Category: greenleft

ClimateSam WainwrightIssue 1255Australianet zero emissionsFebruary 27, 2020Imagine we are all passengers on a bus careering down a hill towards a cliff. The bus is getting faster and, despite our desperate pleas to the driver to change course, it continues to head towards the precipice. Finally, the driver assures us they will jam

ClimatemediaCassidy ChapmanIssue 1255AustraliaMurdoch’s News Corpclimate emergencyExtinction RebellionBrisbaneFebruary 27, 2020If you walked past a Brisbane newsstand on the morning of February 27, you may have noticed it was a little bare. That’s because three activists were elbow-deep in cement-filled barrels the night before, blockading the exit of News Corp’s Murarrie printing press.

Malaysian politicsPeter BoyleIssue 1255MalaysiaPakatan HarapanSocialist Party of Malaysia (PSM)February 27, 2020When the Alliance of Hope (Pakatan Harapan) won the 2018 Malaysian general election — on the back of a sustained mass movement for democracy — it ended more than 60 years of continuous government by a coalition of parties put into power by

Susan PriceIssue 1255AustraliaFebruary 27, 2020After a community campaign, Blacktown City Council in western Sydney has become the latest local council to declare a climate emergency. Activists from Cool Down Western Sydney organised petitions and collected nearly 1000 signatures from local residents supporting the declaration. Pictured are activists from Cool Down Western

Turkish politicsAlex BainbridgeIssue 1255TurkeyPeoples’ Democratic Party (HDP)AnkaraFebruary 27, 2020More than 20,000 people attended the fourth congress of the left-wing People’s Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey on February 23. Participants included more than 1000 delegates and at least 100 international guests from more than 25 countries. Opposition to fascism and authoritarianism and

Climate changefossil fuel industrySteve O’BrienIssue 1255Australiajust transitionsNewcastleFebruary 27, 2020The following is based on a speech by former steel worker Steve O’Brien to the Newcastle Climate Justice rally on February 22. * * * I want to speak about my experience of working in an industry with no future — my 11

IndigenousGauri GandbhirIssue 1255Canadaindigenous sovereigntyclimate changeanti-frackingFebruary 26, 2020When completed, the TransCanada Energy Coastal Link Pipeline (TC Energy) will transport natural gas fracked from northeast British Columbia (BC), across indigenous land, to the town of Kitimat for overseas export. The 670 kilometre pipeline will cost CAN$6.6 billion and is set to release a “carbon bomb” of 3.5

Family violenceSue BoltonIssue 1255Australiamen’s rightsfemicideFebruary 26, 2020The day after Rowan Baxter brutally incinerated his ex-partner Hannah Clarke and their children, the detective in charge of the investigation, Mark Thompson, publicly queried whether the “husband” had been “driven too far”. He did this despite knowing that Clarke had been dragged out of her

domestic violencehomelessnessFamily violenceMargaret GleesonIssue 1255AustraliaFebruary 26, 2020Already this year a new horrific record has been set: domestic violence homicides of women killed by their current or former partner have exceeded the shocking average of one a week. Just as shocking is the fact that the rising rate of domestic violence homicides

climate emergencyclimate justicePaul McAleerIssue 1255Australiaworkers rightsSydneyFebruary 26, 2020The Maritime Union of Australia’s (MUA) Sydney Branch Secretary Paul McAleer sent the following message to the Western Sydney climate emergency rally on February 25. * * * I am sorry I have been held up with lawyers regarding a dispute, where wharfies stopped

North AmericaBoots RileyIssue 1255United Statesclass strugglelabour movementOccupyBlack Lives MatterFebruary 25, 2020I have never voted for a candidate in my life. But I will be voting for Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary and the general election. If I’m doing that, there are probably tens of millions in that same position. Let

ClimateLaurie AdkinIssue 1255Canadajust transitiondegrowthFebruary 25, 2020At this point in human history, the limits of capitalism and the limits of our species’ life on Earth have converged. We have never been here before, and we cannot go back. Capitalism, patriarchy and racism now threaten to destroy this world, along with its tenuous