Crime and punishment II

[Green Left Weekly, #665, April 26, 2006]

Every society deals with crime and punishment in its own special way. Modern capitalism, for all the ludicrous claims of its media hacks and propagandists, is a class-divided society based on the exploitation and oppression of the many by the very few. It ceaselessly generates crime at all levels.

'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.

Free speech victory

[Green Left Weekly, #651, November 30, 2005]

Green Left Weekly has won the right to resume its Saturday morning stalls at the big Barkly Square shopping centre in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Brunswick.

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.

The workers militia and the struggle for socialism

[An educational talk given to the Melbourne DSP branch, August 2005]

The question of the workers militia may seem to be extremely remote from our present concerns but under the broader heading of workers self-defence it is a very important aspect of the struggle for socialism. And, of course, as Marxists, in preparation for the future, we study a great many things that may seem far away from our immediate concerns but which might, in time, become critically important and which all serve to deepen our understanding of the struggle for socialism.

Their Morals and Ours

[The text of a talk given to the DSP's January 2005 Socialist Educational Conference.]

I. The big picture

Morality is an arena of struggle

Today's class struggle poses some very hard issues. Imperialism presents us with an endless list of horrible crimes. Our world is full to the brim with unending violence, pain and suffering. But the struggle against this barbarism also confronts us with some very challenging questions.

At the tramstop

[Green Left Weekly, #608, December 1, 2004]

Waiting for the tram at the busy Melbourne Central stop on Swanston St., I look across at the State Library. It's a lovely building and very easy on the eye. A classic Victorian construction (it was built in the 1850s), one enters it through a row of neoclassical columns; and behind the roof line rises the great dome of the celebrated reading room.

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.

Terrorism: A Marxist perspective

[This is the text of a talk presented to the DSP and Resistance educational conference in Sydney in January 2002.]

I'd like to begin with a juxtaposition of two events — one which took place just four months ago and the other a long time before.

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.