The Wombat Media Warren

Für den Sozialismus! - Drum N Bass

2009-08-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Green Left - a people's power media project

2009-08-12T20:37:00.000-07:00

Green Left is a people's power alternative media project. It is Australia's leading progressive publication but the internet also gives it global reach. Many of its readers and writers are brought together from many corners of the world. Please help write for, distribute and support it!

We are currently running a drive for more subscriptions. If you read it on the internet, please consider taking out an internet subscription. Introduce Green Left to a friend, workmate or relative by giving them a gift subscription.

Subscriptions hotline: 1800 634 206 (free call from anywhere in Australia)

'We can phase out coal and create jobs': Graham Brown

2009-08-11T20:19:00.000-07:00

Graham Brown, a retired coalminer from Australia's Hunter Valley, is on a national speaking tour to call for a serious program to create green jobs and phase out coal. The tour is being organised by Resistance, a socialist youth organisation. Details of the tour here.

AUDIO: Coup in Honduras - eyewitness report

2009-07-05T23:10:00.001-07:00

Toni covers the Honduran coup

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Original audio source (Honduras.mp3)

AUDIO:Simon Butler on Population Control in Response to Climate Change

2009-07-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

Recently a discussion has surfaced about whether population control schemes could feature in the policy aims of the Australian Climate Change movement.

Simon Butler is an analyst and contributor to Green Left Weekly who argues that the proponents of population control schemes completely miss the underlying causes of climate change.

Julia started by asking Simon about the history of such schemes and the lessons we can learn about their previous implementations.

This talk was broadcast on Radio Adelaide on the 10th of June.

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Original audio source (Simon Butler.mp3)

SLIDESHOW: Climate Emergency rallies around the country

2009-06-17T19:22:00.001-07:00

Last Saturday's environment rallies came off as a great beginning to the movement we need to build urgently. See GLW report here:Thousands rally for 100% renewables by 2020

Here are a few presentations on the rallies:

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Wollongong

Cairns

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Perth

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Sydney

Sydney

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Hobart

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Melbourne

Wollongong actions against climate change

2009-06-17T19:04:00.000-07:00

In Wollongong the Socialist Alliance branch is doing great work. There's a significant coming together on the left which suggest that 'left unity' is indeed a very viable project when away from those who would dismiss its promise (and actuality).

Here are 2 reports featuring local SA members and supporters on the recent climate protests.

Chris Williams is the local Socialist Alliance convenor and Jess Moore is national co-organiser of socialist youth organisation Resistance.

Rights on Site - Ark Tribe Prosecuted

2009-06-02T22:49:00.000-07:00

From Rights On Site

Ark Tribe is a construction worker from South Australia facing six months in jail. He has been charged with not attending an interview with the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).

Ark was working on the Flinders University site in Adelaide. Conditions were so bad that workers drew up a petition calling for safety improvements, on a handtowel.

It took an intervention by the union and the state government safety regulator to get the most pressing problems fixed and finally, after several days, things began to get back on track.

One by one workers from the site were called before the ABCC.

The penalties for those who don't cooperate with ABCC investigations are frightening - fines of up to $22,000 for things like stopping work to make sure workers are safe and jail for up to 6 months if you don't answer their questions. Even the police don't have the powers the ABCC have.

In Ark's words, "If I've done something wrong, I'm prepared to cop it, but I won't be treated unfairly."

We need to get the Rudd Labor Government to get rid of these laws, before another construction worker faces jail.

Audio: The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy By Minqi Li

2009-06-02T22:11:00.001-07:00

Minqi Li is Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Utah and the author of The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy among other publications. This lecture was delivered at the Marxist School of Sacramento on 21 May 2009.

Source:Creative i

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Original audio source (3911-1-minqui_li_mx_sch_5-21-09.mp3)

AUDIO:Building Bridges: Tariq Ali - Afghanistan/Pakistan - Danger Ahead

2009-06-01T22:35:00.001-07:00

The west's 'good war' in Afghanistan has turned bad. Spreading the war to Pakistan was a disaster. for A local solution involving all the powers in the area, rather than a neocolonial one, is needed.

