Neoliberalism in a nutshell

The political scene in Australia has been corrupted in the last 30 years, starting with the election of Bob Hawke in 1983, which signalled the beginning of a new destructive ideology in mainstream Australian politics: neoliberalism. This ideology, which was passed down to Labor and Liberal governments alike, has now found its way into the most totalitarian government in Australian history: Tony Abbott’s Liberal administration.

This government, dedicated to building an society of two Australias, one for the rich and upper class people, where you don’t have pay taxes and because you have money, you can afford things like deregulated healthcare and private education, and the other Australia which is the reality for most in this country, where you get left behind if you didn’t inherit copious amounts of money from your parents. It is this idea that fuels this Liberal government and influences each and every policy decision Abbott and his henchmen make. It is the idea behind the hideous $7 GP co-payment and the lack of means testing which pushes the poor further behind.  We can’t let the next generation live in a worse Australia than we do at the moment. Neoliberalism must be destroyed and we need it destroyed quickly.

Unfortunately, neither Labor nor Abbott’s Liberals will destroy or want to destroy it because they are the ones who profit from it. These two parties and the ruling bourgeois class are the ones who are driving this destruction of humanity. Socialists, social democrats and just people who care about the future of humanity and equality need to stand up and take action in destroying the two party system which drives this terrible anti-proletariat ideology they call neoliberalism.

Death to the NCAA

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), since its formation in 1910, has arguably been the world’s premier national amateur sport organisation. Only now, in the wake of the Northwestern players union dispute and the O’Bannon vs. NCAA court case, is it being exposed for what it really is: a greedy and exploitative capitalist organisation, whose revenue is made on the back of effectively slave labour. The NCAA makes a killing in profits each and every year and yet the workers at the bottom of the food chain, the players make nothing apart from scholarships provided by universities. If they were a listed company, they would be found guilty of paying below the minimum wage, but because the NCAA is a “non-profit” they get away with it. Worse than this, the NCAA in their rulebook state that student athletes are prohibited from working for a wage, even though a normal student, even an academic scholarship one can work. This means that for many students living in poverty, their only hope is to be a star and make it big time into the NFL. This is a stunning example of the failure of our capitalist system of which sport is a microcosm.

My take is that the level of the NCAA’s exploitation is such that the players have become modern day slaves with such oppressive rules that a player can’t be given money from a friend for lunch or clothes. This is a scandal that must be resolved with the players in mind. Any other resolution would lead to more oppression of players already burdened with studies and caring for themselves and often families. The NCAA’s control of players’ identity through video games and merchandise is beginning to be tempered only now through the fight by people like Ed O’Bannon, a former UCLA Bruin basketballer.

The widespread crimes committed and the shocking retrograde rules put in place by the NCAA have led me to believe that the NCAA should be destroyed and collegiate sports should no longer be the pathway to professional sport. Through a club-oriented system as opposed to a school-oriented system, the lead-in leagues would be professional but with lower pay than the top flight leagues, a massive improvement on the dreadful conditions faced by student athletes in America today.

Finally, having been a massive Alabama Crimson Tide football fan before I saw the harrowing oppression that goes on in collegiate sports around the USA, it made me want people to know that their innocent amateur sport they love so dear is anything but innocent and just another part of the fascist capitalist world we live in.

 

Ferguson Blues

Much has been said in the past week or so in the media about the tragic events in Ferguson, Missouri in which unarmed black man Michael Brown was shot multiple times and killed by police officer Darren Wilson. This terribly tragic event has led to protests by the African-American community ever since, which brought into question the caution taken by police officers around the United States when it comes to using potentially lethal weapons. In fact just two days later in Los Angeles, Ezell Ford, another unarmed black man was shot dead by the police. The issue of excessive force by police and policing figures is an issue that has surfaced here in this country too, with a 15-year-old girl being dropped brutally on her head by a Flinders Street station on July 31, 2013. Here was a defenceless girl being attacked rugby-style over what apparently was just a ticketing violation.

