May 01, 2008
The Emerging Politics of Climate Change
Published in Arena magazine (Melbourne) No.92, Dec-Jan 2007-08
One of the enduring puzzles about the political response to climate change is the polite behaviour of those who are most aware of the impending problems. For many years activists have undertaken well behaved demonstrations, eloquent public statements and respectable lobbying but little beyond this range of polite political action.
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Posted by David at 10:01 PM
December 20, 2007
Family values and the renewal of social democracy
[The following article appeared in the British journal 'Renewal' (Vol 15, Nos 2/3, 2007.]
Why worry about the family? To many in social democracy and the Left, issues surrounding the family are of secondary importance to those of the economy and equality. Moreover, public debate around the family is part of the discourse of social conservatism and the Right.
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Posted by David at 08:51 AM
November 26, 2007
Libertarian capitalism is unsustainable
This talk was given at a community forum in Coledale on the NSW south coast. It is also on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udt-K1fBHDc
Today I want to look at some of the issues that go beyond the current election and look at the future of Australia, long term. Certain issues won’t go away whatever side wins the current election. And unless you identify those long term issues and deal with them, then politics just becomes small scale tactical fights in which nothing of substance is achieved, and politics becomes spin and PR.
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Posted by David at 10:05 PM
August 16, 2007
Right and Left and ‘human nature’
There was a time on university campuses when you could provoke a violent argument if you mentioned ‘human nature’ as an explanatory factor in human affairs. Marxists, postmodernists, liberals and common-or-garden sociologists would tell you emphatically, that the world is socially constructed. Some would argue that ideas of ‘human nature’ are merely rightwing code for excusing racism or a justification for a belief in the natural superiority of males or of the ‘naturally’ violent or selfish actions of human beings.
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Posted by David at 02:15 PM
June 25, 2007
Ideas and strategy in progressive politics
(This short paper was circulated to the Progressive Ideas Network, a group of trade unions, think tanks and community organizations which has met several times in Sydney in the last 12 months.)
I believe the progressive movement is at a critical moment. On a global level the Right has foundered. The debacle in Iraq speaks for itself; the refusal by the advanced industrial countries to deal with climate change is frightening; the war on terror increasingly results in the demonisation of all Muslims and the revival of religious and race based hatred. On many of these issues the instincts and values of the progressive movement have been proven more reliable and more humane than those of the Right.
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Posted by David at 09:24 PM
June 20, 2007
The utopia of economic liberalism
A talk to a forum on the government’s ‘Workchoices’ law in Newcastle,
26 May 2007.
Ideas are the foundation stones in politics. And as with a house or building, the foundations are often hidden. Being aware of the foundations and examining their weaknesses and strengths is crucial to understand the more visible political superstructure.
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Posted by David at 10:27 PM
June 02, 2007
What happened to the Left?
(This article appeared in the April-May issue of Arena, ‘the Australian magazine of left political, social and cultural commentary’. Arena can be found at http://www.arena.org.au/ )
Though battered and bruised, the Left in Australia has good reason to be optimistic, or at least feel vindicated. The invasion of Iraq, as predicted, has turned into a murderous folly. Instead of being the seedbed of democracy, Iraq has sprouted toxic forms of inter-Islamic terrorism. Global warming, which the Left warned about more than 20 years ago, is now accepted as a major threat confronting humanity.
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Posted by David at 09:34 AM | Comments (0)
