Watts Riot of 1965 — how the rioters treated ‘their’ community then This is the original text of an article commissioned by ABC’s The Drum, which was published yesterday and can be found here. The riots in the United Kingdom, mainly involving school age and unemployed youth, have provoked a backlash that seeks to paint them […]
11 Aug
Comments Off on Whoever expects a ‘pure’ revolution will never live to see it: The UK riots in perspective
Mark Duggan, whose killing by police sparked the riots Maybe it’s a sign of the times, but for mine the most depressing thing about the UK riots is how some on the Left feel the need to loudly proclaim their lack of solidarity with some of the poorest and most oppressed people in society, instead resorting […]
04 Jul
Comments Off on John Quiggin, ‘Marxism without revolution’ and Left strategy: A response. (Part 1)
Thanks to @liz_beths for her helpful comments and suggestions. The economist John Quiggin — whose valuable book Zombie Economics I reviewed last October — has just completed a three part series on “Marxism without revolution” at his blog. The three posts cover Marx’s ideas on class, crisis and capital. In responding it is difficult to know where to start because the case he mounts […]
16 Jun
Comments Off on Explaining the age of austerity: Beyond the conjunctural, the organic crisis re-emerges
How did it come to this? Just two years ago everything seemed so different: The GFC was crashing across the planet, provoking the largest internationally coordinated program of state intervention in human history. Prime Ministers were writing quasi-erudite essays damning “market fundamentalism” while disinterring Keynesianism and social democracy. Progressive thinkers spoke hopefully of Green New […]
05 Jun
Comments Off on #nswisconsin: How the age of austerity came to NSW & what can be done about it
Lest you thought the warnings raised on this blog about the “Age of Austerity” currently ravaging Europe and North America coming to Australia (see here and here, for example) were exaggerated, Barry O’Farrell has exceeded even our worst fears about the scale of attacks being planned in elite circles. What is being sold by the media as a case of reining […]
16 May
Comments Off on What’s class got to do with it? Appendix: The strange persistence of egalitarian ideals
> In a piece of excellent timing given last week’s post-Budget pseudo-debate on class, the ACTU has launched a recent report on attitudes economic inequality in Australia that contains some stark facts about wealth (rather than income) distribution as well as some fascinating data on social attitudes. They’ve released this as part of their public […]
14 May
Comments Off on What’s class got to do with it? The debate over $150k families & ‘middle-class welfare’
> Australia’s richest CEOs — not exactly breaking into a sweat right now You may have thought there’d been a debate on class carried out in the mainstream media and more widely since Budget night last Tuesday, but you’d be wrong. Instead we’ve seen a partisan debate where both sides agree on the principles of […]
09 Feb
Comments Off on Beyond an impasse — Egypt’s masses surge forth again
Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy From Al-Jazeera’s English-language website: The square has become a mini-utopia in central Cairo. Political opinions aired, gender and sectarian divisions nowhere to be found. People feed and clothe each other here. Medical areas have been set up by doctors joining in with the protesters. The crime and sexual harassment so prevalent […]
07 Feb
Comments Off on The Egyptian revolution and the working class
Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy It’s worth reading in full an interview on Saturday night, Cairo time, with Egyptian blogger and journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy, on the excellent Occupied Cairo blog. But on the question of class polarisation and independent workers’ action he has this to say: The uprising up until now contained elements from all Egyptian society, whether […]
31 Jan
Comments Off on Where has the light on the hill gone? Labor, economic justice & progressive politics
Here’s me being quoted in today’s Fairfax papers by ALP member Sarah Burnside, in a solid defence of the need for the Left to combine economic redistribution with progressive social policies: Similarly, former NSW treasurer Michael Costa argues that “most traditional Labor voters are not supporters of the Greens’ policies”. Costa’s solution to ALP woes […]
13 Aug
Comments Off on Intended or not, the consequences of riots are not always negative