Speaker: Tariq Ali

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Original audio source (123-1-tariqalintl.mp3)

The Scottish Socialist Party Alternative Summit...

2009-05-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

On 16th April 2009, Gordon Brown and his New Labour Cabinet met in the SECC, Glasgow to discuss their reaction to the current stage in the economic crisis. Two weeks later, the Scottish Socialist Party European Election candidates met informally at the same venue. The video shows the SSP alternatives to the decisions made by the "Glasgow Cabinet"...
Promoted by Pam Currie on behalf of the Scottish Socialist Party, Suite
308/310, 4th Floor Central Chambers 93 Hope St, Glasgow G2 6LD.

'Climate Change' Human Sign - St Kilda Beach, Melbourne Australia - May 17, 2009

2009-05-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

More than 5,000 people gathered to spell out the words "Climate Change - The Future Is In Your Hands' on St Kilda Beach in Melbourne, Australia.
www.sisinc.com.au

International Day of Mourning (28th April 2009)

2009-04-26T23:24:00.000-07:00

Via Rights on Site
28 April is International workers day of mourning. A day to commemorate workers who have died on the job.

On construction sites around Australia, construction workers will stop for a minute’s silence to remember their work mates.

Our construction industry is one of the toughest industries to work in and statistics show that one construction workers is killed a week in Australia. Hundreds more are injured.

But each year millions of dollars is spent on the Australian Building and Construction Commission, an organisation which undermines workers rights and safety.

That’s why we’re campaigning to get rid of the ABCC and the laws that keep it in place.

TAKE ACTION NOW - sign the online petition!

Michael Lebowitz: What would Marx say today?

2009-04-15T22:05:00.000-07:00

Michael Lebowitz addresses the World at a Crossroads conference. Photo by Alex Bainbridge.

Is it time to dust off a copy of Das Kapital and revisit Marx's analysis of capitalism's ills?

Michael Lebowitz has recently been in Australia as a featured guest of the World at a Crossroads conference, held in Sydney April 10-12, organised by the Democratic Socialist Perspective and Green Left Weekly. He was interviewed by the ABC Radio's Late Night Live on April 14, 2009.

Original audio source (lnl_20090414_2218.mp3)

Guests:

Michael A. Lebowitz
Professor emeritus of economics at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. He is a program coordinator with the Centro International Miranda, Caracas, Venezuela.

William Coleman
Reader at the school of economics of the Australian National University; editor of Agenda: a Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform.

Further Information:

``The Path to Human Development'' -- Michael A. Lebowitz

Publications

Beyond Capital, Marx's Political Economy of the Working Class
Michael A. Lebowitz
Palgrave Macmillan (Second Edition, 2003)

Story researcher and producer: Sasha Fegan

Marxist Geographer David Harvey on the G20, the Financial Crisis and Neoliberalism

2009-04-05T20:59:00.000-07:00

For some analysis on the G20 summit and the financial crisis, Democracy Now speaks to a leading thinker on the global economy. David Harvey is a Marxist geographer and distinguished professor of anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of several books, including The Limits to Capital and A Brief History of Neoliberalism.

Watch more videos on the LeftClick Video channel

5 Reasons why the ABCC must go

2009-03-30T19:41:00.000-07:00

Via Rights On Site:

John Bellamy Foster on the economic and ecological crises: `The common denominator is capitalism'

2009-03-23T21:00:00.000-07:00

John Bellamy Foster interviewed by Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal/Green Left Weekly's Ruth Ratcliffe

A 20-minute interview recorded with a handheld cam in Oregon, USA, in February 2009. John Bellamy Foster is editor of Monthy Review and professor of sociology at the University of Oregon. He is co-author, with Fred Magdoff, of The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences (Monthly Review Press, January 2009) among numerous other works. Foster discusses the global economic crisis, its implications for the world and particularly the Australian economy. He also discusses the ecological crisis and the potential for revolutionary change.

