Into by Greg Brown
John Quigan
Q&A 35:31
Adrian Skeritt 45:00
Lock the gate 50:50
Opponent of right wing populism by man from Toronto 1:05:40
'... in my view populism is what we need, roughly speaking hanging bankers from the lamposts ...'
- prof john quigan speaking
at the cloudland committee
inaugural forum
on 28 nov 2013
[1:07:37] in PShift
recording on 28 nov 2013
About 60 people (i counted) attended the inaugural meeting of the Cloudland committee. it was addressed by john quigan on G20, LNP and neoliberalism. before the meeting brisbane city council officers turned up at the meeting agressively asking questions about G20 protests.
john quigan disclaimed any real knowledge of the G20 but spoke at length about the Australian policy elite's failure to understand the current crisis because they are stuck in what he called 'social democratic keynesianism'. john quigan said that this era of economics ended in the late 1970s and then gave rise to neoliberalism that has driven economic policy since the 1990s e.g. in the labour market (union bashing).
john referred to paul keating as being the supporter of the Bond's and the Skase's of this world and as rejecting the traditional capitalists in the Melbourne club. keating's undoing was 'the recession we had to have'. j
ohn claimed that keating has tried to re-invent himself as a republican warrior and supporter of indigenous issues. i thought this caricature a little harsh given that keating gave the redfern address in the early 1990s and was always a republican albeit a conservative one - unlike 70% of australians keating supported the election of a president by the executive ... but then how would an aboriginal person see this whitefella's wringing of hands in shame in the redfern address?
quigan said a lot of the economic changes were hatched in secret e.g. competition policy and foisted on an unsuspecting public. trickle down, efficient market hypothesis, stability through the financial markets, 'great moderation' are all myths according to quigan - as is the goose that laid the golden egg - the market.
as a response to the crisis john quigan advocated populism i.e. 'hanging the bankers from light poles'
curiously prof quigan warned us to be wary of ultra left marxism.
he also said to watch out for free trade agreements like the current Trans Pacific Partnerships.
quigan's advocacy of big public spending was straight out of the keynesian 'new deal' by Roosevelt.The new deal was of course a failure because unemployment became greater in the USA under the new deal than in the earlier part of the great depression. only world war II curtailed the lines to the soup kitchens.
in question time one person said that '60% of the world's poor live in the G20 countries' and wasn't it better to have them represented in the G20 than in the more elitist G7 and G8. quigan agreed. i recorded the full speech and questions and that is available on PShift Soundcloud.
Excerpts are also available on BushTelegraph YouTube (see below).
[youtube=http://youtu.be/g4utfEmg5n8]
G20, the LNP and neoliberalism Bleijie's attacks on workers compensation and civil liberties are an assault on everyone's rights. The LNP have done everything in their power to shift the state's wealth to the corporate sector. They have cut funding to hospitals, schools and community services. Workplace protections have been stripped away and 1000's of jobs lost. Meanwhile royalty discounts are given to mining companies, agribusiness are allowed to strip bushland, Aboriginal rights are dismissed and the reef is seen as an obstacle to business. Singing from the same hymn sheet Next year's G20 summit will embolden the LNP government to step up their attacks. Civil liberties has been the summit's first casualty. And like the LNP, the G20 states claim that the market is the only alternative. They claim that everyone will benefit from privatization, outsourcing and contestability. They see environmental regulations, union rights and social security as obstacles. Increases in inequality, militarization and gender based violence characterize these states. Civil liberties The LNP has sought to capitalize on the uncertainties their policies have caused by banging the "law and order" drum and posing as an able protector of the public. Bleijie hopes to gain legitimacy for the government so that it can continue to govern for business. But in doing so Bleijie has undermined judicial independence, expanded police powers, and legislated punitive provisions for use against loosely defined "associations" that could include unions and protestors. The G20 Act represents an attack on civil liberties the like of which we have not seen since Bjelke-Petersen days. The Cloud land Collective The Cloud land Collective stands for broad based action and community campaigning in defence of jobs, services and civil liberties. To find out more email: cloudland collective@yahoo.com or ph: 0409877 528.
Wrap up 1:07:37
