Socialist Alternative UQ | Political organisation
Socialist Alternative UQ
Phone: +61 430 483 626
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25.01.2022 As of 25th of October, the day of the ultimatum set by protesters for dictator Lukashenko to step-down, Belarusians are getting ready to implement a general strike across the country, as historical mass protests continue. Protesters have faced mass arrests and police brutality, but show no sign of backing down. Solidarity with the protesters
24.01.2022 How the state treats refugees is appalling, and has led to another attempted suicide by a refugee. We must fight back! Join us here today to protest against the disgusting conditions refugees face. https://www.facebook.com/events/352037735903967/
23.01.2022 The Australian Labor Party has been a party of Australian capitalism since its inception, never an instrument of true working class power. Take it from Lenin, who wrote briefly about the ALP in 1913! Read the whole article from Lenin here: https://www.marxists.org//e/australia/hill-a-rev/app-2.htm Read more on the Labor Party here: https://redflag.org.au/node/6762
23.01.2022 Tens of thousands of Thai protesters have stood their ground in the face of state repression in the name of democracy. The struggle has demanded the resignation of the government, the freeing of all political prisoners, a new constitution, and more, all in a country where criticism of the monarchy is punishable with up to 15 years in prison. Protesters, who are overwhelmingly young student, defied five-person gathering restrictions to continue defiantly marching day after day. Who knows what the future will hold, but at the moment it is clear that the people of Thailand have stood up and joined the global rebellion. Read more about the revolt here: https://redflag.org.au/index.php/node/7427
22.01.2022 Shamefully, the Nigerian president has decried the weeks of mass protests against police brutality as 'hooliganism.' Muhammadu Buhari applauded the 'extreme restraint' shown by police and military during the conflict, even after almost 70 people have been killed. But protesters are determined to resist against the extreme violence of the state. One protester is quoted saying: We are not cowards. We will always come to this ground, and we will always feel for those that are... gone, The protests began over calls for the government to disband the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a 'crime prevention' police unit that has garnered a reputation for harassment, torture, murder, sexual violence, and extortion. While SARS was officially disbanded on the 11th of October, the protests have continued, calling for wider police reform, accountability, and an end to corruption. https://www.aljazeera.com//nigeria-says-51-civilians-18-se
22.01.2022 As Biden prepares to take over the reins of American capitalism, the appointees to his dream team have only served to reveal how loyal he is to the status quo. The list of appointees range from leaders of huge corporations, to outright Republicans. Most insultingly, perhaps, is the tapping of former DuPont consultant Michael McCabe to join his Environmental Protection Agency board. Biden is still months away from inauguration, but has already proven himself to the ruling class in setting a clear goal to maintain the course set by Obama before him. The capitalist status quo cannot provide for American workers, nor does it have any interest in doing so. Only a fightback by the oppressed can challenge the rich and powerful and win real gains. Read a full analysis of Biden's dream team here: https://redflag.org.au/node/7466
21.01.2022 "Though Italy’s Hot Autumn came more than a year after the great international upsurge of political radicalism in 1968, it is essential to look at Italian events during the more famous year and trace the emergence of political forces that would come to a full boil in 1969. It is also essential to see Italy’s 1968 within the context of even broader economic and political developments." This article (https://isreview.org/issue/67/what-do-we-want-everything) from the July 2008... edition of the International Socialist Review is an amazing summary and analysis of the wave of powerful workers' struggle that swept through Italy in the 60s and 70s. While many European countries reached a peak of class struggle and rebellion in 1968, Italy was slower to move; however in many ways, the height of class struggle in the Hot Autumn was more developed. To understand Italian politics today and how it fits into European politics more generally, it's important to get across its history of working class resistance. That's why we're also having a session on this topic at Revolution! 2020: A Marxist Conference! (event link here --> https://fb.me/e/1IY5m82R6) There are also other readings for this session on the conference website which can be found here https://revconf2020.com/we-want-everything-italian-workers/ See more
20.01.2022 session highlight! Revolution! 2020: a Marxist Conference ACAB: Capitalism, Racism, and Repression... Introduced by Socialist Alternative ANU activist, Wren Somerville The Black Lives Matter protests this year have brought to the fore political debates about the institution of the police, the social role that they play, and the necessity of the abolition of the police. This talk will take up these debates and present the socialist case that the police solely exist to preserve the rule of the capitalist class and that violence and oppression are fundamental aspects of the police that reinforce this social role. This talk will argue that the police are a fundamentally irredeemable institution that must be abolished, but that their abolition is only possible with the overthrow of the capitalist system as a whole. Check out the readings: https://revconf2020.com/acab-capitalism-racism-and-repress/ View the full conference program: https://revconf2020.com/conference-program/ Get your ticket here, for just $20! https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=662521
16.01.2022 Capitalism is in crisis. The COVID-19 pandamic has forced economies the world over into a recession, the depths of which have not been seen since The Great Depression. During these situations, time and time again the ruling class has proven that they will attack the working class to maintain their profits, and now is no exception -- the Australian government has used COVID as an excuse to continue its offensive against students, with Dan Tehan's new bill to restructure uni fe...es passing the senate, meaning that many degrees, such as those in law and the humanities, are set to double in price. We can't let the government carry out these attacks on our education -- we must fight back. Get out to the Grassy Knoll at the UQ St Lucia campus, 1PM tomorrow for a snap protest called by Student Action! https://www.facebook.com/events/686721965557705/
