This is lucky Phil Cleary…

Posted on November 9, 2010 by @ndy

Yeah I know. ‘Whoever you vote for, government wins’. Also: ‘Don’t vote: it only encourages them’ and ‘If you think it’s humiliating to be ruled, how much more degrading is it to choose your master?’ and ‘A change of rulers is the joy of fools’.

But still.

Old school labour has (re-)entered the battle for the seat of Brunswick following former Federal MP Phil Cleary‘s announcement that he’ll be pulling on the guernsey to once again join the fray. This is gonna make things even more difficult for law-talking gal (and former Yarra Council Mayor and Steve Bracks staffer) Jane Garrett, and perhaps force her to deviate from the path worn by previous generations of industrial relations lawyers. On the other hand, it’ll likely please Greens candidate Cyndi Dawes, now with an even betterer chance of stealing the seat from Labor.

Or to put it another way: “…if Phil Cleary decides to throw his hat into the ring, Garrett’s fuct”.

Elsewhere, party hacks are probably still fuming over the clumsy smears of last week (hat tip to Steve Newnham — “whose wife Fiona Richardson is desperately trying to beat off Greens candidate Anne Martinelli in Northcote”) while in Richmond Steve Jolly is also causing headaches for the True Believers. (Steve is one of several Socialists standing for State Parliament.)

Oddly enough, Steve’s campaigns for Yarra Council in years past was supported by Corinne Grant. Now, however, Corinne is trying to help Labor get re-elected by way of presenting a topical and (presumably) humorous review of the election campaign on the party’s YouTube channel.

Of course, aside from a lack of lulz, the central problem for Labor is that, whatever the particular qualities of their candidates in the inner-city, the policies of the party as a whole are becoming increasingly unappealing to a large minority of voters. Absent a progressive left within the party capable of influencing party policy as a whole, it’s inevitable that voters looking to support a more meaningful alternative will turn to the Greens… Which will develop along the lines of similar parties in, say, Germany, and create conflicts between the realos and the fundis.

I believe it’s called recycling.

See also : Greener pastures, Kate Legge, The Australian, November 8, 2010 | The Greens – more than a protest vote, Rob Burgess, Business Spectator, November 6, 2010 | ‘After Labourism: The Neoliberal Turn by Labor Parties and the Response by Trade Unions’, Jason Schulman, 2009 (PDF).

Finally, some words of wisdom from Paul Howes, National Secretary of the Australian Workers’ Union John Groves, President of the One Nation Party in Victoria:

Posted in State / Politics | Tagged , | 3 Comments

LASNET conference, 12–14 November 2010 @ Trades Hall

Posted on November 9, 2010 by @ndy

MEDIA RELEASE

International Activists Challenge Corporate Crimes

From 12th to 14th November, international activists will converge at Trades Hall in Melbourne to call for an end to the power of huge companies to exploit people and our planet.

“We will be building alliances and global resistance against the actions of Rio Tinto, Barrick Gold, Fonterra, Chiquita Brands International, Monsanto, Drummond, BP” said Rebecca Harrison from the Latin American Solidarity Network. “To protect the rights of workers, indigenous peoples and the environment we need to hold corporations accountable for their exploitative practices,” added Ms Harrison.

International representatives from grass roots organisations from New Zealand, West Papua, El Salvador, Bougainville, Philippines, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile and Colombia, as well as Australian indigenous and union representatives will be speaking at the gathering.

“Monsanto controls 80% of Brazil’s seed market”, says Paola Masiero from the Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) in Brazil, who represent an estimated 1.5 million members. “Its promotion of genetically modified crops impacts the environment, cost of living and undermines food sovereignty through the creation of a monopoly and the destruction of biodiversity.”

“Multinational corporations such as Coca Cola, Nestle, BHP Billiton and Kraft are benefiting from deteriorating working conditions and paramilitary violence in Colombia ,” says Fredy Sepulveda from SINALTRAINAL, the Colombian Food and Agro-Industry Workers Union. “This repression of labour struggles has resulted in the murder of more than 3000 trade unionists in the last 20 years and 38 in the year 2010.”

The conference will examine corporate support or complicity with the exploitation of the poor of the world, the increasing undermining of workers’ rights and union-busting, the displacement and forced assimilation of Indigenous communities, and the destruction of our natural resources and environment.

