In 2017, I helped organise an anti-racist protest in Flemington. Public housing residents joined in. The police were completely out of control. Sending them in to besiege residents during a public health crisis is unnecessary, punitive and wrong.
Australia's supposed history of national unity and cooperation is regularly invoked by both right-wing politicians and trade union leaders. But the country's history is one of bitter class struggle, even during the peaks of nationalist frenzy like the first World War.
Under the cover of COVID-19, the Liberal government is trying to push through a historic attack on the rights of students and university workers. Massive cuts and huge fee increases have to be met with student and worker resistance.