David Harvey Interviewed by Laura Flanders

2009-03-17T21:29:00.001-07:00

The End of Capitalism? - A Response to Tim Geithner
GRITtv
Wednesday March 11, 2009 8:00 pm

Kiefer Sutherland Presents Mouseland

2009-03-17T21:17:00.000-07:00

Via Renegade Eye:

You know Kiefer Sutherland as the star of hit television show 24, or the son of actor Donald Sutherland. He is also grandson of the founder of the New Democratic Party Tommy Douglas. The NDP is Canada's labor party.

Kiefer presents with the help of his grandfather's words and Mouseland Players, a valuable political lesson.

More Australians in El Salvador - Ovidio Orellanos

2009-03-17T19:41:00.000-07:00

The day before the elections a group of Australian volunteers met at one of the FMLN headquarters to prepare themselves for their role of international mobservers. Many of them were Salvadorans who had been forced to emigrate to Australia as political refugees, in the 1980s. They were keen to be present at a time when the ARENA `party, founded by the people responsible for their forced exile had to face an electoral defeat.

Ovidio Orellanos is a Guatemalan by birth. The death squads of El Salvador modelled themselves on a similar movement in Guatemala, called ¨The White Hand¨. Ovidio tells us what these elections mean to him.

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Original audio source

Australians in El Salvador - Juan Campos

2009-03-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

Juan Campos is a Salvadoran who spent two years in prison and was tortured in the early 1980s. He was rescued by Australia´s special humanitarian program and has lived in Australia ever since. Juan was one of the 15 Australian´s who came to El Salvador to observe the critical Presidential elections. He explains to community radio what these elections mean to Salvadorans, and people like himself.

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Original audio source

Éire, British Occupation, and why it isn't over yet

2009-03-11T04:29:00.001-07:00

Without lending support to the recent attacks in the 6 counties of Ireland that remain under British rule (and the attacks, despite clearly wedging Sinn Fein, are counterproductive, and wrong), the wombats have decided to provide a bit of background to the issue, for those that aren't as familiar.

This excellent 2006 film by socialist Ken Loach (embedding disabled, so links only) captures a good deal of the reasons why (apart from the obvious occupation of one's own country) the Irish struggle reached such heights over the last century. Obviously, things are very different in the last few decades (and we could here show, for example, the excellent movie "Bloody Sunday", but that's for a different time).

1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jphOMU73fs
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zb0PUmM8QQ
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlVT1iQjAF4
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLcNUf-aZmE
5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vw1o2lby8mc
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZ2qncWkEM0
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Vh5mIgxx4Q
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsQmXDRKzHo
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4KI84UWlKo
10
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L8how7y4Io
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stcn06aDbtE
12
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R688xbNRKlo
13
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tw5eFEFTTTQ

A musical response to events in northern Eire...

2009-03-10T19:46:00.001-07:00

In response to the recent events in the 6 Occupied Counties of Ireland, the wombats would like to post these three excellent Christy Moore songs.

Ireland unfree may never be at peace, but violence doesn't guarantee freedom. Often, it creates the opposite, especially when indiscriminate and isolated from popular opinion.

David Attenborough on Darwin

2009-02-25T19:35:00.000-08:00

In the Bicentenary year of Charles Darwin's birth, a series of events and debates are taking place, celebrating the discovery of evolution, and the revolution in science and knowledge it brought about. Here's renowned naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough on Darwin's discovery.

There's more, though:
Darwin's Very Bad Day: 'Oops, We Just Ate It!', audio from NPR's All Things Considered;
and just some of the celebratory material and activity going on: http://www.nature.com/news/specials/darwin/index.html

Interview: The Liberal Defence of Murder

2009-02-05T19:15:00.001-08:00

Left-wing British MP George Galloway interviews author, activist, and UK SWP member Richard Seymour (of Lenin's Tomb fame) on his (apparently fantabulous) new book, The Liberal Defence of Murder.

