Open Borders or a First World Fortress?

[From Asylum! A Socialist View of the Refugee Crisis (2022).]

The spectacular August 2021 collapse of the Western puppet government in Afghanistan in the face of the Taliban offensive generated a new wave of people seeking asylum.

Prime Minister Scott Morison made it clear that only Afghans who came through “official channels” would be resettled in Australia. If you come by boat forget it — apparently, making the slightest concession to “boat people” would open the floodgates to the dreaded people smugglers. And none of the 4200 Afghans already here on temporary visas would be permanently settled. Then Defence Minister Peter Dutton weighed in, claiming that some Afghan asylum-seekers could be terrorists or pose a threat to Australia.

Introduction to Asylum!

[Introduction to the pamphlet Asylum! A Socialist View of the Refugee Crisis (2022).]

Our world is in chaos. Within countries and between countries, tens of millions of people in the Third World are on the move — they are fleeing war, oppression, gang violence, grinding poverty and escalating climate change. They are desperately looking for a way out.

And now the Russian invasion of Ukraine has produced a fresh crop of refugees. Being forced to leave your home and seek safety in another country will always be traumatic but for various reasons the Ukrainian refugees are generally being treated differently to those from the Third World.

As climate change bites deeper and deeper, the refugee crisis is only going to get radically worse. Whole regions of the world are on the cusp of becoming uninhabitable. This will result in very large-scale population displacement.

Pandemic shines harsh light on privatisation & outsourcing

Photo: Nurses at Melbourne Showgrounds vaccination hub, 2021.

Right from the start, Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic has been shaped by the basic realities of contemporary capitalism (“neoliberalism”).

Essential goods supply crisis

It quickly became apparent that the various global supply chains we depended on for medical supplies and equipment were no longer reliable. Early on, getting hold of face masks (PPE) and ventilators was a big problem. We produced very little here in Australia and overseas suppliers were too busy fulfilling other orders or they had been hit by the virus themselves.

Capitalism & the pandemic

[Talk given to Melbourne Socialist Alliance branch, 21.04.20]

Pandemic brings big & sudden changes

The scale and scope of government measures to deal with the COVID-19 crisis have surprised many people. Long-held neoliberal dogmas have been pushed aside. Government action is clearly decisive: The bourgeois fetish of the budget surplus has been junked and huge deficits run up; after being frozen for 20 years, the dole rate has been doubled; economic sectors and firms are everywhere putting their hands out for government support; firms are being encouraged and even directed to produce vital medical supplies.

Say no to Abbott's new war

[Green Left Weekly, #1026, September 24, 2014]

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has committed Australia to join Washington's latest military intervention in the Middle East. Some 600 Australian military personnel and aircraft operating from a base in the United Arab Emirates will join US forces in bombing 'Islamic State' forces in Iraq and assisting the Kurdistan Regional Government with weapons and training.

Are you patriotic? Some reflections on a topical question

[Green Left Weekly, #1006, April 29, 2014]

'Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.' Samuel Johnson's aphorism (1775) is well known. But if a lot of scoundrels are patriotic, where does that leave patriotism itself? Are you patriotic? Should we be?

Abolish Australia's secret police

[Green Left Weekly, #977, August 12, 2013]

According to its Wikipedia entry, 'The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) is Australia's national security service, which is responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and terrorism.'

Asylum seekers: No room at the inn

[Green Left Weekly, #812, September 26, 2009]

With seven boatloads of asylum seekers intercepted in September, Australia’s Christmas Island detention centre is fast filling up. It now holds 677 detainees. ALP Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor told a conference that people smuggling was one of the key threats facing the country. But even he had to admit that the primary reason people seek refuge is because of "push factors" such as "war, civil conflicts, famines".

Tens of millions on move

Not a normal recession but a fundamental slump

[Speech at the Melbourne launch of the pamphlet Meltdown! A Socialist View of the Capitalist Crisis (Resistance Books: Sydney, 2009); March 19, 2009]

Our pamphlet tries to briefly sketch for the reader some the main features of the current economic crisis and its main social and political consequences.

