Richard Cooke is a brilliant writer and commentator who’s written for the likes of The Chaser, The Monthly, The New York Times and The New Republic. His 2019 collection of essays Tired of Winning: A Chronicle of American Decline painted a picture of “Trump country” and the factors at play in US politics over the past four years.

Richard kindly came back on the pod to reflect on the results of the 2020 presidential election: what a Biden/Harris victory means, just how bad the Trump presidency has/hasn’t been, whether Bernie Would Have Won, the spectre of “wokism” (ergh), BIPARTISANSHIP and what this whole whacky episode might tell us about the state of the Australian Left.

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It’s NAIDOC Week!

I’m hosting a conversation with young climate activists in partnership with the Foundation of Young Australians and you can join for FREE 

The Greens had a huge number of wins in the Victorian Local Council elections, including the first ever Greens government in my local City of Yarra. Join The Greens today (if you like)! 

@rgcooke

richardcooke.com

Richard’s writing on LongForm

Tired of Winning: A Chronicle of American Decline by Richard Cooke

ARTICLE: The Disappearing Man by Richard Cooke

ARTICLE: Anthony Albanese on Rudd, News Corp, Trump and why he won’t name a JobSeeker rate by Josh Butler

Cause of the Week: Swing Left (swingleft.org)

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Osmond Chiu is a researcher with the progressive think tank Per Capita and editor of the Labor Left magazine Challenge. A couple of weeks ago, as he was giving evidence to a senate inquiry into issues facing diaspora communities, Osmond was asked by Liberal Senator Eric Abetz to “unequivocally condemn” the Chinese Communist Party. It was very weird and bad and Abetz has since refused to apologise and only doubled down.

Here I ask Osmond about why that incident was so demeaning, why it matters and how we might consider Australia’s relationship with China in a serious, critical but definitely not-racist way.

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I’m hosting a conversation with young climate activists in partnership with the Foundation of Young Australians and you can join for FREE 

My conversation with Max Chandler-Mather has been written up for Jacobin magazine

I am very sad about what’s happened to Jeremy Corbyn and I know it’s complicated but please watch this video by the son of a Holocaust survivor that lays out how cynical the anti-Semitism charge is

@redrabbleroz

osmondchiu.com.au

ARTICLE: Locking Out The Left: The Emergence of National Factions in Australian Labor

ARTICLE: I was born in Australia. Why do I need to renounce the Chinese Communist Party? 

ARTICLE: Abetz’s questioning tests our democracy

You can sign Getup!’s petition supporting Oz here

ARTICLE: Seeing red: Labor’s China problem

Cause of the Week: Union Aid Abroad (apheda.org.au)

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IT’S A CROSS-POD, PEOPLE.

My dear friend Greg Larsen has a new podcast about the dogshit state of things in Australia right now. It is good and funny and I think you’ll enjoy it.

Greg interviewed me for his first episode and we covered it all: does the Left need to get better at falling in line? Is hating Murdoch more important than getting infuriated by the ALP? Why are the Greens wankers? To vote or not vote? Are YouTube comedians good?

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@GregMLarsen

Listen & subscribe to Greg’s Big Aussie Revolution on iTunes

Episode 131 with Greg

Adam Bandt’s address at the National Press Club and declaration of the Greens’ War on Privatisation

Cause of the Week: Anti-Poverty Week (antipovertyweek.org.au)

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Dave Eden is a Brisbane-based communist writer and podcaster who authors the blogs With Sober Senses and The Word From Struggle Street. He costs the anti-capitalist podcast Living The Dream with Jon Piccini.

In this conversation Dave explains what he means by the term “communism” and gives a fascinating anti-capitalist take on the Budget. We also discuss his piece for Jacobin on why the current calls for a return to Keynesianism and full employment won’t work.

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It’s Anti-Poverty Week! I’m proud to become an ambassador for Alex Makes Meals; check them out and help them if you can

@withsobersenses

withsobersenses.wordpress.com

The Living The Dream podcast

ARTICLE: In Australia, Keynesianism Is Back In Fashion – but It Still Won’t Work by Dave Eden

Cause of the Week: Sisters Inside’s Fund For Children

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Wayne Swan is a former Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia. He’s the current President of the Australian Labor Party.

In this conversation I ask Wayne about Labor’s performance in the recent Newspoll, what it means for Australia to aspire to “full employment” out of COVID, the ideological war over superannuation, whether the Hawke-Keating legacy can be described as “neoliberal” and how he thinks about the relationship between the ALP and the Greens.

