Hi Foxy, I am probably one of the few on the forum, if there are any others who actually know Lee. In the Greens you have to be voted on by the membership to stand as a party candidate, call it grass roots support. When Lee stepped down from the NSW LC and stood for the Senate I attended one of the candidates forums, and listened to all those that had put themselves forward, and Lee was my number one choice. Worked with her several times in the past, and there are those that disagree with her politics, but she has never been one to push any sort of Trotskyism or any ism at all in my experience. Lee is far more concerned with issues and outcomes that any nonsense the likes of OTB pushes about Greens and her on the forum. By his sympathies he demonstrates on here, Beach is a Pauline Hanson devotee, if he's not, he should be.
The Liberals have well and truly split into two camps, the majority conservatives with Abbott, and the rest with Turnbull, it is going to be interesting if Turnbull is returned with a narrow majority, the knives will be out within 18 months, nothing is more certain.The gay marriage issue will be the catalysts, the conservative faction is extremely anti. Turnbull is already trying to use the issue to exert his authority, and the enermy within are not going to give in easily,

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2016/06/27/a-day-on-the-campaign-trail-with-greens-senator-lee-rhiannon/

Dear Paul,

Thank You for sharing your experiences with us concerning Lee
Rhiannon.

I trust that Mr Abbott will not attempt to come back
as leader of the Liberal Party. But who knows?
Predicting the future is a risky business.
Still, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

As for the commentary by some on this forum. To me
it all depends who's making the comments. If its
someone who simply rants and raves, generalises,
insults,
and expresses their opinion with no facts
to substantiate their point of view - I find it best
to either ignore them or provide links with the
facts. Mostly I prefer to ignore them.

I always enjoy reading your posts and am grateful for
the balance that you maintain.

Paul1405,

You are in denial of reported facts. I quoted a newspaper and gave the link. No other media outlet disagreed with that report. Go and check, but you already know it to be fact. Which is why you go on with all of that nonsense to cover it up.

Here again, specifically where is the report wrong?

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/protesters-target-max-brenner-cafe-20110826-1jeec.html

Socialist Alternative, eh?
from Wikipedia,
"Socialist Alternative is a revolutionary socialist organisation in Australia, identifying with the Marxist tradition of "socialism from below". Formed after its founding members were expelled from the former International Socialist Organisation (ISO) in 1995,.."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socialist_Alternative_(Australia)

Hi Paul,

Just a bit of inconvenient truth: Mussolini, before forming his Fascists, was the founder and editor of the Italian Socialist Party newspaper, 'Avanti'.

Back in my Marxist days, I used to be puzzled how on earth, in the 1920s, many philosophers like Sorel, and writers like G. B. Shaw could write approvingly of both fascism AND Bolshevism, as if they were rivals in the same tent, or variations on the same theme. Perhaps because they were: perhaps because, as Toni rightly says, " .... because fascists and communists both oppose liberalism ...."

In practice, what did both fascism and Bolshevism oppose in liberalism ? Democracy perhaps ? The freedom of expression ? The freedom of market forces ? Scientific - i.e. genuine scientific - investigation ? Yes, those are imperfect facets of our current societies, but at least they don't necessitate mass executions and gulags. They will always be imperfect.

Mussolini's fascism, Nazism, Bolshevism and pre-war Japanese fascism, all supported their own imperialisms. Their ideologies all posed as Utopian, the One True Plan, and surely there is a lesson there ? That all Utopias degenerate, sometimes overnight, into fascisms, in which the dominant ideology is an Unchangeable Religion, and whose critics had to be exterminated in order to keep the Religion inviolate.

Can you have genuine socialism AND, say, the freedom of expression ? It hasn't happened so far. Are the Greens closing off, or opening up, pathways for the freedom of expression ? Not just the Greens of course, but the Trots on university campuses, who really do seem to perceive an Unreconstructed and Unchangeable Marxism of the 1920s, even of the 1870s, as religious dogma ?

The tragedy for young people at universities these days and for the Greens is that they, like every other bitter and twisted ex-Marxist, will have to go through that same idiotic process of Believing, of seeking Ideological Purity, of wasting valuable years barking up the wrong tree, and of sacrificing their abilities to think to Gods who have well and truly failed.

Cheers,

Joe

Toni,

Many thanks for correcting my typo, if only others would so patiently research and correct mere slips of the finger what a better place this world would be shewn to be.

Foxy,

I'm surprised that you chose such a sanitized version of LR,

Lee joined the Soviet-aligned Socialist Party of Australia (SPA) in 1973 (age 22 not a youth) and worked for them authoring pro Soviet backing articles until the late 80s (when she was nearly 40).

As per labor MP Danby:

"“She says she is no longer a communist, and I accept that. But she has not said that communism is and always was a false and pernicious doctrine which has caused the deaths of tens of millions of people, and is still causing oppression and misery in China, Vietnam, North Korea and Cuba.”

“Specifically, I would like to know what Senator Rhiannon now thinks about certain events of the 1970s and ‘80s which took place while she was an enthusiastic supporter of the Soviet Union. What does she now think of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan? What does she now think of the suppression of Solidarity and the imposition of martial law in Poland? What does she now think of the Berlin Wall, and the shooting of people trying to escape across it to freedom? What does she now think of the persecution of Andrei Sakharov and other Soviet dissidents? What does she now think of the anti-Semitism of the Brezhnev regime?”

While Paul would like to airbrush away Rhiannon's 40 yrs of terrible judgement, the rest of us won't forget her obsequious apology for the brutal Soviet regime.