The monarchy seems like an enormous Ponzi scheme听and now is the right time to talk about听a republic,听argues Tony Smith.
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Monarchy
Luna Michaels talks about the struggle for democracy and an end to absolute monarchy in Swaziland.
Hundreds rallied on Labor's so-called Day of Mourning, calling for the monarchy to be听听"abolished". Photos by Alex Bainbridge.
Leading Socialist Alliance member Peter Boyle joins the 91自拍论坛 Show to discuss the manufactured outpouring of pro-monarchist propaganda, the push for a republic and what real democratic change would look like.
William Briggs argues听the propaganda effort since the Queen's death听shows听how听the state has the power to evoke听a sense of unity between vastly different classes.
Aleks Wansbrough argues that the queen's passing shows how modern capitalism has a听tendency to uproot and decontextualise forms of cultural kinship and care, relativising everything as a commodity.
The Australian republican movement鈥檚 great mistake was to banish from discussion any reason beyond symbolism to be a republic. Aleks Wansbrough听 argues it effectively treated听the royals as beyond reproach.
There is nothing better in these times than reading the words of James Connolly, the Irish republican, socialist and trade union leader, executed by the British firing squad on May 12, 1916, writes Sam Wainwright.
The revelation that Spain's former king will probably get off scot-free on allegations of corruption has shone a torch down the sewer of the Spanish state, writes Dick Nichols.
Thailand鈥檚 King Pumipon Adulyadej died on October 13 aged 88, after more than 70 years on the throne. Thai socialist Giles Ji Ungpakorn has been in exile since he was charged with lese majeste (insulting the monarch) over a 2006 book criticising the king鈥檚 support for a military coup. Below he assesses the monarch鈥檚 role as a block to democracy and social justice.
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King Pumipon was a weak and characterless monarch who spent his useless and privileged life in a bubble, surrounded by fawning, grovelling toadies who claimed that he was a 鈥済od鈥.
Do we need to debate whether Australia should become a republic?
After all, it is not just parties that say Australian society should be transformed (Socialist Alliance) or reformed (the Greens) that want a republic. The national leaders of the major capitalist political parties and all the state premiers agree on ending the situation where a British monarch is Australia's head of state.
I suspect this is in line with what most Australians think: who gave birth to you should not make you the head of state, even nominally. So why is there an argument about this?
King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia has died at the age of 90. Abdullah was one of the world鈥檚 most powerful men and a key US ally in the region, controlling a fifth of the known global petroleum reserves.
In a statement, President Barack Obama praised Abdullah for his 鈥渟teadfast and passionate belief in the importance of the US-Saudi relationship as a force for stability and security in the Middle East and beyond.鈥