I first heard about George Petersen in 1981. I was a 22 year old gay liberationist and budding socialist. The gay movement was buzzing with news of the Petersen bill, a private member’s bill introduced into the NSW Parliament to lower the age of consent to 16 for both homosexuals and heterosexuals and to repeal… Read more »
socialism
Shut Down The World Economic Forum!
Global capitalism faces a crisis — and it’s not the economic one, not directly, anyway. In the last four years, in cities across the world, mass protest has greeted meetings of global economic institutions. Now one of those bodies is descending upon Australia. A regional meeting of the big business think tank, the World Economic… Read more »
Proportional Representation: Winning a Voice for the Minority is Key to Becoming a Majority
Just how “democratic” is capitalist democracy? Not very! Howard was returned to office last election with less than 50% of the vote. Thatcher governed Britain for more than a decade — and never got more than 44% of the vote. Fight for fair electoral rules. Proportional representation, a system where parties are assigned seats based… Read more »
“Battle in Seattle” Promises a New Era of Solidarity Against Free Trade Piracy
When representatives of the World Trade Organization swept into downtown Seattle at the end of November, they meant for their five-day Ministerial Round to entrench and expand “free trade” — the free ride of the biggest corporations at the expense of everyone else. Instead, the WTO meeting crashed and burned, thwarted by determined protesters in… Read more »
The Transitional Program: A Tool Kit for Radical 21st Century Organisers
Leon Trotsky wrote The Death Agony of Capitalism and the Tasks of the Fourth International 62 years ago while living in exile in Mexico. Trotsky was a leader of the 1917 Russian Revolution and, as Commander in Chief of the Red Army, was pivotal in the defeat of the counter-revolutionary forces, backed by foreign invaders…. Read more »
