A report on the 2018 Labor Notes Conference in Chicago.
No Work Tomorrow: On Vogliamo Tutto
Link Roundup: June 4
Rupture
After YES: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory
In the wake of the monumental victory of the plebiscite, the feeling was firstly of relief – justifiable. However, since that time I have seen many of my fellows in the community lament the fact that we had a plebiscite at all. In the spaces I was occupying, you would have thought we had lost. You would have thought that we had not scored a massive victory over the conservatives that has sent them scuttling away like the freaks they are, making the issue of marriage entirely dead for them (and forcing them to move decisively to the issue of trans rights). A sense of malaise, indecision and sadness hangs over a community – and with that there comes an inability to capitalise on the victories of our struggles.
Link Roundup: May 28
The Commons or The Commodity: A Struggle for Control of Public Spaces
The loss of true ‘public’ spaces deprives us of sites where we can form cross-class relationships and movements to combat the power of capital. Without them, the protectors of capital’s interests are more able to use the tools of divide-and-conquer to prevent any form of challenge to the prevailing status quo.
Link Roundup: May 21
Link Roundup: May 13
Thinking Dangerously: An Exchange of Open Letters Regarding the UQ Philosophy Department
Last year, Brisbane thinker, writer, and activist Taylor Redwood penned ‘An Open Letter to the UQ Philosophy Department’ where he detailed his response to the faculty’s decision to reject his application for Honours, and identified a number of broad structural problems with philosophy as it was taught at UQ. In response, Dave Eden, another member of the Brisbane Left - who blogs at Word from Struggle Street and With Sober Senses, and co-hosts Living the Dream - published a response.