En Passant

John Passant, well known Canberra based socialist and prospective ACT Senate candidate in 2019, welcomed the refugee protest at Parliament House. ‘It was a great display of democracy,’ Mr Passant said, ‘bringing the voice of voiceless refugees to the attention of the wider public.’ ‘It interrupted for a few minutes the daily posturing of the wafflers and trough sniffers in Parliament and highlighted the lives permanently interrupted on Manus and Nauru,’ he said.

John Passant has just released his first book of poetry, Songs for the Band Unformed (Ginninderra Press 2016). The poems are a mix of the personal and the political. A signed copy costs $21.95 and can be purchased via the Independent Australia online shop here.

History must judge Castro both as the freedom fighter whose defiance humiliated US imperialism and as the ruler of a repressive, unequal society. It was right to support his resistance to the US attempts at revenge. But he cannot be absolved of abusing the idea of communism to rule over a capitalist society. The socialism he claimed to represent is as important as ever—but making it a reality means workers’ self-activity, not state control from above.

These are my very rough, to be edited, revised and added to before cutting in half, talking notes for a talk on income tax and Indigenocide in Australia to various PhD students I am giving in a few days time.

Turnbull’s claim that rehashed “trickle down reforms” will not be “keenly felt” in the community during the lowest wage growth on record are farcical, says John Passant in Independent Australia. Click here to read the article. Turnbull talks tax trash

Labor thinks it is on a winner with its Australia First propaganda. Expect to see much more Aussie jobs rhetoric and dog whistling from the ALP. Of course, like Trump, most of this will be verbiage without action.  Where was Labor for example when the car industry was shutting down?

Labor, rather than dog whistling about foreign workers, could make some real changes to industrial relations law in Australia. The first one would be to enshrine the right to strike at any time in legislation. The second would be to allow unions access to all workers to explain pay and conditions, and for building industry and other dangerous workplaces, to enforce safety standards

We must wear a poppy We must wear a poppy Today That is the new way Of freedom, evidently Where men and women died For that lie And the rich victors Retain their property To spread their wealth Footnoted democracy And freedom We join in To beat them, The enemy, just like us Hard working […]

  American workers have been sold a pup, says John Passant in Independent Australia. As the Great Recession morphs into the Long Depression, their False Messiah will throw them under the bus. To read the whole article click here. Trump the False Messiah: Will he become the workers’ anti-Christ?

We have a lot of work to do, starting today, to build a real left alternative that recognizes the misery and suffering so many people endure; that confronts these conditions politically and practically; and that builds organization capable of turning the tide.