festival of the oppressed

For high school students, full weekend tickets to Perth’s biggest left-wing conference, Socialism Perth 2020 are just $15.

The conference features sessions designed to introduce you to socialist ideas including “Is the Communist Manifesto relevant for 2020?”, “How can we turn rebellion into revolution?” and “Why capitalism need oppression”.

There’s other sessions on radical debates, resisting racism, gender & sexuality and more. Take a look at the full program here: http://socialismperth.org/program

For young radicals, it’s the perfect place to explore left-wing ideas, ask questions and find out how to get involved in socialist activism in Perth.

Khury Petersen-Smith is African-American socialist from Boston. He is an activist for #blacklivesmatter and has written on, and organized around, US empire, solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, and Black liberation.

Tori Amos I Angie (Cover)

Lenin has a bad reputation. His embalmed corpse is still on display for tourists in Moscow, a grotesque monument to the cultish hero-worship of elite political figureheads that characterised 20th century totalitarianism. Based on the version of Lenin’s life told in most history books, his legacy is one of violence, repression and an elitist disdain for the capacities and rights of ordinary people.

It can be a surprise, then, to read of Lenin’s life, and learn that he spent most of it as a pro-democracy activist, facing arrest and exile for his attempts to bring political freedom to one of the most repressive states in the world. He staked his life, and won his role in history, as an anti-war campaigner, calling for – and strategising to bring about – an end to the senseless brutality of World War One.

And, although he is characterised as a symbol of sneering political elitism, in truth his world view was based on an unshakable conviction that ordinary working class people could not just change the world, but run it themselves.

Lenin was not just about peace, love and understanding. He was a Marxist: that is what drove and structured his hatred of oppression and war, and his faith in the working class.

The most important and longstanding debate on the left is between revolutionary and reformist politics. It goes at least as far back as the 19th century debate in the German Social Democratic Party, when Rosa Luxemburg, in Reform or Revolution, demolished the arguments of Eduard Bernstein. Bernstein advocated that the party abandon its commitment to overthrowing capitalism and instead strive only for reforms to the system, with the vague hope that socialism might eventually come.

This debate has sharpened recently with the emergence of reformist currents associated with British Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and with the Democratic Socialists of America and Jacobin magazine, which has popularised the reformist approach of Karl Kautsky, the leading theorist of socialism before World War One.

Some reformists accept that revolution is necessary in contemporary dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia. The real debate is over revolution in the West.

socialism is about workers control – healthcare workers should be in control of their conditions and able to organise the health response, production workers should be able to produce ventilators not jets, construction workers should be able to build hospitals not luxury apartments

The economic and health crisis is exacerbating the dynamics of imperialism. The US is facing a flooded oil market by Russia and Saudi Arabia, and an increased threat from China as the US economy is hit by the crisis. The US is using sanctions against Iran and Venezuela.

Join us to discuss these dynamics and more at the forum on Sunday April 12, 2pm AEST.

Our featured speakers are: Frieda Afary, Iranian American socialist based in Los Angeles Omar Hassan, Lebanese Australian socialist based in Melbourne.

Socialist Alternative members participated today in an action calling for refugees detained in unsafe conditions in Mantra Hotel in Preston to be freed. The police senselessly cracked down on the protest which was perfectly safe in terms of public health and essential for the health of refugees who have been denied the right to self isolate in safety.  Participants were fined $1,600.

We must demand health care not detention. We must oppose these attacks on democratic rights.

Capitalism is coming into crisis; now is the time to become an organised socialist. 

These discussion groups bring together people from all over Australia to discuss Marx’s understanding of capitalism, crisis, and revolutionary socialism. Fill out this form to join in: https://bit.ly/marxismdiscuss

Learn about why the system we live in comes into such vicious crises, but also how we can transform the world around us to create a society based on human need rather than profit. Investigate the ideas of Socialist Alternative to figure out if you want to join Australia’s biggest socialist organisation.

The discussions will run as a short course. First everyone doing them will come into a joint call, and then we will break off into smaller groups to facilitate better discussions. Each discussion will be facilitated by a member of Socialist Alternative, around the following topics. We will talk through them in order, so if you have never done one before, start at the beginning. Once you choose a session, we will email you a link to the zoom call to participate.

Capitalism

Class

Revolution & socialism

The state

Imperialism

Racism

Gender & sexuality

The Russian revolution

The defeat of the Russian revolution

Socialist organising

Interpersonal sexism

Sessions will run:

6pm Monday

6pm Tuesdays

3pm Wednesdays

2pm Saturdays

Prisons, detention centres and refugee camps are filled with the poor, the disabled, the marginalised and, often, the completely innocent. The facilities are dirty and overcrowded sites of infection and abuse, and mental and physical illness. Social distancing and adequate hygiene are not options for those detained. If they aren’t shut down, the COVID-19 pandemic will create a health emergency for detainees and anybody in the community who comes into their contact. Prisoners have been resisting through the few methods left available to them: protests, riots and escape attempts. These have spread across prisons in Brazil, France, Columbia, Italy and more. Refugees imprisoned by the Australian state have protested for release. Refugees held in the Moria refugee camp off the coast of Greece have rioted for their lives. To discuss the conditions of refugees and prisoners in the time of COVID-19, the violence of the capitalist state and the incredible resistance of those incarcerated by it, join us this Sunday for the livestreamed forum. Speakers: Aran Mylvaganam fled the Sri Lankan military’s violence as a young teenager. He is a founding member of the Tamil Refugee Council and a longstanding activist for workers’ rights. Ben Hillier is an editor of Red Flag newspaper and the author of Losing Santhia: Life and loss in the struggle for Tamil Eelam. He has recently traveled to India with the Tamil Refugee Council where he reported on the refugee camp in Tamil Nadu. Priya De is a leading member of Socialist Alternative in Brisbane and is author of this recent piece calling for prisoners and refugees to be released from the jails and detention centres. https://redflag.org.au/node/7076

Images of winding dole queues are commonly associated with the 1930s Great Depression, or the plight of workers in other countries. They are not scenes that most people in Australia today are directly familiar with. Until now.

The COVID-19 crisis has brought much of the economy to a grinding halt. Official predictions are that over the next few weeks, between 1 and 2 million people will be laid off in Australia. Qantas has already fired 20,000 workers, just days after receiving a $715 million government bailout.