Issue 8 - September 10 2013 $3 / $5 (solidarity price) REMEMBERING FLAG CHILE 1973 RED PAGE 17 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative www.redfl ag.org.au DISABILITY NO NORTHERN PLAN NOT TERRITORY WHAT IT SEEMS NUCLEAR DUMP Page 8 Page 13 WIPE THE SMILE OFF HIS FACE

INSIDE: How we can resist Abbott’s attacks

ALSO: ONLY MILITANT UNIONISM WILL HOLD OFF ABBOTT Jerome Small looks at the prospects for unions under the Liberals - Page 9 2 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG www.redfl ag.org.au RED

CONTENTS EDITORIAL 3 How Labor let the bastards in Mick Armstrong analyses the election result. 4 Wipe the smile off Abbott’s face ALP wouldn’t stop Abbo , Diane Fieldes on what we need to do to fi ght back. now it’s up to the rest of us 5 The limits of the Greens’ leftism A lot of people woke up on Sunday leader (any leader) and wait for the 6 Where does real change come from? a er the election with a sore head. next election. Don’t reassess any And not just from drowning their policies, don’t look seriously about the Colleen Bolger makes the argument for getting organised. sorrows too determinedly the night deep crisis of Laborism that, having David confront a Goliath in yellow overalls before. The thought of Tony Abbo as developed for the last 30 years, is now prime minister is enough to make the at its most acute point. Jeremy Gibson reports on a community battling to keep McDonald’s soberest person’s head hurt. Labor has destroyed itself. But out of their town. What made it worse is that Abbo there is no point in the le si ing got in without a fi ght. It is no wonder around moping. We need to organise 8 Disability plan not what it seems that record numbers of people didn’t resistance to the Liberals, and we need The NDIS is going to hurt many, explains Lana Woolf. even bother voting, so uninspiring to start now. was the alternative: another three Red Flag plans to play its role in 9 FEATURE: Only militant unionism will hold off Abbott’s years of Labor. the anti-Abbo resistance. On election night Labor politicians Over the past few months we are attack fell over themselves to admit that the proud of what we have done with our Jerome Small takes stock of trade unionism under Labor and points to ALP had made mistakes. Problem was, new paper: reporting on struggles by the tasks ahead. they all missed the point. “Disunity workers across the country; taking is death” they all said in unison. If up the defence of heroes like Chelsea 12 Workplace and union reports only the party wasn’t so divided, so Manning and Edward Snowden, wracked by infi ghting, it could have who have dared to expose the truth Abattoir workers challenge non-union agreement; Egyptian sailors on won. about our rulers; and giving an strike at Port Kembla; casual workers organising; WA teachers rally Of course if it wasn’t for the unapologetically le wing take on against cuts. shambolic leadership wrangling, all the issues and controversies of Labor might have polled be er. But Australian politics. 14 No NT nuclear waste dump! the reality is that infi ghting over the The Abbo era will give us many Jon Lamb and Cathy Lawless speak to Barb Shaw and Dave Sweeney leadership was a symptom of Labor’s more such challenges. When the about the campaign to stop the waste dump at Muckaty Station. malaise, not its cause. corporate press inevitably covers up The core of the problem is that the Liberals’ lies, and makes excuses 15 We need free childcare Labor stands for nothing. Nothing, for Labor’s failure, we will be standing that is, except a watered down version on the side of everyone whose Kate Jeffreys makes the case. of the Liberal Party, short a few silver rights Abbo a acks: championing spoons and landed gents. resistance, building solidarity, and 16 Syria: Support the revolution, oppose US attack Year a er year Labor moves making the case for building a new Vashti Kenway explains why. further to the right. And every time socialist movement that can unite it does, it brings more disasters upon people in a fi ght against every 17 Chile 1973: Lessons of the coup itself. injustice of the system. With every new catastrophe there We know we will have our work Jorge Jorquera looks back on the 40 years since Pinochet took power. are some who hope: maybe now they cut out. So if you share our contempt will see sense. But they never do. And for the state of politics in Australia 20 Forgotten revolutionaries: Monty Miller now, as Labor contemplates its latest today, we need your support. debacle, the same people are coming Take out a subscription to our US expands arms sales to Indonesia up with the same answers that got paper to help us keep ge ing out an James Balowski them down this rabbit hole in the fi rst alternative to the corporate media. reports from Jakarta. place. Be er still, get involved in the 21 World in struggle The seemingly agreed strategy struggle alongside us, and help build coming out of this election from the an alternative to the madness of our From Manila to New York, our side is fi ghting back. Labor MPs is unite behind a new current system..

REDFLAG WHAT IS REDFLAG ABOUT?

We live in a world where “political This politics of resistance is Telling the truth. The capitalist press is full of lies, distortions and right struggle” is a sullied phrase. The what Red Flag is about. wing bias. We need an alternative press, free from corporate interests and term evokes dishonesty and the We took the name Red Flag government spin, to provide news and analysis of major developments in kind of vacuous, self-serving antics because it represents solidarity, our world. that are on display whenever we struggle and internationalism, but Supporting resistance look at the major parties of Aus- also because it stands for socialism . Those that own and control the corporate media tralia politics. If the parliament is – a world organised to meet human are hostile to people fi ghting for their rights. They make money out of the all there is to “politics”, then it is need, not the interests of the rich exploitation and oppression of workers and the poor. Red Flag is a paper on wholly understandable that most minority that currently in control. the side of the oppressed, telling the story from our side and giving solidarity people want nothing at all to do Out of the struggles against the to those in struggle. with it. injustices of our current system, Fighting for socialism. Red Flag is about more than just highlighting problems But there is another kind of pol- we want to be part of building a with the system, or supporting individual struggles. It campaigns to win itics: the politics of resistance and new socialist movement that can people to socialism, to convince them that the revolutionary overthrow of struggle. Over the past few years mount a challenge to the whole capitalism is the solution to the problems of society. – from the Arab revolutions to Oc- structure of capitalist rule. This is Intervening in struggles cupy to the resistance to austerity an enormous task. But the courage . Red Flag’s socialist politics doesn’t just mean in Europe – people have time and of the thousands of people resist- general arguments for socialism. Red Flag is an interventionist paper, again taken to the streets, organ- ing oppression and injustice from bringing socialist arguments to the debates of today about how we can best ised in their communities and their one side of the planet to another, mount a fi ghtback, what tactics and strategies are needed to take on the workplaces, and set themselves the gives us confi dence that the future right. And while Red Flag will fi ght for the views of Socialist Alternative, the task of fi ghting for a be er world. belongs to all of us. paper is also a forum in which crucial questions on the left can be debated. 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 3 FLAG Newspaper of Socialist Alternative RED www.redfl ag.org.au

How Labor let the bastards in cent. workers’ rights and conditions, no That campaign involved hundreds Mick Armstrong The two party preferred swing mandate for a wave of cuts. of thousands of striking workers tak- to the Liberals of 3.5 per cent was Abbo won because Labor did ing to the streets and had the poten- In what passes for democracy in Aus- enough to give them a clear majori- not deliver for workers. He kept to tial not only to defeat WorkChoices tralia, the vilest of the vile has won. ty of seats, but this was no landslide. his small target strategy and was very but to begin to revive working class Labor lost because for six years it It was less than the 5 percent swing careful not to endorse publicly the confi dence to stand up to the whole ruled, just like the Liberals before it, John Howard got in 1996. wish list of anti-worker demands the neoliberal off ensive. We had a chance for the big end of town and did noth- Labor still gained almost 47 per Liberals’ big business backers cham- to begin to turn the tide and rebuild ing to advance the interests of its cent of the two party preferred vote. pioned. union organisation. working class supporters. And for all the pre-election talk of a While hospitals, education, pub- Liberal surge in the working class lic transport and basic social servic- western suburbs of Sydney, Labor For all the talk of a crushing victory for Abbo , es were underfunded, the banks and held onto the great bulk of its seats he has no mandate to go on a sweeping off ensive the mining companies raked in record there. against workers’ rights and conditions, no mandate profi ts, on which Labor let them pay The Greens paid dearly for prop- only peanuts in tax. ping up the wretched ALP govern- for a wave of cuts. The most grotesque legacy of ment. Immediately before the elec- this Labor government is that under tion, the Greens sought to distance But there is no doubt about the The trouble was that, in prepara- Rudd and Gillard’s rule, Gina Rinehart themselves from Labor. However, class interests that the Liberals repre- tion for the 2007 elections, the ACTU became the richest woman in the their failure to provide a fi ghting sent. A clear symbol of this was min- leadership wound up the industri- world, while single parents had their alternative that mobilised working ing billionaire Gina Rinehart’s guest al campaign and the mass protests pi ance of a benefi t slashed and the class resistance to Labor caused their appearance at Barnaby Joyce’s victo- against WorkChoices and converted dole was held well below the poverty vote to plunge from 11.8 per cent to 8.4 ry celebration in Tamworth. And of them into a vote Labor campaign. line. per cent. course Abbo was stridently backed In exchange for a few vague prom- Labor maintained the Howard The disillusionment with the ma- by his friend Rupert Murdoch’s press ises, Labor was given a blank cheque government’s core policies. It refused jor parties and the Greens was most empire. by the union leaders. In offi ce, facing to abolish the anti-worker Work- marked in the Senate, where Labor’s It is only a question of how hard no serious industrial pressure from Choices legislation. It extended How- vote fell 4.6 per cent, the Coalition’s and how quickly they will move the unions, Labor predictably kow- ard’s racist Northern Territory inter- 1.5 per cent and the Greens’ 4.4 per against us. Much will depend on towed to the bosses and preserved vention. It continued to back the bru- cent. The benefi ciaries were a swag of what happens with the economy. If the great bulk of WorkChoices. tal imperialist war in Afghanistan. crackpot or right wing minor parties, it continues to falter, then we need to For six years of the Labor govern- It refused to legislate for same-sex most notably mining billionaire Clive prepare for an avalanche of a acks ment, the union leaders have done marriage. It gave billions of dollars in Palmer’s Palmer United Party with 5 as the Liberals move to shore up the li le more than grumble – refl ected handouts to big business. per cent. bosses’ profi ts. in the fact that in the last 12 months, When it came to treatment of vic- Another sign of the disillusion- We are going to have to fi ght them there were only 200,000 days of strike tims of torture and persecution, La- ment with offi cial politics was a fur- in the workplaces, in the streets and action, compared to the millions of bor even topped Howard for racism ther rise in the informal vote, to 5.9 on the campuses. Labor is not going days on strike back in the 1970s, when and cruelty. Labor’s refugee policy per cent. In NSW, where the stench to save us, and neither are the Greens. we were actually winning real gains. was depraved. of corruption associated with Labor The only serious reforms that parlia- The union leaders’ failure to fi ght But if workers were disillusioned is most intense, the informal vote ment will deliver are those for which under Labor has delivered us into with Labor, there was no ground- reached 7.7 per cent. On top of that, a we build mass campaigns outside par- the hands of Abbo . We can’t allow swell of enthusiasm for the Liberals. quarter of young people newly eligi- liament. this story to repeat itself. Now is not So while Labor’s primary vote in the ble to vote did not even bother to get We need to learn the lessons of the time to “box clever”. We need to House of Representative fell 4 per- on the electoral roll. last time round. The Howard gov- get into the ring and start delivering cent to 34 per cent, its lowest level in So for all the talk of a crushing ernment was brought down by the some punches and not allow the ALP a hundred years, the Coalition’s vote victory for Abbo , he has no mandate massive union campaign against his leaders to restrain us. rose by less than 2 percent to 45 per to go on a sweeping off ensive against hated WorkChoices legislation. 4 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 ELECTION 2013 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG www.redfl ag.org.au RED

