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Who Would Side with Woodside?

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While many of us have enjoyed down time between semesters, one staple of life at Monash University hasn’t stopped: the greenwashing of the climate emergency by Woodside Energy.     Heralding its name from the small town of Woodside in Victoria, this is not the only thing the Gas company has adopted to portray a clean image. Most known to Monash University students is the Woodside Building for Technology and Design.    For most, this building serves as a shiny, eco-friendly building which you might enter for an engineering unit. The inside boasts glassy panels, elevators and beautiful interiors and classrooms.
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CampusPolitics

The Gaza Solidarity Encampment

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Content Warning: Genocide, racism, Islamophobia, transphobia, violence etc. At 4:00am on April, 17th 2024, students at Columbia University in New York City began pitching tents on the University’s East Butler Lawn, launching what they labelled the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment”. By the following afternoon, the Columbia administration had already called in the police to break up the encampment, and 108 students had been arrested and dozens suspended.  Despite its speedy and brutal repression, or perhaps because of it, the Columbia Encampment sparked a movement which spread like wildfire. By May 3, almost 3000 protesters had been arrested at university campuses in
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CreativePoetryPolitics

The Leader of the Opposition

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“Mister Speaker,”  he said, “I rise” – amid the stare of waiting eyes he rose –  “to ask the Prime Minister-” saw the hungry journalists, “Sir- What’s the government position-” Can you feel naked ambition? “on this or that moral outrage?” Headline writers, op-eds engage, with heavy guns, artillery, turning shit into millinery, forcing ammunition onto heads. Every trace of trust that he sheds Is pleased, knowing soundbites secured - Media, public, all skewered, One simple piece of mockery.  Who really wants democracy? Please, forget your apprehensions. This is how we win elections.
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CreativePoetryPolitics

Referendum

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And for the next, I worry. If the past is any indication of the future, My fears are justified. But we will see. May their efforts, our efforts, Make a difference. For if they don’t? What next.   When all is said and done, And the pieces lie scattered and broken, How far is the way back? How hard to search, blindfolded, bound, And dream of the sky.   So, I wrap myself in Country, In possum skins and the wisdom of my Elders. I soothe my scarred heart with the whisper of the wind in the gums, With a
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AnalysisPolitics

When Monash Students Resisted the Vietnam War

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‘The first televised war’ showcased the blood and barbarity of American imperialism. People across the world witnessed the massacres in villages like My Lai, saw the images of running children burned by napalm and heard the ruthless justifications like “it was necessary to destroy in order to save it”. They didn’t buy it. Although the US and Australia paint themselves as fighters of freedom and justice, their drive to destroy as much of Vietnam as possible picked away at the image of their so-called democratic war. Here at Monash, that politicisation was felt early on.  A radical minority of Monash
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AnalysisOpinionPolitics

HECS and Housing: United Against the Youth

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It’s no secret that Australia is in the midst of a housing crisis. With every passing day we’re one step closer to Jane Austen’s Georgian England, where you can only get a house through marriage or inheritance. Negative gearing and a capital gains tax concession for property investors are increasing demand, while planning restrictions, unsustainable immigration and government mismanagement is flatlining supply. A perfect storm. The effect of this housing quagmire impacts young people the most, locking them out of the housing market.   Naturally, this issue is becoming political. Max Chandler-Mather, the housing spokesperson for the Greens and one
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AnalysisOpinionPolitics

Across the Accords: What the HECS was that?

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Students across the country are set to see the education system turned on its head in the coming future. The release of the Australian University Accords comes as a 12-month long review of the university system to create a fairer and more equitable higher education system. The Honourable Jason Clare, Minister for Education says “The Accords will help to drive this change. It will help us build a better and fairer education system where no one is held back, and no one is left behind.” And to give credit where credit is due, I agree. However, as one of Monash’s
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AnalysisPolitics

A Promise Worth Breaking

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Since the inception of stage three tax cuts in the 2018 budget, I have held large reservations. The Liberal and National Coalition government's proposal introduced a regressive and flat income tax structure and to top it off announced it without any costings. When the costings eventually surfaced, four years later, they were substantial. Recent estimates from the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) revealed that the stage three tax cut would incur a 20.7 billion dollars expense in its first year. However, upon closer examination, the distribution of these cuts proved even more concerning. A significant portion, over $11.2 billion (more than
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AnalysisNewsPolitics

Just Don’t Look at Them and You Should Be Okay

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Homelessness is far more apparent in Melbourne than in Manchester, and the way we speak about those experiencing homelessness matters. I arrived in Melbourne with my fellow exchange students in early July 2023, bidding farewell to the UK summer and experiencing the shock of cold, jet lag and disorientation.  There was a keen sense of excitement amongst us though, and with Manchester being my home city – one of the biggest cities in the UK – I felt prepared for Melbourne’s urban life. After settling into a hostel, we navigated the arduous task of house-hunting, eventually securing a lovely, little
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AnalysisCampusPolitics

Inside Socialist Alternative Monash

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A recent anonymous article in edition 1.24 of Lot’s Wife accuses the Socialist Alternative (SA) club at Monash of a whole array of things, ranging from the slanderous to the hilarious. It is a flagrantly right-wing critique of a serious left-wing group, dressed up in the language of social justice and trauma. For people who aren’t familiar, SA is the largest socialist group in Australia. We play a key role in organising the protests to free Palestine, rallying against the far-right, sexism, racism, and LGBTI+ oppression, freeing refugees, and every other social justice question. We are revolutionaries that think capitalism
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AnalysisPolitics

Whose Streets? Our Streets! Why You Need to be An Activist for Queer Rights Today

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Content Warning: Mentions of transphobia and homophobia Madi Curkovic is one the MSA Queer Officers and a member of Socialist Alternative Monash "Get those animals off those horses!" There were hundreds of pro-trans protesters, chanting, seething with rage at the sight of Victoria Police providing protection to Posie Parker's transphobic event, ‘Let Women Speak’ at Parliament House. Behind police lines stood the transphobic activist from the United Kingdom at a microphone, and a piddly number of right-wing cranks, there to listen to her speech. To us, it was unbelievable. It was a galling step by the far-right's campaign against queer
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AnalysisPolitics

Free Palestine

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CW: Genocide, war, death NOTE: This article appeared in Edition 1 of Lot's Wife, 2024, and, unfortunately, due to some technical issues with our software, this article was printed with several errors. The 2024 Editors apologise for this profusely; the full, correct article is on this page.  Luka Kiernan is a member of Socialist Alternative Monash and Students For Palestine "There's an acronym that's unique to the Gaza Strip, it's WCNSF - wounded child, no surviving family - and it's not used infrequently.” These are the words of Dr Tanya Haj-Hassan from Doctors Without Borders. WCNSFs have been proliferating throughout
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