Look I already loved
@OverlandJournal
even before they agreed to publish my essay about the time I went to Meredith and tried to talk about Georg Simmel and ancient Greek festivals to anyone who would listen while gurning hard at 3:00am
My dad is a 91 year old pensioner, no assets, and his agent just gave him notice of a 21 percent rent increase.
Obvs we’re challenging it. But if that doesn’t work fuck me, I’m absolutely publicizing the landlord’s name and Veterinarian practice.
Apart from the CFMEU, I saw sizeable contingents from the ETU, AMWU, UFU, RTBU as well as plenty of smaller contingents or individual flags from other unions.
If they follow through, this may be the beginning of a fightback led by blue-collar unions with genuine left traditions.
I wish university philosophy programs would bring back subjects where you spend a semester on a single important book. Imagine studying The Phenomenology of Spirit or Critique of Pure Reason for six months in third year.
There's an Australian university equivalent of sub-prime lending that no one talks about.
Every semester, a handful of students don't show up or hand in work. And because they don't pull out in time, they fail.
The result? Over time, tens of thousands in HECS debt for nothing.
I’m voting Yes, obviously.
And equally obviously, Yes has lost —
— and the aftermath is going to be an obnoxious and unconsciously derivative repeat of post-Brexit, post-Trump 2016 liberal indignant incomprehension and powerless elitism, only antipodean and therefore, shitter.
This is what happens when you let Labor student politicians run the show.
They’ve never worked a real job in their lives, and their outlook consists of meaningless factionalism, normalized corruption and banalities about not letting the perfect be the enemy of the good.
Today’s class was about determinism and free will. So, I ask my students to recount a moral decision they made, good or bad, why they made it, and explain what they conclude from it.
One student told us how earlier this year, on the train, a guy went into cardiac arrest…
For those of us who have watched Labor defend property investors and mining companies — and now, Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza — the question isn’t “how can we push Labor to be better?” but “how can we most effectively break Labor’s power?”
Ten obviously just, minor and popular reforms Labor could introduce tomorrow but won’t:
1. Freeze HECS debt indexation.
2. Freeze rent increases.
3. Scrap youth wages.
4. Scrap the couples rate for welfare payments.
5. Restore the extra ten mental healthcare sessions.
(1/2)
The Greens’ breakthrough — especially in Griffith — is the most significant event of this election for the left.
I’ll write something about it soon. But for now, I want to assert that anyone in the left or union movement dismissing or ignoring the Greens’ achievement is blind.
By now, Kevin Rudd would have given renters $2k regardless of whether their rent has gone up or not. No questions asked, if u rent, here’s some cash. Big vote winner, outflanks the Greens, boosts spending, doesn’t disrupt capital one bit. Albo is half the strategist Rudd was.
Strikes me that someone so focused on getting money out of an old man on the fucking pension is probably not gonna prioritize care for living beings in general over profit, are they?
What’s odd is that Labor supporters seem genuinely taken aback that the left is criticizing the budget bitterly.
I think it reveals that they don’t have perspective on their own ideology — they’re presiding over a collapse in living standards and yet they think they’re helping.
Just got door knocked by a Greens volunteer. He learned to campaign up in Brisbane and is keen to export their model of community activism + left wing economic demands to other states.
Which is to say the Greens aren’t fucking around.
Labor says the Greens in lower house balance of power risks sabotaging Albo’s government & a Liberal comeback.
But there’s an easy solution that may surprise you: the ALP cld simply try not legislating evil shit.
Labor: the Greens are standing in the way of social housing
Also Labor: entirely as a result of pressure from the Greens, we will be spending $2bn on social housing
I should do it as an article and reach out for comment. I wanna fuck this guy up.
And the agent — for all we know they could be driving it.
Either way, I’m livid — and as long as the law doesn’t give people like my dad much recourse, let’s speak some personal bitterness.
The best thing that could happen now is for the CFMEU to fight hard — massive strikes and rallies — and to call on other unions, the Greens and the Left for solidarity.
Labor is an existential threat to the union. So what else is there to do?
Credit where due: I really didn't expect Labor's
#Budget2024
to reduce federal funding for private schools from $29 to $27 billion, in order to make up the $1.8 billion public education funding gap!
The Australian: Landlords with >20 properties
The Herald Sun: Landlords with <20 properties
The Age: Landlords who turn up unannounced on Sunday morning
The Saturday Paper: Landlords who install solar panels (at the tenants expense)
The Guardian: Landlords who feel bad about it
“As someone who grew up in public housing,” commented PM Anthony Albanese, “I know how important it is to refuse to build social housing — except of course when we’re shit-scared that the Greens political party will hoover up every last voter under 35, including my tenants”
Before they go after the CFMEU, how bout they jail a single cop who’s killed an Aboriginal person.
