Freg J. Stokes is a writer and mapmaker from Australia.
With the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Australia is once again considering the republican question. For a country that saw its last reforming prime minister thrown out of office by the queen’s representative, breaking with the royal family is a necessary task.
Popularized by the dying British Empire, cricket is a sport that has always been riven by class politics. The career of Australian bowler Shane Warne, who died earlier this year, offers a microcosm of this history.
The outcomes of class conflicts throughout history have been influenced by how workers and rulers respond to pandemics. As we emerge from this pandemic, the fight for fairer work regimes is our urgent task.
With the spread of coronavirus now global, arbitrary travel bans such as those implemented by the Australian government are ineffective and nourished by old xenophobic anxieties. The solution to this crisis can only be a coordinated, international effort.
With the British settlement of Australia, Europe’s long history of overseas convict transportation entered one of its most bizarre chapters, as an entire continent was excised as an open-air prison for England’s criminalized lower classes.