The Party Line on the socialist campaign for Footscray

Episode 68 - The Party Line on the socialist campaign for Footscray

We start by talking about elite private schools being parasites, Australia’s fusion with the US military-industrial complex, big corporations paying ZERO TAX while we struggle with inflation, and serial Liberal failure, Amelia Hamer, cosplaying as a construction worker (after her attempt to be a renter was called out).

We then take a look at an absolutely explosive and inspirational struggle going on in Spain right now, where working class people have risen up against the indignity of exorbitant and insecure rentals. Hundreds of thousands have protested across the country in response to an 87 year old woman, Maricarmen, being evicted from her home after 71 years. They’ve now occupied public plazas in a number of cities, including the location of the history-defining indignados movement of 2011, with the demand of the struggle being an immediate 50% rent cut, indefinite rental contracts, and expropriating empty properties and lands. The unions are now calling a general strike, and the government is now offering a 4 year eviction ban to try and quell the struggle.

Finally, we chat to Jasmine Duff about her brilliant campaign in Footscray, where she hopes to unseat the Labor incumbent Katie Hall. We speak of her volunteer teams, the heroic door knocking efforts (over 20,000 knocked so far!), the positive response by locals, and her plans to turn the old hospital site and a number of developer-owned empty properties into public housing and amenities. Finally we address the socialist response to the issues of homelessness and crime in the area, and how Labor’s failure to invest in housing and support services continues to make things worse.

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News links

On the campaign trail with Victorian Socialists The private schools with the richest parents in Victoria revealed as extra funding flowsInside the push for Australia to supply world’s most lethal weaponsASX defence stocks soar as the world becomes more dangerous

Billions of dollars, none of it taxed: ATO reveals the tech giants paying zero income tax | The Guardian Amelia Hamer compares herself to construction worker

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Hosted by Jordan van den Lamb (@purplepingers), Anneke Demanuele and Omar Hassan. Huge thanks to our (MIFF Talent of Tomorrow Award-winning) producer Jak Scanlon who should be working in Hollywood, and J