En Passant

    Just got a royalty statement from my publisher Ginninderra Press. 201 copies (including those to me for onsale) sold since my book of poetry, Songs for the Band Unformed, was published in September 2016. Pretty exciting. I have only a few copies left and with the launch in Canberra in April and a […]

Academics are starting a US conference boycott.

From Bertell Ollman So, “Is it time,” as William Buckley asked a few years ago, “to bury Karl Marx?” Well, it depends on the position one takes on Cacus. Cacus was a Roman mythological figure who stole oxen by dragging them backwards into his cave so that their footprints made it appear that they had […]

The Australian flag on Invasion Day: To burn or not to burn?

Despite burning the Australian flag not being a crime, a heavy-handed police reaction has helped the authorities and the media to vilify and prosecute peaceful Australia Day protesters in Sydney, I write in Independent Australia​. To read the article click here. The Australian Flag on Invasion Day: To burn or not to burn?

The disappearing we There are no borders for the bees The disappearing bees There are no borders for the birds The disappearing birds There are only borders for me The disappearing we John Passant 29 January 2016

The point isn’t to bury our arguments, but to learn how to make them while operating in political arenas that aren’t just our own if we want to win people to more radical politics. Revolutionary socialists have a long and rich tradition of building united fronts, which seems more real now that 3 million people were in the streets.

We must do a better job at facilitating debate, discussion and argument so that we talk about how to build the kind of movement we want. But endless social media critiques with no commitment to diving into that struggle for the kind of movement we want is not a serious approach.

There are literally millions of people in this country who are now questioning everything. We need to open up our organizations, planning meetings, marches and much more to them. We need to read together, learn together, be in the streets together and stand up to this assault together.

In Independent Australia I explain how the rise of Trump is related to indigenocide and Australia Day. I say among other things: Here in Australia, millions will celebrate Australia Day on 26 January. This is the day to celebrate the establishment of the first (white British) settlement in Sydney Harbour. There will be endless talk […]

Can a robot write
My poetry
With plugged in words
Lacking vocabulary?