En Passant

The Andrews Labor Government not only won the Victorian State Election; it won in a “Danslide” I write in Independent Australia.

There is only one way to restore the democratic deficit, says Independent Australia Canberra correspondent John Passant — election, now!

Malcolm Turnbull must be tempted to call an early election, I write in Independent Australia.

While both sides claim success in the Bennelong by-election, neither should be getting too excited, I write in Independent Australia.

Whether over refugees, equal marriage or fighting further cuts, it is not The Greens’ actions in parliament that will be decisive, writes James Supple in Solidarity. What matters is the strength of the movements in the workplaces and on the streets. If The Greens continue to ignore that, they will be left on the margins.

With growing inequality and austerity has come growing anger, inchoate in Australia but finding a left wing political expression in places like the UK and US in the form of Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders. Workers in struggle are the short term solution to the problems of capitalism. Workers in struggle are the long term solution to the problem that is capitalism.

This is from the editorial in Socialist Worker US on the mid-term elections and the large number of those who are dismayed with establishment politics and who didn’t vote.

I am looking for interesting suggestions for left-wing election slogans relevant for Australia today. Panache, pizzazz, flamboyance and flair anyone?

The last 30 years have not been a battle between two different political ideologies but a Mafia family dispute over how best to rob the rest of us for the benefit of the whole gang. That is one of the reasons why calls for an election now, especially one solely brought about by parliamentary game playing, are misguided. Replacing one set of neoliberal politicians with another set won’t address the problems or the systemic drivers forcing the parliamentary cretins to manage society in the interests of capital. The mafia dons of Labor are still mafia dons.

To all those who struck or demonstrated for public education this week in WA, for all those there who marched in March, for all those who want to be active and make the world better, even change the world, one small step would be to vote for Socialist Alliance on Saturday in Western Australia as part of building a fighting opposition to neoliberalism and more generally to capitalism.