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@SwannyQLD

Wayne’s media as ALP President

My interview with Wayne on Tonightly in 2018

ARTICLE: Sometimes, Too Much Is…Too Much by Wayne Swan

ARTICLE: Already in this crisis we are slipping into over-optimism about the economy and over-pessimism about debt by Wayne Swan

ARTICLE: Liberals tearing down the pillars of our superannuation scheme by Wayne Swan

ARTICLE: Weakening superannuation is a once-in-a-100-year mistake by Wayne Swan

ARTICLE: The Hawke-Keating agenda was Laborism, not neoliberalism, and is still a guiding light by Wayne Swan

How Labour Built Neoliberalism: Australia’s Accord, the Labour Movement and the Neoliberal Project by Elizabeth Humphrys

Cause of the Week: St Vincent de Paul Society (vinnies.org.au)

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Kristin O’Connell is the Acting Communications Coordinator for the Australian Unemployed Workers Union.

With more than a million Australians unemployed in this time of recession (and depression maybe?), the AUWU has been coordinating a Mutual Obligations Strike and campaigning against the cruel reduction in the JobSeeker payment. Kristin shares her story with me and explains why unemployed workers are workers (and why the AUWU is definitely a union) and just how fucked up and privatised Australia’s unemployment “industry” is.

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Strike for Climate this Friday! Yeah! 

@kristin8X

ARTICLE: Australian Unemployed Workers Union calls for strike against ‘pointless and punitive’ job agencies

ARTICLE: Australia’s jobless to face mutual obligation rule despite few job vacancies

ARTICLE: ‘It’s a heartless decision’: Morrison government reintroduces welfare mutual obligations

ARTICLE: New Disability Support Pension recipients down by almost 60,000 due to Gillard-led crackdown

The Australia Institute’s 2000 report on Mutual Obligations

My episode with the AUWU’s Jeremy Poxon

Cause of the Week: The Australian Unemployed Workers’ Union (unemployedworkersunion.com) 

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Emma Alberici is a three-time Walkley-nominated journalist. She’s the former Chief Economics Correspondent at the ABC and she worked as a foreign correspondent and the host of Lateline. She recently finished up at the ABC after 18 years; in September 2021 she’ll release her memoir through Hardie Grant, Rewriting The Story.

In this conversation, Emma shares her thoughts on gender pay equality, unionism and the state of the economy. We reflect on her ABC career and the controversy surrounding the articles she wrote in 2018 about the Liberal government’s policy to cut the company tax: how and why she wrote it, the (small) errors that were made, why the crux of it still stands up and why it matters.

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I’m hosting a trivia night to raise money for the Yarra City Greens Local Election campaign this Saturday night. Come along.

@albericie

ARTICLE: Emma Alberici and ABC finalise details of their long and messy divorce 

ARTICLE: Replacing all of our unpaid work would cost the Victorian economy $205 billion, report finds by Emma Alberici

ARTICLE: Why many big companies don’t pay corporate tax by Emma Alberici

ARTICLE: There’s more to jobs and growth than a corporate tax cut by Emma Alberici

ARTICLE: Innovation is still the key to jobs and growth by Emma Alberici 

The ABC’s statement about complaints made regarding Emma’s articles

The ATO’s Corporate Tax Transparency website

ARTICLE: 7 charts showing Trump’s tax cuts still haven’t been the economic rocket fuel ‘rocket fuel’ he promised, 2 years after the fact (Business Insider)

ARTICLE: Qantas boss accuses ABC of anti-business bias over Emma Alberici tax stories (Guardian Australia)

Cause of the Week: Camp Quality (campquality.org.au)

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“Aysha” (not her real name) is a Kashmiri activist who advocates for the rights of those suffering under the Indo-Pakistan-Chinese conflict in her home country.

I’ve previously known very little about the situation in Kashmir and was grateful to Aysha for giving me a crash-course history lesson on the conflict and the 2019 escalation of tensions by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We discussed the nature of India’s occupation, the possibilities of democracy in the region, the effects of COVID-19 and what others can do.

If you’ve got the means please support this show by becoming a Patron

Join the LIASYO Facebook group here please and thank you

I’m hosting a trivia night to raise money for the Yarra City Greens Local Election campaign. Come along! 

Kashmir: Explained by Vox Media (good summary of the history of the conflict)

Human Rights Watch articles on Kashmir

Amnesty International Australia articles on Kashmir

ARTICLE: Kashmir crisis: India’s latest steps expose deep fault lines in Australia’s Indian and Pakistani communities 

ARTICLE: Leave Kashmir dispute out of UN, Australia urges

ARTICLE: Does Australia have the courage to challenge India’s defiance over Kashmir? by Lee Rhiannon

ARTICLE: Faulty tests, poor contact tracing: COVID-19 fight in Kashmir myriad stumbling blocks 

Cause of the Week: Stand With Kashmir Australia (Facebook page)

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Guy Rundle is a political essayist, comedy writer, activist and the correspondent-at-large for Crikey. He’s a former editor of Arena Magazine. 

Guy’s been writing about the strangeness and politics of COVID-19. Here I ask him about what a collective virus means for certain political ideologies, what it means to be a “post-Marxist” and what he made of the Democratic National Convention and the possibilities of a Biden presidency.

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Guy’s writing at Crikey

ARTICLE: How our lockdown reality became stranger than fiction by Guy Rundle

Cause of the Week: Free Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert (change.org)

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