En Passant

  My article in Solidarity magazine on the Banking Royal Commission. It’s the economy, stupid.

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 […]

Come along to hear John Passant, former Australian Tax Office Assistant Commissioner, and member of socialist group Solidarity, talk about what the Panama Papers reveal about the real nature of capitalism and capitalism today, and how we can fight back.

The globe continues to warm. The recent Paris conference agreement was a sham. We are heading towards 3 – 4 degrees C warming. Why can’t world leaders end their fossil fuel addiction? If you are in Canberra come to this meeting to discuss why we have to change the system, before the system destroys the planet. It is on at 1 pm on Wednesday 17 February in room G 039 in Copland Building at the Australian National University.

The disasters of the free market will lead to radicalization and political polarization argues Socialist Worker US.

Aboriginal dispossession served capitalist interests, argues Paddy Gibson in socialist magazine Solidarity, but Aboriginal people have remained a “problem” from the point of view of Australia’s rulers ever since. To read whole article click here.

Tackling climate change through a rapid transition to renewable energy is perfectly feasible, but corporate interests are determined to frustrate action, writes Erima Dall in Solidarity. ‘We cannot wait until it is “commercially attractive” before saving the planet. That is market madness. We need to demand that the government build the necessary infrastructure. They could build seven such power plants in one year alone using the money that is currently subsidising the fossil fuel industry.’

Malcom Turnbull going around saying it is un-Australian to hit a woman won’t stop it and his comments look to me as if they are cover for not doing anything substantial to address the results that flow from a sick society where women are treated as chattels or brood mares for capital.

While I think it is fantastic that the likes of Jeremy Corbyn are raising a whole range of issues from taxing the rich to re-nationalising public goods, from cutting billion from defence spending to supporting refugees and recognising Palestine, and by doing that giving hope to the millions disenfranchised by the tweedledee and tweedledum of neoliberal politics, we need to be clear that the real problem is capitalism, not just who manages it and how they do so. In the long term the only way we can win a better society is by us, the vast majority, uniting to overthrow capitalism and organising production democratically to satisfy human need.

Abbott puts short term profit before the health of Australians and before the long term health of the environment and by extension, although he is too blinded by Profit Now! to understand this, the long term survival of his beloved but destructive capitalism.