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Chris Dite is a teacher and union member.
The latest film adaptation of Dune, Frank Herbert’s cult sci-fi novel series, is out next month. With its often-reactionary mix of political cynicism, ecological catastrophism, and lurid orientalism, Dune remains oddly attractive to left-wing audiences.
On Thursday, Australians woke to find Facebook had banned all news on the platform. Liberal PM Scott Morrison has refused to back down over the laws that triggered the move. Beneath the rhetoric, Morrison’s stand is about serving the interests of News Corp, not saving democracy.
After years of being exploited by universities and employers, Australia’s international students are now locked out of the country with no plan for their return. It’s time to end the multibillion-dollar rip-off and build a public education system that works for all students.
The Mad Max veteran villain actor Hugh Keays-Byrne died last week. His performances took us to the demonic dark side of politics and showed that if we dare to struggle, we dare to win.
Last week, the Brereton Report documented terrible atrocities committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan. The political establishment has feigned shock at the revelations, but complicity in these crimes goes all the way to the top.
Nine public housing towers in Melbourne have been put under a police-enforced “hard lockdown” without warning, with isolation effectively policed at gunpoint. It’s a measure reserved for inner-city public housing residents, despite the rising wave of infections throughout the city.
The Australian Labor Party’s Kristina Keneally is using the lockdown to call for a reduction in immigration once borders reopen, citing the nativist trope that migrant workers are driving down wages. But it's not immigrants that have driven down Australian workers' wages — it's the Labor Party's own history of neoliberal policies.
Finland’s extreme right came a close second at the last election, and they’re baying for power next time around. Increasingly brash in their theatrics and dominating debates, they’re the dark and very real threat to Finland’s celebrated social democracy.
Right-wing Prime Minister Scott Morrison came to power in Australia tapping into a wellspring of resentment and touting his support for fossil fuels. But now with catastrophic bushfires sweeping across the country, his approval ratings are in free fall.