IT’S SPRING. I am basking in the sun, breaking out my sandals, and experiencing my annual amnesia regarding the realities of a Brisbane summer. Yesterday I made friends with a family of plovers that live on the lawn next to my building and it was a very blessed experience. I also managed to find time to round up the following links:

Firstly and absolutely most importantly, we did a new Floodcast! It is about conspiracy theories and their relevance to contemporary politics (it takes as a jumping-off point Matt’s piece on the subject) and we also do a very shallow dive into the shadowy history of the CIA. Plus, some bonus Trump/Biden speculation to begin with.

This is an excellent read on the situation in Chile - “a country which wants a revolution but is unable to birth it”.

On a more depressing note, here’s Guy Rundle on “a lost party on a long losing streak” - that’s right, it’s the Labor Party! I read this mainly for schadenfreude reasons, and it didn’t disappoint.

‘We are workers, not heroes’. What it’s like to be an African healthcare worker during COVID-19.

Relatedly, Godfrey Moase on collective workplace action during a pandemic. “Progressives have wasted generations contorting ourselves into knots trying to show how our policy goals align with the creation of profit. What has that effort got us? A few steps closer to the edge of civilisation collapse. Instead, to win changes within and against the present system, the left needs to challenge control.”

A fascinating little bit of history regarding Trotsky and his relationship to art, including his friendship with Andre Breton: “a surprising meeting between seemingly opposite personalities: the revolutionary heir to the Enlightenment and a fantasising romantic; the founder of the Red Army and the initiator of the Surrealist adventure.”

The shiny new face of union-busting. Turns out even feel-good ‘progressive’ institutions are loyal to their bottom lines.

Photo by Brenna Hogan on Unsplash