Donald Trump’s victory in the US Presidential elections will boost the right around the world.
Trump has ridden to power on the back of the Democrats’ failures over the Gaza genocide, immigration and the cost of living. Any attempt by Trump to round up and deport any of the 11 million workers said not to have legal immigration status should be met with mass protests. And the Palestine movement needs to hit the streets and campuses again.
Trump’s victory is a warning of how the right can feed off the misery of capitalism and the failure of left governments to offer any alternative. And there is a very real risk of the same scenario being repeated in Australia, as the Coalition inches ahead in the opinion polls.
Labor’s loss to the LNP in Queensland is a warning that the Albanese Labor government could lose to Peter Dutton in 2025 for the same reasons—a cost-of-living crisis and a genocide in Gaza that is enabled by Australia’s support for US imperialism with US spy bases and parts made in Australia for Israeli F-35 war planes.
Anthony Albanese likes to talk about his humble origins growing up in a housing commission house but he is now more likely to be found in the Qantas Chairman’s Lounge rubbing shoulders with the super-rich.
Albanese is able to buy a $4.3 million clifftop home on NSW’s Central Coast but millions of others he supposedly represent are left struggling with skyrocketing rents and mortgages.
Queensland Labor made a last-minute left turn, handing out 50 cent public transport fares, free school lunches, power bill rebates and funding for bulk-billing GPs. But it smacked of desperation and was all too late.
Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers is concerned to maintain Labor’s credentials as responsible economic managers. He says there will be no spending spree in Labor’s next budget, yet Labor is spending another $7 billion buying missiles.
But federal Labor has learned something from its Queensland loss. Albanese is promising to wipe 20 per cent of student HECS debts and raise the repayment threshold if re-elected. And 100,000 TAFE places will remain free.
He claims the government’s existing economic plan is working and that “the worst is behind us” as headline inflation starts to come down. But that is no comfort to people already locked out of the housing market and facing soaring grocery bills. Real wages have fallen to 2009 levels, yet the tax office has reported that around 1200 of Australia’s large companies paid no tax in 2022-23.
Albanese and Labor are totally committed to managing Australian capitalism. The hope for system change lies in the fight outside parliament, building grassroots movements in the streets and workplaces.
A union fightback for real wage increases is desperately needed. The NSW nurses’ campaign for a 15 per cent one-year wage rise would be a shot in the arm for the union movement.
Rank-and-file CFMEU members in Sydney have defied the government imposed administrator and called a strike against administration for 12 November. That’s the kind of action, spread nation-wide, that can beat back Albanese and the bosses.
Israel expands genocide
Israel is relentlessly expanding its wars, bombing Iran again in what threatens to be an escalating exchange of missiles.
Its war crimes in Gaza have become even more brazen and obscene.
It is attempting to forcibly transfer of the whole population from the north as part of its strategy to defeat Hamas. All 400,000 people have been ordered to leave, while almost no food or medical aid has been allowed in since 5 October.
The remaining hospitals have been directly targeted and ambulances have no fuel. The injured are simply left to die.
And Israel continues to starve the whole of Gaza and continues to bomb Lebanon. The US has called declared the situation a “catastrophic humanitarian crisis”.
In response Israel’s parliament voted overwhelmingly to ban UNRWA, the main aid organisation for Palestinians.
Western nations like Australia and the US could stop the horror. Instead the Albanese government makes mild criticisms of Israel, but takes no action. We need sanctions now to put real pressure on Israel to end the killing. The government should expel the Israeli ambassador and cut all ties with Israel.
But the government and the mainstream media has stepped up the attacks and repression of the Palestinian movement. Protests for Palestine at universities have faced a renewed crackdown. Federal police are investigating protesters for carrying Hezbollah flags.
Most people want Israel to end its attacks on Gaza. But the movement has to go beyond the weekly rallies to build more seriously in wider layers of society.
Efforts to organise within the teachers’ union, as well as university BDS campaigns to cut ties with Israel, show the possibilities of building a movement with the power to stop Israel’s butchery.
