The Sound of Solidarity

Solidarity editor James Supple looks at the growing economic problems facing capitalism in the wake of the COVID pandemic and argues that workers should refuse to pay the price for a system running into crisis.

The Spanish revolution was one of the great working class uprisings. Allied with the poor peasants, the workers had a chance to not just beat back fascism but to overthrow capitalism, too. The anarchists had the support of most workers, especially in the industrial city of Barcelona. But they failed to grasp the opportunity that the crisis offered and the revolution went down to defeat. David Glanz explains why.

A growing number of university staff are arguing for boycott, divestment and sanctions, or BDS, on the campuses – in other words, for an institutional academic boycott of Israel. University of Sydney academic Dr Nick Riemer has just published Boycott Theory and the Struggle for Palestine: Universities, Intellectualism and Liberation, taking apart the arguments of BDS critics. Nick is a senior lecturer in the discipline of English and the branch president of the National Tertiary Education Union.

Matilda Fay discusses the fight for trans rights, LGBTI+ and women's rights today and argues that we face a common enemy in capitalism, a system that fosters oppression to strengthen its rule.

Caitlin Doyle looks at the gap between Labor's rhetoric on climate action and the reality and argues a way forward for rebuilding the climate movement.

The Chinese revolution of 1925-27 held out the possibility of social liberation for Chinese workers and peasants. Its success would also have tipped the balance of forces back in favour of the ailing Russian workers' state. The Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky wrote extensively on the way forward to victory, as Ian Rintoul explains.

The 21st century has seen regimes rocked by revolt and revolution from the Egyptian revolution and the Arab Spring of 2011 to the ongoing revolution in Sudan and new waves of protest in places like Iran. British socialist and academic Anne Alexander speaks on her new book, Revolution is the Choice of the People: Crisis & Revolt in the Middle East & North Africa.

What drives union officials? Can workers afford to leave it all to them? And if not, what do rank-and-file activists need to argue as the way forward? Three experienced socialist union activists discuss the issues: Sophie Cotton (NTEU), Erima Dall (MUA) and Marcus Banks (NTEU).

Feiyi Zhang discusses the potential and limitations of art under capitalism ... and how art can play a role in revolution and be liberated by it. View the artworks mentioned in her talk here: http://bit.ly/3nbnsi5

Israel has its most rightwing government ever, which is stepping up attacks on Palestinians. But it has also provoked outrage within Israeli society by trying to limit the power of the courts. There have been giant protests and many in the military are threatening to withdraw from service. David Glanz discusses why Israel has lurched to the right, whether Israeli protesters can bring about change, and how Palestinian liberation can be achieved.

The introduction of ChatGPT and other forms of artificial intelligence threatens many industries with upheaval. Erima Dall looks at why capitalism turns to new technologies, what it means for workers and how we can ensure that technology is used for human need, not profit. Erima is a member of the Maritime Union of Australia and Solidarity.

All Quiet on the Western Front has won four Oscars. David Glanz discusses the latest film version of this classic anti-war story and why it still resonates 100 years after the First World War. He also looks at what the film doesn't cover: the revolutions and mutinies that brought the horror of the war to an end.

Australia is making it clear that in the event of war with China it will line up with the US. This is why one of the first priorities of the Labor government has been a strategic review of the military. That's on top of the AUKUS pact, the agreement between the US, the UK and Australia to deliver eight nuclear powered submarines at the cost of $170 billion. Feiyi Zhang discusses the issues. Join the anti-war movement. Sydney: www.facebook.com/SydAntiAukusCoalition, Melbourne: https://www.facebook.com/noaukusvic/, elsewhere: www.antiaukuscoalition.org.

The island of Guam has been dubbed the US’s “unsinkable aircraft carrier”. Its size and strategic location in the west Pacific gives it great value to US war plans. The military owns one third of the land, demolishes sacred sites and pollutes the environment. But Indigenous people are resisting. We talk to Maria Hernandez, an Indigenous Chamoru environmental, women's and cultural rights activist, about the fightback.

Lockdowns affected millions around the country. Melbourne was locked down for 262 days. Was this a necessary step to save lives or authoritarian over-reach? Why did the Victorian government respond so harshly? Who paid the price? Chip Le Grand, whose book Lockdown has been published by Monash University Publishing, discusses the issues. Chip is chief reporter at The Age in Melbourne and a Walkley Book Award winner.

Many Indigenous people are sceptical about the planned Voice to Parliament, seeing it as a distraction that will change little. At a recent Solidarity forum in Sydney, the issues were addressed by four activists. In speaking order, Paddy Gibson (Jumbunna Institute, UTS and Solidarity), Ian Brown (Gomeroi activist with Gamilaraay Next Generation), Ethan Lyons (Wirajduri student and School Strike for Climate) and Elizabeth Jarrett (Bundjalung-Dunghutti-Gumbaynggirr activist).

Solidarity member Judy McVey looks back to the founding of the Communist Party of Australia on 30 October 1920 and both its contribution to working class struggle and its flaws. This talk was recorded in 2020.

Is overpopulation a threat to the planet? Martin Empson argues that the idea of overpopulation is used to deflect attention away from the destructive system of capitalism and the potential for collective struggle for a sustainable world. Martin is the author of Socialism or Extinction: The Meaning of Revolution in a time of Ecological Crisis. This talk was given at Keep Left 2021.

Frank Stilwell, Emeritus Professor at the University of Sydney, and Solidarity member Phil Griffiths discuss the state of the Australian economy and the growing inequality being created by market dynamics. This talk was recorded at Solidarity's conference, Keep Left, in 2021.

This talk by Paddy Gibson explores how the expansionist imperatives of capitalism drove genocidal war across the colonial frontier, with a particular focus on Northern Australia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There is also discussion of the challenge posed to Australian nationalism by Indigenous resistance and why ruling class figures such as John Howard have tried so hard to bury the truth about frontier warfare. Recorded at a Solidarity meeting in Sydney, May 2014.