Marcus Campbell

Comms/advocacy @UnitingWorld. Research interests in sociology of religion, social movements and West Papua. Inactive here. Find me via web link

[Jason Hickel @jasonhickel]

All the takes are correct and yet they also miss the point.

Yes, it was insane for the Democrats to think they could win by running a soulless candidate, without a shred of progressive policy vision, pursuing endorsements from neocon war-hawks everybody hates, while arming and funding a genocide, and belittling and crushing those who have enough morality to protest it.  It is enraging that the Democrats are so smug and blind to this.

But these are all just symptoms.  The deeper reality is that liberalism has failed, liberalism is dead, and people urgently need to wake up to this fact and respond accordingly. It is a defunct ideology that cannot offer any meaningful solutions to our social and ecological crises and it must be abandoned.

Democrats have proven over and over again that they cannot accept even *basic* steps like public healthcare, affordable housing, and a public job guarantee - things that would dramatically improve the material, social and political conditions of the working classes. And they cannot accept a public finance strategy that would steer production away from fossil fuels and toward green transition to give us a shot at a liveable future.

Why? Because these things run against the objectives of capital accumulation. And for liberals capital is sacrosanct. They will do whatever it takes to ensure elite accumulation, it is their only consistent commitment.  At home, they suppress and demonize progressive and socialist tendencies. Abroad, they engage in endless wars and violence to suppress input prices in the global South and prevent any possibility of sovereign economic development.

The Democrats have done all this purposefully and knowingly, for my whole life, not as some kind of "mistake" but in full consciousness that it is in the interests of capital.

And because liberalism cannot address our crises, and because it crushes socialist alternatives, it inevitably paves the way for right-wing populism.  They know this pattern, and yet they risk it every time - this election being only the most recent example. They did it in 2016, when they actively crushed the Sanders campaign and sent Trump to the White House. They do it because ultimately they (and I mean the liberal ruling class here) don't really mind if fascists take power, so long as the latter too ensure the conditions for capital accumulation. They 100% prefer this to the possibility of a socialist alternative.

So, progressives have to face reality. The dream of "converting" the Democratic party is dead. This is now a fact and it must be accepted. The only option is to build a mass-based movement that can reclaim the working classes and mobilize a political vehicle that can integrate disparate progressive struggles into a unified and formidable political force and achieve substantive transformation. This will take real work, actual organizing, but it must be done and that process must begin now.

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

New @hrw report on #westpapua, ‘If It’s Not Racism, What Is It?’ profiles cases of Papuan activists convicted for their role in #PapuanLivesMatter protests and the baseless charges brought against them: https://t.co/T8BuabWQ4Q

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

@SeanFennessey Ed Norton doing Seeger is perfect and is definitely going to steal the show here

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

@johnmilbank3 @SaveTheParish That post is extremely disingenuous. It shows part of the advert and then cites some external descriptions as if it is what actually underpins. Cite the actual ad and job description if that is the thing you’re against, otherwise it’s just misinformation to stir up vitriol.

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

“Churches cannot just be lifelines and shelters, they need to be active in dismantling colonialism and advocating on behalf of oppressed peoples.” Louis Mapou @lotupasifika

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

At the Pacific Conference of Churches General Assembly in Kanaky (New Caledonia) and the Customary President of Kanaky linking the colonial experiences here with West Papua and Australia. Everywhere the story is the same: indigenous people treated as strangers in their own land.

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

“Churches once were agents of the colonial powers that took these lands. Going beyond solidarity, can they now be agents for decolonisation and justice for indigenous peoples?” -Louis Mapou challenges PCC member churches.

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

Still the best song on Israel/Palestine written from the perspective of the West. https://t.co/Xp4XYwqip9

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

Imagine surveying the scene in Gaza: the death count, the collective punishment, the experts pointing out the likelihood of war crimes... then being like: "hmm, ceasefire is a bit strong. Lets call for a 'pause.' Inspiring stuff from Labor. #qanda

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

We have to stop the use of abstract concepts like 'proportional response' being used to mystify the urgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza and what is causing it #qanda

[Jeremy Corbyn @jeremycorbyn]

People in Gaza are dying in the darkness.

This unthinkable horror cannot be undone — and history will not forgive those who refused to treat Israeli and Palestinian lives with equal worth.

Please, we need a ceasefire, now.

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

-One atrocity doesn’t justify another
-Stop the humanitarian catastrophe
-Stop the invasion
-Stop the occupation
-Ceasefire now
-Let’s work for a lasting peace, justice and security for both Israel and Palestine
@AdamBandt speaking well on #qanda

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

@OpIndia_com Garbage. Israel has still not provided evidence of wrongdoing and three independent audits also couldn’t verify any of the claims made against El Halabi. https://t.co/Yg3fW6IIA2

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

Worth your time.
https://t.co/aNAty1DSYN

[Jairo I. Fúnez-Flores @Jairo_I_Funez]

Decolonial thought is important precisely bcuz it interrogates dehumanizing racist discourses. Today, we’re seeing how it’s used to justify genocidal violence against Palestinians who are deemed subhuman—“children of darkness” unworthy of life. A jungle in need of humanity.

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

"Thousands of Palestinians who had lost their homes already were taking refuge at the hospital, run by the Anglican Church. The attack amounts to collective punishment, which is a war crime under International Law.” -@Oikoumene https://t.co/28xt7ps6tU

[UnitingWorld 🌏 @UnitingWorld]

"The crisis unfolding in Gaza is a preventable looming humanitarian tragedy. Urgent action is needed to halt the conflict, which is already taking a totally unacceptable human toll."

"We must remember that half of Gaza’s population are children under the age of 18."

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

In any discussion of Australia’s international reputation on racism, I think of this conversation between James Baldwin and Margaret Mead about Australians in Papua New Guinea. #qanda

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

Feel like we should just collectively pretend Dutton’s ‘alternative model’ is a treaty, reparations and mandatory participation in transitional justice/truth telling and lean WAY into that.

[Marcus Campbell @m_arcusc]

“Stop the military aid, stop selling [military] equipment to Indonesia and stop training the special forces and the police from Indonesia.” - Father Dorman Wandikbo #WestPapua
https://t.co/SzmLGZ8LCi