En Passant

It may be that the case against Peter Slipper is falling apart and exposing some rather rotten Liberal and National apples. We shall see if that is the case and if it backfires spectacularly on one of the neoliberal sides of politics.

Bob Brown has been doing a farewell tour. From radical to market apologist might be a fitting political epitaph.

A coroner decided Azaria Chamberlain had been taken by dingo, ending 32 years’ persecution of and agony for the Chamberlain family. This is justice Australian style.

Refugees have and receive no justice, locked up in concentration camps or detained indefinitely on the say so of ASIO.

This weekend and next (depending on which city) there will be demonstrations for asylum seekers and World Refugee Day. Details are:

PERTH: Saturday 16 June 2012 at 1pm
Wesley Uniting Church, 97 William Street

CANBERRA: Saturday 16 June 2012 at 1pm
Ainslie Avenue between London Circuit and the Canberra Centre Civic

BRISBANE: Saturday 16 June 2012 at 1pm
Brisbane Square, top of Queen St Mall

ADELAIDE: Saturday 16 June 2012 at 1:30pm
Parliament House steps, North terrace

MELBOURNE: Sunday 17 June 2012 at 12 noon
Gather State Parliament House, Spring Street

SYDNEY: Sunday 24 June 2012 at 1pm
Sydney Town Hall, 483 George Street

In Greece elections on Sunday could see the election of the left-wing SYRIZA group, an organisation committed to growth, not austerity. Here is some of its programme, according to Bloomberg:

• Cancel Greece’s bailout and implementation laws and replace them with a national recovery plan
• Renegotiate the country’s loan agreement and seek a European solution to the Greek debt crisis
• Restore Feb. 28 wage reductions, special bonus cuts and labor collective agreements; minimum wage of 751 euros
• Restore unemployment benefit of 461.5 euros and extend payment to two years from one
• No special taxes for the unemployed, people on low incomes and pensioners
• Set a primary spending plan of as much as 43 percent of Greek GDP instead of 36 percent
• Increase the country’s revenue by taxing higher incomes to reach a European level of 4 percent of GDP
• Halt implementation of cuts in wages, social spending and pensions
• Gradually reduce sales taxes, minimize them for basic food products
• Sign a special national agreement with shipowners, cancel 58 tax reductions
• Nationalize, socialize banks
• Freeze program of privatizing state-run companies and gradually bring strategically significant companies back to state control (ONE, PPC, Hellenic Postbank, Athens Water)

The European and global bourgeoisie are worried. SYRIZA could win the election and thus pick up an extra 50 seats, although it is possible that New Democracy will end up just in front.

The key in Greece is not the election on Sunday, although that is clearly very important in a society riven by class struggle, but the struggle and the desperate need to continue the strikes and demonstrations no matter who wins, and to deepen the industrial action to include taking over and running workplaces.

In Syria the dictator continues to butcher his people and the US maneuvers for intervention. In Bahrain the dictator butchers his people and the US gets Saudi Arabia to send in troops to help ‘restore order’.

In Egypt the counter-revolution has seized power in a soft coup and the results may be explosive.

Demonstrations have broken out. It is unclear if they will escalate and intensify or what workers and peasants will do.

At this stage the revolution is still alive, but confused, hesitant and unsure. However the counter-revolution hasn’t felt strong enough yet to try to drown the revolution in blood.

In West Papua, Australian trained Indonesian troops assassinated Mako Tabuni, secretary/general of the pro-independence West Papua National Committee (KNPB),

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