The Sound of Solidarity

The decision by the US Supreme Court to overturn the ruling known as Roe v Wade is an attack on women everywhere. Judy McVey discusses why abortion rights are under attack and how we can fight back. Judy is a member of Solidarity and the author of the pamphlet Abortion: The fight that’s still to be won.

The Labor government is already crying poor when it comes to health, education, the NDIS or raising JobSeeker. But it's committed to spending at least $170 billion on nuclear-powered submarines as part of the AUKUS agreement. We discuss the issues with Professor Richard Tanter, a Senior Research Associate with the Nautilus Institute and an Honorary Professor in the School of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Melbourne. Richard is a former president of the Australian board of the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in October 2017.

Lucy Honan looks at the issues around sex, consent, love, marriage, loneliness and more, and how we can achieve liberation. Her talk draws on the writings of the Russian revolutionary, Alexandra Kollontai.

Feiyi Zhang discusses the future classless society, drawing on the inspiration of revolutions from Iran to Russia and beyond. She argues that workers can build a new way of living, based on democracy and equality.

Fahad Ali, one of the organisers of the Sydney Festival boycott campaign and a member of the Palestine Justice Movement Sydney, and Solidarity member Erima Dall discuss the road to liberation.

In the 1990s, Nazis made a series of attempts to build a base in Melbourne. David Glanz explains how the successful campaign to stop them was built, drawing on Leon Trotsky's theory of the united front.

The Communist Manifesto is one of the best-known publications in the world. But what does it say and are its arguments still relevant today? Feiyi Zhang introduces its key ideas.Read the Manifesto here.

Dani Cotton looks at the weaknesses of privilege theory and argues that while we need to fight racist ideas and policies today, racism can be eradicated as part of a successful challenge to the capitalist system.

Inflation is roaring, workloads are climbing and bosses are still trying to turn the screw harder. Hear from three union activists on the frontline about the fightback we need.
Damien Davis-Frank (NSW nurses' union branch president)
Dani Cotton (NTEU branch council member)
Vivian Honan (NSW teachers' union delegate)

We all know the Coalition has to go. What’s more challenging is how we do it … and what we expect and demand from an Albanese Labor government. Three guests discuss the issues.
Kosmos Samaras is a former Victorian ALP campaign director who is now a Director at Redbridge Group, a research and consulting organisation.
Celeste Liddle is an Arrernte woman, a union activist, social commentator and the Greens candidate for the federal seat of Cooper in the northern suburbs of Melbourne.
James Supple is the editor of Solidarity magazine and an activist with the Refugee Action Coalition in Sydney.

Solidarity's Ian Rintoul explains how socialists should respond to imperialist war, outlining the history of NATO and how the US-led alliance is using Ukraine to confront Russia. He argues that Russian troops and NATO should all get out of Ukraine and that we need to focus on fighting the real enemy: the Australian bosses.

Why is Labor running a "no target" election campaign? How does this fit with the experience of the ALP and Labor governments over the past century? Jean Parker, a member of Solidarity and the NTEU, draws the lessons we need to take the fight to Morrison today.

Alexandra Kollontai was a Marxist, a fighter for women's liberation and a government minister after the Russian revolution of October 1917. In 1909 she wrote a pamphlet, The Social Basis of the Woman Question, to challenge the arguments raised by bourgeois feminists. Caitlin Doyle-Markwick talks about her ideas and their relevance today.

Anthony Albanese is doing his best to agree with much of what Scott Morrison is saying. Why does Labor adopt a "small target" approach? Does it help them win elections? What are the alternatives? This talk from a recent Solidarity forum goes over the issues.

The united front is a vital but often misunderstood strategy for revolutionary socialists. Paddy Gibson discusses the history of the strategy and how and why we can apply it in struggles today.

Over the Easter weekend of 2002, about a thousand refugee solidarity protesters gathered at the Woomera detention centre in South Australia. In dramatic scenes, the fences were pushed down by refugees inside – with the help of protesters outside. Some 40 refugees escaped in a huge embarrassment for John Howard’s Liberal government. James Supple was there and tells the story. James is a Solidarity member and an activist with the Refugee Action Coalition in Sydney.

Paddy Gibson gives an overview of historical materialism and alienation, and argues why the working class has the power to fight for a different world.

In February 2016, the refugee movement, backed by the union movement, went into battle to save a baby. Baby Asha was being treated in Brisbane’s Lady Cilento Hospital but faced deportation to Nauru. Hundreds of refugee supporters, backed by the Queensland Council of Unions, organised a vigil and blockade. We talk to Solidarity member Mark Gillespie, a long-term activist with the Refugee Action Collective in Brisbane, who was heavily involved in the successful campaign.

The Pilbara strike of 1946-49 saw Aboriginal people defy the owners of pastoral stations in north-west Western Australia by demanding better wages and conditions. But it was also a fight to win independence from their colonial masters. Paddy Gibson, a Solidarity member and a senior researcher at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at UTS, gave this talk recently.

On 22 August 2016, students began an occupation at the Sydney College of the Arts against savage course closures and job cuts. It lasted 65 days, making it the longest student occupation of an administration building in Australian history. And it forced the university into a significant retreat. Thandi Bethune, Kelton Muir and Adam Adelpour were all involved. Here they talk about the campaign and its lessons.