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Few things better display the underlying morality of capitalism than the scale and scope of ‘offshore banking’, ‘off-balance-sheet’ accounting and parasitical speculation - thievery by most people’s definition. The World Bank estimates that the total of ‘illicit money’ hidden from tax authorities, governments and accountants, amounts to between $1 trillion and $1.6 trillion a year. By Steve Appleton, Socialist Party
Hundredth anniversary of International Women’s Day At its very beginning, in the early 20th century, International Women’s Day – the 8th of March - was a day of struggle for working women. Nowadays it has largely been hijacked by the capitalist establishment as a ceremonial and sometimes highly commercial affair. Much has happened over time, providing welcome proof that women’s oppression can be fought and pushed back, but despite this, the oppression rooted in society continues. Indeed, in the past years many earlier conquests for women have been lost as a result of the crisis of capitalism. By Elin Gauffin, CWI Sweden
SP Newsletter No.300 The Labor Government is planning to force all Australian Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to filter internet traffic and block any ‘inappropriate’ material. Under the guise of ‘protecting children’ the Government plan is set to censor thousands of internet sites. The announcement by Senator Stephen Conroy comes only nine months after a leak of potentially censored sites was uploaded on Wikileaks, a site where whistleblowers can easily leak official documents to the public. The list brings into question the Government’s stated aim of ‘protecting children’ from Restricted Access sites.
Around 1600 workers took industrial action at Woodside’s Pluto Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project in January over changes to their accommodation. Woodside wanted the workers to change rooms at the end of each rostered work cycle instead of getting their own permanent accommodation for the duration of the project. By David Suter, Socialist Party Perth Continue reading WA: Workers fight to defend wages and conditions
Interview with a socialist blogger in China In January the world’s largest internet company declared it had been targeted by organised hackers from China and was therefore prepared to quit the Chinese internet market. What is at the root of this conflict and how could it develop? Chinaworker.info spoke to socialist blogger Zhao Jiangang. SBY government’s honeymoon spoiled Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) hoped for a bit of a honeymoon after being re-elected in the Indonesian presidential election in July 2009. Instead, his government has faced a series of scandals surrounding the Corruption Eradication Commission and the bailout of the PT Bank Century. SBY won with 60.8% of the vote, while the Megawati-Prabowo ticket received 26.8%. The Jusuf Kalla-Wiranto ticket received 12.4%. By Anthony Main, Socialist Party SP Newsletter No.299 When Kevin Rudd came to office in 2007 many hoped that we would start to see some progressive change in Australia. Unfortunately Rudd has proved himself to be little different to Howard. For example, Workchoices has been merely rebadged while draconian laws against construction workers remain fully in tact. At the same time OH&S laws are beginning to be undermined by the Labor government.
Student meeting this Saturday! Environmental destruction, war, poverty, oppression and exploitation. A public meeting explaining why the system is to blame. It’s Orientation Week at most universities in Melbourne this week. The Socialist Party will be active at several campuses including Monash Clayton, La Trobe Bundoora, RMIT City and Melbourne Uni. We will be holding information stalls and recruiting to our student clubs. We are also building for a public meeting titled ‘Why capitalism is a system of crisis’. Come along at 3pm this Saturday Feb 27th @ Trades Hall, corner of Lygon & Victoria Streets Carlton South. For more info or to join one of our clubs phone 9639 9111. Also sign up to our student email list here.
Introduction to new Urdu edition of ‘Permanent Revolution’ by Leon Trotsky We publish below a new introduction by Peter Taaffe to Leon Trotsky’s ‘Permanent Revolution’, which our comrades in the Socialist Movement Pakistan (CWI) are publishing in Urdu. What relevance does Trotsky’s Theory of the Permanent Revolution have to the problems of the workers’ cause or the peasants’ (small farmers) movement today? After all, it was formulated more than 100 years ago during the first Russian revolution of 1905-07.
SP Newsletter No.298 The closure of the Tote Hotel in January shocked music fans across Melbourne. For more than 20 years the pub has been at the centre of Melbourne’s live music scene. Since then the Arthouse has announced it will close this year and several other venues have complained that they can no longer afford to host live shows. On every occasion licensees have blamed higher operating costs due to the State Government’s new liquor licensing conditions. Continue reading Scrap Brumby’s liquor laws – Save live music! |
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