Issue 69: 4 Nov to 10 Nov 2021
CLIMATE
Cop26 is doomed, and the hollow promise of ‘net zero’ is to blame
Yanis Varoufakis | The Guardian
It’s a masterpiece: The dizzying spin in Morrison’s plan to reach net zero
Ross Gittins | AgeSMH
The Prime Minister’s Plan to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 is full of … hyperbole. A masterpiece of the spin doctor’s art. A document carefully crafted to mislead.
The real reason Xi didn’t make it to the climate summit
Melinda Liu | Crikey
Political dinosaurs and the gas-led ‘recovery’
Sue Bull | Green Left
The coal hard facts: the economics and the science refute the so-called ‘Australian way’
Matthew England | AgeSMH
Natural land and ocean sequestration to remove the carbon we have dumped into the atmosphere will take tens of thousands of years. Carbon capture and storage can barely scratch the surface of our surging emissions problem
COP26 farce shows that the ‘build back better’ dreams have been crushed
James Plested | Red Flag
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, when people were first experiencing the “distancing effect” of lockdowns, the world had something of a cultural moment centred on the idea that we should “build back better”.
Stop US gas exploration in the Australian desert!
Nick G | Vanguard
The US imperialist fossil fuel company Tri-Star has been exploring for coal seam gas and oil in the Munga Thirri/Simpson Desert.
UNEARTHED
James Bradley | Meanjin
It is not that I have been inured to what is going on: I am so angry about the squalor of our politics and the weakness and wickedness of our politicians I can barely speak. Instead I feel heartsick and desperate and—perhaps most of all—terrified.
Can a billboard campaign help in the fight against climate change
Tom Raue | Overland
JokeKeeper demonstrates a misunderstanding of how change happens. If we are serious about climate justice, then we should critically examine our strategies to win.
OVERSEAS
The long night before dawn: the Assange appeal
Felicity Ruby |Arena Online
US elections deliver Democrats a defeat on a grand scale
Guy Rundle | Crikey
“Let’s go, Brandon” has become the catch-cry of the moment after a US sportscaster thought he heard a crowd chanting the essentially meaningless phrase. They were in fact chanting “fuck Joe Biden”.
Chile is at the dawn of a new political era
Vijay Prashad | Green Left
Neoliberalism was born in Chile, as the popular slogan goes, and it will die in Chile.
‘Let’s have this fight’: Sudan resisting a coup
Emma Dynes, Matt Laidlaw | Red Flag
ECONOMICS AND GOVERNANCE
Signs of a cooling housing market are too late for those hoping for better affordability
Greg Jericho | The Guardian
While the Reserve Bank suggests we still have to wait a while yet, the housing market has already begun to cool from the absurd levels of earlier this year. But the cooling comes too late for those hoping for better housing affordability.
Australia: Property bubble bonanza for ruling elite fuels social crisis for the working class
John Harris | World Socialist Web Site
Capitalism makes people sick
Markela Panegyres | Green Left
Cashing in: the gambling industry writes the rules and sways Tasmania’s elections
Stephanie Convery | The Guardian
David Littleproud should tell the truth: seasonal worker exploitation is rife and must stop
Georgia Wilkins | Crikey
‘This is a law of liars and thieves’: protests demand justice after JC’s police killer walks free
Jacqueline Blackburn, Nick Everett | Red Flag
Aboriginal man dies in custody at Shortland Correctional Centre
Rachael Knowles | National Indigenous Times
Crown has grown into a monster and must be split up
Tim Costello | The Saturday Paper
The silence of the lambs: The corporatisation of the largest charities and NGOs has had alarming effects
Russell Marks | The Monthly
Chasing the gold, we trade away rights of the old
Dr Sarah Russell | Michael West Media
Australia has signed on to one of the world’s biggest ever trade deals with most of the Asia-Pacific. We negotiated a suite a exemptions to look after our social compact, but guess who was sacrificed?
Australia’s Largest University Stole $8.6 Million From Workers’ Wages
Angus Burns, Lucy Mcneill, Michael Lazarus | Jacobin
OTHERS
Social media: time to turn around the weapons
Manal al-Sharif | Michael West Media
Social media platforms have an undeniable conflict of interest because they prioritise growth over all else. Facebook’s engagement-based ranking incites misinformation, hate speech, and even ethnic violence. The machine-learning models that maximise engagement also favour controversy, misinformation, and extremism.
Avi Yemini and his ilk are anything but journalists
Tom Tanuki | Independent Australia
They don’t have to be clever or nuanced. There’s a hyper-partisan platform or ten waiting for whatever they’re handed, ready to blast it out to the world.
A symposium on David Ireland’s The Unknown Industrial Prisoner
Sarah Comyn and John Frow |Progress in Political Economy
Australian Neo-Nazis in Court: armed robbery, assault during anti-vax rallies and more
Andy Fleming |Slackbastard Anarchobase