Cos in all the years of black deaths in custody, not to mention out of custody, not one racist killer cop has seen the inside of a cell.
Supporting Palestinian liberation doesn’t mean you have to cheer on desperate, tragic attacks that will lead to the deaths of thousands in Gaza.
Anyway, by launching this assault, Hamas have, in real terms, harmed Palestinian self-determination as much as Fatah and the PLO.
Albo won't go down in history among the best ALP PMs like Curtin, Chifley or Whitlam.
Nor will he be compared to Hawke and Keating, who changed Australia, albeit largely for the worse.
He'll be remembered like Scullin — blindsided by a predictable crisis and ultimately gutless.
• Introduced neoliberalism, leading to four decades of declining union power and workers rights
• Restricted the right to strike, imposed wage restraint and deregistered the BLF and the pilots’ union
• literally a CIA informant
From where I stand, it feels like Labor are attacking the Greens as though they’re the opposition, not the Coalition.
Speaks to the Greens’ effectiveness in parliament, the Liberals’ irrelevancy and Labor’s political and moral impoverishment.
Groups Labor could crack down on but won’t:
- Landlords who knowingly rent out unsafe properties
- Developers who prioritize profit over construction standards
- Mining companies that destroy the land and Aboriginal cultural sites
- The ALP, which is in bed with all the above
To the racists in my replies blaming migration: the landlord, his wife and the agent are all white as the driven snow. My dad, however, is Spanish and migrated in the 60s. The problem is inequality, not migration.
Labor is cutting the Coalition’s few, insufficient pandemic measures but not cutting the Coalition’s tax cuts for the rich.
I’m not sure how much clearer it could be. Labor is in no sense a party of or for workers.
Anyway, it’s classes like this that make me love teaching.
And while I’m obviously gonna give her a banging mark, she should really consider becoming a doctor or nurse, or at least a performer of some sort. The way she told that story had us on the edge of our seat.
The Labor Left, after four decades of subservience to Labor Right — essentially a product of Hawke-era discipline of principled Left MPs and unions — has found itself in government and *far* to the right of Hawke-era Labor, which had a commitment to funding social services.
The way the Greens have handled the HAFF debate is a lesson in parliamentary tactics.
By taking a firm stand, they won the political argument. This secured important amendments and $2bn direct spending — and laid the basis for winning a rent freeze, which is still sorely needed.
The Senate has now deferred Labor’s housing bill until after National Cabinet determines its approach to rapidly rising rents later this year. Labor holds every mainland government and now must act on the rental crisis when National Cabinet meets between August and October. 🧵
This is what Labor is like every day, behind closed doors — petty, vindictive loyalty politics at the service of objectively evil shit.
It’s not that common that the resentment bubbles over into the public. But when it does, they deserve every bit of the hatred they get.
The Greens should gun harder for Albo. He’s already borderline contemptible in the left-public’s eye — make him hated.
It won’t cost Labor government. But a leadership change in a 2nd term minority government could deliver a weaker PM who’s more likely to compromise to the left.
One thing ALP hacks don’t understand is that for my generation, it fits deeply with our life experience to look at the Hawke-Accord era as the beginning of an era of growing inequality and declining living standards.
La Trobe all staff email:
1. Tomorrow is "RU OK?" day!
2. EOIs for 2nd round of voluntary redundancies now open!
I'm starting to think the VCs actually want us to overthrow them...
6. Defund JobActive system.
7. Extend Health Care Card to international students, postgrads, people in housing stress.
8. Make public transport and reggo free for HCC holders.
9. Tax deductions on rent payments.
10. Legalize cannabis & pill testing.
Dear Serfs,
Most nobles aren’t sovereign over the estate you are bound to. They pledge fealty to a king who demands tribute, which they pay so you don’t have to
- men for the Royal army
- taxes to fund the king’s navy
- church fees
Dear Renters,
Most landlords don't own the home you reside in. They pay a mortgage which has been hit with interest rate rises you don't pay.
They also pay
- landlord insurance
- land tax
- maintenance
- real estate agent fees
- VCAT if a renter decides to become a
Andrews' "critics cannot reconcile how a leader who has overseen the world’s longest lockdown, causing economic hardship for so many, can remain so firmly ahead in the polls."
Could it be that most people value life above the economy?
Today, protestors and intruders brought violence, homophobia and anti-Semitism to the front door of state conference.
I’m disgusted.
