What local councils do or don’t do on January 26 has burst into the national political debate, and what a good thing that is, writes Socialist Alliance councillor Sam Wainwright.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights
The legal system is failing Aboriginal people and exposes the depths of a racism that remains the bedrock of mainstream Australian culture.
The disastrous Adani mine project illustrates why the entire mining and energy sector should be brought into public hands and dangerous fossil fuels rapidly phased out in favour of renewable energy.
Sam Wainwright: The campaign against Roe 8 and the whole Perth Freight Link freeway project has produced an unprecedented outpouring of creativity, community spirit and determination.
Socialist Alliance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights policy.
Socialist Alliance candidates involved in the growing protest movement against the bulldozing of the Beeliar Wetlands have reacted sharply to claims published by the City of Melville, and reported in The West Australian on 27 January, regarding the construction of the Perth Freight Link.
The deepening crisis of capitalism and the political polarisation that results makes the task of raising socialist solutions all the more urgent. Socialist Alliance continues our non-sectarian approach to building the movements and campaigns of resistance.
As Invasion Day approaches, Murri leader and Socialist Alliance Aboriginal rights spokesperson Sam Watson told Green Left Weekly that January 26 was “only a date when a motley collection of boats made landfall on Gadigal country to establish the colony of NSW”.
Fremantle Socialist councillor, Sam Wainwright writes that when council voted last year to end the Australia Day fireworks display he fully expected a conservative backlash, but was surprised by the frenzied response from the conservative media and Coalition politicians.
Early last year, an academic debate over Invasion Day erupted at the University of NSW. Apparently, some well credentialed people are offended that the term “invasion” is used to describe January 26.
The shocking abuse suffered by children in Darwin’s Don Dale detention centre revealed by the ABC’s 4 Corners on July 25 has angered wide layers and prompted the nation-wide demand to take immediate action against the perpetrators and ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again in the juvenile detention system.
The myth of the egalitarianism of Australia is cracking up after 50 years of Liberal-National and Australian Labour Party governments helping the super rich get even richer at the expense of the rest.