Date: Mon, 04 Mar 1996 16:14:21 +1000 (EST)
From: g.maclennan-AT-qut.edu.au (g.maclennan)
Subject: Re: Conservatives win Australian election


I have already posted briefly on the election results, but Marcus is
certainly il miglior fabrio. The only thing I wish to add is to try and link
this up to the crisis thread. I think following Hans we may be on the verge
of a social-cultural crisis here in Australia.,  Certainly the racism seems
to suggest this.  The conservatives got elected promising to make people
happier.  It makes me want to weep tears of blood  to think that people
actually fall for this kind of crap, but they certainly did.  The
conservatives will not deliver of  course  and so the Far Right will
develop.  However at the moment there is no Buchanan to rally them with
anti- finance capital rhetoric.  

There have been it is true attempts in the past to float a far right
movement based on anti-union rhetoric but these petered out.  I have already
indicated that racism is a very difficult card for the ruling class to play
here because of the necessity of the Asian connection, but racism is part of
the legacy of Australians.  It was after all a white colonial settler state
until recently.    

But above all Marcus is right about the terrible abscence of a communist
party. The remnants of the CPA are extremely conservative.  They dream only
of a return to Keynes and are totally national-communist to boot.  Indeed
they have little criticism to make of Asutralia's very own fascist
theoretician B. A Santamaria who  has for some time now been advocating
corporatist solutions to Australia's crisis (financial).

regards

gary
g.maclennan
school of media & journalism
qut




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