Omar Hassan is the editor of the Marxist Left Review.
Despite decades of climate research, public activism and international conferences, fossil fuels are back in vogue. Big producers are making astronomical sums of money, their share prices are going up, and new investors are pouring in. The result is that the much-vaunted global transition to renewables is, yet again, on hold.
The investigation into the storming of the US Congress in January last year has proven beyond doubt that Trump was seriously attempting a “soft” coup. Until recently, the media coverage have largely focused on the actions of a motley crew of conspiracists, used-car salesmen and fascists who led the events of 6 January. While undeniably despicable and deserving of serious contestation by the left, these forces are totally marginal to politics in the United States.
The world is in the midst of the biggest inflationary episode since the 1970s. The costs of goods and services have gone up across the board, with increases concentrated in the most essential sectors of food, energy and housing.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has a new plan to reopen her state’s economy, likely infecting tens of thousands with the deadly Delta strain of COVID-19. Press reports indicate that Berejiklian has overruled her own health officer to institute this new “roadmap to freedom”, which identifies October 18 as the planned date for shops, pubs, swimming pools, hairdressers, gyms and aged care centres to reopen. They will then be followed by schools on October 25. The trigger for these plans is the dubious target of 70% of people 16 and over having two doses of the vaccine.
The chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan has triggered a flurry of different responses. For those who opposed the war and occupation from the beginning, it's difficult to feel anything but rage.
The following is a speech delivered by Omar Hassan to a post-rally event co-hosted by Socialist Alternative and Free Palestine Melbourne on 22 May 2021.