The first point to grasp is that this is a not a normal recession of the kind which characterises the capitalist business cycle — that is, it is not one of the periodic downturns which inevitably follow a boom period.

Two roads for our healthcare system

[Green Left Weekly, #718, July 20, 2007]

The media hysteria over a possible Australian link to the recent British terror attacks serves to highlight a basic reality. The Australian healthcare system is critically dependent on overseas-trained doctors and it wouldn’t work without them.

'Renewal' ALP-style

[Green Left Weekly, #659, March 8, 2006]

The ALP is undergoing a process of "renewal" as a clutch of ambitious right-wing trade union officials seek preselection against Victorian sitting federal MPs.

Terrorism: the new Cold War

[Green Left Weekly, #649, November 16, 2005]

Terrorism has become a kind of new Cold War. During the post-World War II struggle of the US-led "free world" against the Soviet Union and its allies, everything was justified by the needs of the fight against "communism", Soviet "totalitarianism", Reagan's "evil empire", etc. Under these banners, the West carried out a permanent arms race (which included the massive deployment of nuclear weapons), sponsored and supported scores of atrocious Third World dictatorships, and witch-hunted their own citizens and attacked their democratic rights.

In broad daylight

[Green Left Weekly, #483, March 6, 2002]

Although I am a committed socialist, I must admit there are times when sheer visceral hatred just wells up inside and I just wish one could press a button and the whole grubby, greedy, thieving, lying, vile, shameless lot of them would vanish into some black pit forever and the rest of us could just get on with our lives.

Becoming part of the problem

[Green Left Weekly, #470, November 7, 2001]

Every demonisation campaign undertaken by US imperialism has taken its toll as various prominent left-wingers have been taken in — or caved in — and have swung over to support US policy.

Socialists condemn terrorist outrage

[This statement by the Democratic Socialist Party was issued on September 13, 2001. While it was collective document I was assigned to produce the first draft. Almost a decade later, I think it still reads very well.]

Socialists unequivocally condemn the September 11 terror bombings in the United States. The killing of thousands of ordinary working people is absolutely criminal and has nothing whatsoever to do with the struggle for a better world. Indeed, this atrocity will undoubtedly make this struggle more difficult and aid the forces of capitalist reaction.

Marxism, socialism & religion

[Introduction to Marxism, Socialism & Religion (Resistance Books: Chippendale, 2001)]

Despite the apparently secular nature of so much of modern life, religion is a long way from being a spent force. For revolutionary socialists aiming to mobilise the masses for a fundamental transformation of society, religion is a question which cannot be ignored:

Illawarra residents battle corporate polluters

[Green Left Weekly, #397, March 15, 2000]

WOLLONGONG — Industrial pollution, in all its many forms and with all its attendant consequences, has long been a fact of life in the Illawarra. And nowhere are the effects more pronounced than in the suburbs near BHP's giant Port Kembla steel complex. In recent months, concern over emissions, dust fallout and other problems has risen sharply.

Laws scandal raises deeper issues

[Green Left Weekly, #369, July 28, 1999]

John Laws, one of the kings of Sydney talkback radio, has been engulfed in scandal. It has emerged that, at the same time that he was engaging in some populist bank-bashing, he secretly approached the Australian Bankers Association (ABA) seeking a lucrative deal to promote the banks' cause on air, not only through open advertisements but also through his supposedly independent editorial comments.

The insurance rip-off

[Green Left Weekly, #331, September 2, 1998]

WOLLONGONG — Two days after floods devastated this region, giant insurer NRMA attempted to deflect the second storm it knew would come by donating $250,000 to the disaster relief effort. Its cynical ploy fooled nobody.

Ever since it became clear that the insurance companies would reject most claims of residents hit by the deluge, the companies have been decidedly on the nose in the Illawarra.

Victoria: A far cry from utopia

[Green Left Weekly, #248, September 25, 1996]

MELBOURNE — "Life wasn't meant to be easy": in its day, Malcolm Fraser's quip became notorious. Its haughty Tory disdain summed up perfectly the outlook of the capitalist class and the Coalition government towards the needs and concerns of ordinary people.