Wipe the smile off Abbo ’s face

Diane Fieldes Within six months of John Howard coming

We know what’s coming. Upon win- to offi ce in 1996, 25,000 workers converged ning the election, Abbo declared on Canberra in opposition to his anti-union Australia to be “under new manage- ment and open for business”. laws. Abbo ’s “Le er to the people of Australia”, brought to us by the Mur- doch press immediately a er the parliament. be strikes. The new round of a acks, election, shows we’ll need to fi ght. This disconnection between the while profi ts are sacrosanct, will see It doesn’t mark any huge departure reality of how workers experience the to that. from what we’ve suff ered under La- world, and the dominant ideas, is the But the outcome will depend on bor: handouts of billions to major basis on which resistance is possible. politics and organisation. The capital- corporations, punitive assaults on More important than the mere ist class is acutely aware of the need Aboriginal communities, “Operation existence of an Abbo government for organisation – and it has immense Sovereign Borders” to a ack refugees, will be the extent to which people resources at its disposal. Our side thousands of job losses in the public can mobilise to resist any and every doesn’t, so it is even more important service and a “review” of childcare cutback in the coming years. Si ing that we be organised. funding that’s designed to keep child- and waiting for the next a ack (or the That means we need to build a care workers’ already miserable wages next election) will only encourage the political alternative, a new socialist down. This is what the Australian rul- conservatives. movement that doesn’t think it can REBUILDING ing class wants, and Abbo is going to Having a Liberal maggot as prime win change through parliament, but oblige. minister has never stopped struggles instead looks to the struggles outside FIGHTING So how can we resist? breaking out. In the Menzies era of 23 of parliament as the basis of a work- There is nothing inevitable about years of unbroken conservative rule, ing class mass movement to overturn UNIONISM the Liberals being able to carry out there were some massive and success- the whole ro en system. We are a long the bosses’ a acks. There is an enor- ful strikes. The high point of social way from that yet, but we have to and Red Flag is sponsoring an mous disconnection between the movements, from women’s liberation can make a start now. educational event in Melbourne political establishment and what the to the campaign against the Vietnam We need a political organisation of this November for union delegates bulk of the population thinks. An Es- War, all took place under Liberal gov- activists driven by hostility to every and workplace activists. sential poll in May recorded that over ernments. idea and institution that supports With the Liberals back in 60 percent think large businesses, More recently, it is worth remem- capitalism, and a desire to convince offi ce, there is no be er time to mining companies, and people on high bering that within six months of others of their arguments, whether share experiences of organising incomes don’t pay enough tax. John Howard coming to offi ce in 1996, it’s the need for strike action, taking at work, and learning about the Other polling reveals that similar 25,000 workers converged on Canber- on racism against refugees or the radical history of the workers’ (or larger) majorities think the gov- ra in opposition to his anti-union laws fi ght for equal pay for women. movement. ernment is doing “too li le” when it and public spending cuts. Thousands Nor is it enough to be part of Sessions will cover things like comes to regulating banks, or provid- of them broke into parliament’s hal- struggles around particular issues how to build rank and fi le groups ing adequate health care, aff ordable lowed halls (and gi shop). without also building up a socialist today, the challenges of operating public transport and quality educa- A journalist described how “im- organisation for the future. in non-union workplaces, how the tion. pertinent but agile protesters climbed These struggles, though impor- Communist Party built militant The reason so many of us think up and across the holy marble parapet tant, are temporary. At some point, unionism, the role of the trade these things, despite right wing me- … and hung their banners there, Eure- their demands are met or the strug- union offi cials, and women in the dia and a barrage of “common sense” ka and Aboriginal fl ags … The hither- gles are defeated. But if, through in- worker’s movement. Full program arguments for budget surpluses and to aloof, superior and polished par- volvement in those struggles, more TBA. the like, is that we live in a world of liament … seemed for a few exciting people are won to the need to chal- massive inequality, in which a tiny mi- hours to be a popular amenity.” lenge all forms of injustice and op- 6pm Friday 15 November nority live in luxury while most strug- If we want to fi ght Abbo , we pression, the need to organise in the and 10am onwards on gle to make ends meet, a world of war need to build a fi ght back beyond par- workplaces to change society and the and economic crisis that has created liament – on the streets, on campuses need for solidarity between oppressed Saturday 16 November human misery and environmental de- and, most centrally, in our workplaces, groups against the rich and powerful – Trades Hall, corner struction on an unprecedented scale. where in our millions workers have that is, to revolutionary politics – then Victoria and Lygon Street, Only last week, Gina Rinehart was real power. Already there are protests both future struggles and the long telling us that rich people should be in defence of refugee rights and for term goal of overthrowing the system Carlton, VIC able to buy their way out of jail. This same-sex marriage planned in the in its entirety are strengthened. week Clive Palmer has shown us that fi rst few weeks of the Abbo govern- For info contact [email protected] rich people can buy their way into ment. We can guarantee there will 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 5 FLAG Newspaper of Socialist Alternative ELECTION 2013 RED www.redfl ag.org.au

Rising The limits of the Greens’ le ism anger at mainstream parties Tom Bramble

There is mass alienation from established politics. Increasing numbers feel that the big parties off er them nothing. The informal vote in the House of Reps contests rose to a record high of 5.9 percent, or nearly 700,000. In NSW, informal votes reached 7.7 percent and, in a string of working class suburbs in Sydney’s south and west, 10-15 percent. Although there was a swing of 0.35 percent towards in- rom one side of the country fers is li le more than the sort of wet formals nationally, in Sydney, the to the other, the Greens’ vote liberalism that even former Liberal The Greens have swing hit 2.5-3.0 percent in Werri- dropped in this election. In Party Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser contributed to the wa, Barton and Parrama a and 2 Tasmania, home of party el- can endorse. percent in Chifl ey. Fder statesman Bob Brown, the swings As Bandt noted on Sunday, af- general malaise of Twenty-fi ve percent of young against them were between 7 and 11 ter the election, his vote came from the le through their voters didn’t even bother to enrol. percent. In Western Australia, they people “right across the political With the Labor primary vote were 6-8 percent, in Brisbane and Ad- spectrum who said, ‛Tony Abbo inability to articulate nationally at its lowest since 1903, elaide, 4-7 percent. doesn’t represent the values of small-l clearly a vision of the it’s clear that the party is steadily In the Sydney seat of Grayndler, liberalism that I hold.’” losing its appeal to working class which the Greens have long ear- The Greens have contributed to world in class terms. voters. marked as a possible win from Labor, the general malaise of the le through This election was a massive the party’s share of the vote dropped their inability to articulate clearly interest in changing course. switch-off . Unfortunately, when by 3 percent, and in neighbouring a vision of the world in class terms. The situation was clear in Tasma- people did vote, popular disaf- Sydney by more than twice as much. Where the Communist Party or the nia, where they are in coalition with fection did not lead in a le wing In both cases, Labor picked up a swing le wing of Labor in years past were the budget-cu ing ALP government direction but towards right wing against the trend. able to galvanise supporters with a vi- and where the swing against the micro parties, most obviously The Greens maintained them- sion that put workers at the centre of party was most savage. Tasmanian Clive Palmer’s trophy party. The selves in Melbourne. Adam Bandt’s political life, the Greens campaign for Greens Senator and former invest- Palmer United Party, formed by win in that seat came with a positive people of all classes simply to “care”. ment banker Peter Whish-Wilson the billionaire mining magnate swing of 8 percent. Elsewhere in the This is no basis on which to build highlighted the party’s problems be- just four months ago, managed city, the party either got a positive opposition to ruling class a acks. To fore the election when he described to snare a 5.6 percent share of the small swing or kept the loss to 2 per- create a genuine le opposition to weekend penalty rates as “just a white lower house vote. cent. the ALP, the Greens would need to Anglo-Saxon cultural thing that we’ve That someone like Clive In the Senate, despite a signifi cant galvanise those sections of the work- inherited”. Palmer, long-time fi nancial spon- swing away from them, they have ing class tired of both tough-talking Even though the party quickly sor of the LNP in Queensland, managed to increase their representa- sell-out politicians, and wishy washy rushed to disown this comment, it can claim and capitalise elector- tion. political hand wringers. They would indicated that the party’s leading fi g- ally on his supposed “outsider” The Greens tried to distance them- need to build a base in the unions ures have li le intention of trying to status speaks volumes for the selves from Labor in the run-up to the with an eye to mobilising the class to build working class resistance to em- low opinion in which most main- election, and to that extent they fi lled fi ght for its own interests. ployer and government a acks. stream politicians are held. the space to the le of the ALP. But But the party has done li le in the le alternative that the party of- this regard, and continues to show no 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 6 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG www.redfl ag.org.au RED

Where does real change come from?

kind of health care you can aff ord, Colleen Bolger where your children will go to school. The bosses have waged a one-sided class None of this changes when there is a off ensive that has eroded many of the gains won The radical historian Howard Zinn change of government. once said: “What ma ers is not who’s Company executives rely on the in the 1960s. The single biggest factor in these si ing in the White House. What mat- state to provide conditions conducive defeats has not been who was in government, ters is who’s si ing in!” to doing business. They require fa- He was pointing to how progres- vourable labour laws, taxation policies but the weakness of our side. sive change is won. It has li le to do and trade deals. A police force must be with the political stripes of the party at the ready for those occasions when The key is the relative strength example. When Tramways Union Sec- in government, but much to do with people step out of line. And the army of both sides in the class struggle. retary Clarrie O’Shea was jailed for re- what happens outside parliament. does their bidding beyond domestic When working class combativity was fusing to pay a fi ne, workers mobilised If it isn’t the parliamentarians, markets. on the rise during the postwar boom, to bring the economy to a standstill who does run society? Most of the The enormous wealth of corpo- many gains were won under Liberal until he was released. The penal pow- time the decisions about what hap- rate heads enables them to discipline PM Robert Menzies. The campaigns ers became a dead le er. pens are made by the tiny minority governments and buy MPs’ loyalty. to win recognition for Aboriginal peo- However, in the last 30 years the who run corporations (directly or in- Although they wield enormous ple in 1967 and to force desegregation bosses have waged a one-sided class directly). They call the shots in both power over society, the bosses are not show how a determined minority of off ensive that has eroded many of the daily lives of workers and the de- elected. They are answerable only to Aboriginal activists and students who the gains won in the 1960s. The single cisions of their parliamentary repre- the cronies on their company’s board. tore around the country on their Free- biggest factor in these defeats has not sentatives. Their performance is measured in the dom Rides could impose their agenda, been who was in government, but the They dictate what people will do company’s bo om line. In all their de- regardless of the ideology of the gov- weakness of our side. during the most signifi cant period of cisions, one simple thing is uppermost ernment of the day. If we want progressive change, we the day – their working hours. They in their minds: maximising profi t. More recently, both Labor and Lib- should take Zinn’s words to heart. Our determine how, when and what sort Profi t is extracted by exploiting eral governments have continued the side needs to get organised and re- of work you perform. Everything workers. Therefore, the major divide the of Aboriginal land demanded by build a rank and fi le socialist current from bathroom breaks to ge ing in society is not between Labor and mining companies. in the unions and an activist tradition sacked is their call. the Liberals; the major ba le lines are The fi ght against the penal powers on the campuses. Their decisions also impact on between bosses and workers. This is – which imposed he y fi nes on unau- whether you can aff ord to own a where the fi ght for change is really thorised industrial activity through- house, what suburb it will be in, what played out. out the 1950s and 1960s – is another David confronts a goliath in yellow overalls

of residents to protest the store” and Jeremy Gibson recommending that McDonald’s “re- consider” its plans for the site. Resi- The struggle by residents against the dents have since also received backing construction of a McDonald’s in the from other unions, including the ASU Dandenong Ranges township of Teco- and NUW. ma has entered a diffi cult new phase, Demolition at the site fi nally re- with eight protesters now being sued sumed with non-union labour in Au- by the company. gust, but only a er dozens of police The campaign began in earnest in were mobilised to remove protesters. October 2012, when, a er its plans to McDonald’s has now hauled a build a 24-hour outlet in Tecoma were number of protesters into the Victori- knocked back by the local council, an Supreme Court, a empting to sue McDonald’s appealed directly to the for damages for the disruption that Victorian planning tribunal. Ignor- has been caused to date. Dubbed the ing more than 1,000 objections to the “Tecoma Eight”, these campaigners development, the tribunal overruled have been served with injunctions, the council and gave McDonald’s the now extended to 20 September, ban- green light. ning them from trespassing on the This kick started a determined site lest they face further legal rami- campaign by local residents, as they fi cations. asserted their right to have a say over Lawyers representing McDonald’s what development was allowed in are yet to specify the amount they’ll their township. The biggest boon for be seeking in damages from the eight, the campaign came in July, two days but given that they’re claiming to a er demolition work began. The con- have lost thousands of dollars a day struction union, the CFMEU, advised due to the protests, it seems likely members on the site that working in that they’ll be a er a signifi cant sum. the midst of protests and disruptions However, residents have shown put health and safety at risk, and shut no sign of wavering, and as support down the site. for the campaign continues to grow, A CFMEU branch meeting then so too does their confi dence. passed a motion “supporting the right 10 SPETEMBER 2013 FLAG Newspaper of Socialist Alternative 7 RED www.redfl ag.org.au 8 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG www.redfl ag.org.au RED

Disability plan is not all it seems

a disability, will be eligible for Disabil- Lana Woolf ityCare. The government is taking the DisabilityCare is part of a neoliberal agenda amount currently allocated to fund DisabilityCare, formerly the National the entire disability sector as well as of privatisation and eroding workers’ Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), levying the public, and shi ing it all conditions. has been sold as a historic advance in into a scheme accessible by only a the provision of disability services in fraction of the population living with The planners are the cornerstone of a workforce to be replaced with “a more Australia. With its focus on “individ- a disability. new bureaucratic layer established to fl exible workforce model where peaks ualised support”, it’s claimed that the Kerry, a mother grappling with administer the scheme. and troughs in service provision can national scheme ushers in a new era the likely impact of the new system, be accommodated with li le addition- of “choice and control” for Australians explains some of the concerns about Workers’ rights al cost”, according to Gaynor Lowndes, living with a disability. a tick-box approach to eligibility: “My More than 75 percent of workers who runs HomeCare Australia. She At the launch of the Barwon pi- greatest fear is that it won’t be enough. in the disability support sector are advises services readying for the new lot program in Victoria, Liz Manning, I fear children just like mine will con- categorised as “non-professional”. era to expect to “lose at least 25 per- the parent of a young woman with a tinue not to receive help because they Low wages are characteristic of the cent of your current staff who will not severe disability, articulated the ex- are not ‘disabled enough’ or don’t fi t a sector, and this looks set to get worse embrace the new company values” pectations of many: “For us Disabili- neat criteria box.” under DisabilityCare. dictated by DisabilityCare. tyCare is about hope for the future, A key feature of DisabilityCare is DisabilityCare emphasises a move This is what the scheme is really that all members of our family will that each person will be allocated an to industry-based competition in the about: competition and market forc- have the opportunity for meaningful, individual budget to manage. John multi-billion dollar disability and ser- es. It is not about more choice; the dignifi ed, manageable and enjoyable Della Bosca, from the lobby group vices care sector. To survive, organi- already dwindling choice will shrink lives.” Every Australian Counts, says that sations will be competing with each in an open market. It will not provide Unfortunately, these hopes are the budget will provide for “whatever other for clients and their individual important resources that people with not likely to be realised. The reality is is necessary for people to normalise funding allocation. Only the largest disabilities require to have a be er that DisabilityCare is part of a neolib- their life”. This is total bollocks. and fi ercest competitors will survive. quality of life, like access to public eral agenda of privatisation, eroding The scheme has also created posi- As services ba le to undercut each transport, housing, communication workers’ conditions and commodify- tions called “planners” who will “work other, workers’ wages will be one of technologies and adequate income ing social services. closely with each participant to iden- the fi rst things they try to slash. support. DisabilityCare is not a scheme for tify what current and future supports In the pilot programs rolled out It is a bogus neoliberal counter-re- everyone with a disability. Disabili- are required to make progress with so far pay, the fi rst wages off er by form. In the words of Simon Duff y tyCare is available only to people with a person’s goals”. In practice, the job the federal government was up to 15 from the UK Centre of Welfare Re- a “signifi cant or profound” disability, of the planners is to ensure that the percent less than workers currently form, “I think that Australia is in dan- as assessed by the government. support DisabilityCare “participants” receive. ger of building the world’s worst sys- Latest fi gures indicate that nearly receive is “reasonable and necessary” Bosses in the sector are openly tem of individualised funding.” 4 million people in Australia have a according to criteria set by the gov- talking about DisabilityCare as a “new disability. But the government’s own ernment. In this scheme, participants frontier” for the disability service pro- [Lana works in health and disabilities estimates are that about 410,000, or a can make a “choice” as long as the gov- vision business model. The plan is for services.] li le over 10 percent of all people with ernment deems it is the right choice. an “ineffi cient and costly” permanent