15.01.2022 On this day in 1917, the principle event of the October Revolution occurred. After months of careful agitation and organizing, the working class and army now organized through the Soviets and the Bolsheviks conducted a planned insurrection. The ruling parliament prior to this, the Provisional government, was breaking all the promises of the February revolution in order to gain the support of the Russian and foreign ruling classes. The biggest betrayal was their continued supp...ort of WW1, sending off the masses of the Russian population to die in the meat grinder. This culminated in the working class overthrowing the Provisional government and giving political power to the democratic institution of the Soviets. The various Soviets represented the working class, peasantry and army in Russia through a system of mass democracy, and already had strong influence over the workings of Russian society before they took political power in their own hands, against the wishes of the Russian ruling class. For more information, read this article on the event in Red Flag: https://redflag.org.au/russia/4.html Or check out Red Flag books for historical books that cover this period: https://shop.redflag.org.au/collect/revolutionary-history-1
15.01.2022 The latest episode of Red Flag Radio, 'Staff and students respond to the crisis in higher education', reflects six months on from the initial attacks on tertiary education staff. NTEU Fightback activists (Katie Wood, Jack Hynes and hosts Roz and Liam) detail the challenges in building a fighting movement within a union marred by decades of inactivity and a leadership willing to grant concessions from the outset. Despite no tradition of militant organisation, the rank and fil...Continue reading
10.01.2022 Join us next month for our first revolutionary socialist conference in Brisbane! The world is dying from climate change, as the government brings in a coal led economic renewal. Corona virus is killing thousands as governments all across the world are continually instituting austerity and oppressive measures to hold the poor and oppressed down. But as this happens, people all across the world have been revolting, from the BLM movement in America earlier this year to uprisings... against dictatorships and authoritarian governments all across the world as we speak. This is the time to educate ourselves and organise, so join us next month to talk about topics ranging from the life of Marx to workers power in Spain in 1936 to debates on what is socialism? Be sure to get a ticket from https://revconf2020.com/ and click go on the event https://www.facebook.com/events/239379590818169/
08.01.2022 As the COVID-19 and economic crises continue, so too does the global environmental crisis. Australia, now ranked as one of the worst countries in the world when it comes to addressing climate change, now seeks to address one crisis by worsening another, doubling down on environmental destruction with its planned gas-led economic recovery. And so the question becomes: why does the government continually approve new fossil fuel and gas projects despite their very well known d...estructive effects on the environment? The answer is, simply, Australian capitalism is entirely dependent on them. In this Marxist Left Review essay, Catarina Da Silva analyses the history of the fossil fuel industry, the reasons for Australia’s dependence on it, why green capitalism is a pipe dream, and ultimately, how challenging the fossil fuel industry must, by necessity, also challenge the system of capitalism. https://marxistleftreview.org//fuelled-by-coal-piercing-t/
08.01.2022 NSW activists have taken a heroic stand against both transphobia and state repression, as hundreds defied a Supreme Court ruling by taking to the streets to demonstrate against One Nation state leader Mark Latham's disgusting anti-trans education bill. If passed, the bill would totally ban any mention of transgender and gender diverse people in schools, even prohibiting teachers from mentioning the mere existence of LGBTI+ characters, people, or events. 500 protesters repeate...dly outran the police and broke out of a kettle, remaining defiant in the face of repression. Even in the face of thousands of dollars of fines activists stood firm, calling out the hypocrisy of the NSW state government in banning protests in the name of COVID, while loosening restrictions on profitable enterprises like horse-racing. These protests are a victory for both trans rights and civil liberties, planting the flag in the sand for the defence of both. Read more about the protest in Red Flag: https://redflag.org.au/node/7405
06.01.2022 Bernie Sanders and the Left: what happened? To many, Bernie Sanders seemed to be a beacon of hope. In his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns, he built on the left wing sentiments which emerged out of the GFC, posing himself as a "socialist" candidate who could affect serious structural change in the United States. But today, Sanders has totally fallen in behind the deeply conservative Joe Biden and the corporate Democratic establishment. How did it come to this? In a new R...ed Flag article, Mick Armstrong analyses the pitfalls of Sanders' politics, in particular the strategy of working within the Democratic Party, which led large sections of the Left to erroneously water down their own politics in order to participate. What's needed to go forward is not Democratic campaigns like Bernie's, but to build mass struggle and resistance from the ground up. Read the analysis of Sanders here: https://redflag.org.au/node/7420
04.01.2022 Link to full article: https://redflag.org.au/node/7407 Socialist Ben Hillier gives a fresh take on the upcoming election, and what it could mean for the US and the left.
04.01.2022 Struggle has broken out all across the world -- mass protests have swept everywhere from the United States to Thailand and more. Whether the struggle is against racist police violence or military dictatorship, one thing is certain: the continual crises of capitalism are causing workers, as they always have, to fight back. If you want to join the fight against capitalism and build a better society, but don't know where to start, hit the link below to get in touch with local socialist activists and learn about Marxism! Discussion groups are held every week, and they're a fantastic way to learn about the politics needed to build a movement that can tear down capitalism and build up a new, better world for everyone. bit.ly/marxismdiscuss
03.01.2022 UQ is trying to restructure the architecture programme in a way that would see staff massively reduced for architecture. This is just one attack on our education, but don’t let it be a green light for UQ to keep pushing cuts like this. Come to the rally tomorrow at 2:30!
