Very interesting position put in this article. It is basically arguing that we’ve got to break down the gender dichotomy in order for the human rights of hormonally and or chromosomally ‘abnormal’ people to be legally recognised and upheld. The submission literally calls upon all feminists and Churches to cease gender and intersex discrimination.

Just got this from GetUP

This is our chance to ask Senator Conroy to explain his plans to censor the internet.

The architect of the Government’s net censorship plans, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, has refused interviews on the topic for months. But at 9.30pm this Thursday night we have an opportunity to put him on the spot.

On Thursday night the Senator will appear on Q&A on ABC TV – a program that allows viewers rather than journalists to ask the tough questions.

Click here to submit your question.

It’s time to hold Senator Conroy to account for his censorship plan, which will slow down the internet, make it more expensive, miss the vast majority of inappropriate content and accidentally block a range of perfectly legitimate sites.

Record your question for Stephen Conroy today:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/QandA

Thanks for being part of this,

The GetUp Team

P.S. Let’s challenge Senator Conroy to justify his internet censorship plan when he appears on Q&A at 9.30pm on Thursday night. Click here to submit your question.

Says: November 5, 2008 at 11:17 pm

I saw that Arthur was removed as a troll. I don’t think that he is/was a troll. He is a part of a legitimate trend on the left. The basis of some of their ideas is a book by “Bill Warren” called “Imperialism: Pioneer of Capitalism” . The basic argument is that imperialism makes way for capitalism. Warren collects many quotes form Marx and Engles which support his view. Although, I do not agree with Warren I found it useful to read.

I don’t agree with Arthur on these questions but I do think that he and his view are a variant within the left and that he falls within the parameters of unity. He has posted constructively on other issues.

Arthur Says: November 5, 2008 at 12:07 pm  My guess is that people will take a breath, take a close look at the political landscape and then pick opposing war with the Taliban in Afghanistan as the next big focus for demonstrating complete irrelevance.

That has been deleted with the following explanation :

TellNoLies Says: November 5, 2008 at 12:22 pm
[moderators: we removed Arthur's reactionary pro-imperialist trolling. He will not be back.]

Heaven forbid that we don’t recognize the NATO-UNOCAL-Opium Warlord Alliance as the great liberators of Afganistan that Arthur imagines they are. His snarky intentions aside, Arthur is correct both in identifying Afghanistan as an issue of pivotal importance, but also one where we will promptly encounter immense resistance from many liberals. It is actually a question where the progressive grassroots forces that rallied around Obama will prove to be very divided. A central task right now is to expose the human costs of the war — to get the pictures of the civilian victims of US military action in Afghanistan (and Pakistan) into circulation among progressives and liberals.
At the same time we should not act like Obama has already pulled out of Iraq or that there is any guarantee that he really will. I think Iraq may prove to be the first place where illusions about Obama will be tested. The Iraqi Gov’t’s rejection of the Status of Forces Agreement with the US may force Pres. Obama to show his hand on Iraq almost immediately.
Does anybody know of any plans for early spring anti-war mobilizations from any of the ostensible anti-war coalitions?

This was followed by the expected flurry “mobilizing” on Afghanistan.

It should not take more than a few weeks for that to collapse.
Its clear both that there are people out there who will be interested in thinking things through, and that we will have to work hard to establish contact and a forum.