Egyptian military targets socialists in crackdown wo months a er it took the military takeover, are fi nding power, the Egyptian military themselves squarely in the crosshairs Tis widening its assault on the of the counter-revolution. right to organise. The military is On September 5, labour lawyer cynically using the bi erness millions Haitham Mohamedain, a leading feel towards the deposed Morsi activist in the Revolutionary Haitham Mohamedain. government to try and carry out a Socialists, was arrested on his way full blooded counter-revolution and to meet clients in Suez. Haitham and of government by terrorist means SCAF, then against Morsi. They have destroy all the achievements of the the Revolutionary Socialists have through the organisation you lead”; always been advocates of mass dem- uprising that brought down Mubarak. been among only a small number “Jointly inciting and assisting in ocratic struggle, the method that has For the fi rst time since January 2011, of activists prepared to publicly the destruction of state property, fa- been the driving force of the Egyptian the Egyptian ruling class is united condemn the brutal crackdown on the cilities and institutions with the in- revolution. and on the off ensive. The military’s Muslim Brotherhood in recent weeks, tention of damaging the nation”; The fact that they are now be- moves to consolidate its power have including the killing of hundreds of “Jointly inciting and assisting in ing targeted should be a wakeup call the full backing of the media, of the protesters on 14 August. the occupation of a number of public to those who think the military can key institutions of the state, and of Haitham was released from prison buildings and public facilities”; and be trusted, or that it will limit its re- the private capitalists whose interests on 7 September, but according to his “Establishing and leading the Rev- pression to the Muslim Brotherhood. have been closely intertwined with lawyer, Ramy Ghoneim, he was read a olutionary Socialists organisation In Egypt now, anyone who stands those of the military for decades. list of very serious charges, including: which agitates in favour of imposing against military rule is a “terrorist”. And they are aided not only by “Leading and joining a secret or- a specifi c social class on the whole of Haitham’s arrest has drawn con- the mass hostility to the Muslim ganisation called the Revolutionary society and overthrowing the social demnation from trade unionists and Brotherhood, but by the appalling Socialists, the purpose of which is order of the state”. activists across the world. He has rep- capitulation of many former to deny the authority of the state, The Revolutionary Socialists is a resented hundreds of striking work- opponents of the military who are assault citizens and damage social small organisation, but it has the re- ers in court, and is also well known now cheering it on. peace”; spect of many for its intransigent role for his work with victims of torture Thousands of supporters of “Incitement by verbal and wri en from the fi rst days of the revolution. through El-Nadeem Centre. Solidarity the Muslim Brotherhood have means for the purposes mentioned in The charge that RS members are “ter- needs to continue. been arrested. And now, the few the fi rst indictment and possessing rorists” or somehow pawns of Morsi Go to menasolidaritynetwork.com revolutionary voices who both stood publications inciting violence”; is ludicrous. They stood in the streets and sign the statement calling for the against Morsi, and also vocally oppose “A empting to change the form fi rst against Mubarak, then against dropping of all charges. REDFLAG 9 FEATURE Only militant unionism will hold off Abbo ’s a acks

Jerome Small surveys the state of our union movement as we prepare to face a range of a acks from the Abbo government

air Work Unleashes Mob about the relationship between the reduced by two-thirds. care workers’ wages sounds impres- Rule – And It’s Spread- former Labor government – especial- For the union movement as a sive, but when it is averaged over the ing!” Every day over the ly under Gillard – and the unions. A whole, Labor’s Fair Work Act loosened 300,000 workers in the sector and over “Fpast year, some hyper- lengthy list of union requests were the rules about what unions can bar- four years, it’s about $20 per week. ventilating headline writer had the met over the past few years. gain over. Importantly, unions can Crucially, the core of WorkChoices job of proving that the Labor govern- Gillard commi ed several billion fi ght for legally binding enterprise remains intact. Union rights to enter ment was controlled by militant un- dollars to fund a measure of equal agreement clauses that cover con- a workplace, talk with workers and ions. Especially in the Murdoch press, pay in the community services sec- tracting out and casual employment, enforce conditions are well short of claims of “mob rule”, a “staggering” tor, a er a lively and long-running which was all but impossible under what was commonplace in the 1980s. level of strikes and an “unchecked, campaign by the Australian Services Howard’s WorkChoices laws. Eff ective strike action is banned in al- militant culture” among unions in Union. The Australian Nurses Federa- The Howard-era rules about most all situations, with severe penal- Australia have been commonplace. tion secured $1.2 billion to fund higher “greenfi elds” agreements, covering ties for unprotected industrial action. We wish. wages in aged care, a er only a min- new or relocated workplaces, allowed Employers can lock workers out, and In fact, a er six years of Labor imal, mainly online campaign. The the employer to dictate terms entirely, force them into unfavourable arbitra- government, rates of industrial action Transport Workers Union applaud- or to pick and choose which unions tion, as Qantas showed in 2011. remain at historic lows – at just a few ed a new “safe rates” tribunal with to make a deal with. A er Labor’s re- But a big problem with the Rudd/ percent of the all time high, achieved the power to set pay rates for truck forms, unions are able to bargain with Gillard-era changes is that reforms in the wages push of 1974. The rate drivers – again, with li le active cam- employers, and can pursue industrial easily won can be equally easily of unionisation has been steady at 18 paigning required to get it across the action once a site opens if agreement stripped away. Because many of these percent of the workforce for the past line. Similarly, United Voice has won isn’t reached. changes have been won through three years. $300 million for childcare workers un- At fi rst glance this can look like an parliamentary favours, mostly with- So Murdoch’s paid propagandists der the Big Steps campaign. impressive checklist. It was certain- out sustained campaigns – let alone can take a cold bath and calm down: The Maritime Union of Australia, ly enough to convince union leaders strikes – they are extremely vulnera- unfortunately, there was no great un- the Australian Manufacturing Work- that they were be er off within the ble to a ack. The ruling class has li le ion revival under Rudd and Gillard. ers Union and the Australian Workers limits set by Labor, legally and polit- fear of an industrial backlash from As Abbo trains his sights on our Union welcomed varieties of industry ically, rather than ba ling issues out abolishing the Road Safety Remuner- unions, it’s important to get past the plans, and some high profi le millions industrially with employers across a ation Tribunal, because there was no headlines to see how unions have to prop up (at least for a while) some sector, or with governments. industrial campaign to win this re- fared under Labor – which helps us key manufacturing plants such as Al- However, there are severe limita- form in the fi rst place. assess our prospects under Abbo . coa’s Point Henry refi nery in Geelong. tions to this sort of deal making. There have been occasional indus- The construction unions have seen The extra funding for the com- try-wide stop-works in construction A balance sheet the vicious anti-union taskforce, the munity sector is not guaranteed to against the ABCC, but hardly the sort While the headlines about “mili- Australian Building and Construc- fl ow through to the workers, leading of campaign of mass disruption that tant unions” running the ALP were tion Commission, folded into the Fair to a number of sharp ba les with em- could make the laws a dead le er and loony, they did refl ect something real Work Commission, with its penalties ployers. A $1.2 billion boost to aged put the bosses in dread of another 10 REDFLAG

FEATURE: Only militant unionism will hold off Abbo ’s a acks

PHOTO: COREY OAKLEY A handful of A boom for whom? could be spread into other areas. This entire architecture has now stronger unions, If an “unchecked culture of mil- been destroyed, with awards now itancy” were really taking hold, the only a minimal set of conditions for most notably in easiest place to fi nd it should be in the industrially weakest workers. construction the resources sector. However, the A handful of stronger unions, remarkable feature of the current re- most notably in construction in Vic- in Victoria, sources boom has been the lack of a toria, have managed to maintain a wages explosion. “pa ern bargain” with good common have managed A short-lived resources boom in terms and conditions across much of the early 1980s brought some serious the industry. In many other indus- to maintain a disputes. Miners and construction tries, employers have been able to play workers in Queensland and the Pil- divide and conquer. Because there are “pa ern bargain” bara won he y wage rises, with many no common standards across an in- with good of these gains fl owing through to dustry, for instance, companies such other unions. Strikes in the metal in- as Qantas can “outsource” work to common terms dustry, an 11 day national truck strike, another company, with workers doing and fi nally a 16 day national strike by exactly the same work but being paid and conditions Telecom workers smashed through dramatically less. the wage guidelines of the day, and Hence the “race to the bo om” as across much of workers made gains across the board. employers cut wages and conditions This time around, the MUA in to gain a competitive edge, in a way the industry. West Australia is one of very few un- that was much more diffi cult when ions able to boast about real gains. workers in an industry were covered The high wages of miners and re- by a comprehensive common award. source project construction workers Unions can be kept so busy fi ghting are propped up by massive amounts separate enterprise agreements that of overtime, with workers doing 12- an industry-wide campaign seems out hour days, seven days a week, for of the question. weeks on end. No unions have come through And if unionisation is patchy in this change unscathed, and even the mine construction, the actual min- strongest have not made up all the ing remains a wasteland. Outside of ground lost under Howard. In the coal, some 95 percent of the mining MUA, wharfi es’ jobs and conditions workforce is non-union. “Fly in fl y were negotiated away a er the Pat- out” arrangements help produce an rick dispute in 1998. While the MUA overworked, exhausted and atomised in West Australia has made real gains workforce that no union, so far, has from its aggressive organising during been able to make signifi cant inroads boom conditions, casual employment into. is still widespread at the national All of this has won high praise stevedoring companies. Australi- round of disruption if the ABCC is re- from the Reserve Bank, which noted an-fl agged coastal shipping was dec- introduced. in a recent report that in previous re- imated under Howard, and the un- The same is true for Labor’s Fair sources booms, “Australia’s centralised ion-controlled roster for the employ- Work laws as a whole. There was a wage-se ing system had the eff ect of ment of seafarers was dismantled, willingness among at least a section spreading wage increases across the with no sign of its return. of workers to fi ght Howard’s Work- economy.” This time around, no oth- In construction, the CFMEU has Choices with industrial action and er groups of workers have been able held on to much of its ground, espe- civil disobedience, but that mood was to leverage higher wages out of the cially in Victoria, and has made some channelled into a string of token one boom. hard-fought gains elsewhere, such day strikes and then a purely electoral Behind this remarkable fact, as as with the prolonged strike at the campaign. According to the script ap- the Reserve Bank notes, lies the de- Queensland Children’s Hospital in proved by Labor and our union lead- struction of the “award” system. A Brisbane last year. But the fact that ers, WorkChoices was to be partially product of the great strikes of the Grocon is building a string of the larg- amended, by the proper authorities, 1890s, the system of “awards” – legally est sites in Melbourne without un- a er doing untold damage to workers enforceable employment conditions ion shop stewards or safety reps is a and our organisations – not turned that laid down everything from wage warning of where things could head. into a dead le er by mass working levels to your right to a union notice- For years, many major sites in other class action. board – was a conservatising infl u- states have been built without an ac- In contrast, the massive strike ence on Australia’s union movement. tive union presence, with predictable wave that freed jailed union leader Nevertheless, the award system results for conditions and health and Clarrie O’Shea in 1969 cracked open could have a dynamic that the boss- safety. the industrial system in a way that es grew to hate. Because wages and In warehousing, the National Un- mere changes to the law could never conditions across an industry were ion of Workers has made some steady do. It wasn’t until later in the 1970s, af- governed by the same award, there gains on wages and casual conversion ter a major recession, that Australia’s was a logic to strike campaigns that in warehouse enterprise agreements. rulers started seriously pushing back spread across an industry. For in- The NUW has been prepared to against the right to strike won in the stance, in the pace-se ing metal man- mount some serious pickets, involving O’Shea strike. And it wasn’t until the ufacturing industry, mass meetings a level of solidarity from other unions union-policed no strike policy embod- of thousands would endorse a log of and activists not achieved for some ied in Labor’s Accord, from 1983, that claims and hammer out an industrial time. But there is plenty of work to do there was a sustained fall in the rate campaign to achieve it. Aspects of the here – there are many WorkChoices of industrial action. union claim would then be endorsed era “greenfi elds” sheds that have still So the closer we look at the bal- by the Arbitration Commission in or- not got back to the pre-WorkChoices ance sheet under Labor, the more der to keep the industrial peace. Many conditions. Manufacturing presents a striking it is not how much has been awards contained relativities – par- similarly mixed picture. won, but how li le – and how vulner- ticular categories of work were meant State public sector workers have able those gains are to a ack by the to be paid more than others. So wage gone backwards, despite some im- Liberals. rises in one section of the workforce pressive actions. Queensland unions REDFLAG 11

PHOTO: COREY OAKLEY Politically, the Coalition remains somewhat haunted by the ghost of WorkChoices, as their defensive language and “small target” strategy around their industrial relations policy indicated.

