Perth Indymedia

Much of the world seemed to be in a state of near convulsion at the election of Jair Bolsonaro, a far right candidate who has won the Presidency of Brazil, in yet another election result that illustrates the extraordinary political instability of the current period.

Freelance journalist and editor of Brasil Wire, Brian Mier, spoke to Alex Whisson.

Bradon Ellem is a Professor of Employment Relations in the University of Sydney Business School, and the author of The Pilbara: From the Deserts Profits Come, a rich and engaging single volume history of trade unionism in the Pilbara iron ore industry.

Professor Raymond Evans taught for many years at the University of Queensland and is the author of many texts on the history of both frontier and post-frontier Queensland, including the seminal A History of Queensland, published by Cambridge University Press, and short-listed for the inaugural 2008 Prime Minister's Literary Awards for Non-fiction. One of his long term research interests is the history of frontier violence in the Queensland colony.

Identity politics. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, you’ll have at least heard the term. One particular version of identity politics featured heavily in Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the American Presidency. And if you spend so much as five minutes in left wing circles on social media, you’ll be guaranteed to encounter another, especially strident version of it. But what does the term identity politics actually mean? And why has it taken hold of the political left throughout the Western world in such an extraordinary way?

Alex Whisson spoke to Asad Haider, author of Mistaken Identity: Race and Class in the Age of Trump.

Author and researcher Chris Owen speaks to Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell about the dark history of policing and frontier violence in the Kimberly region of Western Australia.

Lizzie O'Shea is a human rights lawyer, author, board member of Digital Rights Watch, and newly appointed spokesperson for the Alliance for a Safe and Secure Internet. The Alliance has been formed in response to proposed anti-encryption legislation being put before the federal parliament. If its passage through the parliament isn’t thwarted by campaigning efforts, the Assistance and Access Bill 2018 may well come in to law before the end of this year. Lizzie spoke to Alex Whisson late last week and began by explaining why anyone concerned about online privacy, and digital rights more broadly, should be opposed to the bill.

Richard Seymour is a founding editor of Salvage magazine, creator of the popular blog Lenin's Tomb, and the author of many books, including Corbyn: The Strange Rebirth of Radical Politics. He joined Alex Whisson to discuss the remarkable phenomenon that is Jeremy Corbyn's continuing leadership of the British Labour Party.

Director, writer and author Benjamin Gilmour speaks to Indymedia's Raymond Grenfell about his most recent film Jirga. A film that challenges the notion of our supremacy in the middle east and asks: what would restorative justice look like for the people of Afghanistan who have suffered so much under occupation?

Described by the New York Times Magazine as "America's most prominent Marxist economist", Richard Wolff is the author of many books, including Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It, and is currently a Visiting Professor in the Graduate Program in International Affairs of the New School University, New York City.

He joined Alex Whisson to discuss the causes and consequences of the Great Recession.

It's been ten years since the US investment bank Lehman Brothers collapsed. History records Lehman's fall as the event which catalysed the Great Recession of 2008-9.

Various theories have been postulated as to the cause of that recession, but the overextension of the American property market, in the form of sub-prime mortgages, and the uncontrolled growth of so-called financial instruments invented by Wall St bankers, are seen as the primary factors.

Economist and author Michael Roberts argues there were much deeper reasons for the Great Recession. He addressed those underlying causes in discussion with Alex Whisson.