Australian National Review 

28-02-2021: As far as comprehensive attacks on pay and working conditions go, you just can’t go past the IR (Industrial Relations) Bill presented to the Australian parliament by the federal government over Christmas in 2020. The deceptive wording of the Bill’s title hides an agenda which is anti-worker and anti-Union in its very essence. Referred to as the IR Omnibus Bill, the “Fair Work Amendment (Supporting Australia’s Jobs and Economic Recovery) Bill 2020” could, if it becomes an Act, reduce Unions to IR bystanders. In some cases, it may remove the right of workers to collectively bargain with the employer on ANY aspect of pay and conditions. There is little doubt it will vastly increase casual and insecure work, amongst a workforce which is already one of the most highly casualised in the world. As it stands, workers employed as casuals in Australia do not receive annual and/or sick leave. Labour researcher David Peetz points out that 130 out of 163 countries require temporary workers to have the same leave entitlements as permanents – but not workers in Australia.[1]

Outright removal of workers’ rights

The Omnibus Bill is slated by establishment as a “Covid recovery” mechanism. In reality, the Covid “pandemic” fraud[2] is the fig leaf for the onslaught against the very conditions of life workers need for existence under the rule of capital. In fact, the fake pandemic is itself the ideological and political enabler of the enforced recession in which workers suffer but the super elite prosper. Even a brief overview of the Omnibus Bill will reveal its sinister intent. If enacted, it would lead to fewer permanent jobs with the rights they entail. The casual conversion (to permanent) provisions are laughable, with an employer not being bound to convert a temporary employee to permanent if he/she believes it is not “reasonable” to do so.  All Awards – the previously legislated minimum set of conditions – are likely to be reduced even further from what they are today. The Bill would allow for Enterprise Bargaining Agreements to be made even if they fail the BOOT(Better Off Overall Test), for businesses “affected by Covid”. It would allow the creation of workplace agreements with pay and conditions BELOW the Award – effectively making minimum pay and conditions laws null and void.[3]

The current limited rights for workers under Enterprise Bargaining are savaged by the Omnibus Bill. Workers can be stripped of the right to an explanation of an agreement on which they are expected to pass a vote. Agreements that exclude the National Employment Standards (NES) can be approved. Employers can impose inferior pay and conditions in a “Greenfields” (i.e., a new workplace) agreement, meaning workers have no right to negotiate at all. The Bill also includes provisions on wage theft which make it virtually impossible to prove the employer willingly underpaid staff.[4]

No defence without lockdown defiance

These attacks are a mortal threat to working people. The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has researched and accurately decried the scale of the virtual abolition of a list of workers’ and Union rights. However, the ACTU officials only offer the meekest of resistance. ACTU Secretary Sally McManus wistfully complains that the workers which will be hurt the most by the Omnibus Bill are the “ones that helped get this country through a once-in-a-century crisis….they deserve job security and respect……Australian workers are suffering from years of wage stagnation….the rate of casualisation of our workforce desperately needs to be addressed….if this bill cannot be fixed, it needs to be dumped.”[5]  The ACTU officials talk like capitalist politicians, rather than fighting Unionists.

Needless to say, the “once-in-a-century crisis” is the fake pandemic engineered by finance capital and dealt by their marionettes heading governments, corporate media and “health” bureaucracies. Union officials have been at the forefront of consciously imposing the coronavirus pack of lies onto their members and all workers, siding with the largest and wealthiest woke corporations on planet earth in the process. Why? While Unions are mainly comprised of honest rank and file workers, the Union officials are anything but. They have a material interest in striking a delicate balance between keeping workers alive and able to slave for the “captains of industry”, and mitigating the workers’ bitter dissatisfaction at the state of their living and working conditions. Sometimes the Union officials side with the workers in this tightrope walk – but most of the time they are with the employers and the government. They are keenly aware of what is acceptable to the bourgeoisie and what is not – and they are skilled at preventing and stifling the efforts of workers in striving towards anti-capitalist goals.

