If dispassionate debate of ideas is the theoretical means by which policy is formed in liberal democracies, in these increasingly hostile and desperate conditions of late capitalism, culture war has become the reality. By culture war, we mean the polarisation of debate, the ‘Othering’ of opponents, the use of ‘wedge’ issues loaded with any number…
In this latest Australian election cycle, history repeats itself with increasing intensity as policy debate is relegated to a relic of history in favour of strategies of dissembling, distraction and scapegoating. This is not a new phenomenon, but one that has been emerging over the last two to three decades as parties scramble to resolve…
Reproductive justice has always been a bugbear for reactionaries and totalitarians. A woman who enjoys bodily autonomy and controls her own womb is free of the control of male supremacist hierarchies—those associated with the fundamentalism problematised in the mentalities of official enemies, but warmly embraced when benefitting traditionally privileged classes and the ideological status quo…