Left: CFMEU members rally outside Grocon site in Lonsdale St, August 2012. Above: Toll workers on strike in Somerton, Vic, July 2012. copped massive cuts with only token fying courts and cops in mass pickets member, working to develop the con- protests. The entire structure of the of thousands, I would have told them fi dence of the next activist or union public service is under serious a ack they were dreaming – but we did all delegate, and fi nding ways to have in Queensland, WA and NSW without of that, with plenty pushing for more, workers assert their collective organ- any serious fi ghtback, and Victorian in the mass pickets that defended the isation, strength and self-confi dence. teachers have in eff ect given up per- MUA in 1998. The Kenne protests For Socialist Alternative’s union manency. of 1992 and the national mass rallies members, looking for opportunities, We could continue the list, but the against WorkChoices in 2005 also pre- large and small, to rebuild the collec- point is clear enough. The fact that the sented a chance to break out of the tive strength of workers is our bread union movement, with a very small pa ern of retreat and defeat. and bu er. The old Communist Par- number of exceptions, has failed to All these opportunities went beg- ty’s slogan was “Make every member make signifi cant gains in “boom” con- ging – but this doesn’t refl ect any fun- an activist.” Today, that is o en a ditions, under a legal framework as damental lack of power in our unions. hard and patient task, carried out one good as we’re likely to get for years, is Despite the decline, there is still a member at a time. We have to have a an indictment of current strategy. The serious union presence in every key big measure of bloody-minded perse- strategy will have to change dramati- industry in the country. Most of the verance, realising that every ounce of cally if we want to confront seriously time, people can feel defensive and strength we build today will prove vi- the tough times ahead. ground down. But if unions were to tal in the struggles of tomorrow. take concerted action during one Second, to show solidarity with all Prospects under Abbo of these sharp situations when the workers in struggle. History tells us Despite our side’s obvious prob- mood shi s, it could cause a massive that we all go forward together, or we lems, it would be a serious mistake to crisis for the ruling class. all go back together. Every time work- think it has to be one way traffi c un- The fact that this hasn’t happened ers set up a picket line, we have to fi nd der Abbo . – in 1992, 1998, or 2005 – isn’t due to a a way to support it – by motions, by Politically, the Coalition remains bad set of laws, a shortage of mem- delegations and ultimately by joint somewhat haunted by the ghost of bers, or a lack of potential strength. It action. WorkChoices, as their defensive lan- has been our side’s lack of prepared- Third, our activity has to be social guage and “small target” strategy ness to use that strength at key points as well as industrial. A crucial part of around their industrial relations pol- that has been our downfall. That is, it Howard’s strategy to push through icy indicates. And the Financial Re- has been the conservatism of the un- a acks on working class people in- view has fre ed that Abbo is already ion leadership, and the lack of any sig- volved vicious scapegoating of Abo- unpopular, even among people sick of nifi cant organised le in the unions to riginal people, refugees, Muslims and Labor, which might limit his scope for challenge this, that remains our side’s LGBTI people. A crucial part of our rapid action. key weakness. side’s strategy has to be countering We also have to remember that Of course, there is no predicting these a acks. We have to remember the class struggle is capable of sharp the timing for any such crisis. But we that standing up for human rights is turns. The past three decades have know from history how fast things standing up for all of us. been a period of union retreat. But can shi . In the meantime, we’re cer- Finally, we have to remember that they have also shown that there can tainly not for unionists si ing on our the key to our side’s weakness is po- be particular times when the ruling hands, moaning about the lack of a litical. If we’re to do be er than slow class goes too far and creates a back- fi ght. slogging work and the large scale, lash that carries the potential for a sometimes heroic, failures of the sharp break in the situation. Four tasks for militants Howard years, we have to apply our- If someone had told me at the start First, to build workers’ collective selves seriously to building a political of 1998 that, by Easter of that year, I strength where we are. There is sim- alternative to Labor’s politics of deal would be helping workers build barri- ply no substitute for the o en slow, making, compromise and retreat. cades in the streets of Melbourne, de- slogging work of recruiting the next 12 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 WORKERS & UNIONS Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG www.redfl ag.org.au RED

Aba oir workers Immigration dept fails challenge non-union Egyptian sailors

“The men have also been called Marg Perro , Wollongong agreement treasonous by their employer because they did the right thing and fl agged Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) of- their issues with the ITF”, he said. fi cials are furious at the Department MUA southern NSW secretary of Immigration’s revocation of the Garry Keane talked to the workers visas of 11 striking seamen from the aboard the vessel. The MUA organised Egyptian coal carrier Wadi Alkarm, tickets home for them and accommo- currently docked in Port Kembla. dation on shore until they could leave. Maritime visas are guaranteed “The Immigration offi cials told under international law, according to them if they le the ship they would the International Transport Workers’ end up in Villawood Detention Cen- Federation (ITF). tre”, he said. Keane said the men have The seamen had gone on strike to stated they would not crew the ship protest a policy of no access to food and would remain on strike at Port between 7pm and 7am and the halv- Kembla until their demands are met. ing of their wages. While in Australi- “These men want the policy of no an waters, the workers felt confi dent food between 7pm and 7am reversed in alerting the ITF to their grievances. permanently, not just until they sail ITF Australia assistant coordi- out of Australian waters, and they nator Ma Purcell said the Egyptian want their previous wages reinstated government-owned coal carrier was with back pay from June, when the Liam Keats the company agreement to a secret in breach of the Maritime Labor Con- wages were cut”, Keane said. ballot. vention, and although Egypt is not a “These blokes don’t have a desire A endance at the picket lines At the Teys Australia aba oir in signatory, the carrier is bound by the to stay in Australia; they want to go has been strong, and even pouring Beenleigh, Queensland, workers have convention while sailing in Australian home, and to be treated like criminals rain couldn’t dampen the resolve not had a pay rise since November waters. by Immigration is just not on.” for the second 24-hour stoppage 2011. in July, when 160 workers showed Teys is one of the largest meat up to staff the picket. This action processors in the country. Its forced the company to give ground, Beenleigh production workforce but although the next agreement it of some 730 is represented by put forward was improved, it was the Australasian Meat Industry Clash on the coalfi elds still not what the workers were Employees Union. With around 90 a er. When asked what he thought percent density at the site, AMIEU about workers being unable legally tralia’s largest coal reserves. A com- members have a proud history of to strike outside of the bargaining Steph Price pany spokesperson told a local news- maintaining conditions and winning process, Ma replied, “It’s just paper that it believes in a “profi table wage increases. bullshit.” However, a recent secret ballot “In Collinsville when the fi re siren future for mining in Collinsville”. to push through a company-backed goes off , the hair on the back of your However, according to the union agreement was won by a very slim The union neck stands up; you can be standing representing the sacked workers, the margin and has angered workers in the shopping centre with everyone CFMEU (Mining Division), Glencore and their union. The AMIEU has says that the standing frozen. Immediately your has said it won’t bring anyone back on lodged an appeal with the Fair Work mind goes to where and if your loved under the existing enterprise agree- Commission. The union says that company got the ones, mates and family are working ment and will only consider employ- the company got the agreement up agreement up that day.” – Donna Bulloch, president, ing workers on cut price individual through dodgy tactics including Mining Communities United. agreements or under a single green- allowing foremen (who aren’t through dodgy Collinsville, in Queensland’s Bow- fi eld agreement. covered by the agreement) to vote en Basin, is a coal mining town. Locals Publicly, the company has made for it, paying a $1,000 inducement tactics including say that most families have at least no guarantees that there will be any to workers for signing on and allowing foremen one person employed in the mines. jobs for the sacked union workers; threatening to shut down the It’s been that way for nearly a centu- there are reports that recruiters have entire plant if an agreement wasn’t to vote for it. ry. But in a move that could set the been touting for a replacement work- reached. scene for a major industrial ba le, force on the promise that they will be The dispute began in late 2012, as The union has also taken a Anglo-Swiss resources giant Glencore bused in on coaches with blacked out the old workplace agreement expired number of measures to counter the Xstrata has suspended operations at windows. and the union began negotiations company’s a empt to undermine pay the Collinsville coal mine and sacked CFMEU district president Steven for a new agreement. Ma and conditions through other means. its 400-strong workforce. Smyth has foreshadowed a serious Journeaux, AMIEU organiser for For instance, union members have Glencore Xstrata has no plans to fi ght, describing the dispute as shap- the site, explained to Red Flag that ensured that casual labourers on site walk away from the Collinsville mine ing up to be “the Patrick’s of the out- one of the main issues for workers receive the same pay and conditions or the Bowen Basin, which holds Aus- back”. was the company’s insistence on as permanent employees. moving them to a new time-based The company also employs a pay system. This would allow the number of workers under the 457 company to speed up the “chain”, Help provide the best industrial visa scheme, mostly from Vietnam Red Flag forcing the workers to process more and Brazil. The union has welcomed meat in the same amount of time for reporting from the struggles in these workers and has employed the same pay. The old system allowed translators to talk to them and Australian workplaces workers some control over the speed ensure that they too are receiving at which they worked. site pay and conditions. As a result, Red Flag aspires to be the go-to publication for working class militants who The company claims that the union coverage amongst the 457 want to know about the issues facing Australian workers, and the struggles new agreement and pay system will visa workers is 90 percent, a great provide workers with a 3 percent in workplaces big and small. To do that, we need your help. If you have a example of not le ing race, colour pay increase. The union says that tip about a brewing fi ght we might want to report on, or can contribute or creed divide workers. Ma the result will actually be a wage an article or just give us a line on a story – let us know! We want our paper explains that “as far as the AMIEU is decrease of 2.8 percent, with a to bring together the news about union issues that you won’t read in the concerned the only real division in productivity increase of 7.5 percent corporate press, from the perspective of those actually on the ground the world is between capitalists and – in other words, more work for less standing up for their rights. workers.” money. So to the workers down in Workers at the site have held Beenleigh – Chiến thắng trong cuộc EMAIL: reports@redfl ag.org.au two 24-hour stoppages and three đấu tranh của bạn! A vitória na sua four-hour stoppages. They also PHONE: (03) 9650 3541 luta! Victory in your struggle! voted by a show of hands not to put 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 13 FLAG Newspaper of Socialist Alternative WORKERS & UNIONS RED www.redfl ag.org.au Casual workers kick back

Simon Burns, NTEU member

Late last semester, Melbourne Univer- sity management kicked some extra labour onto casual tutors in the Facul- ty of Arts. They didn’t expect tutors to kick back. In a series of meetings called by the National Tertiary Education Un- ion, casual tutors in the faculty dis- cussed their exploitative working conditions and began organising. Following a wider call, the Mel- bourne University Casuals Network met for the fi rst time in early August. We discussed the conditions of casual exploitation at the University – the huge amounts of unpaid labour that we’re expected to do, as well as the anxiety of chronically insecure work. Some of the network’s fi rst steps were to try to establish a presence. A small but vocal group at the recent education funding national day of ac- tion raised a banner for the network and casual conditions. members at Melbourne University The network now faces the chal- Through industrial action, union members at have already fought back against the lenge of further building its profi le, Melbourne University have already fought back university’s a empts to slash by $10 with casual workers spread thin on an hour pay for professional casuals a large but decentralised campus. We against the university’s a empts to slash by $10 working and studying at the univer- must a ract members by giving them an hour pay for professional casuals. sity. They have fought off an a ack opportunities to work on campaigns on academic freedom in the form of and public events. throw its signifi cant industrial weight ticipating in ongoing strike action, it management’s grab for the right to Another challenge the network behind the casuals’ fi ght. has already forced Sydney University sack academics whose work doesn’t faces is dealing with the argument The Casuals Network at Sydney management to agree to 80 new ongo- align with the university’s “strategic that it should not be affi liated with University organises in this way. It ing jobs specifi cally available to work- goals”. With a Casuals Network draw- the NTEU. The few who argue this meets separately from the NTEU ers currently employed on a casual ing casual workers into the fi ght, we are right to be concerned about the branch. It makes its own democratic basis. can win even more from the EBA cam- network’s independence and to be decisions, which can be carried out Permanent university staff are paign and build for the struggles be- critical of the union leadership. But to by the network, as an active working also threatened by the casualisation yond that. organise outside the union would be body within the union. The network that is rampant in the sector. They The Sydney University Casuals a mistake. draws resources from the NTEU share an interest in improvements for Network has won what it has so far by The Casuals Network should or- branch commi ee but does not re- casual workers, just as casual workers acting in solidarity with the collective ganise as a rank and fi le group within quire its approval for decisions or ac- have a stake in the struggle for decent weight of the union. If the Melbourne the NTEU. In this way it can main- tion. conditions for all workers on the cam- University Network wants weight tain its independence from the NTEU By pushing casual workers’ issues puses. behind any kick it delivers to manage- leadership while pushing the union to onto the bargaining table and by par- Through industrial action, union ment, it will need to do the same. WA teachers issue ultimatum over cuts

time, student numbers are expected cuts will have the greatest impact on families with new fees. Each child of a Nick Evere , State School to increase by 18,000 over the next two vulnerable students. 457 visa holder will be charged $4,000 Teachers Union member years in the country’s fastest growing “You’re talking about children annually to a end a state school, and state. Class sizes will increase, support with autism, Down syndrome, kids TAFE fees are set to increase by up to A rally of teachers, education assis- programs will be cut, and students who have severe anaphylactic shock, 400 percent next year. tants and school support staff has with special learning needs will suff er. epilepsy, things like that where you Angered at the cuts, 500 education demanded that the West Australian While Collier has a empted to need someone one on one with those assistants and school support staff Liberal government reverse a $280 spin the reform as “delivering equity kids to make sure they’re going to be walked off the job at lunchtime on 3 million budget cut to state school and effi ciency”, state Premier Colin okay”, said Davey. September to rally outside state par- funding or face industrial action. Barne has told a parliamentary com- A principal, who did not want to liament in pouring rain. At 4pm, they On 20 August, state education be named, told the Sunday Times that were joined by 1,500 teachers, who minister Peter Collier announced the cuts would cost large senior high were addressed by offi cials from the that 150 support staff would go, along “There is all sorts of schools between $400,000 and $1 mil- State School Teachers Union, United with 150 education assistants and 200 talk about downing lion. Voice and the Civil Service Associa- staff in the Education Department’s “This is the biggest hurt to public tion, as well as state opposition leader central and regional offi ces. Just four tools … For a lot of education in the many decades I’ve Mark McGowan and federal education days before the announcement, he people, this will be been involved in education”, he said. minister Bill Shorten. McGowan and had told 6PR radio that there was “no “There is all sorts of talk about down- Shorten’s pledge – that an ALP gov- allocation, no indication and no de- the fi rst time they ing tools … For a lot of people, this ernment would do be er – received sire” for redundancies in education. have ever downed will be the fi rst time they have ever a lukewarm response from teachers, Collier later defended his statement, downed tools. People are saying that who have for years ba led with big claiming that he had misunderstood tools.” they have never been willing to down class sizes and poor resources. the question, believing that the inter- tools for pay rises and so on, but for The rally issued an ultimatum to viewer was “referring to teachers”. mi ee his government could go even this, they would be willing to.” the Barne government to reverse However, information gathered further and force small schools to join A er having knocked back an ad- the cuts or a face a campaign of indus- from school principals by the State larger campuses, or close schools alto- ditional $671 million in federal funding trial and political action by teachers. School Teachers Union has revealed gether. for state schools, as part of the Gonski that more than 300 teachers’ jobs will Kevin Davey, an education assis- plan, the state government intends also be axed from 2014. At the same tant for 15 years, told the ABC that the to slug vulnerable students and their 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 14 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG INDIGENOUS www.redfl ag.org.au RED

