Socialism. Today. was the theme of a lively day-long seminar about critical issues facing the movements for social and ecological change, hosted by the Socialist Alliance on August 4.
Sam Wainwright
This federal election is taking place at a time when the need for radical social and economic change is palpable: the escalating climate crisis and rampant and growing inequality are two major symptoms of the bankruptcy of capitalism.
Socialist candidates are campaigning in the May 18 federal elections to put forward solutions to the growing wealth divide and looming environmental crisis.
Celebrating January 26 is a state-sanctioned exercise that rubs salt into the wounds of Indigenous Australia. It proclaims, βYou lost, we won. Know your place.β
But the desire for an honest conversation about modern Australia's origins in the violent and ongoing dispossession of Indigenous people is not going away.
Across the country Invasion Day marches were both bigger than ever, and took place in many more places. More local governments have dropped their January 26 activities and finally the ABC allowed Triple J to shift its Hottest 100.
Whenever the Coalition and Labor stop bickering and agree in serious tones that something must be done in the βnational interestβ you can be sure theyβre up to no good.
Fremantle City Council agreed on May 23 to support a rise in the federal governmentβs Newstart Allowance paid to unemployed jobseekers, becoming the first local government in Western Australia to adopt this position.
The Fremantle local council elections on October 21 pitted largely conservative challengers against progressive incumbents, including Socialist Alliance member Sam Wainwright and Greens Mayor Brad Pettitt, both of whom had come under fire for the councilβs decision to not celebrate Australia Day on January 26.
Both were returned with 55% of the vote, with progressive candidates defeating conservative opponents in all wards. ΒιΆΉΣ³» Weekly spoke to Wainwright about the outcome
The decision by the City of Fremantle to drop its annual Australia Day fireworks has inevitably shaped the contours of the looming council elections, even though no candidate has made it the centrepiece of their campaign.
The election is largely pitting a generally socially progressive group of incumbents of different political stripes (Labor, Greens, socialist and independents) against an alliance of conservative challengers headed by mayoral candidate Caroline βRaβ Stewart.
The campaign against Roe 8 and the whole Perth Freight Link freeway project has produced an unprecedented outpouring of creativity, community spirit and determination. The past month and a half has produced another phase β the Wetlands Defenders, characterised by their remarkable resilience and courage.
One of our young Socialist Alliance members, just out of high school, is currently locked on up a tree. We know she is well supported by good caring people, the people who have organised this phase of the campaign.
People across the world are rising up, angry at the failure of governments to listen to their concerns or prioritize their lives over the profits of big business.
On January 12, Perth joined this movement when more than 1000 βprotectorsβ, as they have dubbed themselves, descended on the Roe 8 construction site to protest the state governmentβs efforts to build a freeway through the Beeliar Wetlands. Roe 8, which is part of greater freeway known as Perth Freight Link has ignited some of the most sustained community opposition Perth has ever seen.
Thousands of wetlands protectors participated in a peaceful protest on January 12 at the site of the state governmentβs Roe 8 highway project, a $450 million extension to Stock Road across the Beeliar Wetlands.
Work on the project was delayed as hundreds toppled the temporary fence surrounding the exclusion zone around the culturally and environmentally significant site. They continued through to encircle an inner compound where a front-end loader for clearing more bush was being kept.
On December 14, I paid a visit to the Beeliar Wetlands Protectors Camp in Coolbellup and witnessed the arrests of several young protesters for taking non-violent direct action against the Roe 8 highway project which threatens this precious wetlands area and significant Aboriginal sites.
βPeople from all around the community have assembled here to stop work on the Roe 8 freeway which is going through the Beeliar wetlands and woodlands,β Sam Wainwright, Socialist Alliance's Fremantle City Councillor told ΒιΆΉΣ³» Weekly at the protest camp.
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