There can be no defence against the Omnibus IR Bill unless and until it is combined with worker defiance of the absurd and dangerous lockdowns,[6] and the entire “health crisis” ideology. Arguably, the raison d’etre for the fear pandemic was to drastically reduce the cost of labour power (wages and conditions of workers) through any means possible. Hence the millions of job cuts and the fascistic measures governments imposed to prevent workers from organising and fighting back – social distancing, lockdowns, forced facemasks and vaccines, tracking and tracing, quarantine and isolation. Transparently, these measures are NOT about a virus, but are political methods to remove civil, democratic and even Union rights won over the last 150 years. If workers accept ANY part of the ruling class “pandemic” narrative, they will not be able to defend the ground they stand on.

What is required to even begin the necessary fight against the Omnibus Bill, is a frontal challenge to the Union officials’ enforcement of Covid baloney. Workers need to affirm: “We reject Covid nonsense as a cover for the assault on us, and which you are assisting the government in imposing. We do not accept Corona lies and we demand permanent and secure jobs for all workers – through a six-hour day with no loss in pay.” Such an approach would lay the groundwork for the replacement of Union officialdom with class struggle militants committed to a world where workers hold power.

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

[1] https://www.businessinsider.com.au/casual-workers-entitlements-loading-casualised-workforce-australia-2020-12 (23-02-2021)

[2] https://www.globalresearch.ca/we-have-been-hoaxed/5737977 (23-02-2021)

[3] actu-omnibus-bill-submission-20200118-final.pdf (23-02-2021)

[4] Ibid, 3.

[5] Australian workers will be worse off under IR Omnibus Bill (actu.org.au) (24-02-2021)

[6] https://www.theblogmire.com/the-largest-experiment-on-humans-ever-seen/ (24-02-2021)

January 6, 2021 – the march on Washington. Image from http://www.dailymirror.lk

17-01-2021: The USA is once again divided, this time over the events of January 6 in the capital of Washington DC. A protest called by President Donald Trump possibly drew up to 300 000 supporters, all of them rightly enraged by blatant electoral fraud[1] in the November election which the corporate media called for Joe Biden and the Democrats. In circumstances that remain under a cloud, a very small section of the crowd was either allowed or forced their way into the Capitol Building where the Congress was deciding whether to accept the electoral college votes, the final process which elects the Presidency. During some clashes with police and security, one woman was shot dead, while three others died from “medical emergencies” at the Capitol grounds.[2] The woman who lost her life was Ashli Babbitt[3], a Trump supporter and Air Force veteran of some 14 years. She was totally unarmed, and was shot at close range while there were police in front and behind her.

Hypocrisy of the so-called left

Without a hint of irony, some on the so-called left, such as the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), immediately labelled the protest a “fascist coup”.[4] The Internationalist Group (IG) breathlessly claimed the protest contained “white supremacists” and “racists” alongside “fascists”.[5] They were joined by the liberal corporate media who raced to label it the “worst day in American history”[6], and claimed that the protesters “stormed” Capitol Hill and resorted to political violence. Really? Out of a crowd of hundreds of thousands, a handful of them managed to get into the Congress, tip over some furniture, take selfies sitting in the halls, before being led back out? What about the violence of the police who shot dead Ashli Babbitt? Protesting outside the seat of power or a parliament in an effort to force representatives to listen to some demands is as old as the hills. And what was the demand? The main demand was “Stop the Steal” of the election, and perhaps also “Audit the Vote”. These demands are entirely legitimate, and under the circumstances – when there are videos showing suitcases full of ballots being pulled out from under a table in Georgia[7] – rather moderate.

