LEFT RIGHT CENTRE

LRC 90.8

1. On Saturday 6th of August, Israeli warplanes launched a 3 day missile-strike campaign against the besieged Gaza strip, killing approximately 50 civilians, 16 of whom were children and injuring over 300. How should the world respond to this genocide? 2. Former POTUS Donald Trump’s home was allegedly raided by the FBI to which the U.S Justice Department has responded with ‘no comment.’ What are your faction’s thoughts on this? 3. Aboriginal woman and Greens Senator, Lidia Thorpe has faced backlash for calling The Queen a coloniser upon being sworn into Parliament and then forced to retract statement and redo her oath of allegiance. Was it right for the senate president to condemn her statement on the queen and why was she forced to redo her oath?

Socialist Alternative | ALEXANDER BASTIRAS

1. Israel is yet again terrorising Palestinians. This is the latest episode in a genocidal project of ethnic cleansing and apartheid aimed at breaking the spirit of Palestinians. People all over the world should respond not just with condemnation with Israel, but unequivocal support for the Palestinian struggle for liberation. As in the fight against South African apartheid, such support could be done in several ways - by holding rallies, boycott and divestment campaigns, as well as just spreading awareness about the oppression Palestinians face. It was great to see the Melbourne University Student Union recently pass a motion committing to solidarity with Palestine and calling on the university to cut ties with Israel, in defiance of threats from Liberals, Zionists and right-wing mainstream media. 2. The reversal of abortion rights and revelations about Trump’s botched far-right putsch demonstrate the influence of anti-democratic reactionaries in America’s halls of power. However, we don’t cheer on the FBI because the Justice Department is an oppressive institution that cannot serve the working class nor combat Trump’s influence. The radicalised Republican base is a morbid symptom of a deep political crisis. Progressive demonstrations and class struggle are needed to protect and defend democratic rights and defeat the far-right.

Greens Club | MICHAEL

PETRILLI

1. It must be recognised that Israel is an oppressive, genocidal, apartheid-enforcing state. This is not a pro-Palestine stance, it is objective truth. The UN unequivocally calls Israel’s occupation illegal and many NGOs and human rights groups use all of the terms described in the opening sentence. The unprovoked murders of innocent Palestinians, the complete control of the autonomous movement of Palestinian people, and the illegal occupation of 85% of historically Palestinian land, including east Jerusalem that has led to the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people, is but a small testament to this fact. People talk about it being a both sides issue, however, Palestinian people have been killed at rate 23 times higher than that of Israelis. Given this, it is shameful that the Australian Government says it is committed to the development of the Palestinian people, yet votes down UN resolutions that condemn illegal Israeli settlements and recognise Palestinian self-determination. If Australia wants to show true commitment to the cause of the Palestinian people, it would divest hugely from Israel, increase Aid to Palestine, and reverse its acknowledgement of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel while east Jerusalem remains illegally occupied. 3. The Senate president was wrong to condemn Thorpe’s statement. Indigenous people are right to express anger towards the state and symbols of their colonisation, including the Queen. Thorpe is right to highlight the ongoing dispossession, genocide and racism at the heart of Australian capitalism. Fighting structural oppression will mean challenging right-wing institutions like the police and parliament. Less working through the “proper channels” and more insubordination and disrespect for power. We need more people willing to disrupt the system with radical demands against prisons and policing and for land and employment rights.

2. What is more interesting than the raid on Trump’s estate is the Republican party’s response. Many Republican politicians have come out decrying this as a witch hunt, crying on camera and calling the acts of the FBI the acts of so-called communist dictatorships. Which is funny, considering the FBI is perhaps one of the most anti-communist institutions that has ever existed. If the Republican party were truly concerned about the FBI’s power, they would change the laws that allow police to conduct violent raids on private citizens, which often target people of colour and have led to many killings by police like that of Breonna Taylor.

3. To say that the Senate President was only doing her job by asking Lidia Thorpe to redo her oath is an utter cop out, and extremely telling of how serious this government is on actually listening to an indigenous voice in Parliament. The fact is that the Queen is as much of a coloniser as King George III, and every ensuing monarch will be just as much of a coloniser as long as they are Australia’s head of state. Those who have spoken out against Thorpe’s decision have shown that they are more comfortable upholding the petty rules of a genocidal colony than they are listening to a First Nations woman, and for that they should be ashamed. Those who have used the situation as an opportunity to platform their racism and their misogyny should be ashamed. We stand fully with Lidia Thorpe in her fight against colonialism. Sovereignty was never ceded.

1. This latest attack flows inexorably from the May 2021 attacks that killed 313 Palestinians. There is seemingly no crime blatant enough to attract condemnation from the west, who are driven by oversensitivity to the more powerful Israeli side and realpolitik concerns about the international balance of power. So, in light of Berlin banning all Palestinian demonstrations on Nakba day, countries should reject and rescind all anti-BDS legislation. Such laws attack freedom of assembly and expression, opening the doors to unlimited state repression against political dissent. Countries should cut trade ties with Israel, as arms sales by and to the regime help sustain the oppression of Palestinians. Australia is also a key supplier of imported food to the West Bank, so we should double down on promoting food security in the region. There are no “exceptional” or “feasible” apartheid regimes—Israel must safeguard the human rights of Palestinians. 2. If found guilty of interfering with classified documents, Trump could be banned from running in 2024, leaving Ron DeSantis as the forerunner. Trump was key to getting DeSantis elected governor of Florida in 2018, but bad blood is brewing between the pair as Trump’s polling plummets. DeSantis is the mastermind behind some of Florida’s recent attacks on minorities: the “Don’t say Gay Bill”; suspending a pro-choice state prosecutor; banning maths textbooks for containing “critical race theory”. If Trump isn’t prosecuted, and a two enter a leadership contest, having to pick favourites could drive a wedge between “Always Trumpers” and the anti-Trump GOP. Implications abound.

3. The post-truth assault on stable reality by the Murdoch media continues as News Corp employees churn out clickbait articles about Adam Brandt’s Aboriginal flag, ties in Parliament, and, now, the defaming of our precious Queen! Sky News went as far as to praise Queen Elizabeth II for presiding over de-colonialisation… like the abusive ex who takes credit for your glow-up. If you recall, Kate and William were recently booed out of Jamaica in recognition of the British government subjecting the region to colonial rule and slavery. In a similar vein—this is stolen land, sovereignty was never ceded, and Lidia Thorpe should do as she pleases. Unfortunately, at time of writing, kowtowing to the Queen is a procedural requirement for senators, but hopefully this outdated and colonialist script will soon undergo revision.

1. The first response to the killing of children must always be a considered condemnation.

2. Ex-Prime Minister John Howard puts it well: “Trump’s atrocious behaviour after losing the 2020 election […] has surely made him unfit to return to the White House […] It was dumfounding to me […] that the party should have chosen him as its candidate in 2016. He lacked public grace [and] had little respect for his party organisation” (A Sense of Balance, 2022, via the Australian).

And, as Ex-President Richard Nixon once said: “Well, when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal.” 3. It is not undemocratic to contest the usefulness of particular features of our country’s British Parliament. We also have rights and obligations to criticise and decry colonial projects, present and historical.

The Oath of Allegiance isn’t it. Parliament stenographers shouldn’t be accounting for sarcasm. (Also, re: the phrasing of the question, Sue Lines, Labor Senator and President of the Senate, made no comment on Lidia Thorpe’s statement. She merely called a point of order and reinstated that the Oath must be spoken verbatim in order to take effect.)

Labor Club | STEPH MADIGAN

Liberal | TAYLOR

WESTMACOTT