January 2011
23 posts
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Bright new growth can yet sprout from Labor's... →
There is a persistent assumption in Australian politics that the concerns of the progressive left are necessarily inconsistent with those of the battlers. It is difficult to see, though, why social democracy generally should necessitate a retreat from the finer aspects of small-l-liberalism.
Sarah Burnside has pretty much summed up my views on the ALP. It needs to address economic insecurity...
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Suggestions for @sydney_festival 2012 #sydfest
I love Sydney in January. One of the main reasons why is Sydney Festival. There’s always so many great events that I seem to spend every weekend in January in Sydney.
Now that it’s over for 2011, I figured why not flag a few ideas for 2012. While unlikely to happen I’d be really excited if any one of my suggestions became a reality for the Sydney Festival in 2012.
...
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You say you want a revolution
Evgeny Morozov:
The idea that the Internet favors the oppressed rather than the oppressor is marred by what I calll cyber-utopianism: a naïve belief in the emancipatory nature of online communication that rests on a stubborn refusal to admit its downside.
Morozo highlights two key points that should be remembered when discussing the role of internet, and particularly social media, in...
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“The logic of capitalism is to turn human beings and their natural environment...”
– Maurice Glasman
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Reposted: The Symbolism of the Australian Flag...
To be honest I’ve never been that attached to Australia Day.
To me it’s just a public holiday to mark when people began colonisation and pushed indigenous people off their custodial lands. I haven’t felt the need to celebrate it.
However, I’ve noticed that it’s been changing over the last few years. What was once a passive day has become a celebratory event.
The transition has occurred over the...
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There is power in a union
Lately there’s been a lot of articles deploring the state of trade unionism in the United States. It seems to have started with that Jamie Surowiecki New Yorker article on public support for unions declining and kicked along by reports that private sector union density has fallen to 7%.
While no expert on the American industrial relations, American unions faced many legislative barriers and...
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“Remember the solidarity shown to Palestine here and everywhere and remember also...”
– Edward Said
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Is it just me or is The Economist being far more openly ideological and vocal than it has been in the recent past?
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“Left-wingers spout ideology while neoliberals have ‘real’ policy...”
– Rob Horning, “Ideology and the Left Blogosphere”, Marginal Utility
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Sydney Laneway 2011 set times →
My only real timetable clash is between Les Savy Fav and Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti.
I’ve seen Les Savy Fav before, it’s just that they’re awesome live and worth seeing as many times as you can.
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Visit the burbs, and be surprised →
Progressives should reject this view of the working class as a reactionary force for two reasons.
The first is that by accepting it, they reject their reason for being. Social-democrat parties were formed on the assumption that those who have the least are those who have the most interest in changing things. Reject this and you reject social democracy, and invert the whole political order.
The...
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Quick link: Why Chinese Mothers are Superior →
Cruelty? Apparently Amy Chau calls it parenting.
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“Hipsters today are often regarded more as a nuisance than a poison. They’re not...”
– Whither the hipster? Dayna Tortorici, author of What Was the Hipster, thinks America’s most maligned sub-culture will be around for some time to come. Thank heavens none of them use Tumblr. (via theeconomist)
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Critical thinking, political dialogue and the...
Rob Horning:
Politics presumes a recognition that negotiation and dialogue must occur, that what is “right” is simply a given but is a matter of resolving inescapable conflicts of interest. Trying to kill politicians is an extreme expression of the rejection of politics—a puerile fantasy that has been cynically encouraged in some quarters. But to reject the very possibility of negotiation and...
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- “Boulder to Birmingham” (live),...
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December 2010
21 posts
2 tags