Other speakers attending the Gathering include:

    • Jaime Deluquez from the Miners Coal Workers Union and Colombia Cut in Colombia.
    • Wilman Palmezano from the Wayuu Indigenous Community in Colombia.
    • Miguel Suarez from the Mining Workers Federation in Chile.
    • Manuel Morales, a Bolivian factory workers representative.
    • Juan Contreras, Coordinator of Simon Bolivar in Venezuela.
    • Santiago Punina from the CONAIE Indigenous National Council in Ecuador.
    • Claudio Tranamil Ñanco from the Mapuche indigenous community in Chile.
    • Cristina Fermovich from Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) in the Philippines.
    • Clive Porabou, a representative of communities in Bougainville resisting Rio Tinto.
    • Barbara Shaw, a spokesperson for The Intervention Rollback Action Group.
    • Uncle Larry Walsh, Tauwurrung Elder, Kulin Nation.
    • Robbie Thorpe, Krautungalung people of the Gunnai Nation.
    • Uncle Chappi, Aboriginal leader from the Lake Cowal campaign.
    • Uncle Kevin, Aboriginal leader from the anti-BHP Billiton campaign.

PRESS CONFERENCE

A press conference will be held at 5.30 pm on Friday 12th November in the New Chambers Council in Trades Hall. Interviews, including with Miguel Suarez from the Chilean Mining Workers Federation, will be available. Please contact: Marisol Salinas 0413 597 315 or Rebecca Harrison 0439 503 839.

Email: [email protected]
Website: www.solidaritygathering2010.wordpress.com
Conference program: http://solidaritygathering2010.wordpress.com/program/

Posted in State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged , | Leave a comment

So…

Posted on November 7, 2010 by @ndy

So, since it was thought that government was necessary and that without government there could only be disorder and confusion, it was natural and logical that anarchy, which means absence of government, should sound like absence of order.

Nor is the phenomenon without parallel in the history of words. In times and in countries where the people believed in the need for government by one man (monarchy), the word republic, which is government by many, was in fact used in the sense of disorder and confusion—and this meaning is still to be found in the popular language of almost all countries.

Change opinion, convince the public that government is not only unnecessary, but extremely harmful, and then the word anarchy, just because it means absence of government, will come to mean for everybody: natural order, unity of human needs and the interests of all, complete freedom within complete solidarity.

Those who say therefore that the anarchists have badly chosen their name because it is wrongly interpreted by the masses and lends itself to wrong interpretations, are mistaken. The error does not come from the word but from the thing; and the difficulties anarchists face in their propaganda do not depend on the name they have taken, but on the fact that their concept clashes with all the public’s long established prejudices on the function of government, or the State as it is also called.

~ Errico Malatesta, Anarchy (1891)

Posted in Anarchism, History | 4 Comments

Antifa blockade Warsaw : November 11, 2010

Posted on November 7, 2010 by @ndy

Blocking of fascist march in Warsaw 11 November 2010.

As every year on November 11, nationalists and neo-fascists from various organizations are planning a march through the streets of Warsaw. We do not want the supporters of xenophobic and racist ideology, who proudly refer to the pre-war organizations of openly fascist sympathies, to again pass through the capital. Remembering the past, we believe that the growing national movement must be opposed. For two years now, we have been trying to block this march. We will stop it only if there will be many of us.

We are a group of different people and organizations. We share an idea of resistance against fascism. We are planning a demonstration on the route of the fascist march. We want to physically block it. We will use our civil rights. We invite all residents of Warsaw and all who want to come to Warsaw, to take part in active opposition to the fascists. We look forward to your participation in the preparations, to your arrival to Warsaw on time and at the place proposed by us. We hope you to prepare banners and inform friends about our activities. We count on your presence.

For more information about the preparations check out our website.

FASCISM SHALL NOT PASS!

See also : antifa.bzzz.net on preparations for the 2009 blockade.

Posted in Anti-fascism, Broken Windows, Death, History, State / Politics, War on Terror | 4 Comments

slackbastard is Mark Latham…

Posted on November 5, 2010 by @ndy

Mark Latham is (a) slackbastard.

I’ve given [Beazley] a bagging here, which he deserves. But the good thing about his being so conflict-averse is that he will do anything for anyone. He can’t say no. I call him an opportunist but maybe it’s the people around him suggesting opportunities that he can’t refuse. That settles it then: he’s a weak opportunist. (And I’m a slack bastard.)

