The Sound of Solidarity

Between 1996 and 1998, the Mirarr people in the Northern Territory fought plans for a uranium mine on their land in Kakadu. It included an eight-month blockade of the mine site. Tami Gadir argues that the mine was eventually stopped due to strong grassroots campaign made up of traditional Mirarr owners, Aboriginal activists and tens of thousands of people in Australia, including environmentalists,...

We're often told people are too selfish to change the world. David Glanz challenges that argument, looking at the development of human society from the earliest years through to the mass solidarity movement for Palestine today.

Western leaders bleat about the "two-state solution". But as Sarah Thorne explains, it has never offered justice for the Palestinians. The only solution is one state from the river to the sea, where everyone has equal rights, including the right of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes.

Some musicians are as well known for their politics as they are for their music. Paul Robeson is one such figure. Robeson, born just before the turn of the twentieth century, during his life observed the parallels between the struggles of international workers against their ruling classes and the struggles for Black civil rights at home in the USA. Such sympathies led him to be viciously censored...

David Glanz outlines the history of Hamas and how its politics have developed. He argues that socialists must support the fight for national liberation today but that freedom for Palestine needs a different strategy.

Phil Griffiths looks back at the struggle of the Black working class in South Africa for inspiration in the fight against Israeli apartheid today.

Israel and the Arab states are tightly connected to US imperialism, argues Lucy Honan. But the many millions of Arab workers have the power that can break their control.

Australian Conservation Foundation's Nuclear Campaigner and long-time environmental activist Dave Sweeney joins us to talk about the numerous pitfalls of nuclear power—from waste to war.  Since this episode was recorded, The Guardian reports that the only company to have a small modular nuclear power plant approved in the US has cancelled its first project due to rising costs.

Salome MC grew up in Iran and currently resides in the USA. She is a music producer, composer and multimedia artist. She is also on the advisory board for Iran in the American anti-war organisation Code Pink. Most famously she is known as having been Iran's first woman to be a hip hop MC and rapper. Salome joins Solidarity to discuss her journey into hip hop and self-expression, her ambivalence ab...

Ahmed Abadla (Australian-Palestinian from Gaza) and Jean Parker (Solidarity) discuss why the occupation is the source of the violence and why Palestinians have a right to resist Israel.

All the data indicates that global heating is accelerating. Paddy Gibson argues against despair and for a strategy of resistance that can challenge a capitalist system addicted to fossil fuels. The graphs he refers to in his talk can be found here.

Erima Dall takes us through the lessons of building anti-war movements, from World War One to opposing AUKUS today, and argues why the politics of the united front is central to winning.

This is a talk by Sophie Cotton about how trans people can fight back against the system. Sophie looks at the different theories of the system and argues that that class struggle is the best avenue to winning trans rights. She also argues that gender and trans experiences are grounded in material fact (contra Kathleen Stock's transphobic feminist book Material Girls). And the talk goes over some o...

In the wake of the Women's World Cup and the Matildas' success, Lucy Honan looks at how sexism, nationalism and corporate profit distort sport.

Adam Adelpour outlines the key contributions made by Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky to workers' revolution and, after the rise of Stalinism, to keeping alive the flame of revolution from below.

Phil Griffiths challenges the enduring myth that the White Australia policy was the creation of the Australian working class. This talk was delivered as the Brisbane Labour History Society's Alex Macdonald Memorial Lecture 2023. Footnote from the author: In the lecture itself, and the original version of this text, I failed to acknowledge the important contribution Verity Burgmann made towards und...

Ben Abbatangelo is a Gunaikurnai and Wotjobaluk writer and journalist who has written for The Saturday Paper, The Guardian and IndigenousX, and also appeared recently on ABC’s Q&A. He spoke to Paddy Gibson about his thoughts on the Voice to Parliament.

War is grounded in capitalist competition, argues Jason Wong. And it can be stopped through workers' revolution.

Hall Greenland (Greens founder and anti-Vietnam war activist) and Ian Rintoul (anti-Vietnam war activist in Brisbane and Solidarity) discuss how grassroots activism and mass protest helped stop the Vietnam War. The height of the movement in Australia was the mass Moratorium marches, which involved tens of thousands of workers striking to attend on a weekday. Learning from these struggles can help...

Ian Brown (Gomeroi activist) and Paddy Gibson (Solidarity) discuss why the Voice to Parliament won't bring change and why Indigenous people and anti-racists need to look to mass struggle on the streets.

Jean Parker discusses the weaknesses of the Albanese Labor government and compares it with previous Labor governments, arguing that Labor has always put the interests of business ahead of those of its working class supporters.

As the horrific war in Ukraine grinds on, Adam Adelpour discusses how the left should respond.

Do members of a band need to be politically in harmony? Can heavy metal, hip hop, or house give us hope? How much stock should we put in Woodstock? What are the politics of Oakland, California, the birthplace of the Black Panthers and once-haven for Black people escaping the Jim Crow South, where over 5000 people were recorded as homeless in 2022? Our guest, Jason Myles, gives us his perspectives...

We are getting closer to climate tipping points, with the danger of global heating becoming a runaway catastrophe. Chris Breen looks at how the crisis is unfolding and argues that solutions cannot be found so long as society is run for profit. He argues that workers' struggle is key to overcoming the stranglehold of fossil fuel capitalism.

David Brophy (author of the book China Panic) and Phil Griffiths (Solidarity) discuss how our rulers are preparing for a possible war with China, why tensions are rising and how workers and students can organise against racism and war.