Blogs

A haunting reminder of the need for peace by a man who died for it

“Then there's only one choice” By Wolfgang Borchert

Translated from the German by William T. Hathaway

Between work and study this week I scooted down to the Port Melbourne town hall yesterday to cast a "Yes" vote in the Voice referendum. I recognise ATSI people as the original inhabitants of the land. My respect for this means that I think it is right that they, like other indigenous people throughout the world, should have an advisory body to the government on matters that affect them. And that's the entirety of the constitutional change.

Abstract: The Voice Referendum seeks to provide recognition to the First People of Australia and a body known as the Voice which can make representations to the parliament and executive. The Australian Parliament will determine the powers and procedures of the Voice. According to current aggregated opinion polling, the "No" case to the Voice is currently leading.

A few days ago I landed in Brisbane to, once again, attend the ALP National Conference. As is usually the case, the results on contested issues are pretty well-known before the vote is actually taken.

The nations of West Africa are loosely affiliated under a supernational group called the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), sort of like how most of Europe is affiliated under the EU. Up until recently, the members of ECOWAS were all democracies (though not necessarily very strong ones). Many of them have had significant security problems, especially in the relatively poor and inaccessible Sahel.

I rather feel that in the past few days I have become increasingly disappointed by the intellectual partisanship shown by others. This includes encounters with racists, with anti-vaxxers, and - perhaps the most disappointing of all - by ignorant political partisanship by those who lack experience in housing economics but have become enchanted by the Australian Greens' policy of a rent-freeze (also argued, quelle suprise, by the New Zealand Greens).

by Pyotr Malatesta

Private property norms establish political control over resources and assets, influencing power dynamics within society. As individuals amass wealth and property, they gain greater influence over the political process, shaping policies and decisions to benefit their interests. This concentration of political entitlements often leads to inequitable outcomes, where the affluent few wield disproportionate power compared to the disenfranchised many.

In partnership with the Association Salidarnast, which was founded in Bremen by Belarusian trade union activists, who left Belarus for security reasons. The organization was created to support those trade union activists who had been arrested and convicted by the Lukashenko regime. The Association Salidarnast provides humanitarian, legal and informational assistance to these people and their families; and encourages everyone to join the struggle for the release of political prisoners.

The Algerian Government continues to repress citizens who try to exercise their basic civil and political rights, including union members and leaders. As part of the increasing repression of all forms of democratic activity, independent trade unionists are relentlessly harassed, arrested, prosecuted and imprisoned.

There is a barely noticeable meme making the grounds that promotes the virtues of Modern Monetary Theory. As with other low-quality memes, it's basically a text screen saved as an image which, of course, sends anyone who knows even a modicum of systems programming into exasperation about levels of computer illiteracy. But what is also frustrating is the astounding ignorance of monetary theory.