~ Mark Latham, The Latham Diaries, Melbourne University Press (2005), pp.73–74

See also : Society vs academy? The social capital debate (Karen Healy, August 3, 2001) | Review: Mark Latham’s Civilising Global Capital (Andy Blunden, May 2003) | Social Capital Gateway

Posted in !nataS, Media | Tagged | 1 Comment

blog notes (november 5, 2010)

Posted on November 5, 2010 by @ndy

Periodically I check my blogroll to see who’s still kicking and who ain’t. Also, to remind myself who I haven’t included but should. So…

AntiCopyright (lotsa rad films and vids for free d/l) City Is Ours (new-ish group addressing Melbourne’s housing crisis) Червоно-синя революція (‘Class War on the Terraces’ /// Russia Ukraine) Facta Non Verba (new local @ zine) jew on this (local left-wing troublemakers) left flank (local left-wing troublemakers) Melbourne Freedom Club (local @ troublemakers) New Mandala (‘New perspectives on mainland Southeast Asia’) Poumista (@ and left-wing histories and polemics) ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY (‘a project of decolonization’) are all worth having a look at. And if you have a blog and you’d like it to be included here, drop us a line or make a comment.

Special mention: the Revolutionary New Communist Party of Great Britain (Marxist-Leninist). The new and only real vanguard of the British labour movement.

Posted in Media | 2 Comments

Joel Monaghan’s Mad Dog Day Monday (Afternoon)

Posted on November 5, 2010 by @ndy
    Update : Monaghan dog picture scandal goes global, Glenn Cullen, The Sydney Morning Herald (AAP), November 5, 2010. Apparently, the photo has been circulating for a coupla weeks, but went viral following a tweet from Fake Wyatt Roy: “Disgusted by his behaviour, that’s why I decided to leak the pic to Twitter. (Wednesday, November 03, 2010 10:42:43 PM via Echofon in reply to dbreban_18)”. Real Wyatt Roy is not happy; fake Wyatt Roy has just announced his retirement from Twitter.

This story reminds me of another story someone once told me…

The villain in the piece:

Posted in Media, Sex & Sexuality | Tagged | 5 Comments

Fear of Islam

Posted on November 3, 2010 by @ndy

LOL.

One of Jenny’s audience guests was Yassir Morsi. He has a blog and a crack at Waleed Aly, Salam Cafe, and liberal (‘moderate’) Muslims here. (Oh, and postmodernism too. But then, that prolly goes without saying amirite?) [See : Granada Blog.]

Fear of Maoism-Third Worldism:

Who are our enemies? Who are our friends? The First World as [a] whole and its agents in the Third World are enemies of the proletariat and its allies who reside, almost exclusively, in the Third World. The First World working class should be regarded as part of the imperialist bourgeoisie. As part of the imperialist bourgeoisie, they live off of and align against the popular classes of the Third World.

The principal contradiction in the world is exploiter versus exploited countries, the global city versus the global countryside, First versus Third Worlds, etc. Fundamental social revolution in this era occurs as part of the struggle against imperialism. Hope lies in the struggle against imperialism by people of the Third World led by the proletariat of the Third World.

The main form of struggle is people’s war. Communists that do not aim toward advancing people’s war are not communists. The global struggle is best understood as a global people’s war made up of individual struggles across the world, as advanced by Lin Biao.

Revolution is not a dinner party. Many liberals posing as communists have tossed aside the dictatorship of the proletariat in favor of liberal bourgeois conceptions of power and the state. The struggle for revolution is the struggle by the new power to destroy the old power. It is not the struggle to reform the old power, to capture the old power, to put oneself at the head of the old power. There is no creation without destruction. Destroy the old, build the new.

Many liberals posing as communists have tossed aside the Cultural Revolution. While claiming to uphold the Cultural Revolution, they peddle liberalism. They peddle liberalism while proclaiming themselves defenders of “the mass line.” They reduce Mao to nothing more than a democrat. Theirs is a “revolution” without revolution. The Leading Light reclaims the real Cultural Revolution.

Our revolution does not seek to simply tweak the current order. We will overthrow everything. Our revolution cuts the deepest. Our goal is communism, total liberation. We fight for continuous revolution until all oppression is ended. We wage war against thousands of years of exploitation and oppression. Our revolution will remake humanity at the deepest level. Overthrow the whole thing. Are you ready for the future?

See also : Fear of ZOG. Fear. Of. ZOG. (December 10, 2008).

Posted in !nataS, Anarchism, Anti-fascism, Art, Broken Windows, Death, History, Media, Sex & Sexuality, State / Politics, Student movement, Television, That's Capitalism!, War on Terror | Tagged | 9 Comments

I like Stephen Newnham‘s dirt unit. I like Pike.

Posted on November 2, 2010 by @ndy

LOL.

From the people who brought you Senator Steve Fielding comes Brian Walters, the State Member for Melbourne.

Srsly.

Much to the (presumed) chagrin of Bronwyn ‘I like Stephen Newnham‘s dirt unit’ Pike.

The article notes, inter alia, that Walters is a barrister, who makes (lots of) money from providing legal representation for his clients, including a coal mining company. It also notes that Walters invests his money in property.

