Our Common Cause

Our Common Cause is the column of Socialist Alliance in Green Left which is widely recognised as one of the most authoritative left-wing English-language sources of news and political analysis in print and online. Green Left covers many of the issues and campaigns that Socialist Alliance members are involved in.

Members and supporters are encouraged to promote Green Left while campaigning in their communities and workplaces and to become financial supporters of Green Left to ensure its ongoing production and distribution.

It is not enough to “punish Labor” in coming elections. The real challenge is to build a political alternative that will act for the majority, not slavishly serve the billionaire class, argue Sue Bull, Jacob Andrewartha and Sam Wainwright.
Labor and the Coalition have mostly agreed on harsh measures for refugees who flee here to escape war and persecution. Mano Yagolingam had been struggling, Chloe DS writes, largely because of being stuck in limbo for 12 years.
Labor’s new laws appointing an administrator with absolute dictatorial powers to run every branch of the Construction Forestry Maritime Employees Union is the most serious attack on a union in living memory, argues Sam Wainwright.
Jonathan Strauss argues that a fighting, democratic union movement would entail members and delegates’ meetings directing industrial action and political campaigns, opposing state intervention and not subordinating union strategy to Labor’s pro-capitalist project.
The movement against genocide has highlighted PM Anthony Albanese’s intransigent support for Israel. This is a reason for the new crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters, argues Jacob Andrewartha
Socialist Alliance opposes the attacks on the CFMEU by the Albanese government and the corporate media.
The controversy created by Senator Fatima Payman’s exit from federal Labor points to the crisis of the two-party parliamentary system.
As the climate emergency and extinction crises deepen, there is no choice but to struggle to democratise the economy so that it can be made to serve social needs and ecological sustainability. Peter Boyle reports.
Labor pretends to support a ceasefire on Gaza, but as Sue Bull argues, it has refused to take concrete steps to sanction Israel. It is therefore helping give Israel the political cover it needs to continue its now nearly nine-month genocide.
Rents must be frozen and the housing-price casino has to be shut down, starting with the tax rorts. Tax incentives should be available only for building new housing that adds to existing stock, argues Renfrey Clarke.
The inspirational Gaza solidarity encampments, initiated by university students across the world, pose a sharp challenge to Western governments complicity in Israel’s genocide
Labor’s package to help women escape violence is welcome but not nearly enough. Angela Carr argues that we need to be clear on what drives men to commit violence against women and address that, as well as assisting victim/survivors.