My take on this is that these are all examples of the same problem: people in highly ranked, powerful positions attacking the vulnerable and less well off. The African American community in the United States knows this all too well with the recent high profile case of George Zimmerman fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager whose case bears striking resemblances to Brown’s.  Of course, even this example pales with the list of times that well-off, generally white people have taken to killing African Americans, which includes such events as the transatlantic slave trade, the Ku Klux Klan and the court systems which many a time have conspired to sentence a black man to death. In this country we too had a genocide, one in which Aboriginals were killed, treated as flora and fauna and as a community, had their land taken on the basis that no one had been living there. These are major atrocities against people who were living good and decent lives until foreigners from imperialist countries came to impose their tyrannical regime on the country they were invading.

The whole idea of all powerful, imperialist government is that it seeks to expand its power, expand its wealth and destroy systems in which less well off people get helped. This is the definition of fascism, an ideology with which capitalism and imperialism fit in nicely with. Socialists need to understand this and spread this message, because many people just think it is the particular people in power who commit these atrocities. It isn’t, instead it is the blood-thirsty system that we call imperialism that fosters criminals to take power and inflict pain and suffering on so many people. No person is perfect, that is certain, but if the idea of government was inclusion, like it is under real socialism, then maybe the leaders among us would not evil, maybe they would be a friend and someone that, if you were in need would give you a helping hand.

The Future of Batting

Watching India capitulate to an abysmal 94 all out last night, it got me thinking about why top class cricketers, seem to have such difficulty playing in the Test match arena in conditions that are not perfect. Even Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara, possibly two of the finest young batsmen in the world right now, looked out of their depth against James Anderson, Stuart Broad and the other English bowlers.

The problem with all of these players seems to be an over-tendency to play strokes and feel for the ball before they are set in. This, more often than not leads to an edge and an easy catch for the keeper. This has become more apparent in recent years as players have not put as higher price on their wicket as in previous years. The easy solution to this is for batsmen to see off their early deliveries to get their eye in. The more difficult problem is the putting a high price on their wicket, which comes from many factors, the most glaring of which is the amount of One Day and T20 cricket that players play around the world these days, which allows players to put in a few shocking performances as long as they entertain the crowd with big hitting, all the while making thousands and millions of dollars doing it.

Maybe a less obvious problem, but to my mind almost more important is that so few Test players play domestic first-class cricket, for so many years the stepping stone into the big time. Now, the stepping stone is just as likely to be the Big Bash or just being a talented player, which means you don’t really have to prove yourself before starting your career. Another reason for first-class cricket’s importance is that many pitches on the domestic scene are under-developed and bowling wickets and thus teach players about how to tough it out on tricky pitches, the sort that players like Jack Hobbs were known for their play on. Even the Sheffield Shield pitches now are batting paradises that are used for Test cricket like the Adelaide Oval and Brisbane. If we want our cricketers to truly be the best in the world, we would make our Shield games be played on suburban tracks rather than the best. This might teach our kids on the values of playing a ball on its merits and being cautious rather than slogging. It is no surprise to me that out of the top ten players with the all time test highest batting averages, four are English players who had long and illustrious County cricket careers (Sutcliffe, Paynter, Barrington and Hammond), who would’ve played on all sorts of pitches that swung and spun prodigiously and were unpredictable in bounce, which forced them to play each ball how they saw it and defend for long periods if they had to, which would’ve taught them well for Test matches.

One Day and Twenty20 cricket need to have a diminished role in the future of cricket if the standard of batting is going to improve, because the fundamentals can only be found in a longer form of cricket where runs and longevity are valued more than fun and entertainment. Money and fun can only go so far in sport, and to my mind with the current leadership of the sport, batting and real batsmen who see off the new ball and don’t worry about run rate will soon be something of the past.