Who was it that started the real political violence? Wasn’t that the so-called left during the fake pandemic of 2020? Ostensibly in response to the alleged murder of African American man George Floyd at the hands of police, the circumstances of which are disputed[8], much of the so-called left went on a rampage of political violence that went for months. Led by Black Lives Matter (BLM), Antifa and the lockdown left (Union officials and self-proclaimed “socialist” parties who enthusiastically joined with the capitalist state to help enforce scientifically groundless lockdowns), throngs of youth burnt, looted and destroyed buildings across the USA. In Minneapolis, the mobs attacked and burnt the police precinct to the ground, set fire to cars and 16 nearby buildings, and destroyed a bus stop.[9] More than 1500 businesses in the city were damaged, looted or destroyed by BLM/Antifa.[10] In the aftermath, many stores and even childcare centres were boarded up with signs pasted on them pleading with BLM/Antifa not to attack them. Many of the shops and businesses that were damaged or destroyed by the “anti-racist” mobs were in fact owned and run by African Americans or other minorities.[11]

In Portland, Oregon, the city was under siege form BLM/Antifa mobs for 47 days straight, while local Democrat politicians refused to take effective action against them.[12] Federal agents were deployed to protect the courthouse from being burnt to the ground. BLM/Antifa had wooden shields, and were armed with spray bottles filled with bleach, along with firecrackers which they fired at police. Explosives were launched at the courthouse, while people who disagreed with the violence were roughly shoved aside.[13] Courthouses are a part of the state as much as Capitol Hill, but liberals excused or strongly supported a daily violent assault on a courthouse in Oregon for five weeks, but condemned a rowdy protest for a couple of hours on Capitol Hill on January 6?

A short two years ago, liberals were protesting the appointment to the Supreme Court of Brett Kavanaugh, over unproven allegations that he may have inappropriately dealt with a woman some 35 years ago. At that time, liberals marched to the very same Capitol Hill and occupied part of the Hart Senate Office building.[14] No one from the so-called left at that time complained one whit about a “storming” of the home of democracy. Or, how about the establishment of the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in the middle of Seattle in June last year? Six city blocks were occupied by BLM/Antifa and supporters, barricades were set up and police were expelled. The Democratic mayor of Seattle refused to act against the occupation until such time as an unidentified shooter shot someone dead – who happened to be a black man.[15] Riots, occupations, burning down police stations, laying siege to courthouses – this is all supposedly a protest against racism. Yet marching on Capitol Hill to demand the votes of an election be audited, where a handful breach police lines – is “domestic terrorism”[16] ?

Big Tech censors….the President

Using the spurious claim that President Trump is “inciting violence”, Twitter has permanently deleted Trump’s account, and Facebook has suspended him. This came when Trump actually called on his supporters on January 6 to “go home and go home in peace”.[17] Some incitement to violence!  Whistleblower Edward Snowden, from exile in Russia, correctly noted that Twitter and Facebook banning or suspending the President of the United States of America will go down as a turning point in the battle for control over digital speech.[18] Many have observed that if the “leader of the free world” can be deplatformed, then free speech itself may well be at an end.[19] Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. If one of the most powerful political office holders in the world can be prevented from speaking in the town square, ANYONE can be silenced. What is more, they are being silenced by Big Tech giants headed by liberals, which gives the impression that the “left” is instituting a global power grab. We must stress, repeatedly, liberals today are not left-wing in any practical sense. In fact, liberalism at the apex of some the most powerful corporations in the world, is nowadays much more dangerous to working people than conservatism.

It has happened in the past that the liberal wing of the ruling class can occasionally be more right-wing than the conservative wing. Today, however, we can observe that the liberal flank of the world bourgeoisie is consistently more reactionary and more right-wing than its conservative counterpart. Examples abound. Not only do Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg regard themselves as progressive liberals, but so does Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and billionaire financier and funder of umpteen colour revolutions, George Soros. These types personify the liberal bourgeoisie, and probably its project ever since 2016 was to depose Donald Trump using any means necessary. Arguably, the “fascist coup” began at that time, and only culminated with the BLM/Antifa riots throughout 2020 followed by the almost limitless electoral fraud in the 2020 Presidential Election.

We have no illusions that Donald Trump supporters, and whatever movement may follow, can fully represent the interests of working people. However, liberalism has moved so far to the right over the last twenty years that it can now appear that the “right-wing” Trump supporters are fighting the system which is dragging us all down into a pit of staggering inequality. Even if Trump supporters and QAnon and others identify as politically conservative, what they are actually doing in practice is at least confronting capitalism as it declines into decay. To some extent, they are preventing capitalism from further encroachments on the lives of working people. They certainly did this when many of them stridently opposed the scientifically groundless and medically absurd “Covid” lockdowns, mandatory facemask wearing and the threat of a mandatory “Covid” vaccine.

