Unions, the working class and the future of The Greens
The Greens have hit another fork in the road, and taken the wrong turn. Their decision to prioritise Senate reform, despite the risk of bringing back the anti-union Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) has done serious damage to their credibility with unionists.
How unions fought back the ABCC last time
The ABCC has only ever set out to criminalise basic union organising on building sites.
Safe Schools outrage: Turnbull lets homophobes off the leash
In March, Tony Abbott proudly proclaimed that it’s his agenda that Malcolm Turnbull is taking to the election. But there’s at least one exception—when it comes to attacking LGBTI youth, Turnbull has gone further than Abbott dared.
Panama Papers: capitalism working well for obscenely rich
The Panama Papers show us, once again, that capitalism is a system where governments help their mates to hide their income and wealth while all the time businesses pretend they are paying their “fair share” of tax.
Defiance and protest can close Nauru
Every afternoon since 20 March, asylum seekers at the family camp on Nauru, women, men, teenagers, and children, have staged a protest at the main gate to the camp.
Public service: we need more industrial action to win
Federal public servants staged their first 24-hour strike on 21 March, after nearly two years of insulting non-negotiable pay offers and attempts to strip conditions.
Nationalise to save steel jobs at Arrium
The jobs of 1100 workers at the Whyalla steelworks in South Australia are at risk after their employer, Arrium, went into administration in early April. Altogether 7000 jobs across the country are threatened if the company collapses.
Nightly mass meetings in Paris organise resistance to new work law
A new movement is blooming in France out of the Place de la Republique square in Paris. It has been occupied by nightly general assemblies since a demonstration against the Labour-type government’s attack on workers’ rights last month.
10,000 in Dili say hands off Timor’s Oil
Thousands rallied in Timor-Leste in March to demand the establishment of a permanent and fair maritime boundary. Australia’s ongoing theft of Timor-Leste’s oil and gas exposes Australia as the imperialist bully that it is.
Obama brings US business back to Cuba
Barack Obama became the first US President to visit Cuba for 88 years in March. After decades of opposition to US imperialism, the Cuban regime is welcoming back US investment and influence.
Turnbull turns to racism and scapegoating after Brussels bombing
When he took over as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull distanced himself from efforts to encourage Islamophobia. But his response to the terror attack in Brussels in March, that left 32 dead, had him sounding just like Tony Abbott.
Race, class and the Republican Party: Behind the rise of Donald Trump
Donald Trump has tapped into the rage and insecurity of white workers in the US with his own brand of racism and populism, writes Hannah McCann
Racism, fascism and the French Front National
The Front National in France, which seeks to build a mass fascist movement, has built a sizeable electoral following through racist populism writes Miro Sandev
Workers and the Second World War: Trotskyism and the 1945 Balmain docks dispute
As workers tired of wartime sacrifices, imposed with the aid of Communist Party union officials, Trotskyists in Balmain led a fight for democratic unionism, writes Tom Orsag
PI—a fighter for justice for his people
Solidarity was shocked to hear of the death of Gurindji man P. Inverway (PI) in Darwin in March. PI died of a heart attack at just 46 years of age.
Spotlight: powerful expose of elite’s collusion in Church abuse
The film Spotlight is a true story about the Boston Globe newspaper’s investigative reporting team and its campaign in 2001 to uncover widespread, systemic child abuse by Catholic priests in Massachusetts.
