Triple J and the Aussie Fuhrer
Triple j’s hack tv special on the little Aussie Fuhrer Blair Cottrell was exactly what commentators grappling with the rise of Pauline Hanson have been calling for: a conversation. In response to breakfast television host Sonia Kruger’s call to ban Muslim immigration, Waleed Aly called on...CONTINUE READING
Greek government under increasing pressure
“A new phase of the Syriza era” is how one activist characterised the political situation in Greece since the re-election of the post-bailout Syriza government in September. In the last months of 2015, teachers, students, seamen, metro workers, municipal workers and pensioners protested or...CONTINUE READING
A dark wave of racism engulfs Europe
From the vantage point of the Swiss Alps, world leaders and their wealthy friends who attended the World Economic Forum in Davos cast an eye over the potential threats to their order. This year they identified “large scale involuntary migration” as the biggest “risk” in 2016. As they talke...CONTINUE READING
The defeat of the left, and the recomposition in Greece
The Greek ruling party, Syriza, won a convincing victory in the national election held on 20 September, winning 144 seats, down from the 149 seats won on 25 January. Prime minister Alexis Tsipras resigned last month to make way for the poll after he signed a third memorandum with the count...CONTINUE READING
The deal is done but the fight isn’t over in Greece
In extraordinary circumstances, the Greek parliament has passed its third and most savage agreement with the country’s creditors. It secured an €86 billion loan, which will recapitalise Greece’s banks and repay existing loans to the same institutions advancing the loan. The Greek people wi...CONTINUE READING
Polarisation in Syriza as democracy undermined in Greece
Red Flag ’s Colleen Bolger has recently returned from Athens, where she has been reporting on the political turmoil in Greece. Her previous dispatches, along with other articles and statements from Greece, provide valuable background. They are collected at Articles from Athens . ----------...CONTINUE READING
Turning resignation into resistance in Greece
Greece is in turmoil. The state for five years has been dependent on loans from other European states, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The loans have been conditional on successive governments imposing austerity, which has contributed to severe economic depre...CONTINUE READING
New battle lines drawn in Greece
The post-referendum political turmoil has reset the political situation in Greece. On one hand, the betrayal of the 61 percent who voted against the 26 June draft agreement has undone the pre-referendum momentum. The working class again has been demobilised. On the other, the beleaguered T...CONTINUE READING
The Greek left responds
The deal Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras has done with the European establishment will put money into the pockets of the corrupt oligarchy, rather than food into the mouths of pensioners and the unemployed. The hope that people put in him just one week ago is not a debt that can be def...CONTINUE READING