One of Australia’s biggest unions. The Construction Forestry Mining Maritime and Energy Union (CFMMEU) is launching a push for a major rise in government investment on affordable housing. The union’s national secretary Zach smith says this is necessary to take on the housing crisis that so many are facing in his country. Continue reading Call for a super profit tax to create affordable housing is on the mark→
The Independent and Peaceful Australia Network (IPAN) coalition, which has been waging a long Campaign against United States led war exercises on Australian soil has released a statement welcoming the decision by India to pull out of the biggest United States led major war exercises on Australian soil. Continue reading India’s withdrawal from the Talisman Sabre war exercises welcomed→
Once again, the world is being warned by nature of the disaster climate warming is causing. This year has seen record heatwaves in Europe and devastating floods in other parts of the world. The planet is now paused on the eve of an El Niño on a scale never seen before.
These sort of weather events are not new. Records have been breaking year after year. Ice cap melts, raising sea levels, and a slowing down of the Atlantic conveyor are major causes of worsening weather patterns. 3 July saw the hottest day for the planet ever recorded. The evidence is indisputable.
Massive cyclone activity in the Indian Ocean, sinkholes appearing in California, unbearable heat in Spain, the spread of bushfires in Canada, record ocean water temperatures, are the reality. Records are being smashed. Species eh]extinction is accelerating, and ultimately, our own extinction is a real possibility.
Yet many governments, including that of Australia, don’t seem to notice. They remain in a denial zone, too busy pleasing their big money backers to bother. This is a new wakeup call. We must call out our governments or their failure to act. We must not just get angry. It’s important to divert our anger into constructive action.
What does this mean? It means becoming active in our communities, joining pour organisations, being loud, and taking our demand for change to those who hold the power. Our survival depends on winning this war. And it is a war. Those who stand in the way of the necessary climate action must be vanquished.
It’s just as important to move beyond protest, towards being pro-active in building the future, by being involved in projects that cut emissions. When governments don’t do it, its communities that must act. There is some of this already. But there must be much more. It starts from modest changes to individua l lifestyles, to community efforts that stop polluters and build clean local economies.
Only the combination of demanding change and being pro-active in making change will save the day. Part of this is the protection of livelihoods. Preventing the extinction of species is Important, but his should never be seen in terms of nature versus human beings.
The impacts on living standards, health, happiness, and social harmony are important too. Furthermore, without championing these causes and making it personal, it’s impossible to mobilise people on the scale that is necessary.
Change requires building new power of the people. In Australia are primary focus is on change in our won turf in tune with our own conditions. Our task is to find forms of social organisation that serve to assert this people power.
No one can produce a blueprint that will make it work. People can and do make suggestions, and sometimes act on them. One is the building of cooperatives as part of a new economy. There have been suggestions for local government initiatives with community involvement. Another proposal ha been the building of community assemblies to supervise elected representatives and officials and all levels of government. The best combination can be found by doing and learning what works best.
Our window of opportunity won’t last for ever, and it would be foolish to fail to take up the opportunity.
The just concluded NATO summit in Vilnius ended by producing little, except to reveal uncertainty and lack of member unity. This was supposed to be a stage-managed affair, showing the world solid support for the Kyiv side of the war in Ukraine, and a determined launch of NATO presence in Asia. Neither was delivered. Continue reading NATO summit in Vilnius proved to be a major failure→
The Holmes Royal Commission has produced a damning report on Robodebt and presented 57 recommendations Robodebt has been confirmed as one of the biggest scandals in Australia history. Maybe it doesn’t offer a clear alternative. But at least it does help shine a torch on a great injustice and found that it was illegal. Continue reading Royal Commission shines torch on Robodebt injustice→
The latest survey by the Conversation should be of interest to everyone. It involved contributions from of leading forecasters in 25 Australian universities, thinktanks and financial institutions – among them economic modellers, former Treasury, International Monetary Fund and Reserve Bank officials, and a former member of the Reserve Bank board. Continue reading Recognised experts agree on that the Australian economy is in trouble→
Protests are rocking France again. This time it’s over the police shooting and killing of a 17-year-old at a traffic stop. Being of Algerian descent, he was not white, and like in the United States, racial killing of black and Brown skinned people by police is commonplace. Continue reading France erupts after police killing of a teenager→
Foreign multinationals operating in Australia are being driven mad by debate in the Senate over stronger tax transparency laws that apply to them. It’s not that the discussion in the Senate is about putting an end to the corporate tax avoidance industry. it is about introducing a little more disclosure to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO), and that the information should be available to the public. Continue reading Multinationals push back against greater tax disclosure→
The latest Guardian Essential poll pinpointed some telling truths about how Australians feel about where Australia is heading and how our political leaders are responding to the challenges of the day. This is just one poll, of course, and one poll can never tell the whole truth. Continue reading Most of Australia is not happy with the nation’s direction→
I have put some effort into trying to make sense of the present battlefield offensive pf the Kiev forces in Ukraine. After trolling through claims and counter claims and getting a sense of the military strategies of both sides, some things have become quite obvious. These do not sit well with the barrage of media propaganda. Continue reading A peace movement is needed to put an end to Ukraine war→
Official site of the May Day Committee (Malbourne)