Issue 30 – 4 February to 10 February 2021

February 11, 2021March 26, 2021 editor

Australians should be worried about future emissions. To be told otherwise is absurd
Jeff Sparrow | The Guardian
Engineers building suburban roads plan 30 years ahead. But, apparently, a different timeline applies to the fate of the entire planet.

Pandemic capitalism and resistance
Susan Price | Green Left Weekly
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing global inequality, and exposed the results of four decades of neoliberalism, including the privatisation of healthcare, and the undermining of the welfare state in the advanced capitalist countries.

Why WallStreetBets threatens the very notion of market efficiency
Guy Rundle | Crikey
The state is the guarantor of value; the market simply a space within the state.

Anti-Asian Racism Is on the Rise in Australia — and It’s Coming From the Top Down
Gerald Roche | Jacobin
This past year saw a wave of anti-Asian racism, egged on by a club of conservative “anti-anti-racist” commentators who brand opponents of bigotry as stooges for the Chinese Communist Party. It’s long past time to challenge their sly dog whistles and disingenuous smears.

Canberra’s latest innovation: politics without policy
Ross Gittins | Nine Newspapers
The most remarkable development since we returned to work this month is Scott Morrison’s barefaced announcement that the government has enough on its plate rolling out the virus vaccine and getting unemployment down, and so there’ll be no attempts to deal with any of our many other problems before the election late this year or early next.

‘Hustle’ culture and insecure work is leading to higher suicide rates
Amber Schultz | Crikey
A new ad glorifying “hustle” culture debuted during yesterday’s Super Bowl, featuring a spin on Dolly Parton’s “Nine to Five”: “Working five to nine, you’ve got passion and a vision. ‘Cause it’s hustlin’ time, whole new way to make a livin’.”

Pragmatism: obscuring ideology in Australian politics
Benedict Coleridge | Eureka Street
“A fair go” is an empty signifier; it’s an ideal that flags down our ethical sensibilities only to be filled with whatever content or meaning suits the moment.

Scott Morrison knows setting a net zero target means picking a fight with the National party
Richard Denniss | The Guardian
The prime minister’s initial target of beginning the rollout of Covid-19 vaccines “as soon as January” is in tatters and mid-February is looking shaky. Likewise, the target of “fully vaccinating” some 26 million Australians by October. But just because someone fails to hit a target doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have set it.

Can Australia’s Labor party match Joe Biden’s winning message on climate action?
Van Badham | The Guardian
Democrat Joe Biden had only been the US president for a week when, on one single day, he rained down enough executive orders to completely reframe the global politics of climate action. After eight years of our local Liberal/National government stalling on meaningful climate policy, Australia is embarrassingly unprepared for the new reality.

RBA’s Australian economic forecast should not be that upbeat
Ross Gittins | Nine Newspapers
Maybe economists keep producing their forecasts merely to be obliging, but I suspect they suffer their own illusion: that having a dodgy forecast is better than not having any.

Australia’s spending habits reveal the weakness of our economy
Greg Jericho | The Guardian
Of the $20.3bn more we spent in 2020 on retail than in 2019, $15.7bn of it was in grocery stores.

The Sámi’s voice
Harry Hobbs | Inside Story
In Sweden, Norway and Finland, national representative bodies — Indigenous parliaments, no less — have been set up within the processes of government. The story of these parliaments is complex and their success is mixed, but they throw light on the key challenge that must be resolved if a First Nations Voice is to be effective in Australia.

Gamilaraay will not back down in fight against Santos
Pip Hinman | Green Left Weekly

High Court decision helps Acland farmers against coal giant
Margaret Gleeson | Green Left Weekly

The Australian Labor Party Needs to Ditch Neoliberalism Instead of Doubling Down
Liam McLoughlin | Jacobin

Why isn’t Australia producing its own COVID-19 vaccine?
Jim McIlroy | Green Left Weekly

Australia’s housing market is boosted by policies designed to ensure prices keep rising
Greg Jericho | The Guardian

Cairns rallies for Burma
Jonathan Strauss | Green Left Weekly

Behind the coup in Myanmar

Peter Boyle, Debbie Stothard | Green Left Weekly

If the future is even more super, then the future is even greater inequality
Mike Sketekee | Inside Story

Government and corporate greed is the biggest killer of our planet
Stephen Fitzgerald | Independent Australia

Mainstream media roll out pro-Coalition narrative for the election year
Alan Austin | Independent Australia

Murdoch and media giants unite to deceive in Google cash grab
Michael Pascoe | The New Daily