In Australia at the beginning of 2022 the COVID crisis is reaching new deadly milestones. The healthcare system is collapsing under the strain. A mainstream political consensus has been reached about 'living' and dying with the pandemic while the far right have taken the crisis as an opportunity to mobilise. At the same time, climate change continues to create international and local catastrophes. On this episode Roz and Liam are joined by activists Jess Lenehan and Nahui Jimenez to discuss the many reasons to be a socialist today. 

Freedom Fridays Protest for Refugees in Melbourne - https://www.facebook.com/events/6793879187348723/ 

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny. 

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper: https://subscribe.redflag.org.au/ 

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/redflagradiopodcast  

World leaders are gathering to discuss their plans to tackle climate change at the COP26 in Glasgow. Will their commitments make any difference? What are the alternatives to global summits? On this episode we discuss the politics of climate crisis internationally and in Australia, and how we should respond with activists Anneke and Cormac. 

Follow the coverage of COP26 in Red Flag - https://redflag.org.au/category/climate 

Join the global day of action on November 6 in your city - details below.

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny. 

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper: https://subscribe.redflag.org.au/ 

Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/redflagradiopodcast  

On this episode we discuss the hidden class history of the suffragettes and the role of working class mass struggle in winning the vote. Too often the official histories of the suffrage movement brush over the bitter splits and divisions within both the campaign and the Pankhurst family. Roz is joined in discussion by veteran socialist Moira Leahy to uncover these important debates and discuss the politics of challenging sexism and fighting for socialism. 

Reading

How working class women won the vote by Judy Cox http://isj.org.uk/how-working-class-women-won-the-vote/ 

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny. 

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper - https://subscribe.redflag.org.au/ 

On this episode we talk to an education worker, a nurse, and a construction worker about why they are campaigning for health before profits and safer workplaces in Australia. Health before Profits is a national campaign group that includes workers, academics, activists and students who are organising in opposition to Scott Morrison's reckless, unsafe national plan for re-opening and 'living with COVID'. 

Find out more and get involved in the campaign here -

https://www.facebook.com/HealthbeforeProfitAus 

Public meeting on the school reopening plan in Victoria - Sun 24 October 5pm - 

https://www.facebook.com/events/175070548108545/

OzSAGE is a multi-disciplinary network of Australian experts from a broad range of sectors relevant to the well-being of the Australian population during and after the COVID-19 pandemic -  https://ozsage.org/

Support Red Flag Radio on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/redflagradiopodcast 

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper  https://subscribe.redflag.org.au   

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny.

The 250 richest people in Australia increased their wealth by $93 billion during the first year of the pandemic while millions of essential workers have seen no increase in their wages. In this episode we talk to activist Shirley Killen about drastic inequality, the political failures of mainstream politics, and what socialists can learn from the drive for profits in a crisis. 

Reading

How Australia’s richest have profited in the pandemic by Shirley Killen - https://redflag.org.au/article/how-australias-richest-have-profited-pandemic  

Why is nobody in prison over robodebt? by April Holcombe - https://redflag.org.au/node/7483 

How the rich are cashing in on pandemic pain by Tyler Ray (Nov 2020) - https://redflag.org.au/node/7470 

Support Red Flag Radio on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/redflagradiopodcast 

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper https://subscribe.redflag.org.au   

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny.

The 'Robert Menzies Institute' is set to open at Melbourne University in November. The founders claim the Institute will be a museum dedicated to 'Australia's greatest Prime Minister' but the real project appears to be establishing a conservative think-tank with a board of right wing ideologues including Peta Credlin and Georgina Downer. On this episode we talk to student activists and Graduate Student Association officers Monica Sestito and Brendan Laws about the campaign to stop the Institute and the question of free speech on campus.

Stop the Menzies Institute campaign page -  https://stopmenziesinstitute.wordpress.com/

Socialists Debate the Young Liberals - Was Menzies a Great Australian or Right-wing Scumbag? Weds 15 Sept 6pm -https://www.facebook.com/events/1692974661093120

Book your tickets for Socialism 2021 (17-19 September) here http://www.socialismsydney.com/ 

Support Red Flag Radio on Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/redflagradiopodcast  

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper - https://subscribe.redflag.org.au/  

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny.