No NT nuclear waste dump! around Australia talking about the be the best way.” because there is no economic develop- Jon Lamb and Cathy nuclear waste dump. There has been a The push for a nuclear waste fa- ment in nuclear waste dumping”, she Lawless nuclear-free ride from Lucas Heights cility also ties in with a desire by the said. all the way to Muckaty … People are Australian ruling class to maintain a “People around the country need Despite clear opposition from the Ab- aware of it and do oppose it, because stake in the global nuclear industry. to do their homework. They need to original traditional owners, the push they know it is wrong and that the Aboriginal rights, the safety of work- look at Mother [Nature] at work, es- for a nuclear waste dump at Muckaty waste hasn’t come from this country, ers and environmental concerns are pecially when we have had accidents Station, 120 kilometres north of Ten- yet they want to put it in the country. being quashed or ignored in order to like Chernobyl, the tsunami in Japan nant Creek in the Northern Territory, Aboriginal people are very cultural- pursue profi t. and Fukushima, and of course there is continues. ly and traditionally connected to the The justifi cation for storage of the bombing of Maralinga here. The The campaign led by tradition- land … any form of nuclear waste is medical waste is also a complete fur- general public needs to think about al owners to stop the waste dump is not part of our culture.” phy. Sweeney told Red Flag, “The med- whether they want to have nuclear gearing up for the next stage in the Shaw is concerned by the nomina- ical myth is a deeply disturbing aspect waste travelling through their towns fi ght. tion process and the role of the NLC. of the Muckaty story. Both major par- and their states, because accidents do On 26 August, the Federal Court “There is a need for free, prior and in- ties have consistently misrepresented happen.” set June 2014 for a case to be heard on formed consent in this issue, but there the situation by claiming that the Whatever the outcome of the le- whether the nomination of the site was no information given to the peo- Muckaty dump is needed to ensure gal proceedings, Sweeney says that a for the waste dump followed due pro- ple. They weren’t properly informed Australians have access to nuclear public campaign needs to continue, cess. The nuclear free campaigner for about the waste dump, and they ha- medicine for therapeutic and diagnos- including a transparent discussion the Australian Conservation Founda- ven’t been able to give full consent tic reasons. about what to do with existing nucle- tion, Dave Sweeney, told Red Flag: if they want a nuclear waste dump “This is not the case – and medical ar waste – simply passing unjust legis- “The case has been brought by a there or not”, she said. waste is not the driver for the planned lation and railroading Aboriginal and group of senior Aboriginal traditional dump. Medical and public health bod- community rights is not the answer. owners who argue that both the Com- Spurious excuses ies including the Medical Association “We need to move from the failed monwealth and the Northern Land The rationale for the dump is spu- for the Prevention of War and the search for a vulnerable postcode to Council (NLC) have failed in their rious. There is no compelling scientifi c Public Health Association of Australia a genuine commitment to a credi- statutory duty to identify, engage and or public safety necessity for one to be have repeatedly condemned the con- ble process. Radioactive waste lasts obtain consent from the appropriate built.It has been repeatedly claimed fl ation of these issues”, he said. longer that any politician’s promise, Aboriginal owners. They are seeking that a specialised waste dump is re- The promotion of the waste dump and we need to get its management to have the existing nomination ruled quired to safely store low level waste on an economic basis, including for right. This needs to be based on sound invalid.” (LLW) and long lived intermediate lev- local Aboriginal communities, also science and open and inclusive deci- Muckaty was nominated by the el waste (LLIW). deeply concerns Shaw. “It is disgusting sion making and refl ect international NLC with the support of only one of Most of the LLW is derived from to talk about a nuclear waste dump as best practice. None of this is occur- the fi ve clan groups holding owner- medical isotopes used in hospitals being part of economic development ring at Muckaty.” ship and cultural ties to Muckaty Sta- and clinics, while the LLIW tion. comes almost exclusively The Rudd-Gillard Labor govern- from the nuclear reactor at ment has used divide and rule tactics, Lucas Heights in Sydney. It is former resources minister Martin this la er type of waste that Ferguson boasting at one stage that is of most concern because it he had off ers for numerous locations is highly toxic and radioactive across the NT for a waste dump if for a lengthy period. Muckaty Station fell through. Sweeney explains further: “In the 1990s there was a de- Opposition ignored partmental decision made Barb Shaw, an Aboriginal activist that the best way to manage with connections to Muckaty Station, Australia’s radioactive waste told Red Flag, “There has always been was through developing a cen- opposition to the nuclear waste dump tralised remote dump or store. on Muckaty … There has been a cam- This decision was made by un- paign running ever since the site was elected bureaucrats and has nominated and announced. There has since been uncritically adopt- been big opposition from Aboriginal ed and advanced by successive and non-Aboriginal people, from right federal governments. A remote across Australia.” dump is one way to manage Shaw explained: “People from waste; it is not the only way four of the clan groups have travelled and has never been proven to 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 FLAG Newspaper of Socialist Alternative 15 RED www.redfl ag.org.au Protestors We need free child care target Kate Jeff reys sioned by the Council on the Ageing are many ways to improve the situ- NSW found that grandparents are ation. performing unpaid child care to the We can demand free, govern- fashion Child care in Australia is expensive value of $88 million a year in that ment-funded child care, and a and hard to fi nd. Even when it’s avail- state. scheme to expand childcare centres able, stressed-out parents must run In childcare surveys, grandpar- in areas with high demand. We could festival the gauntlet of morning traffi c in the ents o en report that they value the fund it through higher corporate tax “double drop-off ” – where one child time they spend with their grand- rates. Crèches at large workplaces a ends school and another a ends kids, and that the joy of sharing time would mean women could stay in Ruby Healer day care. with them is all the reward they employment while being close to The childcare industry itself is in need. This demonstrates the love their kids. They would also vastly crisis. According to the Productivi- that family members show in caring simplify the logistics of ge ing to ty Commission, unmet demand for for each other, but capitalism doesn’t day care and back. child care currently sits at around see it this way. 600,000 places. Long waiting lists Respect mean that a pregnant woman can Child care and capitalism One vital step we can take to- sign her future child up for care, and To capitalism, if workers are “hu- ward be er quality child care and still have to wait more than a year af- man resources”, their kids are poten- more government funding is to ter she’s ready to go back to work for tial human resources. Without chil- support the Big Steps campaign by a place to open up. dren, parenting, child care, education United Voice, the union representing For parents lucky enough to fi nd and training, there would be no fu- childcare workers. their child a place at a day care cen- ture workforce. Raising a generation More than 97 percent of childcare tre, the fi nancial cost can be enor- of workers helps sustain the whole workers and early childhood educa- mous. The average price of long day system. tors are women, and as a result wag- care is around $75 per day. Daily fees The capitalist culture of atomi- es in the industry are low. Certifi cate Models walked down the runway for inner suburban or high demand sation and individualism feeds us III early childhood workers earn as to chants of “Target – blood on your areas can reach $100 or more. Even the line that we should fend for our- li le as $19 per hour – $10 per hour hands!” at Melbourne’s Spring Fash- with meagre government rebates selves and that families – no ma er less than workers with equivalent ion festival on Saturday 7 September. and benefi ts, low income families are how poor – should bear fi nancial qualifi cations in other industries. Red handprints covered the marquee being priced out of access to quality responsibility for their kids. How Low wages mean that dedicated as protestors smeared Target’s cat- care. many times have we heard recipients professionals can’t aff ord to stay in walk event with paint symbolising the Some parents are fi nding that, of government benefi ts – especially the industry. A wealth of experience blood of Bangladeshi garment work- due to the cost of child care, they single mums – denigrated as “bludg- is lost to staff turnover: 180 over- ers. simply can’t aff ord to work. Over- ers”? worked, underpaid childcare work- Days earlier, the New York fash- whelmingly, the role of stay-at-home The idea that we have no right ers leave the industry every week. ion week launch of Nautica’s spring parent still falls to mothers. Since to expect help raising kids and that United Voice is campaigning for collection was also disrupted by pick- women full time workers still earn, individuals, rather than society as equal pay for childcare workers and eters. Activists are angry at the label’s on average, 82 cents for every dollar a whole, should care for the young, early childhood educators, and for refusal to acknowledge the dangerous earned by their male counterparts, means that bosses can get away with government funding to meet this conditions in the factories where its they are more likely to be the ones taking no responsibility for the care, claim – which would cost $1.4 billion clothes are produced. With placards to drop out of the workforce a er education and socialisation of peo- per year. This is a small price to pay that read “No one should die for fash- having kids. Staying at home is a life- ple they will eventually exploit in for quality care. ion” and “Don’t throw workers over- style option for wealthy women; for the labour market. Working class parents, their kids board” protesters called on Nautica to women in low income families, it can Ultimately, we need a diff erent and childcare workers all have the improve standards. be a fi nancial necessity. type of society – one that structures same interests: high quality, free Public outrage over appalling With formal care unaff ordable, child care around collectivity, not and accessible child care, provided sweatshop conditions has been grow- parents seek support from their atomisation, and that prioritises by workers who are treated with re- ing in the wake of the Rana Plaza trag- families, grandparents being the what’s best for kids and parents, not spect and paid a decent wage. edy in April this year. In that incident, largest source of informal childcare for big business. But even far short 1,129 workers died when their work- arrangements. Research commis- of revolutionary social change, there place collapsed around them. Under pressure, 100 major retailers have been forced to sign an Accord on Fire and Building Safety that restricts investment in the very worst Bangla- deshi factories for the next fi ve years. However, the Accord fails to address the ongoing extreme exploitation of unskilled workers in labour intensive industries like textiles and footwear. Garment workers in Bangladesh are paid as li le at US$40 per month while the global retail apparel indus- try is worth an estimated US$1.1 tril- lion per year. A number of Australian companies such as Big W and Just Jeans have re- fused even to sign the limited safety Accord. Moreover, none of the corpo- rations implicated in the nearly 2,000 industrial deaths in Bangladesh in the last fi ve years have ever paid compen- sation to the families of their victims. Tragedies like the Rana Plaza fac- tory collapse are the logical conclusion of a system in which companies, moti- vated by profi ts, deliberately and con- sistently degrade working conditions. The Australian corporations involved are guilty of industrial murder. Solidarity with Bangladeshi workers! 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 16 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG SYRIA www.redfl ag.org.au RED

