Worker’s Mail: Call to Workers.

Left: A; Centre: B; Right: C.

Seen from Australia, the world seems to be entering a time of permanent crisis. Drought, bushfires, floods, cyclones, heat waves, pandemics, wars.

Times like these require solidarity, decency, generosity, honesty and courage: the same things our “leaders” demonstrate time and again they lack (think of COP26). It’s up to us, the little people – yes, us, the workers – to demonstrate those qualities. They call us heroes as an insincere exercise in PR. But they unknowingly are right: we are heroes.

The folks from Extinction Rebellion Sydney compiled a list of entities you can donate to in order to address some of those problems:

Givit: these lovely people vet all the requests for donations and guarantee that they are legit.

Red Cross: no explanation needed. They’re also collecting for Ukraine, of course.

Queensland SES and New South Wales SES.

Contact the RSPCA to see what donations are needed, and to volunteer as a foster carer for flood-affected animals.

And all the major organisations — MSF, Amnesty, Caritas, UNHCR — are looking for extra cash to spend helping Ukrainians right now. Here’s an interesting deep dive into alternative means of support from Vox.

Lastly, it's easy to get caught up in new drama and forget about continuing injustices elsewhere. Here's a list of trusted organisations getting money where it's needed by Palestinians. Save the Children and so many others are still directing aid to Yemen. Syria, whose recent war also featured Putin's forces cluster bombing civilian targets, could do with some help too.

Please don’t donate if it will put you under financial stress. And this is All. So. Overwhelming. Please take care of yourself. Instigate media breaks. […] Connect with the ocean and the bush, when the rain allows. Connect with your friends and family. And draw on services such as Lifeline and Beyond Blue.

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The lovely kids from School Strike 4 Climate Sydney are calling for a strike on March 25th. Alice writes:

We are demanding an end to fossil fuel handouts & political donations as well as continuing to demand;

1. Net Zero by 2030 which means no new coal, oil or gas projects.
2. 100% renewable energy generation and exports by 2030
3. Fund a Just Transition and Job Creation for all Fossil Fuel Workers and their communities

Come on, oldtimers, get up and let us join the kiddies.

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Although the Morrison regime has yet to announce the date – there’s good reason for their reputation for chicanery, you know – the 2022 federal elections are looming.

This is a good time to confront the problem of insecure work in Australia. It’s a serious problem, deeply affecting about 3 million workers, to the point that their health suffers.To tackle that crisis, ACTU is promoting their Secure Jobs: Worth Fighting for Campaign,

But we can’t do it alone.

Scott Morrison and the Liberals may have access to buckets of cash from big businesses, but they don’t have something far more important: people power.

For decades, workers in unions have demonstrated that achieving change is more than an idea – it’s an action we take every day.

We're stronger together, which is why we need you to:

Join your Union
Stand with nearly two million workers who are driving positive change for all.
Donate
Chip in whatever you can afford to help us grow our campaign for secure jobs.
Volunteer
Sign up to take action to build a better future for all.

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Personally, I lost whatever little faith I still had in the Australian Labor Party. Their obsessive search for bipartisanship (“we agree with the Government on foreign policy, we agree with the piece-of-shit subs, COVID, China; you name it, we agree with it”) have condemned the ALP to irrelevancy: if those areas are key for you, why would you vote for Lab if you have Lib?

I might be mistaken, but I can’t remember having seen Anthony Albanese’s face once last week; has anyone missed him saying he agrees with the Government?

Their climate change action plan is not designed to contribute to confront climate change; it’s meant to offer the minimum needed to distinguish themselves from the COALition. It’s not so much a climate change strategy, but a product differentiation exercise: Coke versus Pepsi. Their attitude towards workers is, at best, ambiguous.

I don’t have much faith in the cohort of environmentally-orientated independent female candidates in the mold of Zali Steggall either. Take Allegra Spender, for example. How could a worker like me ever vote for her? The daughter of millionaire Carla Zampatti and Liberal MP John Spender, Spender comes from a Liberal family. Her public persona is not too different from that of Katie Allen, the COALition climate change “moderate”: pleasant, but that doesn’t compel me to vote for either. At best one can hope Spender to be more consistent on climate change than Allen.

As the election approaches, give The Australian Greens some thought. Without being truly radical, their election platform is light-years ahead of anything the ALP offers. Unlike the ALP and the COALition, they actually have a plan to protect coal workers and communities through the impending closure of the coal industry. You can also volunteer or donate.

Keep in mind, however, the advice XR Sydney gives: don’t feel compelled to do anything you can’t do. Do what you can. And take care.

 

Image Credits:

[A] "Into the jaws of death" (1944). Author: Chief Photographer's Mate (CPHoM) Robert F. Sargent. Source: Wikimedia. Work in the public domain.
[B] "Victor's flag" (1943). Author: Georgii Zelma. Source: Wikimedia. File licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Germany license. Attribution: Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-W0506-316 / Georgii Zelma [2] / CC-BY-SA 3.0
[C] "A 'Wendy Welder' at the Richmond Shipyards" (1943). Author: Ann Rosener, U.S. Office of War Information. Source: Wikimedia. Work in the public domain.