Repeal the “Foreign Interference Laws”!
30-06-2020: In a disturbing precedent, New South Wales (NSW) Labor Party MP Shaoquett Moselmane has had Federal Police and ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation – the equivalent of the FBI in the US) officers raid his home in Rockdale, Sydney on June 26.[1] It is the first investigation to take place using the “Foreign Interference” laws passed by the Federal Parliament in 2018. Mr Moselmane’s “crime” is to make very minor pro-China (People’s Republic of China or PRC) comments praising the response of the PRC government’s response to the alleged Covid-19 “pandemic”. Apparently Mr Moselmane had also made a few previous trips to the Chinese mainland – along with literally millions of other humans, and thousands of other Australians. Allegations that Mr Moselmane is working for the Communist Party of China (CPC) or the government of the PRC, or is attempting to subvert the Australian government on behalf of “China” are so absurd it would barely be worth commenting on, unless the ramifications were dire. Yet on unproven and farcical allegations Mr Moselmane has had his NSW Labor Party membership suspended, has been removed from the Labor parliamentary caucus, and faces being expelled from parliament altogether.
“Foreign Interference” laws prepare for war
As we wrote at the time of its introduction, the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2018 potentially outlaws political opinion, political activity and journalism.[2] In the case of Mr Moselmane, it has outlawed the ability of an MP to praise the PRC for anything. It also threatens years or decades in jail for the “crime” of politically criticising foreign policy, or not being sufficiently “onside” with far-fetched New Cold War hysteria. The Prime Minister at the time stressed that the bill was not just about China, but about other states that interfere, including Russia, Iran and North Korea!! The reality is of course the opposite. It is the US Empire which is enacting a wicked crusade against these independent states, for the “crime” of being able to make their own political decisions independent of Washington. With Canberra’s assent, the “Foreign Interference” laws seek to normalise the preparations of the US Empire for a catastrophic World War III. Needless to say, sanity resides with those who question the march towards a global conflagration.
However, the international political situation in 2020 is different to that which existed when the “Foreign Interference” Bill was passed by Canberra politicians in 2018. Now, there is an unbridled attack on the working class which has taken place under the cover of a fake and pre-manufactured Coronavirus “pandemic”, which distorts science beyond recognition.[3] The Covid-19 fraud was not only a capitalist attack on the living standards of working people, it was a pretext for a previously unimaginable increase of state power as well as a dress rehearsal for the launching of imperialist war. To enable this, Washington, London, Paris and Berlin joined forces to eliminate basic civil and political rights.
Lockdown left offers its services
Unfortunately, instead of launching a counter-response to a new phase of capital’s class war against the downtrodden, almost all Australian left parties signed up as volunteers on the wrong side of the barricades.[4] Taking their cue from overpaid Union officials, the “lockdown left” accepted the corporate politicians’ Covid-19 subterfuge as good coin, and enthusiastically deputised themselves as un-uniformed lieutenants barking out orders to the great unwashed. They shepherded everyone into inhumane lockdowns and policed absurd “social-distancing” rules – which have no basis in medicine. That is to say, the lockdown left and the sell-out Union officials today act as paramilitary contractors to the capitalist state. They offer their dastardly misdeeds to the imperialists – free of charge.
Raising the alarm about the ASIO raids on Mr Moselmane’s home, Trotskyist Platform correctly point out that these acts are a dramatic attack on democratic rights.[5] About this there is no disagreement. Yet who is it that has enabled this attack on democratic rights by assisting the capitalist state in its’ Covid-19 panic mongering? The lockdown left – of which Trotskyist Platform is a card-carrying member. As the Workers League repeatedly warned, swallowing the “coronavirus” narrative of the ruling class of the Western world has extremely dangerous political consequences. To endorse the sham Covid-19 chronicles of the billionaire media and the marionette politicians who serve them not only fans the flames of baseless fear. Crucially, it hands even more political power to the capitalist state than it had previously. And as soon as this state is handed more political authority than it is usually afforded in “normal” times, it will use this power for diabolical ends.
In their naivete, the lockdown left imagined that the capitalist state could be trusted in the area of “health”, while it could be opposed on all other planes. Of course, this flies in the face of basic politics in a class divided society. While it is true that workers must be treated in a hospital if they suffer serious illness, it does not at all follow that the health bureaucrats salaried by the state will follow medical science regardless of their pay-slips. It does not at all follow that a police officer enforcing medically risible lockdowns will also therefore protect democratic and political rights. If the capitalist state is afforded political backing by workers, especially by mistake, it will use this political power against the basic human, political and civil rights it hypocritically “upholds”. In other words, the regurgitation of the Covid-19 pork pie by the liberal lockdown left is precisely what has empowered ALL arms of the capitalist state – up to and including ASIO operatives.
All of this is beyond the comprehension of the lockdown left. Thankfully, there are those who reject the overblown Covid-19 mania and suspect there is an unstated agenda. It is the task of the genuine left to link up with these workers, many of whom have been active in the anti-lockdown movement. Advanced workers must be forged into a political force which can lead the masses away from a totalitarian nightmare and imperialist war towards an egalitarian and harmonious socialist order.
WORKERS LEAGUE
E:workersleague@redfireonline.com
[1] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-australian-politicians-home-and-parliamentary-office-raided-in/ (28-06-2020)
[2] https://redfireonline.com/2018/07/15/repeal-the-espionage-and-interference-act-no-war-on-china/ (28-06-2020)
[3] https://redfireonline.com/2020/06/06/covid-19-the-corruption-of-science/ (28-06-2020)
[4] https://redfireonline.com/2020/04/25/the-left-and-the-coronavirus/ (28-06-2020)
[5] https://www.facebook.com/TrotskyistPlatform/?epa=SEARCH_BOX (28-06-2020)
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