Sri Lanka: Survival of Tamil civilians at Stake

2009-01-23T20:55:00.000-08:00

These videos are a presentation by Dr.Brian Senewiratne, MA MD FRCP FRACP on the present crisis in northern Sri Lanka. This selection is from a year back. While more videos are available online, keep an eye on LeftClickBlog for more updates and aggregates.

The Rise of Die Linke in Germany

2009-01-22T20:48:00.000-08:00

Via the Socialist Project (Ca)

The emergence of the Left Party (Linkspartei) in Germany is the most significant development of a new political party to the left of social democracy in decades in Europe. The formation of the Left Party coincided with the anti-G8 mobilisation in Germany a year ago. It was followed by a startling rise in the opinion polls, and political break-throughs in West Germany, building on its political base in East Germany and the old Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS).

Part 1: Introduction by Greg Albo.

Ingar Solty, while doing a PhD at York, is a frequent contributor to the journal Das Argument in Germany, where his seminal paper on neoliberalism and the rise of the Left Party was originally published and is now forthcoming in English in the journal Socialism and Democracy.

Part 2: Ingar Solty.

Part 3: Ingar Solty.

Frank Deppe has been one of the leading Marxist intellectuals and political activists in West Germany since the 1960s with extensive publications on labour and politics and on Eurocapitalism and the global political economy.

Part 4: Frank Deppe.

Part 5: Frank Deppe.

Part 6: Frank Deppe.

Part 7: Frank Deppe.

Part 8: Frank Deppe.

More resources on the net:

The Historic Significance of the New German Left Party by Ingar Solty
Left Party (Linkspartei)
Die Linke - International Newsletter (in English)
Speech by Gregor Gysi, Chairman of the Left Party in the Bundestag, 25th May 2008 (in English)
Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (in English)
Against The G8 Summit
The Left - on WikiPedia

The Union Show is back!

2009-01-18T21:52:00.001-08:00

We're back.

Union Show friends. Let us Activate!

We have 70,000 weekly telly viewers and god knows how many on the web, we have around 150 of you Facebook group members and about the same number in the Save The Union Show Cause (by the way, we haven't saved it yet!!!).

We want to change the media conversation about unions and workers rights. Let the people report for the people instead of the corporations that own them. Labour rights equals human rights!

The right to work in a safe workplace. The right to strong economic management and economic security. The right to education and opportunity. The right to put our own price on our own labour (our time and our bodies and our minds).

Let's make a year of positive outcomes, let's get onto every damn thing that happens.

We start production in February. So I'm opening a forum for content ideas right now. If anyone has ideas about themes, material, actions, events or whatever else that we might cover this year - now's the time.

If anyone wants to volunteer some time, do some research or admin work or learn and use the skills to make real media that speaks the voice of the labour movement - here is your chance. We will take some interns this year.

Message me, email production@skatv.org.au, or post on this page. All contributions will be considered and are most welcome, indeed sought after.

Welcome to The Union Show 2009!

Cheers

Debra

Jewish and Israeli opposition to Israel's Gaza slaughter

2009-01-15T23:30:00.001-08:00

Via Links:

Israel's young conscientious objectors (shministim) tell why they refuse to serve in an army that occupies ``another people'', the Palestinians. From http://www.December18th.org.

Young Israeli `refusenik' soldiers and reservists protest the Gaza assault, January 8, 2009, Tel Aviv. From Social TV (http://www.tv.social.org.il/)

Israel attacks UN aid compound with phosphorous bombs

2009-01-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

Cuba’s Healthcare Revolution

2009-01-15T20:17:00.000-08:00

Radio Open Sources carries this interview with three US medical students currently studying in Cuba.

But the core of our long conversations is medicine, the Cuban way. This is aggressive, free, hands-on health care that makes house calls, and lingers for the feel of emotions and homelife. Doctors’ training like doctors’ care is free: the payback required of the students here from all over the hemisphere is only that they return to underserved areas of their home countries....Their thinking on social determinants of health, on the primacy of public health and the vital role of prevention strategies are unmatched in the world. With spending of less than $200 per person per year for health care, they have achieved health outcomes no different than in the USA where expenditures now exceed $7000 per person annually!”

