Posted by John, April 3rd, 2011 - under Moderates, The Greens, The Liberals.

Tags: ALP, Australian Labor Party, Extremism

Last month Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard was calling the Greens extreme. The other day it was something about them not sharing the values of ordinary Australians. Gillard said in her Gough Whitlam oration:

The Greens wrongly reject the moral imperative to a strong economy.

The Greens have some worthy ideas and many of their supporters sincerely want a better politics in our country. They have good intentions but fail to understand the centrepiece of our big picture – the people Labor strives to represent need work.

And the Greens will never embrace Labor’s delight at sharing the values of every day Australians, in our cities, suburbs, towns and bush, who day after day do the right thing, leading purposeful and dignified lives, driven by love of family and nation.

I guess it means something. However as New South Wales shows all those ‘everyday’ Australians are a little pissed off with Labor at the moment.

Maybe neoliberal social democracy and the warmongering that goes with it doesn’t offer a way forward when it is merely a cover for attacking jobs, working conditions and pay, resisting equal pay for women, making the rich richer and dog whistling to imperialism, racists and homophobes.

It is not only the PM who is joining in the attack fest. The ‘smear the greens’ disease is clearly catching. Senior Labor Minister Anthony Albanese was bashing the Greens today calling some of their policies extreme.

Albanese joined with the fruitcake faction of the bourgeoisie at News Ltd and suggested that Pauline Hanson might be elected in New South Wales because of the Greens.

This is a convenient whipping boy for the failure of Labor’s neoliberal social democracy to benefit, let alone rule for, workers and instead to cover up its reality – ruling for the bosses and shifting our wealth to them.

Capitalism is an upside down world, a world where extremism is the middle road and the middle road is extremism. As Patrick Weiniger argued in Why you should be a socialist:

It speaks volumes about the rottenness of capitalist society that ideas of equality, of organising the economy to eliminate poverty, and of genuine democratic control over the economy are considered such radical notions.

Let’s judge the moderates and extremists.

Once in power in 2007 who supported in practice the US led invasion of Iraq, an invasion which has killed more than 1 million civilians? Labor.

Who supported the invasion of Afghanistan and has kept Australian killers there? Labor.

Who supported and now directs the racist Northern Territory intervention and has expanded parts of the welfare quarantining program into other areas of Australia? Labor.

What is the life expectancy gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians under Labor? 17 years.

What is the gender pay gap between men and women under Labor? 18 percent and growing.

Who supports the Australian Building and Construction Commission, which since it began policing building sites has seen death rates rise? Labor.

Who has presided over a massive shift in wealth from labour to capital? Labor, and their doppelgangers before them, the Liberals.

Who has done nothing about addressing climate change, other than introducing schemes designed to cut workers’ living standards and shift more wealth to business and the polluters? Labor.

Who opposes gay marriage? Labor.

Who locks up refugees, including kids, in concentration camps? Labor.

Who backs to the hilt the US Alliance? Labor.

Who supports unquestioningly Israel’s genocide against Palestinians? Labor.

And, to me the greatest indictment of all – 2 billion people are starving or malnourished because they can’t afford food. Labor’s policies and actions reinforce this ultimate failure of capitalism.

What could be more extreme than a system that condemns one third of humanity to hunger when more than enough food is currently produced to feed everyone on the planet?

So let’s look at Labor’s record. Warmongers in favour of imperialism and Zionist ethnic cleansing. Pro-boss, anti-worker. Anti-equal pay. Anti-equal love. Racists. Homophobes. Sexists.

And they are the moderates? Give me a dose of extremism any day.