The reason I plead with people to join unions is not because I’m a union organiser (I’m not), or closely…

The reason I plead with people to join unions is not because I’m a union organiser (I’m not), or closely associated with the ALP (not either). But because politics is not just belief, but also power. /1 https://t.co/VhKM13BDIV

Ultimately all power comes from belief, but at a time like now when neoliberal and libertarian beliefs hold sway, argument and logic won’t win the day. To re-balance (the conservative darling word) politics needs brute industrial muscle. /2

When the conservatives send us all out to be repeatedly infected with Covid under the nonsense banner of ‘freedom’ we need to say no. But to say no with industrial-level force. To shut the place down basically, until they relent. No amount of nuanced logical argument will…/3

…shift them. History has showed this time and again. As Kissinger reportedly said, and excuse the older gendered metaphors, if you want to win hearts and minds, you need to have people by the balls. The ‘live with the virus’ folk currently have society by the balls. /4

Right now the magnitude of the public health disaster confronting most developed nations needs something equivalent to a national strike. Where ordinary people say - no, I’m not going to be repeatedly infected by a lethal pathogen, and nor are my friends and family. /end