The end of liberalism

There is no political space for liberalism when capitalism cannot dole out any reforms. This is why liberalism today cannot allow any debate or discussion like it did in the 1960s and 70s, and why it degenerates into “cancel culture”. In the 1960s, 70s and even in the 80s to some extent, capitalism was still profitable enough for big capital to allow minor reforms here and there. Now, capitalism cannot allow even a small reform, because economically it is at a dead-end. The SEP, IG and the lockdown left understand this, but they still operate politically as though it is the 20^th Century, i.e., liberals and social-democrats are partial allies, and conservatives are enemies. In the 21^st Century, due to the exhaustion of the capitalist economic system, the roles have been reversed. So the SEP, the IG and the lockdown left and fellow travelers label Trump and his supporters as “fascist”, even though today the liberal corporate dominators of the world help enforce measures which would make a 20^th Century fascist blush. No 20^th Century fascist would have contemplated lockdowns in their wildest dreams.

To describe the January 6 protest in Washington, which had the central demand of “Stop the Steal” (or even Audit the Vote), as “fascist” or “white supremacist” is to misinterpret and misanalyse the basic political factors which led to the election of President Trump in the first place. Firstly, the so-called left had moved so far to the right from the year 2000 onwards, that it was barely capable of reaching working people. It had to use identity politics (the vast and almost singular overemphasis of the problems of racism, sexism and homo and trans phobia over and above the centrality of class issues) in an effort to still appear left-wing. This backfired spectacularly, as many workers correctly saw that no overblown rhetoric would solve their day to day issues. It is not “racist” or “white supremacist” to reject the class betrayal of identity politics. But neither is the answer to move to the conservative right. Nevertheless, Trump rejected identity politics, was seen as an outsider to the Washington political elite and appealed (perhaps demagogically) to the “forgotten man” and “forgotten woman”.

Trump also railed against unending regime change wars (e.g. Libya and Syria) which the Democrats had prosecuted under entirely false “humanitarian” grounds. Trump spoke his mind, did not speak with typical corporate politician spin, and gave it straight – even if this meant some level of crudity. There was certainly a history of racism in Trump’s business activity, and he no doubt used it to “build the wall” with Mexico. Even so, many working-class Americans were prepared to look the other way on such things, in order to have someone shake up the establishment. The other option was clearly not viable – the Democrats would continue tyrannical capitalist austerity with a sprinkling of deceitful “anti-racist” and “progressive” verbiage. 21^st Century liberalism such as this has absolutely nothing to offer the working class. This is the basis for the popularity of Trump – not overt racism, or white supremacism or, mercifully, fascism.

Offer workers a real left

The lockdown “left” have politics upside down. Workers are not under a fascist threat from conservatism, but on the contrary, are under the threat of what might be termed liberal lockdown fascism. Liberalism has merged with the various states of capitalist imperialism to become the greatest threat facing workers today. All of its components – Big Tech, Big Pharma, the Union officials, the social-democratic bourgeois parties (Democrats in the US, Labour in the UK, Labor in Australia), liberal academia, “progressive” professionals and the lockdown left (self-described “socialist” organisations e.g. the SEP, the IG) – willingly implement the dictates of the state representing the smallest and richest minority in world history. Arguably, liberals throughout this pandemic of lies have demonstrated that they are far more aggressive and far more hostile to ANY dissenting or differing political views than the Nazis of the 1930s ever were.

Needless to say, even though the conservative right are today in some ways more left-wing than liberalism, their politics is not what workers urgently need. What is required, in the US and internationally, is a socialist movement which seeks to defend the basic interests of working people across the board – on bread and butter issues right up to and including firm opposition to imperialist war. This movement must NOT alienate or turn away any worker with identity and/or “moral” fronts, but should seek to bond the plethora of critical issues to the class struggle of labour against finance capital. Workers are prepared to fight for a movement which respects them for who they are. Vital for such a perspective is the assembly of internationally linked Leninist vanguard parties which seek to guide workers towards public ownership of the means of production and a planned economy.