No one should be cowered by these bullies.
"Australian households have suffered the largest fall in living standards of any advanced economy over the past year"
All under a Labor government.
It's quite stark — we won't turn things around unless the unions and the left are willing to fight Labor.
If it were the Liberals taking action against the CFMEU, cranes would be at a standstill and there would be tens of thousands of construction workers in the streets
My point being, Labor doesn’t care about younger or poorer people.
If they did, they could easily pass reforms that would be insufficient but an improvement nevertheless. Doing so would cost little and may even help slow votes hemorrhaging to the left.
HR Email:
- Because of Easter, timesheets are due one week early.
- You can't pre-fill hours, so pay for the week before Easter will be delayed until next pay cycle.
Imagine any other employer holding back pay due to a holiday. The way universities treat casuals is a disgrace.
So then we have a discussion about why our actions aren’t absolutely pre-determined, why we can make moral choices, and how thinking about it makes us better.
The conclusion? When a life is at stake, step up — or at least be helpful.
And also more people should learn first aid.
From where I stand, it looks like the federal Greens treated Lidia Thorpe fairly and democratically with respect to the Voice.
And Lidia acted in accordance with her principles. Not every parting of ways has to reflect poorly on one party or the other.
Lefty mates, you do know that solidarity requires mutual recognition within difference, right? So you should learn to get along with ppl from political groups that aren’t yours and with dif. worldviews. This is something neither SAlt or independent far leftists are good at.
The way Labor hacks talk about planning, you’d think they’re the good guys, valiantly trying to build high density Vienna-style soc-dem public housing with integrated schools, parks, etc., and the only ones standing in their way are those nefarious Greens Political Party NIMBYS
Parties as landlords — will they fix the hot water??
Coalition: will evict if you ask
Labor: will get a mate to do it cheaply & blame you when it doesn’t work
Teals: yes + install solar & raise the rent
Greens (non-QLD): yes, with vaguely guilty stories about when they rented
Lidia Thorpe and the Greens aren't the reason Albo is losing the argument over the Voice. In fact, Greens voters understand and support the proposal most.
A month later, metro gets in touch to let her know the guy recovered after a few nights in hospital.
She was uncertain the whole time. Everyone else was either useless, contemptible or actively fucked.
But she took control of the situation and saved someone’s life.
I respect and support left-wing Greens. But if you want to know my critique of the Greens overall, part of it is that they let people like this be candidates. He is advocating for ethnic cleansing.
Most Greens support Palestine — but without clear politics, this is the risk.
@AltMediaWatch
@WhiteRoseSocAU
@Vittidinia
Why should Israel provide water and electricity to an organisation that has declared war against it? Hamas is still firing rockets into Israel. Hamas holds 200 Israeli and foreign hostages Should Ukraine send wheat to Russia?
Yes, students should take responsibility. But this is tantamount to predatory lending.
There should be a process to appeal against debts like this and have them wiped. Universities have data on each student's engagement — it wouldn't be hard.
Mum and dad sweatshop operators
Mum and dad arms manufacturers
Mum and dad child labour employers
Mum and dad settler-pastoralists
Mum and dad asbestos manufacturers
Mum and dad BHP Billiton investors
Mum and dad Labor MPs
Mum and dad property managers
Mum and dad landlords.
Guardian Op-eds yet to be written:
“The Pandemic’s Hidden Mental Health Toll on Our Pets”
“I Haven’t Gotten a Haircut In Ages and I’m Sad About it”
“Reopening Playgrounds Taught Me the Healing Power of Play”
“I’m a Vice Chancellor and I Feel Bad About Firing Everyone”
The most depressing thing about Albo winning the election is how quickly the elation will turn into naive enthusiasm, then forced optimism followed by frustration, incredulity, disappointment, despair, and finally, anger.
I’m obviously not with SAlt but this kind of criticism is the worst of idpol.
For one, why does this person get to police who’s allowed to distribute leftist literature? And for two, SAlt have a fine record on trans rights & many trans members. They’re a part of the movement.
Turns out it’s not NIMBYs blocking affordable housing, but developers who have the green light to build but would rather bank the land and make speculative profits.
Who’d have guessed.
Deregistering the SDA would be a huge step forward for the union movement and the ALP.
It's not the hill I'd prefer to die on, but I could think of worse.
"As someone who grew up in public housing," Labor PM Antony Albanese said, "I know how important it is to jack up the rent every chance you get. If the freeloaders complain, they're out."
"And don't forget to squeeze them for the bond," he added.
@KosSamaras
The Greens won $2bn that will begin now. If they’d waved through HAFF, that wouldn’t have happened. And it seems likely they’ll win a rent freeze.