The situation unfolding in Afghanistan is a humanitarian disaster resulting from decades of imperialist interventions and war. On this episode we discuss the political history of the invasion in 2001 and how the occupation resulted in the Taliban asserting control over the country today. Our guest Simone White is a socialist activist who was part of the Stop the War Coalition in Australia and has written and presented extensively on the politics and history of the middle east.

Public meeting - Tues 24 August 18:30 (Melb time) - Bloodshed and war crimes: how the west destroyed Afghanistan - https://www.facebook.com/events/370684171388989 

Book your tickets for Socialism 2021 here - http://www.socialismsydney.com/ 

Further Reading

'The US occupation of Afghanistan is over. But the disaster goes on' by Omar Hassan - https://redflag.org.au/article/us-occupation-afghanistan-over-disaster-goes 

From 2008 - 'Afghanistan: the case against the “good war”' by Jonathan Neal https://isj.org.uk/afghanistan-the-case-against-the-good-war/  

Support Red Flag Radio on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/redflagradiopodcast  

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper - https://subscribe.redflag.org.au/  

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny.

In this episode we discuss the debates around lockdown and the political response to the pandemic in Australia with Sydney based socialist activists Eleanor Morley and Josh Lees. Lockdowns continue in large parts of the country and the vaccine rollout is the slowest in the OECD. How can we understand the political priorities of the government? What is the significance of the anti-lockdown protests? Is there an alternative to lockdown?

Anti-lockdown lunacy: from the elites to the streets - https://redflag.org.au/index.php/article/anti-lockdown-lunacy-elites-streets 

Join Sydney socialists for an online Forum: Fascism and anti-Fascism in 1930s Australia - Sunday 8 August at 3pm - https://www.facebook.com/events/1304459746639353 

Support Red Flag Radio on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/redflagradiopodcast 

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper - https://subscribe.redflag.org.au/  

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny.

In this episode we reveal the forgotten history of Aboriginal unionists in the 1890s shearers' strikes. The participation of Aboriginal workers, including strike camp leaders like Andrew Stuart Stepney, challenges historical accounts that note the racism of the shearers’ unions and subsequently ignore the role that Aboriginal workers played within the shearers’ unions. We discuss the importance of revealing this history and draw out the lessons for unionists and socialists today. 

A quote from an article in the Worker (Brisbane), 16 July 1892, that Roz reads during the episode: 

I've yet to learn, don't you know, that the immortal British Empire or any other speck of country owns by sheer right divine all the land it can get its clutches on. There's no more natural sense in a bleary-eyed officer with gold lace and a taste for rum, sticking a few feet of stick, with a few square inches of painted calico attached, into the ground and saying 'I annex this 'ere country,' than there is in you or me taking a trip across to Europe and going through the same pantomime at Brighton or Monte Carlo. You or I've got exactly the same 'right ' as the gold laced gentleman who appreciates rum. The only thing is that he has a title deed in the shape of a few thousand tons of men of war, with guns enough to blow the unfortunate natives to little small bits if they object. Wonderful justice, isn't it?... The aboriginals had more right to be in Australia than we had, looking at things justly.’

Marxist Left Review - https://marxistleftreview.org/

Red Flag Books - https://shop.redflag.org.au/ 

Support Red Flag Radio on Patreon: 

https://www.patreon.com/redflagradiopodcast  

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper: 

https://subscribe.redflag.org.au/ 

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny. 

On this episode we preview The Fight for Workers’ Power: Revolution and Counter-Revolution in the 20th Century with author Tom Bramble. The book recounts key periods of international class struggle from 1914 to 1956 with the aim of bringing the lessons from these struggles to a new generation of socialists. Tom has studied, written about, and taken part in the labour movement in Australia and internationally. His books include a history of the trade union movement and the Labor Party in Australia, and Introducing Marxism: A Theory for Social Change, published in 2015.

Red Flag Books - https://shop.redflag.org.au/ 

Read more on Russia here - https://redflag.org.au/russia/ 

Come to the Melbourne book launch on Thursday 15 July - https://www.facebook.com/events/313896660248031 

Support Red Flag Radio on Patreon: 

https://www.patreon.com/redflagradiopodcast  

Subscribe to Red Flag newspaper: 

https://subscribe.redflag.org.au/ 

Hosted by Roz Ward. Produced by Liam Ward. 

Music by Dan Kenny.