WORKERS  LEAGUE

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

[1] https://pjmedia.com/election/tyler-o-neil/2020/11/30/explosive-michigan-illegally-counted-or-ignored-500k-ballots-lawsuit-claims-n1181826 (12-01-2021)

[2] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-supporters-us-capitol-4-dead/ (12-01-2021)

[3] https://www.unz.com/ghood/her-name-was-ashli-babbitt/ (12-01-2021)

[4] https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/01/07/pers-j07.html (13-01-2021)

[5] http://www.internationalist.org/capitalist-democracy-falling-apart-2101.html (16-01-2021)

[6] https://news.cgtn.com/news/2021-01-07/The-worst-day-in-American-history–WRiuVgnwZi/index.html (13-01-2021)

[7] https://rumble.com/vbkkuj-video-footage-from-georgia-2020-election-shows-suitcases-full-of-ballots-pu.html (13-01-2021)

[8] https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/06/19/george-floyd-was-not-killed-by-police/ (13-01-2021)

[9] Minneapolis police precinct burned to ground in third night of racially charged violence | amNewYork (amny.com) (13-01-2021)

[10] https://www.startribune.com/minneapolis-st-paul-buildings-are-damaged-looted-after-george-floyd-protests-riots/569930671/ (13-01-2021)

[11] Many black-owned businesses in Minneapolis were completely destroyed during George Floyd riots – do black lives really matter to leftists? (violence.news) (13-01-2021)

[12] Federal officers move in to take on ‘violent mob’ holding Portland ‘under siege’ for 47 days – The Sun (13-01-2021)

[13] BREAKING: Portland Antifa and BLM Launch Explosives at Federal Building While Barricading Agents Inside (thegatewaypundit.com) (13-01-2021)

[14] MSNBC on Twitter: “JUST IN: Anti-Kavanaugh protesters take over the Hart Senate Office Bldg. atrium on Capitol Hill. https://t.co/jCIbxhTKeu https://t.co/DkOgzngMh4” / Twitter (13-01-2021)

[15] Lessons from the ‘Seattle Autonomous Zone’ – American Renaissance (amren.com) (13-01-2021)

[16] https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/biden-slams-capitol-rioters-domestic-terrorists-don-t-dare-call-n1253335 (13-01-2021)

[17] https://www.foxnews.com/politics/twitter-locks-trump-account-threatens-permanent-suspension (13-01-2021)

[18] https://www.mintpressnews.com/edward-snowden-warns-against-trump-twitter-facebook-ban/274088/ (14-01-2021)

[19] https://journal-neo.org/2021/01/07/america-under-censorship-biden-s-presidency-certified-free-speech-may-be-no-longer/ (14-01-2021)

Masked Brisbane City Council worker Image from elmoudjaweb.com

10-01-2021: Greater Brisbane is currently enduring a three day lockdown – due to ONE “case” of the alleged “UK strain” of Covid-19.[1] Labor Party Premier Anastacia Palaszczuk gave little notice of the abrupt decision, which was accompanied with set of “rules” that beggar belief. Facemasks have been made mandatory under the threat of a $200 fine, and are supposed to be worn every time anyone leaves their house. Incredibly, the government has issued edicts that facemasks must be worn in workplaces, at weddings and funerals (and other restrictions apply there), at shopping centres and supermarkets, and using any form of transport. Testing the outer limits of rationality, facemasks are also mandatory while exercising and while driving alone in your vehicle.[2] Needless to say, these measures are a transparent physical and health and safety threat to both individuals and other members of the public.

