Australia

Japanese Communist Party's Kimitoshi Morihara discusses US-China tensions, Japan’s shifting post-war security policy, the party's position on Ukraine and Taiwan, and possible peace initiatives for the region.
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By Lisbeth Latham

October 7, 2020 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal reposted from Revitalising Labour — The current COVID pandemic has caused massive financial damage to the global economy, damage which has been felt viscerally by working people in the form of dramatically reduced incomes and the loss of millions of jobs. As we progress through the pandemic and look hopefully towards its ending and eventual recovery, minds have begun to look towards what the eventual rebuilding of the economy might look like. Whilst capital, and its representatives in governments, are already looking towards an, even more, deregulated labour market and a general deepening of the neoliberal model, on the other hand, alternative models for recovery are being forward, most particularly that proposed the by the Australian Council of Trade Unions which draws its inspiration from the post-war recovery globally and most particularly in Australia post the Second World War. While this example has understandable appeal, it is well known, it refers to a period of massive and sustained economic growth. It is a deeply problematic model for recovery to the current period of crisis as it fails to understand the roots of the recovery post Second World War which will not be easily replicated but more importantly fails to recognise the broader reality of the global climate crisis that also confronts us, and which should mean we are wary of productivist solutions to this crisis.

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January 25, 2019 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Please send statements to linkssocialist@gmail.com so we can continue to update this page
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November 23, 2017 — Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal — Historian and Honorary Research Fellow in the School of History at the University of Western Australia, Dr Chris Owen has produced a monumental history of the “killing times” in the Kimberley region in the decades leading up to Federation. It is estimated that 10,000 to 30,000 Aboriginal people lived in the area before police entered the region. It is impossible to calculate how many were killed in the decades of the land war.
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NSW Builders Labourers Federation Union secretary Jack Mundey is arrested during the ‘green bans’ at The Rocks in 1973 which saved the historic buildings of Sydney's birthplace  By John Tully Fifty years ago, a group of dedicated left-wing activists wrested control of the NSW Builders Labourers’ Federation (BLF) from the corrupt gangster types who had used it to feather their own nests. The militants, who included Jack Mundey, Joe Owens and Bob Pringle, rebuilt the union into a radically democratic, socially progressive and environmentally-aware organisation the likes of which Australia—and the world—had never seen. Today, we live in dark times for trade unionism. Only around 7% of workers in private industry are organised and unionists face ruthless attacks by the bosses and the state. The achievements of the NSW BLF, however, give us a glimpse of the liberating potential of the working class and are a beacon for the future.