Left Politics
What is the Zeitgeist Movement?
Across the developed capitalist world, the Occupy Wall Street movement has inspired similar protests by thousands of people angered at the government bailouts of the banks and big corporations while the rest of us are forced to endure attacks on our living standards through government-imposed austerity. It has also attracted some weird hangers-on.
Political art space set up to challenge the status quo
Accepting Australian political rock band Midnight Oil’s induction into the ARIA hall of fame, the band’s drummer, Rob Hirst, commented: “Bush finally admitted that Iraq may prove to be his Vietnam. But Vietnam inspired some of the greatest protest songs ever written. Not so now, surprisingly, even when hundreds of thousands of Australians crowded our streets to demonstrate their opposition to another senseless war.”
Letter to Direct action: What is a mass party
Dear editor
Allen Myers, in his article “What are we waiting for?”, (Direct Action no. 36) says:
“The Russian Bolsheviks did not become a real mass party until after the February 1917 revolution”.
What are we waiting for?
Yes, eventually, we need a Leninist party, members of the Revolutionary Socialist Party are often told. But it’s just not possible to do it now. Later on, maybe, but right now we have to be more realistic. For now, all we can do is build a left wing in the ALP or a “broad” left party.
We can all agree that the mass Marxist-Leninist party needed to lead a socialist revolution in Australia is not about to burst into existence. But what does that really indicate about what socialists should be doing now?
Indonesian feminists: "Don't blame the victim!"
Around 100 women and men took part in a rally, Miniskirt Protest — Women against Rape, at the Bundaran Hotel Indonesia in Thamrin, Jakarta, on Sunday, September 18. Dozens of women, including several activists from Perempuan Mahardhika (Free Women), wore miniskirts, as a statement that rape has nothing to do with the way women dress.
Socialist Alliance endorses bosses' plan for industry development
A day after BlueScope Steel Ltd. announced on August 22 that it planned to close a blast furnace at Port Kembla (in the Illawarra region of NSW) and its Western Port (Victoria) hot strip mill, shedding 1000 jobs, the Socialist Alliance issued a public statement on its website and publishing it in the August 24 edition of the SA’s paper Green Left Weekly.
