By Lindy Nolan

January 26 has become a day to take stock.

British Captain Arthur Philip did not land on what became Australia on January 26. As historian Humphrey McQueen points out, numerous other dates have been celebrated as founding days.

In this year’s Sydney Festival, Iron in the Blood by Jeremy Rose, told in music, film and spoken words, the history of class brutality he’d learned from Robert Hughes’ The Fatal Shore. Hughes’ history of the British colonies more than rivals Game of Thrones in its brutality. This history is absent from the narrative most hear on January 26

Read more: Unity the key as we reflect on January 26

There is some divergence of opinions amongst progressives of why there is an environmental crisis in Australia. The author of this article, David Studdert, argues the case of poor land practices by European settlers. We share it for consideration.
The article was originally published online at The Greanville Post.

By David Studdert, 7 January 2020

Be under no illusion. After these fires nothing will ever be the same for Captain Cook Australia. It is a war of the land against the people.

These fires will change Australia forever. The question is how and who controls that change?

Of course Morrison will go and soon, the government will reluctantly purchase more, but not enough, tankers and choppers, the landscape will scar for two or three years, but the scars inflicted by these fires, they will define Australia’s idea of itself for decades to come. These fires have burned more than lives and acreage. Australia has some tough decisions and a new world to get used to.

There is no more LUCKY COUNTRY for a start. That myth is dead and buried.

Read more: The End of the Lucky Country: Australia on Fire

This video came from Juice Media

Juice Media on behalf of the Australien Government has made a new tourism ad, and it's surprisingly honest and informative! We hope you enjoy the satire.

Spirit of Eureka shares below two recent statements from the International League of Peoples' Struggle (ILPS) on recent US provocations and aggression against Iran. Spirit of Eureka is an affiliate member of ILPS, an international alliance of anti-imperialist organisations, and a founding member of the ILPS-Australia Chapter.

TRUMP COMMITS MULTIPLE MURDER IN LINE WITH US IMPERIALIST TERRORISM

By Jose Maria Sison
Chairperson Emeritus, International League of Peoples’ Struggle
January 4, 2020

By ordering the assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani and the Iranian and Iraqi officials accompanying him at the Baghdad airport, US President Trump has blatantly committed multiple murder as well as aggression against the sovereignty of Iraq and Iran in violation of international law as well as US law which prohibits such aggressive act without the prior declaration of war by authorization of the US Congress.

Trump himself has boastfully and arrogantly admitted the criminal act that he ordered the assassination of Soleimani and his Iranian and Iraqi companions in two cars. His crime of multiple murder is in line with the aggressive and terrorist character of US imperialism. As the No. 1 terrorist in world history and contemporary times, US imperialism has committed acts of aggression, destroying the lives and properties of millions of people, even without the formal declaration of war. Imperialist aggression is the worst kind of terrorism which the people suffer and abhor.

Read more: ILPS Statements on Recent US Aggression Against Iran