly of weapons.’

No to all forms of oppression. No to all right-wing forces that thrive on hate. No to islamophobia and homophobia. Solidarity.

The decision to gut the Safe Schools program is another example of systemic oppression. It is the fight by yesterday’s men and women to retain the worst elements of the past. It is in this sense real reaction. The destruction of this small safe space for young people will lead to more deaths and serious mental and physical problems. How then can we fight the destruction of Safe Schools and homophobia more generally?

All the members of the Turnbull government share the antediluvian delusion that austerity – cutting government spending on workers and the poor, cutting wages, sacking workers for example – will solve the economic problems of capitalism. This is their bedrock and the sexism, racism and homophobia of this government (and in varying degrees of the Labor Opposition) flow from this deep well of ruling class essentialism. The sexism, racism and homophobia, by distracting and dividing workers, help reinforce the government’s capacity to achieve its economic agenda of shifting more and more wealth and income from labour to capital. It is no accident that the government which attacks unions attacks women, Aborigines, refugees and gays.

The situation for LGBTq people in Uganda is critical: they can be subjected to discrimination, harassment, blackmail, eviction, physical attacks and even, in some cases, murder.

By launching at this school Abbott was sending a clear message to the education reactionaries and homophobes across the country – it will be open slather on quality education and gays under a Liberal government. It is time to divorce state funding from schools of hate.

One way to help gays and lesbians achieve equality would be to abolish the school chaplaincy program and introduce a real program in schools for addressing homophobia, whether religious or not.

That should include trained social and welfare workers. Labor won’t do that.

Another way to send a message that all Australian citizens are equal would be to legislate for gay marriage. Again, Labor won’t do that.

All this ongoing Labor Party rightward shift has done is make Tony Abbott, the man of reaction, and his policies, look reasonable. Every ALP attempt to wedge the Liberals with Labor racism or Labor homophobia or Labor neoliberal economic policy further legitimises Abbott and the Coalition.

The overthrow of women’s oppression, of sexism and homophobia, won’t be won through Labor. Equal Love and the Slutwalks are but two manifestations of the struggle against systemic oppression and socialists should and do support them.

However ultimately victory over these systemic conditions requires a victory over capitalism. That can only be won through working class struggle.