Overland literary journal

Progressive culture since 1954

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Left Flank

Iraq and the Australian antiwar movement

But in November 1999, a watershed moment occurred in the heart of world capitalism – on the streets of Seattle, in the United States – when Teamster unionists, environmentalists dressed as Turtles and many others joined forces to dispute that there was no alternative. Their target was the World Trade Organisation meeting, which was negotiating a new round of free trade agreements, and their blockades of the venue and mass rallies shut it down.

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Left Flank

A living wage shapes up against $6.835 billion in profit

In addition to shopping centres, Australian universities are increasingly contracting out work like cleaning and security. These are roles that were previously subject to the same enterprise agreements as the library staff or school administrators, who had comparatively good conditions because of long-term union gains, but are now contracted to companies that must win tenders through bidding the lowest cost.

Continue reading 'A living wage shapes up against $6.835 billion in profit' 1

Left Flank

A marriage proposal

When the proposal first came I was flustered. Although we had been living together for six years, we had never discussed getting married. I’d also never really pictured myself involved in a wedding ceremony, which had always seemed too bizarrely steeped in sexist traditions of white dresses and fathers giving daughters away to other men.

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Left Flank

Still stuck in the 1980s? The unions and the Accord

On 16 May 2012 there was a reunion at the Australian Council of Trade Unions congress gala dinner. The crucial players involved in the development of the ACTU and ALP Prices and Incomes Accord of the 1980s – and Bill Kelty, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Laurie Carmichael – were all there. The keynote addresses were from Kelty and Keating, with the latter asked to commemorate the former’s work in the labour movement.

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Left Flank

Neoliberals on bikes

One of the founders of the German Greens, Jutta Ditfurth, left her party in the early 1990s. She formulated the expression ‘neoliberals on bikes’ to highlight that the German Greens did not stand in opposition to the destructive and inequitable logic of laissez faire capitalism – in fact, they were often embracing of it.

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Left Flank

In Greece and Egypt

As the weekend drew to a close in Europe and the Middle East, results of the Greek and Egyptian elections were becoming known. Both countries have seen a revival in progressive struggle and mass action on the streets over the last few years, and yet in both elections conservative forces appear to be the victors. At least for now.

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