COUNTERVIEW: Red Flag should not have printed chemical weapons claim

Sam King, Socialist Alternative member

In his article “No US A ack on Syria” (Red Flag, September 1) US socialist Lee Sustar claimed, “Evidence of a hor- rifi c chemical weapons a ack by the Syrian regime against civilians has re- vived liberal calls for “humanitarian” intervention by the U.S. Military.” Sustar provides no evidence the 21 August a ack in Damascus was carried out by the Syrian regime of Syria: Support the revolution, Bashar al-Assad and not its oppo- nents. Despite the article’s ostensive anti-war stance, it repeats, without question, the key propaganda used by oppose US a ack the US government to prepare public opinion for it to a ack Syria. Continued from back cover. ganisation, especially in parts of the Historically, many movements US secretary of State, John Ker- country where the regime has with- have received their arms through ry claims that (classifi ed) evidence hamefully, some on the le have drawn. one imperial source or another. Con- constitutes a “clear and compelling” off ered intellectual cover to the These initiatives include the sider the Irish national independence case against the Syrian regime. While SAssad regime in the name of voluntary provision of emergency movement (which obtained guns Obama told PBS Newshour on 29 Au- opposition to imperialism. For these medical and legal support, food dis- from Germany) or the armed wing of gust, “We have concluded that the Syr- people, Ba’athist anti-imperialist tribution and the turning of houses the South African ANC, Umkhonto ian government in fact carried these rhetoric is enough to declare the re- into fi eld hospitals. In some parts of We Sizwe, which was supplied guns out.” Neither statement is proven; gime legit once and for all. the country, local councils have tak- by the USSR. While it is necessary to both have been repeated uncritical- In Australia, one of the most en over the running of whole towns. consider the political ramifi cations ly by the overwhelming majority of prominent fi gures in this camp is Despite dire war conditions, they are of such support, we can hardly con- the mainstream media. Sydney academic and organiser of holding democratic elections. demn resistance movements for at- Signifi cant questions remain the “Hands off Syria” rallies, Tim An- tempting to defend themselves. about the origins of the 21 August derson. He wrote in September of ‘A popular revolution’ It is true that some sections of Chemical a ack, and the previous last year: An article compiling the experi- the movement are calling for US in- ones. The Associated Press (AP) re- “The ‘consensus’ from March 2011 ences of some of these local councils tervention. ported on 29 August that “multiple US was that President Bashar al-Assad was published in issue number 13 of It is also clear that some forces offi cials used the phrase ‘not a slam was a ‘brutal dictator’; the Syrian peo- the newspaper Al Kha Al Amami are ge ing weapons via Western gun dunk’ to describe the intelligence pic- ple had risen up against his regime as (Front Line) of the Current of the runners. Neither factor indicates uni- ture”. part of the Arab Spring’s democratic Revolutionary Le in Syria. They ar- versal capitulation on the part of the The AP article cites a report by the awakening; Assad’s minority Alawi gue: rebels; neither means we should sup- Offi ce of the Director for National In- group was repressing the majority “This is a genuine popular revo- port Assad. telligence “acknowledging that the US Sunni group; and a rebel force had lution; the driving social forces are On 31 August, a coalition of le intelligence community no longer has been formed from army defectors the workers and more broadly the wing organisations in Middle Eastern the certainty it did six months ago of and outside forces were only helping impoverished urban and rural social countries – the Revolutionary Social- where the regime’s chemical weapons them defend a civilian population. In strata … They have created structures ists (Egypt), Revolutionary Le Cur- are stored, nor does it have proof As- my opinion, virtually every element of self-organisation and coordinat- rent (Syria), Union of Communists sad ordered chemical weapons use, of this picture was false.” ing bodies, as well as embryos of (Iraq), Al-Mounadil-a (Morocco), So- according to two intelligence offi cials To call into question Assad’s dic- self-government, local councils and cialist Forum (Lebanon) and League and two more US offi cials.” tatorial credentials is to spit in the civil advice bureaus. These forms of of the Workers’ Le (Tunisia) – re- Given that Obama had publically face of those who suff ered under control and administration from be- leased a statement, “We stand behind stated the use of chemical weapons the regime for over 40 years and the low are more developed in the Syrian the Syrian people’s revolution – no to would be a “red line” triggering a US re- tens of thousands who were killed revolution than in any other process foreign intervention”. action, it is easy to see why sections of in 1982 in the Hama massacre. It is in the countries of the region.” In it, they take issue with the po- the opposition in armed confl ict with to deny those who have been fi ght- None of the revolutionary le litical complexion of some sections Assad could have used a chemical at- ing for land reform and trade union forces deny divisions among the op- of the revolution against Assad and tack to a empt to bring the US into freedoms for decades. To question position. The Free Syrian Army lacks point out the imperialist meddling the war. Military motive can equal- the motivations of the millions who material and fi nancial support, while from all sides of the globe, saying ly be a ributed to Assad. We are le came into the streets because their the reactionary Islamist forces such that the aim of the Gulf states is to with no conclusive evidence. It is un- lives were made a living hell, not as Jabhat al Nusra and the Islamic “control the nature of the confl ict clear who is responsible. just by the political repression but State in Iraq and the Levant are being and steer it in a sectarian direction, When the US government, with by class injustice, is an insult. More funded by Gulf countries. distorting the Syrian revolution and the support of Australia and other al- than a third of the Syrian population The militarisation of the struggle aiming to abort it, as a refl ection of lied imperialist regimes, is preparing a lives below the poverty line. The ur- has had a negative eff ect on the pol- their deepest fear that the revolu- military assault, it is important not to ban and rural poor are the social base itics of the movement and makes it tionary fl ame will reach their shores. believe anything printed in newspa- of the revolution against Assad. And more susceptible to imperialist med- So they backed obscurantist Takfi ri pers in support of their war drive. they are motivated by an entirely jus- dling. But the taking up of arms was groups, coming, for the most part, When our own imperialist govern- tifi ed rage. necessary, imposed by the violence of from the four corners of the world, ments make specifi c claims to justify Anderson also slanders the whole the regime. to impose a grotesque vision for rule their aggression it is irresponsible for of the movement against the regime As one Syrian revolutionary put based on Islamic sharia.” socialists, or any opponents of war, to by suggesting that they are puppets it: “Whoever has lived under the These revolutionaries nonethe- repeat those claims without evidence. of Western imperialism. To make same conditions as Syrian citizens, less maintain opposition to Western such a claim is to deny the very real and witnessed all this repression and bombing and argue for international Eds: We stand by our decision to pub- democratic struggles being waged murder, and was forced to pick up solidarity with the democratic move- lish Lee Sustar’s article, including the by revolutionary forces. It ignores a weapon, knows they will look for ment in Syria. So should le ists in claims about chemical weapons. the signifi cant structures of self-or- weapons from anywhere.” Australia. 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 FLAG Newspaper of Socialist Alternative 17 RED www.redfl ag.org.au

Chile 1973 Lessons of the Pinochet coup still relevant

Popular Pact: the Communist Party, workers increased by two-thirds, un- to force a rapid political polarisation: Jorge Jorquera Socialist Party, Radical Party, Social employment was halved and a wide the policies were too radical for the Democratic Party, Popular Unitary range of social measures implement- capitalist class, o en devastating for My childhood memories of Allende’s Action Movement (MAPU) and Inde- ed, such as introducing a free litre small business and middle class sec- Chile, sharpened by the words, tears pendent Popular Action. of milk a day for more than 4 million tors and insuffi cient to satisfy the and suff ering of the adults around me, The pact vowed to have “nothing children. growing political consciousness and refl ect now more vividly and perhaps to do with the privileged”; a Unidad The plan assumed that increased combativity of the working class in more bi erly than ever the tragedy of Popular government would instead consumption would stimulate un- the cities and the countryside. A gov- a revolution half-made. be a “guarantee for the overwhelming der-utilised capacity in manufactur- ernment that tried to please every- It is diffi cult not to remember Al- majority of the population, for the 90 ing and that, together with a growing body couldn’t satisfy anybody. The lende as a tragic fi gure, at once both a percent or more”. The Unidad Popular Area of Social Production (national- class character of politics became symbol of hope and a harbinger of de- (UP) transformed public life. Party af- ised industries), land reform and pric- transparent. feat. The Allende government provid- fi liations ceased to be something hol- es controls, these policies would gen- ed our family the fi rst and only home low and became positions in the class erate a level of growth and prosperity Reaction of our own: a li le mediagua we put struggle. that would set the foundations for On 9 February 1972, the Christian up by ourselves on a bit of land. The UP rode the tide of a ris- moving forward with the “transition Democratic and National Party ma- Like all the reforms of the Allende ing workers movement. More than to socialism”. jority in parliament approved a con- administration, the political signifi - 15,000 grassroots election commit- For the Stalinist Communist Party, stitutional amendment to “fi x norms cance of handing out prefabricated tees formed and helped mobilise an this transition had a classically econo- for the Area of Social Property”. The homes to the working poor played out increasingly hopeful and class con- mistic interpretation – envisaged as captains of industry took the political not in parliament but in the streets: scious movement, which on 4 Septem- a gradual, stagist, statisation of the initiative. families organising land takeovers ber 1970 elected Allende to the presi- economy and integration of the trade The several hundred thousand and organisations like the Movement dency with a vote of 36.63 percent. union movement and government. small retail and industrial business- of the Revolutionary Le (MIR) and The CP thought you could advance es, together with the 150,000 proper- sections of the Socialist Party organis- Economics fi rst from the “socialisation of production ty-owning farmers – whose profi ts, ing defence groups to secure the land Yet in government the UP coali- to the socialisation of power”. The unlike those of big business, could and establishing structures of local tion was united by a view of socialism Socialist Party and most of the other barely survive the increasing costs – power that substituted for those of and strategy that put economic policy, UP parties, infl uenced by theoretical provided the social base for reaction. government. rather than political mobilisation and traditions ranging from Austro-Marx- The conservatism and vacilla- Governments of genuine social organisation, at centre stage. ism to Guevara’s foquismo, assumed tion of the Central Unitaria de Traba- reform are a thing of the past, so it’s The Socialist minister of the econ- that the UP’s economic policy would jadores (CUT – national union feder- diffi cult to imagine an elected gov- omy, Pedro Vuskovic, was the archi- provide the growing social support ation) also helped Christian Democ- ernment implementing policies not tect of a plan to revive the economy needed to advance the revolutionary racy maintain an important loyalty drawn up in the offi ces of right wing by stimulating demand. This involved agenda. among organised workers. think tanks and capitalist corpora- a massive redistribution of revenues, While the economy enjoyed a At the end of Allende’s fi rst year, tions. At the end of 1969 in Chile, six raising salaries and increasing public short period of economic growth, the the UP government was increasingly organisations signed the Unidad expenditure. The wages of lower paid main impact of the UP’s policies was impotent, facing a class struggle it re- 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 18 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG www.redfl ag.org.au RED

Chile 1973: Lessons of the Pinochet coup

tiago formed cordones industriales (coordinating factory workers across diff erent industries and unions in dis- tinct geographical areas). The union bureaucracy – in which the Communist Party and Christian Democrats remained entrenched – ar- gued for the cordones to come under the direction of the CUT. The Socialist Party, which had about a quarter of the CUT national council delegates, provided the bulk of the militants and leaders of the cordones. For a growing majority of the So- cialist Party, the cordones were an “embryo of the socialist state” and, to- gether with the comandos comunales de trabajadores (locally based coun- cils), the “vanguard of the working class”. On 9 May 1972, a meeting of the UP in the important southern city of Concepcion resolved to organise a mobilisation to counter a Christian Democratic and National Party rally against the government. The local UP leadership, including the CP, the CUT and most mass organisations, agreed to involve the Movement of the Revo- lutionary Le and to organise to stop the right wing demonstration from occupying the streets. At 3pm on 12 May, at the universi- ty, 15,000 workers, students and poor gathered in an open forum and pre- pared to take on the right. Despite By 1972, workers had begun to develop organisations that brought severe police repression and the vi- olence of the fascist shock troops into question the normal organs of government administration and Patria y Libertad, the people marched began to challenge the private capitalist organisation of industry and and swept the streets of the right wing demonstrators. agriculture. Despite the CP leadership urging the members of the UP to abandon the fused to lead and could barely contin- itself resolve the political struggle: move toward socialism, and later to MIR and return to the fold, on 27 July ue to muffl e. “The essence of the diffi culties lies in build socialism, what must come fi rst the Concepcion Asamblea del Pueblo By 1972, infl ation was a runaway everything meant by the class charac- is the development of production in met to “denounce the counter-revolu- 140 percent and by year’s end would ter of the bourgeois state, into whose all areas of the national economy. tionary character of the parliament”. reach over 400 percent; small business still-prevailing boundaries the new Without this, there is nothing.” The assembly was supported by the increasingly engaged in hoarding, and achievements have been channelled. PS, MAPU, MIR, Christian Le Party the black market was growing. Prod- Its whole structure, including the ju- Workers on the march and the Radical Party and involved uct shortages aff ected large numbers dicial framework and even the admin- But ever larger numbers of Chil- participants from some 61 unions, six of workers and their families, espe- istrative apparatus, has been shaped ean workers and important sections peasant organisations, 17 student or- cially those least organised and out- to a end to the interests of capital- of the le , inside and outside the UP, ganisations, 32 neighbourhood organ- side the direct supply lines provided ism. New demands confl ict with this, increasingly looked toward those isations, 27 mothers’ centres and fi ve by unions and neighbourhood organ- and a large part of the workers’ eff orts words in the UP program that the CP political parties. isations. fall on barren ground, sharpening a ignored: “The revolutionary transfor- From mid-1972 onwards, the MIR In an eff ort to abate a consumer contradiction that will be resolved mations that the country needs can gained in strength and infl uence, join- panic and regain some semblance of only when this bourgeois state has only be realised if the Chilean people ing an increasingly radicalised major- control, Allende created the Juntas de been replaced by a state with a diff er- take power into their own hands and ity of the Socialist Party, MAPU and Abastecimiento y Control de Precios ent character, a people’s state.” exercise it truly and eff ectively … [this Christian Le in expressing the sen- (JAPS – Commi ees of Supplies and The only way to avoid defeat was is not about a change of government] timents of the most advanced work- Price Control) by government order. to “initiate a huge mobilisation of the but about eff ecting the fundamental ers. Concepcion’s Asamblea Popular These neighbourhood commi ees masses with concrete objectives to changes our national situation de- resolved to: “prepare the local condi- made use of consumer rights laws to control the production apparatus and mands, transferring power from the tions for a national strike and protest take over powers of distribution and to prepare themselves for a military old ruling elites to the workers, farm- against the manoeuvres of the reac- denounce hoarding and black market- confrontation between the classes”. ers and progressive middle classes.” tionary majority of parliament; and eering on a neighbourhood level. Instead of advancing, Allende, with The working class was growing to create assemblies and councils of As with all its policies, the Allen- the Communist Party providing the in confi dence and organisational ca- workers in each locality”. de government fell back on popular government’s troops in the labour pacity. In the fi rst year of the Allende support to eff ect changes but simul- movement, launched a campaign of government, farm workers had taken Bosses’ strike taneously feared and denounced any conciliation. Vuskovic was replaced over almost 1,000 farms and industry Understanding the growing pow- development of workers’ organisation as minister of economy on 17 June takeovers extended to 531 businesses. er of the organised workers, the Chil- autonomous from the structures of 1972 by the Communist Party’s Orlan- By 1972, workers had begun to de- ean capitalist class sought to regain government and the law. The JAPs do Millas. Against Vuskovic’s urging velop organisations that brought into the initiative. In the second half of mobilised tens of thousands of work- to launch a “gigantic off ensive of the question the normal organs of gov- 1972, fascist groups stepped up their ers on a neighbourhood level and pro- masses”, the CP argued: “We cannot do ernment administration and begun to sabotage. On 10 October, a er the Al- vided them with valuable experiences that. Our task right now is to prevent challenge the private capitalist organ- lende government projected forming of organisation, administration and our enemies from being provoked.” isation of industry and agriculture. a state trucking company in the south workers power. The government was now increasing- Sensing the need to organise against of Chile, the Chilean Truck Owners As Vuskovic recognised, the econ- ly guided by the Communist Party’s the sabotage of the bosses, workers in Association called a stoppage; they omy was a ba lefi eld that could not policy of “national coexistence”: “To the dense industrial centres of San- were joined by the Confederation of 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 FLAG Newspaper of Socialist Alternative 19 RED www.redfl ag.org.au