 

My Take: Political Madness

Australia is clearly in the midst of the most conservative, most neoliberal government in its history. Prime Minister Tony Abbott and henchmen have been making drastic cuts to government services left, right and centre. And what’s the Labor opposition doing, basically nothing, in fact it has been down to independent and small party senators like the Motoring Enthusiast Party’s Ricky Muir and the Palmer United Party to provide the true opposition to the most anti-worker government this country has seen. Because of the capitalist elections and the two party system, when we go to vote for the next Prime Minister in 2016, we will either have to choose the party whose ideology is all about oppressing workers and destroying the livelihood of our country or we will choose the party with no ideology that can’t differentiate itself from neo-liberalism. We need a difference and all the Greens give us is rhetoric on saving the environment, all the while maintaining the position as the third party in the establishment of this environmentally destructive system. Australia’s demockracy is allowing those at the top to make record profits by outsourcing overseas while many in the working class go to sleep at night not knowing if they’ll have enough food to get through the next day. These are profits which are leading to the destruction of the democratic ideals which makes nations great.

 

Unlike our totalitarian dictator Tony Abbott wants, we should not become more like the U.S, because the USA is what could be called a failed state with poverty at an all time high, a right wing that will stop at nothing to pursue its goal for the corporations to take full control and a current administration, albeit quite a centrist one, that wants to go back into Iraq into a war that could spark a new and even more dangerous than before jihadi movement. Revolutionary ideas are the way forward, and our left-wing parties need to show the way forward for the ultimate goal of destroying the system responsible for a large majority of our world’s problems, and creating a world free of leaders who want our world dead and buried, and in their place a democracy where people, no matter what their situation can be happy knowing that they won’t be abused in their workplace or home, and that their faith can be put in an inclusive system, that looks to help people in need rather than fight them. The system is in an unrepairable state and we have to be the ones making revolution happen, rather than just a dream.

 

My Take: The Palestinian Situation

The war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas has been going on now for about a month now, and has been perhaps the biggest event to take place in that time. This conflict has to me been, unfortunately, a war that many would believe was inevitable, given the fact that both Israel and Hamas are led by nationalistic leaders, who believe that war and the destruction of the other side is the way forward in the region. This has led to the outbreak of war in the region, which has led to one main loser, the Palestinian people who in this conflict alone have lost in excess of 1,700 members including at least 296 children. To put this in context, more Palestinian children have been killed in the current conflict than have Israeli soldiers in conflicts since 2006. This is a dreadful loss of lives given this is just the latest in a long line of conflicts involving Palestinian land of recent times. These dreadful figures are the result of the fight between Palestinian self-determination and an Israeli leadership that has made it clear that it will do anything it can to stop the Palestinians from getting their sovereignty.

My take on this issue is that the only way for this endless cycle of conflict and bloodshed to end is for Palestine to be freed from its rulers and given its sovereignty. If this was the case, in my opinion, there would be less need for a ultra-nationalist group like Hamas to be the main military force in Palestine because the nation would have its army and Hamas, would indeed be just a terrorist organisation, rather than the militant nationalist force it currently represents. This however is a very difficult proposition currently, due to the level of support for an Israel-only solution from countries such as the USA, Australia and a large majority of liberal democracies across the globe. It is the exception rather than the rule when major world leaders speak out in favour of a Palestinian state, with two of the most prominent supporters being the late Nelson Mandela, the former South African leader and the late Hugo Chavez from Venezuela. The left-wing forces in Australia and throughout the world need to continue to support the oppressed in Palestine because very few groups nowadays are not a part of the Western ultra-Zionist lobby who are the imperialist rulers in the region. We need to provide a voice, like we always have for people in awful situations like the one people in Gaza and the West Bank have faced for long time. It has been shown for a long time that no-one in the mainstream can provide that voice because of the strength of the imperialist forces in making politicians and journalists tell their side of the story.

We must be active in our support for the oppressed people in Gaza and the West Bank living in such horrible conditions during this conflict that has destroyed so many lives and against both Israel and Hamas who brutally murder innocent Palestinian people in order to justify their destructive aims. Finally, our end goal must be the freedom of Palestine and their sovereignty

Penny Mackieson On: AFL & LGBTI

‘AFL’ is the acronym for ‘Australian Football League’. ‘LGBTI’ is the acronym for ‘Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex’ people. AFL plus LGBTI equals…?

There has been much discussion in recent years regarding whether or not the AFL, as the leading football competition in the nation, should also lead the way with inclusivity regarding LGBTI people and anti-homophobic measures.

