Living the Dream

Living The Dream with the National Disability Insurance Scheme Ep 2

In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) chats with friend of the show Michael. Michael talks about how the NDIS has changed the experience of those that work in care and community services, how it has impacted work conditions and how it has undermined the kind of care that those on the NDIS receive. We also talk about what does this mean for struggle around these issues? What are the unions doing? What are the workers doing? How does this impact with a larger question about the struggle against poverty in Australian society?

This is the second show we have done on the NDIS. Our first episode can be found here

Living The Dream with the Communist Party of Australia and Indigenous Struggles in the 1920s and 30s

In this episode Dave(@withsobersenses) and Jon (@jonpiccini) chat with Padraic Gibson (@paddygibson) about his research into the Communist Party of Australia and its early, or lack there of, engagement with Indigenous struggles in the 1920s and 30s. Not only is the history fascinating but Paddy also really digs into what was wrong with socialist and communist thought at the time, and the inheritance of Marx and Engel’s work, that made it hard for the CPA to connect with these struggles. How and why did this change? And how do these concerns play out today?

Sadly Jon’s internet dropped out 15 or 20 minutes into the conversation

Paddy is a member of Solidarity and his work can be found there.

Paddy would like to acknowledge that the history about the links between the Garvyist movement and Aboriginal activists in Australia in the 1920s he talks about comes from John Maynard’s book Fight for Liberty and Freedom

Paddy was nominated as an interviewee by John Passant when John donated to Living the Dream. Thanks John!

Living The Dream with The Maritime Defence Committee during the 1998 Wharf Dispute

It has been twenty years since the Wharf Dispute between Patrick Stevedores and the Coalition Government on one side and the Maritime Union of Australia, the Trade Unions and supporters on the other. This was (so far) the last set piece national confrontation between Capital and Labour over a specific industrial dispute to happen in Australia. In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) chats with Nick Southall about the Maritime Defence Committee. The latter was formed by comrades outside of the industry to provide meaningful support for the struggle. What happened during the dispute and are there implications for class struggle today?

Articles mention include

Nick Southall   Getting the Gong – A Tale of Two Cities

Shane Reside  Rules made for breaking: beyond ‘Change the Rules’

Picture: A Banner on the Main Gate of Patrick Stevedores East Swanson Dock in Melbourne.
© Takver. http://www.takver.com/

Living the Dream whilst the Global Order fractures

What the hell is going on globally? In this (short) episode Dave (@withsobersenses) tries to think through the fracturing of the global order: the split in the G7, the end of QE by the US Federal Reserve and the ECB and the looming possibility of more US tariffs on Chinese imports. How do we understanding these phenomena? Why are they happening and what does it all mean?

This is our 50^th Episode!

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

• ECB winds down QE despite slowdown, risking '2011' policy error
• Central bank carnival over as Powell Fed goes on the warpath

Civil China-hosted summit contrasts with G7 turmoil

                                                               

Music by Wall of Voodoo

Living The Dream in the time of #metoo Part 2

This is Part 2 of our 2-part show with Tanya Serisier about #metoo, feminism and the struggle against gendered and sexual violence. This show fleshes out the problems of the notion of consent as a solution to gendered and sexual violence, the continuing importance of the lessons of 70s feminism, including much-maligned lesbian separatism, how feminism has forced a rethink of what politics and power is and we finish with Tanya’s reflections on the recent UCU strike and what it shows us about radical and collective struggles.

Some stuff we mention includes:

Wendy Brown Moralism as Anti-politics

Critical Resistance

 Tanya Serisier Is Consent Sexy

Judith Butler Sexual Consent: Some Thoughts on Psychoanalysis and Law

Nancy Fraser Feminism, Capitalism And The Cunning Of History

Adriana Cavarero In Spite of Plato

Living The Dream in the time of #metoo Part 1

This episode is part one of a two-part interview with feminist scholar and activist Tanya Serisier. Tanya and Dave(@withsobersenses) discuss how #metoo can be understood in the history of feminist struggle against, and thought about, gendered sexual violence. Tanya discusses how complex these issues are: they evade easy answers and they bring up difficult questions about where such violence comes from and how struggle and speech against them sometimes breaks from the broader patterns of power and sometimes reinforces them.

 

Tanya’s research work and writing can be found here

Living The Dream in Ipswich

In this episode of Living The Dream (@withsobersenses) chats with Aaron and Michelle at Bad Habit Recordsabout what’s happening in Ipswich. The council is engulfed in a corruption scandal (complete with bashings in the forest), the centre of the town is in dire straits caught between neglect and a development project, the local economy is suffering except for a massive real estate venture in Springfield and the plan for a new, and hotly contested, super dump in New Chum. In the face of all this Aaron and Michelle are doing their bit stoking the embers of alternative culture and trying to bring to fruition a different vision for the city.

You should read Ipswich Underground

Post card image courtesy of Future Ipswich

Music by Scraps

Living The Dream with Marx's Theories of Crisis

This episode is a recording from Marx200 Brisbane of Dave's (@withsobersenses) presentation on Marx's Theories of Crisis .

Music by Stereolab

Living The Dream at Labour Day 2018

In this episode Dave (@withsobersenses) grabs a recorder and heads to the Labour Day rally. He interviews friends and comrades about the rally, what they think the impact of #ChangeTheRules has been, and if there is any opportunity to broaden and open up struggle? Due to a moments hestitation he didn't try to interview Sally McManus as she walked past.

Music by Alistair Hulet

Living The Dream during Trump's Trade War

In this episode of Living The Dream Dave (@withsobersenses) tries to start an analysis of the Trump administration’s trade and tariff policy. Why has the Australian Left been so paralysed over this question? What sense can we make of it? How do we understand the policies of the state in the broader dynamics of world capitalism?

 Stuff mentioned includes:

 U.S. Admits That Politics Was Behind Steel Tariffs(not a Brazilian paper but a US paper reporting on US representatives talking to Brazilian business leaders)

 Midnight Notes Collective – Introduction to The New Enclosures

 II Rubin – A History of Economic Thought

Music by the Levon Helm Band