Show Notes
We sat down with trans activist April Holcombe to talk about the unrelenting war being waged against trans people. April is a socialist train driver based in Sydney and the co-convener of Community Action for Rainbow Rights. She is the author of many articles for Red Flag newspaper and the Marxist Left Review. April describes what is happening to trans people as "political sadism". She unpacks why right-wingers are so obsessed with policing gender, why socialists say gender is socially constructed, and how we can best fight back against these heinous attacks. Further Reading: April Holcombe's fantastic article in the Marxist Left Review: "The Freedom to Be": Marxism, gender oppression and the struggle for trans liberation "Trump's war on woke is a war on all the working class" - by Sarah Garnham in Red Flag
More from Red Flag Radio
The Victorian wing of the Australian Socialist Party are about to make history by running a candidate in every seat in a state election. Jasmine Duff, the VS candidate for Footscray, joins Chloe to talk about the campaign.
Australian politics are at a turning point. Pauline Hanson's One Nation has broken through the two-party system to become a serious electoral contender, including in the upcoming Victorian elections. We talk about Pauline Hanson's fascistic Press Club speech, the factors in Australian politics that have contributed to her rise, and how the left can understand and fight the far right.
Stalinism equates socialism/communism with state-controlled industry and a one party dictatorship. We reckon nothing could be further from genuine socialism and Marxism. Unfortuntely, this zombie idea from the 20th century has risen from the dead in the past few years and is gaining popularity among left wing people. In this ep, we debunk neo-Stalinism's main arguments: that the left needs to support "actually existing socialism", that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and that Western Marxists and even Western workers can't fight for socialism.
Since Labor's budget dropped we've heard a chorus of whingers and sooks from the business class (though they call themselves 'founders' and 'entrepreneurs') about having a few of their tax dodges taken away. In this episode we explain why they should stfu, why Labor can barely defend their own measures, and how much further socialists want to go in taxing the rich (and expropriating them). We also explain the Marxist theory of the middle classes. We thought it'd be pertinent given all this petty bourgeois whining.
Chloe and Emma discuss identity politics, the dominant framework on the left for opposing oppression. They debunk ideas like privilege theory, autonomous organising and centreing "lived experience",