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Original audio source

Latin American Medical School in Havana.

SubCommandante Marcos - Julie Webb in Chiapas (Spanish)

2009-01-15T20:16:00.000-08:00

Julie Webb was on the spot in Chiapas, southern Mexico, when SubCommandante Marcos broke a two year silence to address a Zapatista community. Among other things he condemns the Israeli attack on Gaza. Three Latin American countries have already broken diplomcatic relations with Israel in protest.

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Original audio source

Tariq Ali on Israel's massacres in Gaza

2009-01-14T20:32:00.000-08:00

Tariq Ali addresses the Stop Gaza Massacres meeting in London, January 8, 2009. Organised by Stop the War Coalition (http://www.stopwar.org.uk).

4Gaza

2009-01-14T20:31:00.000-08:00

Photos from the Sydney Rally for Gaza, 04/01/2009

2009-01-05T01:37:00.001-08:00

Fidel Castro: the Untold Story

2009-01-05T00:59:00.001-08:00

Part 1

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution, which triumphed on January 1, 1959, here is filmmaker Estela Bravo's remarkable portrait of Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution. Click HERE for more.

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

10,000 protest in Tel Aviv against the war in Gaza

2009-01-05T00:36:00.001-08:00

January 3, 2009 -- Gush Shalom -- At the same time as Ehud Barak was ordering the army to start the bloody ground offensive against Gaza, some 10,000 protesters from all over Israel marched in Tel-Aviv in a massive demonstration against the war. Click here for a photo gallery by Rachel Avnery.

Thousands march against the Israeli state's assault on Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel, January 3, 2009

Israel invades Gaza, Palestinians, solidarity activists call for solidarity and resistance

2009-01-05T00:33:00.000-08:00

150,000 Palestinians protest in Sakhnin

January 4, 2009 -- Palestinian citizens of Israel held a massive protest on January 3, 2009, in Sakhnin, an Arab city in northern Israel, against Israel's war on the Palestinian people in Gaza. It was attended by up to 150,000 protesters. Crowds waving Palestinian flags and brandishing pro-Palestinian placards chanted "Gaza will not surrender to the tanks and bulldozers!" and "Don't fear, Gaza, we are with you!".

Meanwhile, Israel has begun its ground invasion of Gaza. Around the world on January 3, solidarity demonstrations have been held, attended by tens of thousands. Two thousand protested in South Africa outside the United States Consulate in Johannesburg (for the statement, click on the link below).

Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal is gathering the most recent statements by Palestinian and solidarity organisations and activists. More will be added as they come to hand. See HERE for previous statements.

Venezuela, Cuba condemn Israel's massacres in Gaza

2008-12-30T16:05:00.001-08:00

Haz click en cualquier video para verlo Puedes ver otros en radiomundial.com.ve
Dozens of protesters rallied outside the Israeli embassy in Caracas on December 28, in opposition to what one speaker referred to as “genocide” by the Israeli “occupation forces”. The protests will continue in front of the embassy, according to a rally organiser, Hindu Anderi. Anderi, a Palestinian human rights activist, thanked the Venezuelan government for its position on the conflict, but demanded concrete action, saying “solidarity needs to mean taking measures that will affect Israel economically and politically, because otherwise the condition of the Palestinian people will not change”.

¡No pasarán! 70 years of the International Brigades

2008-12-25T19:08:00.001-08:00

As we near the end of 2008, it is worth remembering an anniversary that fell this year. September 21 marked the 70th anniversary of the disbanding of the international brigades, formed of volunteers across the world to fight the rise of fascism under Franco in Spain.

As much a tribute to the legacy and bravery of men and women worldwide in taking up arms to fight the fascist monster, and to dare to dream that a new world was possible, the memory of those who fought, and those who fell, stands as a stark reminder and warning of the deadly betrayals of Stalinism.

