Andy Blunden is secretary of the Marxists Internet Archive and managing editor of Mind, Culture and Activity. He recently presented a series of seminars on activity theory for the Melbourne School of Continental Philosophy.
On Saturday 28th May a peaceful rally, 'Moreland Says No to Racism', was successfully held outside the Coburg library. The rally was organised many weeks beforehand; sixty local organisations (including the Moreland Council) endorsed the rally, and publicity was widely distributed. Racist groups from outside Moreland made their intention to disrupt the rally known. In response groups of anti-racists determined to directly confront the racist groups. The resulting brawl captured media coverage of the day…
The rational scepticism that has been the province of science for 400 years has now been turned back onto science itself, and everyone thinks they are qualified to form a scientific opinion.
Holistic and conventional medicine must collaborate to find a solution. The rate of measles infections reached a sixteen-year high in Australia last year, mainly due to travellers catching measles overseas and passing it on to unvaccinated children after coming home. We are in danger of diseases that had been eliminated from Australia making a comeback due to a rapid increase in parents failing to have their children vaccinated.
Perhaps the most challenging thing about the foreign fighters - those people who disappear from their suburban homes and reappear on Facebook in Syria or Iraq carrying a grenade launcher or wearing a suicide jacket - is that they have evidently found something they think is worth dying for. Probably most of us would lay down our lives for our immediate family. Beyond that - Anzac Day parades and endless military posturing by political leaders…
