The Party Line on Venezuela, US Imperialism and Stupol

Episode 12 - The Party Line on Venezuela, US Imperialism, and NUSBig news this week: Anneke has been adopted! By her big sister that is. We discuss all that before moving on to headlines, including what the Annika Wells expense scandal reveals about the culture of entitlement that runs through Parliament. The main breaking story that was unfolding as we were recording was the US hijacking of a Venezuelan oil tanker, which follows months of deadly strikes on boats that have killed nearly 100 civilians.  This leads on to a chat about Trump’s new National Security Strategy, which declares his intent to see the US engage in aggressive operations throughout Latin America to reassert US hegemony over the ‘western hemisphere’, while also promoting the great replacement theory and other fascist ideas and organisations throughout Europe. We wrap up with some goss from the National Union of Students National Conference in Ballarat, which saw Labor Party members try (and fail) to lock out socialist party members from national office.Huge thanks to our tireless editors Charlie Wardrop and Persephone Waxman.ContentAustralia’s senior politicians can claim ‘unlimited’ travel expenses for their spouse, watchdog rules say | The Guardian Venezuela decries ‘act of piracy’ after US forces seize oil tanker off country’s coast | The GuardianTrump’s Looming “Forever War” | Tempest Headlines: Australian employers cut back on diversity and inclusion programs amid US ‘anti-woke’ backlashAt State Dept., a Typeface Falls Victim in the War Against WokeAlbanese digs in on MPs entitlements saga as more Wells spending comes to lightFrom Tim Tam to Four’N Twenty: Aussie icons enjoy government sweetenersRenters need $300,000 more superannuation in retirement than home owners, report findsAustralia has recorded the highest number of Indigenous deaths in custody since 1979marxismconference.org.au Please support us on patreon*****************This is a podcast by members of the Socialist Party in Naarm (Melbourne). We hope to bring a radical perspective to a podcast landscape dominated by insipid liberalism (looking at you, The Daily). The pod will come out weekly, and aims to breakdown news and current events from a socialist point of view. While a lot of what’s going on in the world is fairly bleak, The Party Line will try and highlight voices of resistance and struggle.If you like what you hear, please subscribe and share it with your friends, colleagues and comrades. If you are in a position to support us financially then sign up at patreon.com/thepartyline. If you find yourself agreeing with us more often than not, please join your local branch of the Socialist Party at socialists.org.au. We need your help to build a fighting socialist movement that can take on both the far right and its centrist enablers.(The views and opinions expressed in our show are ours and ours alone, and do not reflect on the Socialist Party or Victorian Socialists.) This pod was produced on stolen land and we stand in solidarity with our Indigenous comrades in their ongoing fight against racism and capitalism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.