Come and help celebrate the launch of our e-Book! www.onutoya.com On Utøya: Anders Breivik, right terror, racism and Europe. 6.30pm – Wednesday 26 October 2011 – Upstairs at the Norfolk Hotel 305 Cleveland Street. Cnr of Cleveland and Walker Streets. See a map of the location here. We are appreciative that the book will be launched by: […]
01 Oct
Comments Off on Premature celebration? The Bolt verdict & the Left’s missing critique of the state
In this blog post I want to argue that the Bolt verdict is a problematic “victory” against the right-wing pundit and the Right more generally. Without wanting to diminish abhorrent and manifestly racist character of Bolt’s attack on “fair-skinned” Aboriginal people, I think that any celebration of the result by the Left is premature and […]
24 Sep
Comments Off on The McGorry-Hickie reform controversy: Why has mental health become so political?
Yesterday one of Australia’s most prominent psychiatrists, Professor Ian Hickie, wrote an op-ed piece in the SMH titled, “Ignore the critics, public need to back fresh start in mental healthcare”. It is part of a growing controversy around the Gillard government’s apparent big boost to mental health funding in this year’s Budget, in particular around the adoption of […]
20 Sep
Comments Off on Limits of liberal critique: Murdoch, the media & the Manne Quarterly Essay
Not so omnipotent anymore Cross-posted from Overland Journal‘s blog and ABC’s The Drum. The ideas of the ruling class are in every epoch the ruling ideas, i.e. the class which is the ruling material force of society, is at the same time its ruling intellectual force. The class which has the means of material production at its […]
15 Sep
Comments Off on Australia’s ‘Left’ in government. Part 2: Greens trapped in a prison of their own making
Since when did building a climate movement mean cheerleading neoliberal government policies? In the last post I argued that the deep crisis of the Gillard government is also a crisis of the Greens and the Left more generally. By effectively entering a “Left” government the Greens have replicated the disastrous strategy of Italy’s main party of the […]
13 Sep
Comments Off on Australia’s ‘Left’ in government. Part 1: The graveyard of progressive politics?
The stench of death surrounds the Gillard Government. It is impossible to exaggerate the historic depths to which the ALP has fallen in the polls, with last week’s 27 percent in Newspoll confirming that there would be no “bounce” once the carbon tax announcement was digested by the electorate. Even the temporary revival of sleaze allegations against […]
11 Sep
Comments Off on Ten years since 9/11: What have progressives really learned about war & Islamophobia?
The tenth anniversary of 9/11 has seen TV outlets promo tribute after tribute, where the message is clear: the tragedy of the twin towers requires of us an uncritical outpouring of grief. The now ten years old footage, which has been replayed so very many times, is still raw and powerful: people jumping from burning […]
25 Aug
Comments Off on Malalai Joya tour of Australia
Malalai Joya, a peace, democracy, women’s rights and development activist, will address meetings in Sydney and Melbourne (where she is a guest at the Melbourne Writers Festival) in early September.
19 Aug
Comments Off on Maliciousness in memes: #boganmovies and #tightsarenotpants
BOGAN (Wikipedia): The term bogan is Australian slang, usually pejorative or self-deprecating, for an individual who is recognised to be from a lower class background or someone whose limited education, speech, clothing, attitude and behaviour exemplifies such a background. As the UK riots unfolded, commentary in both the mainstream media and on the Left highlighted […]
14 Aug
Comments Off on ‘Mama said there’ll be days like this’ — The UK riots, the labour movement and the Left
Special guest post by KEVIN OVENDEN* What did people expect? Just over a year ago, during the general election campaign in Britain, I remember George Galloway on the stump warning that the last time the Tories came in to replace an already dead Labour government and pursue full-blooded, class war policies, Britain’s cities went up […]
05 Oct
Comments Off on e-Book launch 26 October 2011 – ‘On Utøya: Anders Breivik, right terror, Islamophobia and Europe’