Logic thrown out the window

Scant evidence about the “UK strain” of Covid has been provided.  One online commentator quipped: “So is the Covid vaccine now out of date?”. Logic does not apply and is not intended to apply. The pack of lies about Covid that governments the world over have been spouting grows larger and larger. Facemasks restrict the flow of oxygen to the brain, and there are some nerve cells in the hippocampus that cannot survive for longer than 3 minutes without oxygen. Depriving the brain of oxygen, especially for children and adolescents – whose brains are still developing – can cause permanent neurological damage.[3] Big Tech giants such as Facebook relentlessly “Fact Check” posts which present scientifically based arguments and findings which indicate facemasks have no effect on the prevention of the transmission of any respiratory virus.[4] These days, being “fact-checked”, deleted or de-platformed by Facebook, Google, YouTube, Amazon, Apple etc is a very firm indicator that what is being removed is actually the truth, or close to it. State censored information these days holds some keys to logic.

Even mainstream commentators are now complaining about Australia’s mishmash of state border openings and closures,[5] which allegedly claims to be “containing” Covid-19 to “hotspots” or “clusters”. Yet this has led to serious problems with some people not being able to access proper health care at hospitals across state borders, which may have the only equipment needed to treat a certain condition. Tourism and hospitality venues across the country have been driven into near bankruptcy due the lack of travel between states, and especially during the peak summer season. Some small business owners in Brisbane expressed bitter frustration with the state government for closing them down at extremely short notice[6], while huge supermarket chains like Woolworths, Coles and Bunnings never have to close down, being judged to be “essential”, and can keep trading regardless.

This was never about a virus

The concern for socialists, however, is not the petty-bourgeois small business owners who are being crushed by infinitely larger sections of capital. The main concern is not only for the welfare of the working class, but to aid and assist this class in fighting off the assault from finance capital that comes under the false façade of “Covid-19”. It is the working class alone which has no material interest in the maintenance of the system of private profit based on private ownership of the means of production. And it is the working class that is suffering the most from the deliberate shut down of whole sections of the economy. Millions upon millions of workers have been thrown out of work through no fault of their own. Big capital is attempting “The Great Reset” of the capitalist economies, which means the destruction of certain sections of capital. This can mean a boon for finance capital, but bankruptcy for small business, and a loss of livelihood for the working class.

It is not outside the realms of possibility that Queensland Labor politicians were reacting to recent events in Washington DC, where a “Stop the Steal” rally called by President Trump led to intrusions into the capitol building where Congress was sitting.[7] Federal Labor and Liberal politicians led a chorus of condemnation of the “violence” of the Trump supporters and labelled it an effective “insurrection”.[8] If only it was! Capitalist politicians may have been concerned that the fraudulent “transition” to Joe Biden and the Democrats may have been derailed if people’s eyes were fixed on the developments leading to the last days of the Trump Administration. Supporters of Donald Trump and those who can see through the diabolical Covid nonsense somewhat coincide. Hence, one sure fire way to stop the mobilisation of not only supporters of Trump, but the entire anti-lockdown movement – is to move back into a state of lockdown. With workers effectively under house arrest due to “Covid”, and bars, restaurants and churches closed down, little or no public or private political activity can occur.

Urgent need for political leadership

The limitless hypocrisy of the Union officials and the lockdown left continues – whether the issue is the political situation in the US or the locally enforced lockdowns. Make no mistake, workers in Australia and internationally would scarcely be facing scientifically groundless lockdowns and medically absurd facemask mandates IF Union officials and so-called left parties mobilised against the capitalist class on Covid. Yet workers have experienced a betrayal from these false friends of labour that defies description. Almost every top Union official and virtually every “left” organisation have acted as willing foot soldiers of corporate politicians they hypocritically claim to oppose. Overnight, they have become vassals of big capital as it introduces a form of fascism through the parliamentary system they constructed over 150 years ago. Betrayals do not come any larger than this.

The critical key missing factor is working-class leadership. At the moment, this has to be constructed from the first strivings of the anti-lockdown movement – the only movement currently pushing back against the political terror of the ruling elite. Politics in the 21st century is in some ways the reverse of politics in the 20^th century. Even if the anti-lockdown movement does not explicitly identify as pro-working class, Marxists must work within it to begin to locate the bravest and most class-conscious elements amongst them. They then must be forged into a party which can lead workers directly toward the establishment of elected workers councils – incipient organs of a new state power. Lockdown fascism will only be permanently defeated with the liquidation of capitalism and the erection of a publicly owned and democratically planned economy. Publicly owned land, banks, and infrastructure must form the basis for humanity’s liberation from lockdowns. Essential for this leap is the piece by piece assembly of a workers’ party which fights for a workers’ government.