Retail Merchants, the private owners eral Claudio Sepulveda as minister of On 29 June, the tanquetazo (“tank broken up by the military. of microbuses and collective taxis, the mines. The army now had what the putsch”), led by Army Lieutenant In an underground press confer- Society for Industrial Development, capitalist class required: the oppor- Colonel Roberto Souper, provided a ence a month later, the general sec- the National Agriculture Society, the tunity to observe and study up close rehearsal of what was to come. retary of the MIR, Miguel Enriquez, National Confederation of Produc- the growing power and organisation The MIR warned: “Only the mobili- summed up the Chilean tragedy: “The tion and Commerce, the College of of the workers. The expectation was sation and independent organisation crisis of the system of [capitalist] dom- Lawyers, the College of Engineers that a victory for the right wing par- of the workers and immediate and ination … [was] crystallised in the rise and some employees from the private ties in the March 1973 congressional decisive combat” against the reaction- of the UP government. This generated banks. elections would secure the possibility aries could defeat an imminent coup: conditions that would have permi ed, What the capitalists did not ex- of moving into a fi nal phase of sacking “We call on all workers to maintain the if the government had been utilised pect was that the workers would the government and dismantling the occupation of factories, farms and all as an instrument of the working class respond, not in accordance with the new organisational structures of the places of work.” The tactical impor- struggle, the conquering of power by timidity and capitulationist politics of workers. tance of the cordones and the coman- the workers and a proletarian revolu- the UP leadership, but rather with the The March elections proved in- dos comunales de trabajadores now tion. combativity and creativity of a class that was ready to rule. Hundreds of thousands of workers began to march “The reformist illusion was paid and is being paid for cruelly by the to work, walking the streets, organis- workers, their leaders and parties … dramatically confi rming the ing the recommissioning of company trucks to provide makeshi public words of the French revolutionary of the 18th century, Saint Just: transport; farm workers continued to work, offi ce workers likewise; uni- ‘Those who make revolutions in halves only dig their own graves.’” versity and high school students all joined the struggle against the bosses’ stead the growing strength of the provided a basis of agreement for the “But the reformist project as- lockout. Workers began to organise working class movement, leaving the MIR, MAPU, Christian Le and the sumed by the UP imprisoned itself in their own distribution chains for con- ruling class only one option. Through- majority of the Socialist Party. The the bourgeois order … With the hope sumer articles, taking over the role of out Santiago black paint graffi ti ap- Socialist Party general secretary of of achieving an alliance with a section private supermarkets. In the factories, peared on city walls: “Jakarta is com- the CUT declared that the comandos of the bourgeoisie, it didn’t base itself workers took on the administrative ing!” comunales could begin to “translate on the revolutionary organisation and technical operations and kept Using its position in government power from the bourgeois institution- of the workers, on their own organs companies working and producing. and the existing Law of Control of ality to a workers’ institutionality”. of power. It refused an alliance with Arms, the army mobilised to sweep A er June 1973, the capitalists the soldiers and junior offi cers; it pre- Enter the generals for weapons in the occupied factories, knew they had to seize their chance ferred trying to fortify itself within The capitalist class and politicians worker-controlled neighbourhoods, while they had it. On 11 September the capitalist state apparatus and the pulled back. Realising they could not union and le offi ces and even hospi- they did so. offi cer corps of the armed forces. win on the streets, they sought a deal tals – beginning the terrorisation and The reformist Communist Party “The reformist illusion allowed and further compromises from the UP securing the information it needed was belligerent to the end, refusing the dominant classes to fortify them- politicians. Allende spoke out against to prepare for the coup. Importantly, to organise against the coup until a selves in the state and from there the growing combativity of the work- the army also intensifi ed its campaign meeting of parliament. Meanwhile its initiate its reactionary counter-off en- ers, a acking what the UP leadership to clean up its own house, arresting own militants were being herded into sive. The reformist illusion was paid called “indiscriminate takeovers” and and torturing anti-coup navy person- the National Stadium, where, among and is being paid for cruelly by the “extremism”. On 2 November, Allende nel in the Valparaíso and Talcahuano others, one of its famous members, workers, their leaders and parties … announced the addition of three gen- naval bases. On 6 August, more than the great Chilean musician Victor dramatically confi rming the words of erals to the cabinet: General Carlos 100 navy personnel were arrested and Jara, would be tortured and killed. the French revolutionary of the 18th Prats Gonzalez as minister of the inte- accused of organising le cells inside The MIR organised frantically, ar- century, Saint Just: ‘Those who make rior; Admiral Ismael Huerta as minis- the armed forces and preparing a mu- ranging a meeting of le party leaders revolutions in halves only dig their ter of public works; and Air Force Gen- tiny. on the morning of the coup, only to be own graves.’” 20 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG www.redfl ag.org.au RED

FORGOTTEN REVOLUTIONARIES Monty Miller, proud rebel to the last

Vashti Kenway have been looking for my whole life.” sive display, he and his comrades were Miller travelled the highways and found guilty of conspiracy. byways of the Western Australian Because of his age, Miller was In a sweltering courtroom in Perth in countryside, agitating for working granted a good behaviour bond, which December 1916, members of the out- class radicalism. He participated in he almost immediately broke by giv- lawed radical syndicalist organisation hundreds of strikes. ing an anti-war speaking tour of Syd- the Industrial Workers of the World By the time he was put on trial in ney. He was sentenced to six months were put on trial for their campaign 1916, he had had many brushes with with hard labour at Long Bay Gaol but against conscription to World War 1. the law. From his experiences at Eu- was again released. One of the accused was lifelong reka onwards, Miller understood that He had his pension denied to him, working class rebel Montague Miller, the courts existed to defend the status but lived on a special fund gathered by who was by this time in his 80s. “The quo. So he and his co-accused insisted the miners at Broken Hill, who toured lawyer managed to get the Magistrate on defending themselves. him across the country as a feted hero to allow bail for him a er the fi nal In a three hour speech to the of the labour movement. day”, wrote his daughter, Annie West- brook. “‘What!’ said he. ‘Come out on bail and leave my mates in? Never!’ In a three hour speech to the jury, Miller He straightened his then slightly bent frame and walked back to the cell. A argued that the IWW was perfectly justifi ed proud rebel to the last.” in redressing the class imbalances of Miller was born in the late 1830s, the son of a carpenter. At an early age capitalist society through direct action. he was apprenticed as a joiner in Bal- larat and participated in the Eureka owing to their experience of the dete- jury, Miller argued that the IWW was Monty Miller led a hard but moral- uprising while still in his teens. From rioration of principle and moral fi bre perfectly justifi ed in redressing the ly upright life. He fought for working this moment, he nailed his colours to of men in the sinks of political corrup- class imbalances of capitalist society class control of society, despite repres- the mast of working class radicalism tion, owing to the richly gilded baits of through direct industrial action such sion, from the Eureka Stockade until and organisation. emoluments and gi s of offi ce spread as strikes and workplace sabotage. He his death. He spent a few years in the em- on the traps of human ambition.” maintained that it was only through His daughter put it like this: “He ploy of the Australian Labor Party but Such invective found a home in the class struggle that workers could bore the marks of coercive govern- quickly grew disillusioned. He became the Melbourne Anarchist Club, which improve their conditions. ment to the end of his life. Smarting a most colourful polemicist against he helped establish in 1886. Miller was The speech was passionate and er- from bayonet and bullet wound on parliamentary cretinism. He wrote to also an active member of the Ration- udite, and even the conservative West that cool December morn, he regis- the International Socialist paper in alist Society and the Social Democrat- Australian newspaper had to con- tered a vow that he would ever be the 1913: ic Party of Perth. He later discovered cede his defence was delivered with enemy of coercive government, and “… capitalists have ceased to be at the Industrial Workers of the World “a wealth of gesture and a wonderful he kept that vow for 66 years.” all alarmed at Labor in politics, that is and said of it, “It is the organisation I fl ow of language”. Despite this impres- US expands arms sales to Indonesia

providing assistance through a coun- Off ensive weapons Organised by ETAN and the West James Balowski, Jakarta ter-terrorism program. In 2005, the Human rights groups say that it Papua Advocacy Team (WPAT), the administration issued a national secu- will be impossible for the US to dic- le er was signed by 90 human rights, Human rights groups have con- rity waiver allowing full engagement tate the TNI’s use of the new hard- religious, indigenous rights, disarma- demned a US government decision to with the TNI. ware once the sale has gone through. ment and other organisations based go ahead with the sale of eight Apache Despite a complete failure to meet “The problem is that these are off en- in 14 countries. a ack helicopters to Indonesia, say- any of the conditions set by Congress, sive-only weapons. Given the TNI’s In a statement released on 26 April, ing they are off ensive weapons likely in July 2010 the Obama administra- history, they’re more likely to be used the ETAN and the WPAT said the sale to be employed in counterinsurgency tion li ed a 12-year ban on US training for internal repression than for exter- demonstrates that US concern for hu- operations in West Papua. of the TNI’s elite Special Forces Ko- nal defence”, East Timor and Indone- man rights and justice in Indonesia is The US$500 million deal is the passus, accused of perpetrating some sia Action Network (ETAN) National nothing more than hollow rhetoric. largest since Washington li ed its of the worst crimes against the people Coordinator John Miller told Red Flag. “The sale … ignores the appalling embargo on selling lethal arms to In- of East Timor, Indonesia and West “The military will use these helicop- record of human rights violations by donesia in 2005. The sale represents Papua. ters as they want. These are weapons the Indonesian military, which will the latest step in a gradual rapproche- Australia – which also severed of war, weapons of counterinsurgen- operate this deadly weapons system”, ment between Washington and the military ties in 1999 – resumed co- cy, so it would be foolish to expect the statement said. “The TNI contin- Indonesian Military (TNI). operation with the TNI in late 2002. that the Indonesians wouldn’t use ues to conduct military campaigns in Canberra’s resumption of cooperation them in places like West Papua.” West Papua. The military’s ‘sweeps’ Real weapons, pretend with Kopassus in 2005 was cited as a When it fi rst emerged last year and other military operations pur- justifi cation by the US for the li ing that Indonesia was looking to ac- portedly target the few remaining, reforms of its training ban. quire the Apaches, civil society groups lightly-armed pro-independence guer- Under the 1997 Leahy law, the US A military tribunal is currently wrote an open le er to the US Con- rillas. In reality, the operations are is banned from providing training or trying 12 Kopassus soldiers accused of gress warning that Indonesia’s “long aimed at repressing and intimidating other kinds of assistance to any for- storming a prison in Central Java and record of disregard for civilian casu- Papuans.” eign military unit if there is “credible executing four detainees who alleg- alties, corruption, human rights viola- The groups noted with concern evidence” that it has commi ed “gross edly killed a former Kopassus mem- tions and impunity” should preclude a statement by Indonesian defence violations of human rights”. This can ber in a drug-related brawl in March. the sale. minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro that be waived if the secretary of state cer- The incident follows a “marathon of “These aircra will substantially the deal does not include any condi- tifi es that the relevant foreign govern- violence” by the TNI, rights groups augment the [TNI’s] capacity to pros- tions restricting the use of the weap- ment is “taking eff ective measures” reporting 51 cases of murder, a acks, ecute its ‘sweep operations’ in West ons. to bring responsible members of the intimidation, torture and land confi s- Papua, and thereby almost certainly unit to justice. cation by TNI members in the fi rst lead to increased suff ering among the [For the latest information on Indo- The Bush administration a empt- quarter of 2013. civilian populations long victimised nesia, visit the APSN website at www. ed to circumvent these restrictions by by such operations”, the groups said. asia-pacifi c-solidarity.net.] 10 SEPTEMBER 2013 21 FLAG Newspaper of Socialist Alternative RED www.redfl ag.org.au

WHEELING MY BARROW WORLD OF STRUGGLE WITH ALLEN MYERS Naming wrongs A few weeks ago, I turned on the telly stuff ed by some business, and the to watch the cricket. I was surprised. child is now named Kentucky Fried Not because England trounced Aus- Zelda or McGeorge. (This is perhaps tralia. The surprise was discover- what happened to a real US person, ing that I wasn’t watching what I McGeorge Bundy, who was an advis- thought I was watching. er to Presidents Kennedy and John- I planned to watch the Ashes. son and helped to get the US more When the TV announcer said some- deeply involved in war in Vietnam – thing like “Welcome to the Invest- probably because being teased about ec Ashes”, I thought I’d tuned in a his weird name made him antisocial.) business program by mistake. I was “Naming rites” has now been about to switch channels when I saw changed to “naming rights” so that cricketers walking on to the fi eld. we’ll think it’s legitimate. (Several What does a famous cricket competi- corporations sponsored dictionary NEW YORK CITY, 29 August: 100 March on Washington for Jobs and tion have in common with a fi nancial makers.) protesters shut down a McDonald’s Freedom led by Martin Luther King. conglomerate? I wondered. Silly me! As you’d expect, this naming busi- with chants of “Can’t survive on sev- Nothing much has changed since It’s money, of course. ness started in the USA, quite a long en twenty-fi ve!” in support of a one- King announced his dream for a And that test was not being time ago. In fact, that country used to day nationwide strike by fast food fairer and more equal society. played at the Old Traff ord ground, as be called the States of America, until workers. The strike was the largest A June 2013 report found that I expected. The venue was Emirates an airline bought naming rights and action in the “Fight for 15” campaign, while African Americans, Hispanic Old Traff ord. The airline also has its the place became the United States which aims to more than double the and other non-white workers make name on the venue for the fourth of America. The airline then went minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per up just under a third of the US test, Emirates Chester-le-Street. But on and bought naming rights to the hour, as well as obtain the right to workforce, they represent a dispro- another form of transport beat it out Kingdom. Later it also invested in the form a union. portionate 42 percent of minimum at the venue for the fi  h test, played Manchester football team that plays The campaign began last Novem- wage earners. Women workers make at what used to be the London Oval at Emirates Old Traff ord. ber with just 200 workers in New York up more than half of those who earn but is now the Kia Oval. Australian corporations also par- City and has now spread to 60 other at or below the minimum wage. (The fi rst time I saw the slo- ticipate in naming rights. For exam- cities. During that time, there have Restaurant workers face higher gan “Fly Emirates” on a TV screen, I ple, there’s the Holden State of Origin been numerous instances of bosses rates of food insecurity than the gen- thought it was the name of an ad- rugby league competition between fi ring or slashing workers’ hours in eral workforce. Corporations such as ministrative region not far from the NSW and Queensland. That name is an a empt to stop them from union- McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Taco Bell and Mosquito Duchies and the Weevil really strange because Holden’s state ising. But workers have responded in Burger King pay poverty wages while Kingdom.) of origin was South Australia. kind, in some cases shu ing down reaping billions in profi t. Such names of sporting venues Beyond sporting events and stores and even forcing management In the US, the rich are ge ing (and events and teams) are the prod- teams, there are political parties. to concede to their demands to rein- richer at the expense of the working uct of “naming rites”. Naming rites Clive Palmer can name his party af- state laid-off workers. class. Fast food workers are show- are also called “baptism”, where reli- ter himself since he’s a billionaire. The protests were held the day ing that to fi ght back, you have to gious believers take an off spring to But what about the major parties? a er the 50th anniversary of the organise. their nearest clergyperson to have Shouldn’t they carry the names of the child offi cially named. But it’s their sponsors? It’s a nice idea, but a bit like the parents planning to impractical: there are just too many name their child George or Zelda capitalists and corporations backing but fi nding out too late that the cler- them. gyperson has had his/her pockets

