Hands over the city: Towards an urban nightmare

[This is an edited version of a workshop talk given on October 2, 2011 at the World at a Crossroads conference in Melbourne. For a PDF of slideshow see here.]

In this talk I want to give an overview of the crisis of our cities as I see it. The city I focus on is Melbourne, where I live. But I doubt that the broad situation is much different in the other states.

How we work to win mass support

[Talk given at the Socialist Ideas Conference organised by Socialist Alliance & Resistance, Melbourne, September 3, 2011.]

Will the level of popular and working-class struggle rise significantly in the coming years? How can we overcome or neutralise the deadly effect of ruling class propaganda on the minds of so many ordinary people? Can left-wing forces rally significant support and lead big struggles? How do we work towards this goal?

On Eritrea's national day, little to celebrate

[Green Left Weekly, #879, May 18, 2011]

On May 24 Eritreans around the world will mark the country's national day. After an epic three-decades-long liberation struggle, in 1991 the liberation forces wrested control of their capital, Asmara, from the occupying Ethiopian army. Two years later a new, independent Eritrea was formally established.

Cuba: challenges & changes

[The slide show and text of a talk given to the Geelong branch of Socialist Alliance on October 6, 2010. For a PDF of slideshow see here.]

Market greed or a planned economy for social need?

[The slide show and text of a talk given as part of Melbourne Socialist Alliance’s Socialist Ideas Seminar series on August 28, 2010. For a PDF of slideshow see here.]

The starting point for a discussion of planned economy or the present market-based capitalist one has to be the situation we are facing today. Humanity faces some huge problems.