Arguments in favour of the AFL doing so include that: it has set a number of precedents with its championing of Indigenous players, multi-culturalism, and anti-racial discrimination and anti-doping measures; based on the incidence in the general population there are probably at least 12-32 players (of the collective 792 on the 18 AFL club lists) who are gay and the AFL should overtly support those players; Victorian footballer, Jason Ball, came out in 2012 with considerable support from the AFL community; and it would take only one current AFL player who is gay to come out – with the considerable support of the AFL community – for the steam to be let out of the pressure cooker of unnecessary and unhelpful conjecture and gossip, thus allowing everyone to move on. After all, look what happened when former Australian swimming champion and world record breaker, Ian Thorpe, came out recently – nothing much, aside from everyone expressing their relief that Thorpey had finally realised it and/or found the courage to acknowledge it publicly. Australians did not fall down dead in the streets from shock; Australian sport did not cease never to resume; and current Australian swimmers did not suddenly ‘turn gay’.

Arguments against the AFL leading the LGBTI charge include that: the AFL cannot be all things to all people and should not be expected to be; no former VFL/AFL player has ever come out publicly; it appears there is no gay current AFL player who is prepared to identify publicly as such; and, in any event, it is questionable whether the AFL community is ready for such a campaign given Australia has not yet embraced same-sex marriage.

For example, take the responses of Australian media figures to Channel 7 football commentator Brian Taylor’s recent disparaging “big poofter” comment regarding Geelong Football Club’s Harry Taylor. Many observers have already noted that subsequent comments made by other sports commentators and media hosts were inadequate, disappointing and reflected that homophobia is part of the accepted culture of AFL circles. Just yesterday (01 August 2014) it was reported in The Age that another homophobic slur (“faggots”) has since been posted on Facebook by Greg Evangelou, one of Port Adelaide Football Club’s corporate sponsors. To the AFL’s credit it offered counselling to Evangelou with Jason Ball – now a prominent anti-homophobia activist. However, to the AFL’s shame it did not insist that Evangelou take up the counselling; and to Port Adelaide’s shame it did not subsequently sever ties with Evangelou.

From my perspective as a feminist, I would argue that the AFL should be pushed on this issue, otherwise the Australian football community may never consider itself ‘ready’. For example, women – technically not a minority and, certainly, a very visible group in the community – have been integral to the success of Australian football since the game was first developed in the mid-1800s, consistently comprising about half of all football crowds in addition to their extensive involvement in their own partner’s/children’s football competitions and as consumers of AFL products, etc. Yet there have been, and continue to be, precious few women formally employed in AFL roles, let alone significant/leadership ones. Further, as a passionate female football supporter, I know first-hand from numerous experiences over the years that the AFL and its constituent clubs do not consistently know whether, let alone how, to market themselves to women, with women often referred to as ‘ladies’ or, worse, ‘the ladies’. Even the female partners of AFL players continue to be condescendingly referred to as WAGs (‘wives and girlfriends’) and encouraged to parade like vacuous Barbie dolls on the red carpet on Brownlow Medal (AFL best and fairest player award) night.

All this, despite that the AFL has had a designated ‘Women’s Round’ for many years now; as part of Women’s Round the AFL has hosted a women’s football match (Melbourne versus the Western Bulldogs) in consecutive seasons, 2013 and 2014; and women’s Australian Rules football competitions are currently the fastest growing sporting competitions in Australia. AFL data reported in The Age today (02 August 2014) indicates that “169,000 females participated in the game nationally in 2013 – a huge jump from 57,000 in 2011.”

On a brighter note, I heartily commend the establishment of the Purple Bombers, “a new membership for gay and lesbian fans” of the Essendon Football Club to be available from 2015 (as also reported in The Age on 01 August 2014). Maybe this development will inspire the AFL to take on more of a leadership role in regard to this sensitive matter. However, judging by the level of sexism that persists in the AFL community, I won’t be holding my breath that eventual achievement of an AFL-sanctioned pride round equals genuine embrace of LGBTI supporters and players.