In control 1 “We believe that we can control radiation exposure by using the proper MANILA, Philippines, 26 August: in the Philippines, in addition to the equipment and clothing.” – Tepco, the company operating the damaged more than 100,000 people marched $9.5 million in property her family is Fukushima nuclear power plants, a er it was revealed that radiation from through the capital to demand an estimated to own in California. a water tank previously measured at 100 millisieverts an hour was actually end to “pork barrelling”. The march is the largest public 1,800. The earlier fi gure was measured on a meter whose maximum was 100. Thousands more mobilised in demonstration since Philippines cities around the country and in Fil- President Benigno Aquino was elect- In control 2 ipino communities around the world. ed in 2010 by a decisive majority “... [R]ight now short-term funding concerns are taking priority over resolving Protesters demanded the abolition of on a platform of “transformational the problems.” – The governor of Niigata, the prefecture next to Fukushima, the “pork barrel”, the corrupt practice change” to tackle poverty and cor- on how Tepco is handling the disaster. of appropriating public money for lo- ruption. cal projects through Congress. The government pledged at the That was then; this is now The “million people march” was last minute to reform the fund. But “The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally called in response to the purported church and civic groups, health authorise a military a ack in a situation that does not involve stopping an the of 10 billion Philippine pesos – workers, students and many le actual or imminent threat to the nation.” – Barack Obama during his fi rst approximately US$250 million – in wing groups called for the fund’s full campaign for the US presidency. public funds from the Priority De- abolition. velopment Assistance Fund over the The government claimed it was Since it causes most of them last decade. on the same side as the protesters, “[T]here is no solution to most of the problems of the world … which does not At the centre of the scandal is but the protesters disagreed. go through the United States.” – British Labour leader Ed Miliband. business woman and hate-fi gure Corruption is not an adjunct to Janet Lim-Napoles who reportedly capitalism. It is fi nely woven into a Land of the fee facilitated the the by se ing up nu- system that preaches self-regulation “It’s bad when three mayors get led out in handcuff s. What’s le of the merous bogus foundations. Napoles’ for big business and mass inequality public trust gets ground into li le pieces.” – Carla Miller, the ethics offi cer for claims to humble origins have been for the rest of us. Only mass struggle Jacksonville, in the US state of Florida, a er the third arrest in a month of a dismissed by an outraged public. She has the potential to win reforms that Florida mayor for taking bribes. is reported to own 28 luxury houses would benefi t ordinary Filipinos. 22 21 AUGUST 2013 Newspaper of Socialist Alternative FLAG www.redfl ag.org.au RED What Socialist Alternative stands for

1. SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE is a revolutionary 11. THE IMPERIALIST phase of capitalism has Marxist organisation. We stand for the overthrow of ushered in an era of military confl ict that has no capitalism and the construction of a world socialist precedent in human history. The core element of system. imperialism is the confl ict between imperial pow- ers, or blocks of capital, which a empt by military, 2. BY SOCIALISM we mean a system in which socie- diplomatic and commercial means to divide and ty is democratically controlled by the working class redivide the world in their own interests. In the con- and the productive resources of society are chan- fl icts between imperial powers (open or by proxy), nelled to abolishing class divisions. Only socialism revolutionaries do not take sides, least of all with can rid the world of poverty and inequality, stop im- our own ruling classes. Nor do we call for the reso- perialist wars, end oppression and exploitation, save Who is behind Red Flag? lution of inter-imperialist confl ict by the “peaceful” the environment from destruction and provide the methods of international diplomacy. Instead we conditions for the full realisation of human creative Socialist Alternative is the organisation behind fi ght for international working class solidarity and potential. A system under the democratic control of Red Flag. We are a revolutionary socialist group unity, and embrace Lenin’s revolutionary call to the working class is the only basis for establishing that sees class struggle, not parliament, as “turn the imperialist war between nations into a a classless, prosperous, sustainable society based on the key to changing society. We are organised civil war between classes”. In the case of wars waged the principle “from each according to their ability, to very differently to the main political parties or diplomatic pressure exerted by military threat by each according to their need”. like Labor and the Greens. Our members don’t the imperial powers against colonies and non-impe- just hand out how to vote cards for candidates rialist nations, we oppose the imperial power and 3. STALINISM IS not socialism. We agree with Trot- in elections. We are activists wherever we are, defend the right of national self-determination. sky’s characterisation of Stalin as the “gravedigger” trying to organise others, build solidarity and en- of the Russian Revolution. The political character of courage resistance – in workplaces, on campus- 12. AUSTRALIA IS an imperialist power in its own the regime established by the Stalinist bureaucracy es, in progressive campaigns, and on the street. right. Through its own economic and military in Russia most closely resembled that placed in strength, and in alliance with US imperialism, Aus- power in capitalist countries by victorious fascist As well as being involved as unionists and activ- tralian capitalism seeks to politically and militarily movements – an atomised population ruled over by ists, it is crucial that we build an organisation dominate its region and project power more broadly. a ruthless bureaucratic dictatorship masquerading that can combat all the lies and justifi cations for This gives revolutionaries in Australia a special behind social demagogy. We stand in the tradition of capitalism that spew out of the media, the edu- obligation to stand in solidarity with struggles of the revolutionaries who resisted Stalinism, and we cation system and from the government. That’s workers and the oppressed in our region against fi ght today to reclaim the democratic, revolutionary why we also hold meetings to discuss political Australian imperialist intervention and control. politics of Marx, Engels, Luxemburg, Lenin, Trotsky ideas, the history of the struggle, and the issues and others from Stalinist distortion. of the day (see our upcoming events on the next 13. WE RECOGNISE Aboriginal and Torres Strait page). Islander people as the fi rst people of Australia. We 4. SOCIALISM CANNOT be won by reform of the acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded and current system or by taking over the existing state. The following are the principles of Socialist condemn the crimes of genocide and dispossession Only the revolutionary overthrow of the existing Alternative. They provide the foundation for the commi ed by European colonists and the Austral- order and the smashing of the capitalist state organisation’s broader political positions and ian state. We support the struggle for land rights, apparatus can defeat the capitalist class and per- analyses, and guide our political practice. sovereignty and economic and social justice for manently end its rule. A successful revolution will Indigenous people. involve workers taking control of their workplaces, dismantling existing state institutions (parliaments, bility for united action in practice and demonstrate 14. WE OPPOSE all immigration controls and courts, the armed forces and police) and replacing to all workers in a non-sectarian way the superiority support open borders. We fi ght to free all refugees them with an entirely new state based on genuinely of revolutionary ideas and practice. We support all from detention and for the right of asylum seekers democratic control by the working class. demands and movements that tend to improve the to reach Australia. We oppose racism towards position and self confi dence of workers and of other migrants. In particular we reject racism towards 5. THE EMANCIPATION of the working class must oppressed sections of the population. Muslims, whose right to religious and political free- be the act of the working class itself. Socialism dom is routinely a acked on the spurious grounds cannot come about by the actions of a minority. The 8. SOCIALISTS SUPPORT trade unions as the basic of “fi ghting terrorism”. struggle for socialism is the struggle of the great defensive organisations of the working class. We mass of workers to control their lives and their soci- stand for democratic, militant, class struggle union- 15. WE OPPOSE all oppression on the basis of sex, ety, what Marx called “a movement of the immense ism and reject class collaborationism. We also stand gender or sexuality. We oppose all forms of dis- majority in the interests of the immense majority”. for political trade unionism – the union movement crimination against women and all forms of social should champion every struggle against injustice. inequality between men and women. The struggle 6. FOR WORKERS to be won to the need for rev- for freedom from exploitation and freedom from all olution, and for the working class to be cohered 9. CAPITALIST EXPLOITATION of the working forms of oppression includes the liberation of les- organisationally and politically into a force capable class and the natural world has created a situation bians, gay men, bisexual, transgender and intersex of defeating the centralised might of the capitalist where the profi t system threatens the habitability people. We fi ght for an end to all legal and social dis- state, a revolutionary party is necessary. Such an of the planet. We oppose a empts to halt climate crimination against LGBTI people and all forms of organisation has to cohere in its ranks the decisive change and environmental destruction through sexist discrimination. We support full reproductive elements among the most class conscious and mili- measures that place the burden on working class freedom for all women. tant workers. Laying the basis for such a party is the people and the poor. We demand instead funda- key strategic task for socialists in Australia today. mental social and political change that directly 16. ALL THESE forms of oppression, and others challenges the interests of the ruling class. The envi- like the oppression of the young, the disabled and 7. IT IS NOT enough for a revolutionary party to ronmental crisis can only be solved under socialism, the elderly, are used to divide the working class and organise the vanguard of the class. For capitalism where the interests of people and the planet are not to spare capital the expense of providing for the to be overthrown, the majority of the working counterposed. needs of all members of society. Combating them class must be won to revolutionary action and the is an essential part of building a united working socialist cause. It is not enough to simply denounce 10. SOCIALISTS ARE internationalists. We reject class struggle that can win a socialist society. Only the non-revolutionary organisations and political Australian patriotism and nationalism and fi ght for a socialist revolution can bring about the genuine currents in the workers’ movement. Revolutionaries international working class solidarity. The struggle liberation of the oppressed and the ability of every have to engage reformist organisations via the against capitalism is an international struggle: human being to realise their full potential. method of the united front in order to test the possi- socialism cannot be built in a single country. 21 AUGUST 2013 23 FLAG Newspaper of Socialist Alternative RED www.redfl ag.org.au GET INVOLVED

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Red Flag, Issue 8, 10 September 2013. ISSN: 2202-2228 Published by Red Flag Press Inc. Trades Hall, 54 Victoria St, Carlton South, Vic, 3053 ADDRESS Email: info@redfl ag.org.au, ph (03) 9650 3541 Editors: Ben Hillier and Corey Oakley Editorial Commi ee: Ben Hillier, Corey Oakley, Steph Price, Jorge Jorquera Production: Simon Olley, Viktoria Ivanova, Diane Fieldes, Allen Myers Subscriptions and publicity: Steph Price. Email subs@redfl ag.org.au Someone from your nearest branch will be in touch soon. REDFLAG Issue 8 - September 10 2013 $3 / $5 (solidarity) SYRIA Support the revolution Oppose US bombing

ing of Assad as a “thug and a murder- US has been walking a fi ne line in an tice and a thirst for democracy. Vashti Kenway er”, wined and dined this self-same a empt to achieve an outcome most While it is vital for the le to take dictator in 2009. More recently Kerry favourable to its interests. As George a stand against any US strike, it is The heroic uprising against Syrian argued for closer relations between Friedman, CEO of US ruling class also important to be clear about the dictator Bashar al-Assad has been met Assad and the US as a counterweight think tank Stratfor, said: “The United basis for such opposition. We should with one of the bloodiest counter-rev- to the Egyptian and Tunisian revolu- States had a strategic interest in nei- oppose US intervention because it olutionary wars in living memory. tions. ther faction taking power in Syria – its would strengthen repressive forces in Now, the Syrian revolution is facing Some commentators are resur- Lebanonisation. That is brutal, but it Syria, while infl icting more death and possible air strikes by the US, with or recting the ghost of Iraq and the is true … The president tried to walk a destruction on an already devastated without support from its allies. It is vi- weapons of mass destruction scandal. tightrope between regime change and population. tal that the le in the West reject dic- But Syria 2013 is not Iraq 2003. The US inaction (or a small action that le the tator apologists, support democratic has to contend with a much more vol- regime in place).” Assad apologists uprisings and oppose all imperialist atile situation in the Middle East. The To this end, the US has maintained But opposition to US intervention meddling. Arab Spring has changed the game. toothless sanctions against Assad should not lead us to champion Assad The successful democratic upris- while allowing US allies to supply the and the bloc of countries (Russia and Reject US intervention ings against the seemingly unshak- regime with the ingredients for chem- Iran) and forces (Hezbollah) that sup- While the levels of death and des- able regimes in Tunisia and Egypt ical weapons. On the other hand, it port him. titution in Syria have risen over the inspired millions across the region has been off ering limited funding and The anti-intervention camp is last two years, the US had declared to struggle against economic injus- support (in the form of small fi rearms) deeply divided. Some are using US that the use of chemical weapons tice and for political freedom. All the to the least democratic elements of threats to defend the regime. would be a “red line” beyond which the major imperial forces have been le the resistance. At recent demonstrations in Mel- Assad regime could not step. Clearly, scrambling to regain a foothold. This is a calculated strategy. The bourne and Sydney, supporters of As- the deaths of some 70,000 people and In Syria, US strategy aims at the US ruling class does not concern itself sad dominated, and supporters of the the displacement of nearly 5 million mutual destruction of the contending with destroyed lives. It treats war as Syrian revolution were threatened did not cause Obama and his cronies forces. The US hopes that both sides an imperial chess game, shi ing pieces with physical violence if they came much lost sleep. will bash each other into submission. around the board a empting to shore and put the position “No to US inter- The current tears over civilian It wants to undermine the genuinely up its own power. If the US bombs the vention, down with Assad.” losses stink of hypocrisy. John Kerry, democratic movement and foment country – and this looks likely – it will for instance, despite his recent brand- sectarian division. To this end, the not be motivated by a passion for jus- Continued on page 16