In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) and Jon (@jonpiccini) catch up with Simon Copland (@SimonCopland) ‏ again. We talk about how despite the plebiscite being a fantastic victory the Left (for lack of a better term) seems determined to see it as a defeat and what the impact of this is. Simon also talks about going to, live tweeting from and then writing about a recent Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux talk and his thoughts about how the struggle against reaction can be renovated.

Things we mention include:

Simon Copland - Racists on speaking tour: rethinking our response

Alison Pennington - On the Plebiscite: Beyond Defeatism, Moralism and the Politics of Scarcity

Red Action - Declaration Of Independence

You can find Simon’s work here and our older episode with him here .

In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) and Jon (@jonpiccini) catch up with Simon Copland (@SimonCopland) ‏ again. We talk about how despite the plebiscite being a fantastic victory the Left (for lack of a better term) seems determined to see it as a defeat and what the impact of this is. Simon also talks about going to, live tweeting from and then writing about a recent Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux talk and his thoughts about how the struggle against reaction can be renovated.

Things we mention include:

Simon Copland - Racists on speaking tour: rethinking our response

Alison Pennington - On the Plebiscite: Beyond Defeatism, Moralism and the Politics of Scarcity

Red Action - Declaration Of Independence

You can find Simon’s work here and our older episode with him here .

In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) chats with friend of the show Michael. Michael talks about how the NDIS has changed the experience of those that work in care and community services, how it has impacted work conditions and how it has undermined the kind of care that those on the NDIS receive. We also talk about what does this mean for struggle around these issues? What are the unions doing? What are the workers doing? How does this impact with a larger question about the struggle against poverty in Australian society?

This is the second show we have done on the NDIS. Our first episode can be found here

In this episode Dave(@withsobersenses) and Jon (@jonpiccini) chat with Padraic Gibson (@paddygibson) about his research into the Communist Party of Australia and its early, or lack there of, engagement with Indigenous struggles in the 1920s and 30s. Not only is the history fascinating but Paddy also really digs into what was wrong with socialist and communist thought at the time, and the inheritance of Marx and Engel’s work, that made it hard for the CPA to connect with these struggles. How and why did this change? And how do these concerns play out today?

Sadly Jon’s internet dropped out 15 or 20 minutes into the conversation

Paddy is a member of Solidarity and his work can be found there.

Paddy would like to acknowledge that the history about the links between the Garvyist movement and Aboriginal activists in Australia in the 1920s he talks about comes from John Maynard’s book Fight for Liberty and Freedom

Paddy was nominated as an interviewee by John Passant when John donated to Living the Dream. Thanks John!

In this episode Dave(@withsobersenses) and Jon (@jonpiccini) chat with Padraic Gibson (@paddygibson) about his research into the Communist Party of Australia and its early, or lack there of, engagement with Indigenous struggles in the 1920s and 30s. Not only is the history fascinating but Paddy also really digs into what was wrong with socialist and communist thought at the time, and the inheritance of Marx and Engel’s work, that made it hard for the CPA to connect with these struggles. How and why did this change? And how do these concerns play out today?

Sadly Jon’s internet dropped out 15 or 20 minutes into the conversation

Paddy is a member of Solidarity and his work can be found there.

Paddy was nominated as an interviewee by John Passant when John donated to Living the Dream. Thanks John!

It has been twenty years since the Wharf Dispute between Patrick Stevedores and the Coalition Government on one side and the Maritime Union of Australia, the Trade Unions and supporters on the other. This was (so far) the last set piece national confrontation between Capital and Labour over a specific industrial dispute to happen in Australia. In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) chats with Nick Southall about the Maritime Defence Committee. The latter was formed by comrades outside of the industry to provide meaningful support for the struggle. What happened during the dispute and are there implications for class struggle today?

Articles mention include

Nick Southall   Getting the Gong – A Tale of Two Cities

Shane Reside  Rules made for breaking: beyond ‘Change the Rules’

Picture: A Banner on the Main Gate of Patrick Stevedores East Swanson Dock in Melbourne.

What the hell is going on globally? In this (short) episode Dave (@withsobersenses) tries to think through the fracturing of the global order: the split in the G7, the end of QE by the US Federal Reserve and the ECB and the looming possibility of more US tariffs on Chinese imports. How do we understanding these phenomena? Why are they happening and what does it all mean?

This is our 50th Episode!

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

• ECB winds down QE despite slowdown, risking '2011' policy error

Civil China-hosted summit contrasts with G7 turmoil

Music by Wall of Voodoo

This is Part 2 of our 2-part show with Tanya Serisier about #metoo, feminism and the struggle against gendered and sexual violence. This show fleshes out the problems of the notion of consent as a solution to gendered and sexual violence, the continuing importance of the lessons of 70s feminism, including much-maligned lesbian separatism, how feminism has forced a rethink of what politics and power is and we finish with Tanya’s reflections on the recent UCU strike and what it shows us about radical and collective struggles.

Some stuff we mention includes:

Wendy Brown Moralism as Anti-politics

Critical Resistance

 Tanya Serisier Is Consent Sexy

Judith Butler Sexual Consent: Some Thoughts on Psychoanalysis and Law

Nancy Fraser Feminism, Capitalism And The Cunning Of History

Adriana Cavarero In Spite of Plato

This is Part 2 of our 2-part show with Tanya Serisier about #metoo, feminism and the struggle against gendered and sexual violence. This show fleshes out the problems of the notion of consent as a solution to gendered and sexual violence, the continuing importance of the lessons of 70s feminism, including much-maligned lesbian separatism, how feminism has forced a rethink of what politics and power is and we finish with Tanya’s reflections on the recent UCU strike and what it shows us about radical and collective struggles.

Some stuff we mention includes:

Wendy Brown Moralism as Anti-politics

Critical Resistance

 Tanya Serisier Is Consent Sexy

Judith Butler Sexual Consent: Some Thoughts on Psychoanalysis and Law

Nancy Fraser Feminism, Capitalism And The Cunning Of History

Adriana Cavarero In Spite of Plato

This episode is part one of a two-part interview with feminist scholar and activist Tanya Serisier. Tanya and Dave(@withsobersenses) discuss how #metoo can be understood in the history of feminist struggle against, and thought about, gendered sexual violence. Tanya discusses how complex these issues are: they evade easy answers and they bring up difficult questions about where such violence comes from and how struggle and speech against them sometimes breaks from the broader patterns of power and sometimes reinforces them.

Tanya’s research work and writing can be found here