ALP state secretary and campaign director [and law-talking guy] Nick Reece said Greens voters would be surprised to hear that Mr Walters had such a client. “In life, it is not what you say, it is what you do,” he said.

“The Greens party always talks about dirty coal, but it is obviously not dirty enough to stop Mr Walters seeking to profit from it.”

Melbourne MP and Education Minister Bronwyn Pike also branded Mr Walters a hypocrite.

“It’s no wonder the voters of Melbourne can’t pick the difference between the Liberals and Greens,” she said.

“This appears to be typical behaviour of the Greens political party – say one thing, but do another. They grandstand a lot, but don’t put in the hard work to deliver results on education, climate change and social housing.”

There’s a few obvious–like, really obvious–rejoinders to Labor’s criticisms, but the main problem is not the rather weak nature of the attack so much as its ineptitude. Michael Danby, “a Jewish MP, said it was acceptable to look at Mr Walters’ past as a barrister, during which he defended SS Nazi auxiliary Konrads Kalejs”. Which is a factually correct statement: Walters did defend Kalejs. It’s what defence lawyers do. But unless Danby is implying that Walters chose to defend Kalejs because he’s anti-Semitic, or that Walters has systematically defended the interests of accused Nazi war criminals to the exclusion of others, it would seem somewhat unremarkable. Jack Fajgenbaum, QC, another Jewish lawyer, described Labor’s attempt to paint Mr Walters as anti-Semitic as ”offensive” and ”not true”.

Beyond that, both the Greens and the ALP are dominated by middle-class professionals, especially lawyers (the ALP, for example, has 19 lawyers sitting in the Federal parliament), who in their working lives have represented a range of corporate and state interests. And if it’s true that in life, it is not what you say, it is what you do, that’s important, then Walters is hardly the only one to have some explaining to do…

Obviously, there’s some very odd thinking going on at Victorian ALP headquarters. Uncle Rupert has made his preferences clear, and so have his papers. But readers of the Sunday Herald Sun are unlikely to be key players in the Melbourne electorate, so, like…

See also : Socialism @ the 2010 Victorian state election (October 28, 2010) | Stephen Jolly for Richmond (September 5, 2010) | What happened to the Left? (February 27, 2010) | Melbourne : ALP ~versus~ Greens (August 24, 2009).

Posted in History, Media, State / Politics, That's Capitalism! | Tagged | 5 Comments

Free Love in Amsterdam : EDL ~versus~ Geert Wilders

Posted on October 31, 2010 by @ndy

Demotix:

A protest by the English Defence League was held in Amsterdam today in support of Geert Wilders of the PVV (Party of Freedom). Although only around 20 protesters showed up, a large police presence was evident. Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Other sources claim EDL members joined together to form a crowd with as many as 50 or even 60 members, including their Dutch cousins in the imaginatively titled ‘Dutch Defence League’. The small number at the rally may have something to do with the fact that several weeks ago Wilders denounced the assembly.

As is now typical of police management of their rallies, according to Sky News: “The EDL were given permission to hold the action in the isolated area near Sloterdijk rather than Amsterdam’s centre, where it would have been harder to manage”. Otherwise, a few dozen anti-fascists got arrested on their way to a counter-rally, and police also prevented Ajax ultras from greeting the League’s hools in the customary fashion.

The ideological nature of the EDL–or rather, the unofficial ideology of its supporters–is the subject of much ongoing commentary. However there is no doubt that many of its leading figures have histories of involvement in the far right. The League’s leader is former BNP member Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (Yaxley-Lennon uses the pseudonym ‘Tommy Robinson’). He’s one of many whose politics extend to the unapologetically neo-Nazi.

Whatever. The EDL appeared to reach a peak in its popularity some time ago. The more time passes–and the more its supporters are allowed to stew in their juices–the more likely the members of the fractious mob of young-men-what-don’t-like-Muslims will revert to form: battering one another on the basis of their footballing preferences. As for the fate of the hateful tourists in Amsterdam, according to Nick Lowles, Yaxley’s minibus was damaged, he complained about being harassed, and the EDL/DDL were told that for their own safety they had to leave the scrap of ground the police had allocated them on the outskirts of town for their rally not long after it began.

As for the “Australian” Defence League, they reckon they’re gonna be ‘protecting’ Australia again by assembling at Federation Square on Saturday, February 19 next year.

Or not, as the case may be.

See also : “Talking About Surrender”, with your hosts, Geert Wilders & Janet Albrechtsen (January 26, 2009).

Posted in Anti-fascism, State / Politics | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments