The rulers of global capitalism chose Genoa to use mass violence to break the anti-capitalist movement. They failed. In the face of police terror, a common chant arose: ‘They make misery, we make history.’ Most importantly, however, the Battle of Genoa demonstrated to many that the state is not neutral.

My discomfort, after a decade of researching and writing about the Armenian genocide, is that Operation Nemesis was needed in the first place. The assassinations of Talât and his confederates is one of few moments of justice for those whose bones still lay scattered across Anatolia. And that should be discomforting to everyone.

Yesterday was the tenth anniversary of the earthquake that devastated Christchurch, killing 185 people. I last wrote about the city’s rebuild for Overland two years ago, and there has been so little progress that that piece barely needs an update. It might be worth it then to drive deeper into the fundamental mistakes that have led the city to the place it is now, and why the inability of our politicians to address these issues is so utterly infuriating.

It was a century ago on 30 October, that twenty-six women and men representing a few hundred socialists, women’s activists, anarcho-syndicalists, trade unionists and Labor Party members met at Trades Hall in Sydney to found the Communist Party of Australia.

S11 was a moment when tens of thousands stood up to corporate power. It showed that collective action can push the ruling class on to the back foot. As the triple crises of COVID-19, the economy and climate deepen, we need that inspiration, daring and defiance more than ever.

Today the site of the former UN base in Potočari is the Srebrenica-Potočari Memorial Center & Cemetery. There are 8,372 white headstones dotted around the green roof of the memorial centre to commemorate the genocide of Bosnians in Srebrenica, an event that has the distinction of being the single worst act of genocide committed on European soil since World War II.