The Sound of Solidarity

Jeff Sparrow is a socialist, writer, editor, broadcaster and Walkley award-winning journalist. His new book, Crimes against Nature: Capitalism and Global Heating, rips apart the idea that all humans are responsible for destroying the environment, pins the blame on capitalism and points to ways that society can be organised democratically and sustainably.

COVID has hit lower-paid and migrant workers hardest, according to new research. It's also contributed to an increase in domestic violence. We speak to lead researcher Dr Tom Barnes from the Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences at the Australian Catholic University. You can read the report in full here.

On 19 August 1996, about 2000 workers, Indigenous activists and students pushed their way into the entry of Parliament House in Canberra. Thousands more cheered them on. They were angry with the new John Howard Coalition government's attacks on workers’ rights. The government, media and even union leaders denounced the protesters as rioters. This episode marks a new segment for this podcast series. It’s called “I was there” and we’ll be interviewing activists who took part in key moments in the struggle. Today our guest is Solidarity member Tom Orsag, who was part of the protest in 1996. Then, Tom was a teacher. Now he’s a construction worker and a member of the CFMEU. You can read a history of the day here.

The vast majority of people held in this country’s detention centres have lived nearly all their lives in Australia, made homes, held down jobs and had families. Many of these people have been locked up for years under sections 501 or 116 of the Migration Act and have no foreseeable prospect of release or even deportation. This episode looks at the enormous power that the Immigration Minister holds over people’s lives. We talk to Joey Tangaloa Taualii and "John", who are 501 detainees in the MITA detention centre in Melbourne, and to Ian Rintoul, a member of the Refugee Action Coalition in Sydney and of Solidarity. This episode includes mention of suicide. If you need support, the number for Lifeline is 13 11 14.
 

Karl Marx argued that the beginnings of capitalism were largely made possible by colonialist barbarity. Yet he and his collaborator Frederick Engels had little or nothing to say about the resistance and fate of the Indigenous peoples of North America and Australia. Despite this, their fierce hostility to racism inspired the early Communist Party of Australia, whose members blazed an anti-racist trail in the early 1930s that we can still learn from today. To discuss this history and its contradictions, we talk to Paddy Gibson. Paddy is a member of Solidarity who works at the Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research at UTS, the University of Technology in Sydney.

China has more billionaires than the US but some of its biggest property developers are facing bankruptcy. While western media highlights the appalling treatment of the Uighurs, there’s much less said about the oppressive situation for Chinese workers. We discuss all this and more with Phil Griffiths. Phil is a former lecturer in political economy at the University of Southern Queensland and a member of Solidarity. He has visited China many times, most recently just before the pandemic.

The women’s movement in the late 1960s grew at a time of massive worker militancy and took its place alongside other new social movements: against the war in Vietnam, and for Indigenous rights, for gay and lesbian rights, and for environmental action. Judy McVey is a socialist who’s been involved in fighting for women’s liberation since the 1970s and the author of the recent Solidarity pamphlet, Abortion: The fight that’s still to be won. She looks at the lessons for today.

New Caledonia is less than 1500 kilometres from Brisbane but it's essentially a French colony. France is pushing ahead with a referendum on independence despite a COVID surge, hoping to kill off the drive for Kanak liberation. Nic Maclellan is a journalist who specialises in Pacific affairs. He explains the background to the vote, its links to French domestic politics and France's imperialist interests in the Pacific.

The Coalition government has announced its support for the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which has been used to mute support for Palestine and muzzle the left overseas. We talk about the issues with Rob Ferguson, a Palestine solidarity activist and SWP member in Britain, who has written about the misuse of the IHRA definition.

Martin Empson and Erima Dall discuss the failure of the COP26 summit and what socialists say needs to be done. Martin is a socialist and climate activist from Britain and the editor of the book System Change not Climate Change: A Revolutionary Response to Environmental Crisis. Erima is a climate activist and a member of the Maritime Union of Australia and Solidarity.

Sarah Thorne destroys the so-called environmental case for nuclear power, arguing that the industry is dangerous, dirty and no alternative to renewables, and that it exists primarily to support the production of nuclear weapons. Sarah is an activist with Workers for Climate Action in Melbourne and a member of Solidarity.

Trans people face high rates of violence, catastrophic suicide rates and frequent exclusion from public life. But trans people and their allies are organising and resisting. We talk about the issues with Dani Cotton, a member of the National Tertiary Education Union, an activist with the NTEU casuals caucus at the University of Sydney, and a member of Solidarity.

Nearly 467,000 people in Australia rely on support from the National Disability Insurance Scheme, or NDIS. We talk to two experts about problems with the system and about alternatives. Professor Gemma Carey is the Academic Director of the Centre for Social Impact at the University of New South Wales. And "Jim" works in the NDIS. He’s a workplace delegate with the Australian Services Union.

The new military pact with the US and the UK (AUKUS), which includes the purchase of nuclear-powered submarines, makes a disastrous war with China more likely. Many have described the deal as a surrender of Australian sovereignty and call for an independent foreign policy. But as Phil Griffiths explained at a recent Solidarity forum, Australia's rulers have always been enthusiastic to take part in wars to strengthen their control and profits. Socialists need to reject Australian imperialism and fight for international workers' solidarity.

Solidarity hosted a forum to discuss how to respond to vaccine mandates. The discussion was opened by Geraldine Fela, a member of the NTEU branch committee at the University of Melbourne and a member of Solidarity. Then we heard from Argyri Erotokritou, a doctor in Athens, a health union activist and a member of SEK (the Socialist Workers Party), Solidarity's sister organisation in Greece, who has been on strike against the sacking of unvaccinated colleagues.

NAPLAN testing in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 is supposed to improve school standards. But 13 years after it was introduced, it's obvious that NAPLAN distorts students' education, demoralises teachers and entrenches inequality. We talk to Jonathan Sherlock about the issues. Jono is a teacher at Mount Alexander College in Melbourne, a workplace delegate with the Australian Education Union and a member of Solidarity.
 

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. She has spoken out regularly against the heavy policing of the pandemic. We talk to her about the growth in heavy-handed police tactics, the need to fight for social support for those suffering under lockdown, and why when it comes to vaccination, taking hesitant people on a journey to persuade them is the best response.

On the day that Morrison announced the AUKUS military pact and the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines, Solidarity hosted a forum with Clinton Fernandes, Professor of International and Political Studies at the University of NSW in Canberra and author of Island off the coast of Asia: Instruments of statecraft in Australian foreign policy. Ian Rintoul from Solidarity opened the conversation about resisting this new drive to war.

Solidarity recently hosted a forum on the struggle for Palestinian liberation. We were joined by Antony Loewenstein, independent journalist and author of books including After Zionism: One State For Israel And Palestine and My Israel Question. Following Antony's talk, we also heard from Caitlin Doyle, a refugee and climate activist and a member of Solidarity. We publish their presentations here.

Police and soldiers are on the streets in growing numbers, enforcing lockdowns. What are the alternatives? We talk to Vicki Sentas, a senior lecturer in law at the University of NSW who writes on the subject of COVID and policing, and Cooper Forsyth, a casual worker at the Annette Kellerman pool in the Sydney suburb of Enmore, a member of the United Workers Union and of Solidarity, who recently helped organise a car convoy to the Liberal offices in Sydney.