As we enter uncertain economic and political times, where the failure of neoliberal capitalism is only matched by the failure of the left to put forward a robust alternative, we would do well to remember the sacrifices made by past generations in the struggle for a better world, and to renew the strength in our hearts and imbs for the struggle ahead.

The links below are to the Youtube version of Ken Loach's acclaimed 1995 movie "Land and Freedom", on of the most moving antiwar films ever made, and an open window on the reality of the Spanish Civil War.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11

El Salvador: Video -- Unidos por el cambio (Democracy and the 2009 Salvadorean election)

2008-12-25T19:02:00.001-08:00

By Committee with the People of El Salvador (CISPES)(USA)

Recent polls in El Salvador show that the leftist FMLN party is 15% ahead over the right-wing presidential candidate from the ruling party. This only confirms what Salvadorans in the social movement, members of the FMLN, and the general public have been saying all along: El Salvador is the next in line to join the Latin American shift to the left!

The Committee with the People of El Salvador (CISPES) has a long solidarity relationship with the Salvadoran people. One way CISPES continues to support real democracy in El Salvador, opposing US economic, military, and political intervention, is by bringing international observers delegations to El Salvador. You too can support free and fair elections and learn about the current situation in El Salvador by joining the CISPES delegation from March 9-19, 2009.

As international observers, we will help to ensure that the elections are carried out in a peaceful climate for people to vote. We will work to guarantee that dirty tricks used in the 2004 elections by the US government and the right-wing ARENA party don’t happen again. And we will denounce any political violence and fraud that might occur during the election.

In addition to being present on the March 15 Election Day, we will:

meet with social movement groups to talk about the current economic and political situation
learn Salvadoran electoral law and the role of observers
prepare people to mobilise in the US through CISPES chapters and the emergency response network in order to challenge fraud OR defend a democratic victory.

Contact CISPES for more information about this delegation!

Contact your local CISPES committee by going to www.cispes.org or the national office at (202) 521-2510 and Elizabeth@cispes.org

The Story of Stuff, Full Version

2008-12-22T23:08:00.000-08:00

John Bellamy Foster: The great financial crisis: causes and consequences

2008-12-22T20:44:00.000-08:00

A Financial Katrina - Remarks by David Harvey

2008-12-22T20:43:00.002-08:00

If you're not in Greece, and need something to do this Christmas, you could do worse than check out David Harvey's website, which now includes his entire series of lessons on Volume One of Marx's Capital, both as video and downloadable audio.

As well as that great resource, he has also been putting up the audio from a number of his talks on the financial crisis, the latest of which can be found below.

[Of course, if you ARE in Greece, and are reading this instead of making new Molotov cocktails, you should be ashamed of yourself. Really...]
*******************************************************

A Financial Katrina
Remarks by Professor David Harvey
From “The Disruption: Left Interpretations of the Financial Crisis” Panel Discussion
Organized by the Center for Place, Culture and Politics, the Center for Humanities and the Brecht Forum
City University of New York Graduate Center
October 29, 2008
26 minutes 33 seconds

Listen now:

Or download MP3 file (24.4 MB)

(To download on a PC right-click on the above file and click ‘Save as’ or ‘Download to’. On a Mac Control-click instead of right-click.)

Slides:

(Slides 1-5 referenced beginning at 6 minutes 30 seconds. Slide 6 referenced at 10 minutes 10 seconds.)

A Wombat Christmas Message...

2008-12-22T20:43:00.001-08:00

... courtesy of Alistair Hulett (currently touring Oz and NZ with David Rovics)...

... the great Billy Bragg...

... and the Manic Street Preachers...

Videos and Photos from Greece

2008-12-22T20:42:00.001-08:00

The videos and photographs below are from Monthly Review, which has compiled a good swag of resources on the insurgency.

17:00:38	16:56:06
16:47:06	16:19:02
16:06:06	16:03:58
16:02:30	16:01:26
15:55:34	15:53:36
15:52:06	15:51:00
15:33:50	15:26:52