WORKERS  LEAGUE
www.redfireonline.com
E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/australia-covid-brisbane-lockdown-single-case-new-coronavirus-uk-variant/ (10-01-2021)

[2] What are the rules around Greater Brisbane’s coronavirus mask mandate? Your questions answered – ABC News (10-01-2021)

[3] https://www.sott.net/article/442455-German-Neurologist-Warns-Against-Wearing-Facemasks-Oxygen-Deprivation-Causes-Permanent-Neurological-Damage (10-01-2021)

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jy_7a8GNN4Q (10-01-2021)

[5] https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/markets/australia-e2-80-99s-covid-19-border-closures-are-confusing-inconsistent-and-counterproductive/ar-BB1cv9XL (10-01-2021)

[6] https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/national/queensland/brisbane-businesses-frustrated-over-short-lockdown-notice-20210108-p56sqn.html (10-01-2021)

[7] https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/trump-supporters-rally-in-washington-to-protest-election-results.html (10-01-2021)

[8] https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/jan/07/scott-morrison-refuses-to-condemn-trump-for-inciting-distressing-violence-in-us-capitol (10-01-2021)

The Northern Beaches of Sydney currently under lockdown. http://www.abc.net.au

02-01-2020: The Northern Beaches of Sydney are currently under lockdown. The Gladys Berejiklian Liberal New South Wales (NSW) government makes unbelievable claims that a “cluster” in Avalon has the potential to “spread” throughout Sydney. Day after day, corporate politicians make outlandish statements, like claiming three “cases” detected in Avalon on December 16 ended the state’s 12 day streak with no “locally spread infections”.[1] Stay-at-home orders – otherwise known as house arrest – are now in place for northern beaches residents north of the Narrabeen Bridge until January 9.[2] One unlucky couple who went ahead with their wedding – which had already been postponed twice due to Covid – were publicly shamed by the authorities for “breaking the rules”.[3]

State border closures from other states to NSW, and at least from Victoria (VIC) allegedly due to the Sydney “cluster” of “cases” are being reimposed, causing travelling chaos during the holiday season.[4] NSW politicians, other state Premiers, and Health Department spokespersons are descending into unimaginable levels of totalitarianism – such that would scarcely have been attempted even by the Nazis during the 1930s. With a straight face, Berejiklian banned the traditional New Years Eve kiss at midnight, saying extra police will be patrolling the streets from 11.30pm. Those found kissing would be hit with a $107 fine.[5] If this wasn’t enough, NSW Chief Health Officer Kerry Chant indicated that kissing would be allowed – for those who kept their facemasks on! “You can still kiss through the fabric of the facemask. I acknowledge it may not be as enjoyable as a normal kiss. But these are not normal times”, she said.[6]  It followed “advice” from Berejikilian to avoid hugging and kissing as much as possible!

The lies must stop

Almost the entire Covid-19 narrative is a mountain of lies. Another political agenda is clearly at play. The attempts to limit or block human interaction points to a system which portends disastrous ends. The endless and ever-changing rules imposed by capitalist politicians are only applied to working people. The millionaire and billionaire elite will never be arrested or fined for breaking a lockdown, for leaving quarantine, or for not wearing a facemask. Only workers, and perhaps some members of the petty-bourgeoisie who try to keep their shops open despite closedown orders, will be subjected to this type of repression. Despite some small business owners being driven into bankruptcy, “Covid-19” is primarily an offensive of big finance capital aimed against the proletariat. The intensely oppressive and logically absurd rules are a part of the humiliation of the working class by the super elite. As CJ Hopkins astutely observes, the ruling class knows we know the rules don’t make sense. “GloboCap”, (global capitalism) as he names it, is engaging in a truly vulgar display of power.[7] They are pushing the limits to see how far they can go, and how much they can get away with, before triggering a working class fightback. The ruling classes are seeing if they can get working people to follow their dictates, no matter how nonsensical or illogical. Like being able to leave your house, when you can go to the shops, what you can do, when you can go to a pub or restaurant, when you can work, if you can have human contact with your family and friends, and so on. The establishment is saying to working people: we control you, we can remove political leaders you elect (e.g. President Trump), we can throw you into quarantine and make you pay for it, and we can even kill you – because we have power and you must do as we say. Yet for this, both science and medicine must be almost totally falsified.

