Why is it so? - A history of the early Brisbane punk scene

This week we talk to Virginia Clarke from the Brisbane Labour History Association. Virginia has had a lifetime of rank-and-file activism in unions and the Labor Party. In the late 70s and early 80s Virginia was also involved in the Brisbane punk scene, which, like the punk explosion the world over, was a movement of working class youth. In Brisbane, the punk scene displayed a particularly sharp edge due to Queensland's cultural and political conservatism and the behaviour of the cops who were notorious for meting out 'special treatment' to punks, First Nations people and anyone who publicly expressed dissent. During this turbulent time Virginia found herself enrolled in a degree at UQ, where she found the middle class culture of higher education and student life alienating. For working class students like Virginia, punk identity became a source of strength and up-yours confidence.

Outro song: Pig City by The Parameters

• Links to what we talked about
• NT Traditional Owners fight water-wasting agriculture project
• First Nations person dies due to racism in the health system
• NSW government shuts down rail system and blames the RTBU
• TWU wins for Amazon Flex workers
• South Korean workers go on strike

Sunbus workers on strike!

This week we chat with Jarrod Abbot from TWU about Sunbus workers out on the grass to force Sunbus back to the negotiating table with a fair deal.

• Links to what we talked about
• NSW police must ask Indigenous status
• Ipswich waste workers win
• QTU prevents extension of work year
• ACTU threatens strike to improve covid measures
• Patrick Terminals threatens to half capacity during supply chain crunch
• Wildcat strike in Turkey
• Beekeepers (and bees) protest
• McDonalds CEO says workers don't need a union

Revolutionary QLD - The history of the Red North

This week we talk to Neil Frost from the Brisbane Labour History Association about the Red North, that rebellious period of North Queensland history which began in the 1920s and culminated in the election of Communist Fred Paterson to the Queensland Parliament as the Member for Bowen. In those years the North was known as a centre of radicalism, with militant strikes, campaigns against fascism, movements of the unemployed and the growth of the Communist Party.

• Links to what we talked about
• Protestors demand child prison Don Dale be shut down
• QTU statement against the proposal to extend school for a week
• UWU statment in support of arrested NagaWorld strikers in Cambodia
• Joint statement calling for release of NagaWorld strikers
• APN meeting - 17th January
• Free the refugees protest - 19th January
• Counterprotest to anti-vaxxers - 22nd January

SEQUR's first campaign and the anti-anti-vaxxers

This week we talk to Iswed from SEQUR and CARF about SEQUR's ongoing campaign against Little Real Estate, who left one of SEQUR's members without a working bathroom for months. We also talk about the work CARF does to counter the anti-vax movement.

• Links to what we talked about
• Vigil held to remember women who died in Melbourne prison
• NT kids education program hailed a success
• Ipswich waste workers win
• Ramset Reid workers win
• Rail workers call out government mismanagement
• McDonalds workers class action over breaks
• NSW teachers strike
• Online activism in support of Kellogg's strike

Save Our Bowlo and the history of the IWW in Queensland

This week we talk to Robyn from Save Our Bowlo about the campaign to stop the destruction of the East Brisbane Bowls Club, a community and arts centre which the council has deemed "underused and unnattractive". We also talk to Jeff from the Brisbane Labour History Association, about the history of the revoltionary union, the IWW, and the union organising it did in Queensland (starts at 30:40).

Organising in construction

This week we talked to Andy, organiser with the CFMEU, about the work he does in the construction industry to fight for workers' rights.

• Links to what we talked about
• First Nations people with Native Title determination
• RMIT employees get backpay
• Geelong Library workers win
• Teacher shortages due to bad working conditions
• Teachers to defy order to scrap strike
• Woolies workers in NZ win

A good day for a strike, comrades

This week it's win after win, spit hoods are banned in SA, SEQUR shut down Little Real Estate for the day, Country Road were cowed by the strike, Modi was cowed by the farmers' blockade, and that's not even all of them.

• Links to what we talked about
• Spit hoods banned
• SEQUR pickets real estate agency
• Blockade Australia finishes blockading coal port
• Country Road strike victorious
• FedEx workers on strike
• Toll warehouse workers victorious
• Better Read Than Dead owners break deal, workers back on strike
• Essential Energy workers on strike
• John Deere workers victorious
• Indian farmers victorious