I think the strategy is powerful because renters they see MPs like them fighting for them. That’s why federal Labor is worried.
The purpose of solidarity is to build unity behind working class, emancipatory politics.
If “solidarity” is invoked to justify crossing a picket line, it’s right to break solidarity.
If “solidarity” is invoked to stop MPs voting against genocide, it’s right to break solidarity.
Under Hawke, the Labor Right won a total victory over the Left — hence Albanese. Combined with the collapse of the Communist Party, it pulled the union movement sharply to the right.
But it also created a vacuum to Labor's left, in and out of parliament — hence the Greens.
With the help of a woman from Afghanistan, she figures out his name, talks to him, and calms him down.
After 45 minutes of keeping the guy conscious, the ambos turn up.
(As an aside, our health system is in crisis and the ambulance system is at breaking point. It’s fucked.)
In 2014, I started as a casual at La Trobe. That same year, La Trobe made my mum redundant after four decades teaching Italian.
Today, I'm still a casual and NTEU La Trobe members just elected me to our bargaining team. I'm in this to win.
Marking essays this semester, I've noticed that a significantly larger number are rushed and, as a result, quite shallow.
Which is to say, I suspect that students' work is suffering as a direct consequence of the cost of living crisis. They're working more and studying less.
@SwannyQLD
Ty for the free RT promo. All exposure is good exposure.
Leaving aside why the Greens are right — and they certainly are — the difference is that my generation is directly suffering due to the housing crisis and are overwhelmingly shifting away from Labor, to the Greens over it.
On this day in 1975, the Khmer Rouge liberated Kampuchea.
They defeated american imperialism without falling into the claws of soviet social-imperialism.
Despite the errors they made, we need to defend them against the lies of those who obliterated their country.
Just received confirmation: I'll be coordinating La Trobe's second year continental philosophy subject this semester. It's basically Plato to Heidegger and everyone between.
Casual, of course. Still — it'll be lovely to be teaching undergrads again, esp. for such a cool subject.
In the second table, it’s notable how close Labor voters’ opinions are to those of Greens voters.
Which is to say, the Greens are gonna keep winning Labor’s base.
Nazi op-eds no one asked for!
The Age: “Nazis are intolerant but so is the left (towards TERFs like me)”
Saturday Paper: “back when I led the Liberals, our Nazis did not go to protests”
Guardian: “To keep us safe from Nazis, Daniel Andrews must restrict protests more”
What’s with this unhinged Labor hack campaign against the Greens on housing over the last few days?
Like we’re actually expected to believe Greens MPs are a barrier to public housing and bringing down housing prices. It’s sad and cynical.
Yesterday, in a bargaining meeting, a management rep urged the union to “not let the perfect become the enemy of the good.”
Now, think about the party that’s popularized that phrase recently. The party of capital speaks to the left the same way management speaks to workers.
I learned just the other day that my PhD supervisors both lost their jobs in last round of cuts at La Trobe.
In addition to being wonderful teachers and writers, they were the last two continental philosophers there. Now it's a tiny department of wall-to-wall analytic garbage.
So, I’m in the La Trobe system as an honorary and I worked for them for six years, ending in 2018.
Now I’m teaching there again, they want 100 points of ID and proof of the PhD that I earned at La Trobe — all certified.
At every level, contemporary unis are hostile to casuals.
Anyway, the Western leftists who are cheering on Hamas are doing so more out of a teenage fetishisation of non-Western armed struggle.
It's self-indulgent posturing, and it's characteristic of moralistic, sub-Maoist identity politics, not genuine anti-colonialism.
Is this the most cursed piece of writing to come out of an Australian university in 2021??
A dean citing Butler and Ricœur to accuse protesters of an “insinuatingly gendered recourse” to her first name.
(via
@mathew_abbott
on FB)
You will be shocked to learn that a Labor government finally wound up the South Australian Housing Trust, handing the entire market over to private developers.
Between 1945 and 1970, the South Australian Housing Trust built one third of all homes in the state, available to most, with rents capped as a proportion of income.
It's proof that governments can provide high-quality, public housing — if they want to.
End of week three, I’ve given 6 hours of lectures and 9 hours of tutorials, not to mention correspondence, consultation and time developing the subject.
With any luck, they’ll finally pay me next week.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: abolish piece rates in academia.
They’ve never seen a principle they don’t wanna sell and they only know how to attack to the left, ideally on the most cynical basis.
And yet, they believe they’re left wing so sincerely that when someone points out the obvious — they’re neoliberals — they’re genuinely offended.