Kiwi fruit tests positive for Covid-19

On and off lockdowns, and on and off state and national border shutdowns, are “justified” with the flimsy claim about the discovery of new “cases” of Covid-19. This is based on the misuse of the PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) “test”, which only detects fragments of viral genomes, not necessarily a live and intact virus.[8] It does not determine who is sick, or who will ever get sick. The PCR process amplifies genetic material many times over, so much so that anyone – or anything – can test “positive”. Some scientists estimate that 97% of PCR tests produce false positive results.[9] Recently, some Italian scientists tested a Kiwi Fruit for SARS-CoV-2 – the virus which allegedly causes Covid-19 – and it tested positive.[10] Earlier in the year, scientists in Tanzania tested a paw paw, a goat, a quail and engine oil for SARS-CoV-2. The three animals and one mineral substance all tested positive.[11] Despite this, due to an unprecedented propaganda campaign from almost all governments and the corporate media, some people in Sydney are being misled into voluntarily lining up in long queues to be tested.

The people of Sydney – and the world – must be released from lockdowns, and the threat of further lockdowns, immediately. Workers and their Unions must mobilise on masse to defeat this nefarious agenda, which is an open class attack. Unfortunately, virtually all Union officials and ostensibly “left” parties (the “lockdown left”) have openly backed the corporate governments they claimed for decades to oppose. The lockdown left[12] has not only betrayed workers and their own members, they have become a key pillar of the capitalist state as it descends into the most repressive political phase in its history. In this sense, the lockdown left has forfeited any claim to be “left” at all.

What is required is a determined and relentless anti-lockdown movement which unites all those opposed to scientifically groundless lockdowns, forced facemasks, forced vaccines and all restrictions and rules which are medically illogical. While this step is vital, lockdowns can only be finally defeated when its ultimate cause – the system of production for profit – is removed. Key to this aim is a Marxist political leadership which can aid workers in their efforts towards liberation from private capital.

WORKERS  LEAGUE
www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@redfireonline.com

[1] https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-17/coronavirus-cases-data-reveals-how-covid-19-spreads-in-australia/12060704?nw=0 (01-01-2020)

[2] https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7069047/nth-beaches-lockdown-stretches-into-2021/?cs=14231 (01-01-2020)

[3] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9101645/Bride-broke-Northern-Beaches-lockdown-marry-Sydneys-CBD-breaks-silence.html (01-01-2020)

[4] https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/victoria-puts-up-hard-border-to-nsw/ar-BB1cmHkg (01-01-2020)

[5] Covid Crackdown: Gladys Berejiklian Announces New Year’s Eve Kissing Ban – Double Bay Today (01-01-2020)

[6] NSW Chief Health Officer Urging People To Keep Face Masks On If Sharing A NYE Kiss – Double Bay Today (01-01-2020)

[7] https://consentfactory.org/2020/12/16/year-zero/ (01-01-2020)

[8] https://uncoverdc.com/2020/04/07/was-the-covid-19-test-meant-to-detect-a-virus/ (01-01-2020)

[9] https://www.globalresearch.ca/worthless-pcr-tests-covid/5733045 (01-01-2020)

[10] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgcmmQhvDFw (01-01-2020)

[11] https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2020/05/08/pawpaw-bird-goat-engine-oil-test-positive-for-coronavirus/ (01-01-2020)

[12] https://redfireonline.com/2020/08/25/the-labour-lieutenants-of-lockdown-terror/ (01-01-2020)