The “honour” of the first Guest Author thread for the year goes to Jaycee, with a modest proposal concerning what to do about what lies ahead for Australia and Australians in 2015. Thank you, Jaycee.

(Image Credit: Wikipedia)

As we venture into this new year, we enter the next phase of the LNP Government’s plan to reverse the social order of our nation. Make no mistake, the intention of right-wing ideology is not to appease, but to conquer and control economic, social and political policy direction of our country by the use of extreme measures that it has been carefully putting in place for the last year. Not for fear of terrorism were such search, monitor and police powers legislated … how many acts of terrorism have we ever suffered in this country to justify such complete control over our actions? And even if there were, would we not rise above such a situation with the stoicism and courage that many nations do when confronted with any such act? Australia is not as puny as a corporation born from one family’s twisted fortune. No, the right-wing has but one great fear: that it will lose control of the mechanisms that gain it both power and profit … after all, it was only for profit that Murdoch moved to put the LNP in power in the first place – that much is obvious.

The first six months of this year will be an “attack period”. Attacks on our social welfare system, attacks on social media criticism, attacks on the environment and political discourse. Perhaps, too, attacks on even our persons. The appointment of Scott Morrison to lead these attacks has been premeditated by warming him up with his unrelenting, cold-hearted cruelty towards asylum seekers. The gross hypocrisy of his claim of being cruel to be kind, by saving thousands from a watery grave, is exposed by the treatment AFTER ARRIVAL of those refugees he claims to have saved from drowning – as if they must now be taught a lesson for NOT drowning! No, the lessons of precise targeting learned from experimenting with asylum seekers, i.e., identifying and denouncing the “economic refugees”, the “no longer in danger” peoples and / or “how far to persecute and prosecute before strategic retreat from absolute cruelty” tactics will stand in good stead the master of the fates of any or all on some sort of welfare. According to the IPA’s philosophy, everybody knows “They’re nearly ALL malingerers of some sort – even those on an old-age pension – who, if they had any gumption at all, would have in their working life put away enough to fund their own retirement, just like Gina or Rupert or Twiggy!” Rest assured, Scotty has plans – oh yes! – he has plans … for us.

Now WE must plan. We, in social media, must work on a foundation platform of how to attack and render harmless the right-wing media which, as sure as sunrise, is going to set the tempo for this second year of the regime’s agenda. Murdoch knows he must either control or destroy the free democracy of social media. Social media is starting to confidently outstrip the MSM both news delivery and in satire of right-wing politicians, the MSM, and the MSM’s reporters and big-shot players. Not only that, but social media can now also lead in attack and parry and defence of ideals that appeal to a vast majority. Murdoch knows this ground: he has traversed it many times. The advantage we hold (at this moment) is the technology of the internet and the capability to use it. The old MSM is hamstrung by an unwieldy “hard-copy” press machine and with it an anachronistic “see, hear, report, edit, print” timetable. Social media has no such delays – it happens, it is visualized or tweeted as it happens – instant news! THIS is our weapon against the Murdoch juggernaut! Murdoch has only ONE power base: his employees, especially his journalists. Murdoch himself has no capacity to report or deliver – he has to rely solely on his employees – take them out of the picture and he is lost. It is the old story of the “for the want of a horse-shoe nail” – it IS that simple.

I believe we have to invent a brand new mechanism of political involvement via social media. We cannot do this alone or in individual blogs: we must try and involve the ALP, who need to build a broad information base and access to a wide readership. It would perhaps be to the party’s advantage to have instant rapport with its support and to reach out to those lurking and seeking persuasion to come over from the dark side! The ALP. already has a presence on Twitter, albeit a sort of loose familiarity – but it does twitter so much better than the LNP. After all, social media communication is more suited to those who sympathise with social equality and those who like to reach out and “touch” each other.

We have to build “chat tag-teams” to develop and push important topics along the conversation threads: to keep certain important policies in the public eye and discussion – not faking it, but delivering real issues to the front and centre of discussion AND having them discussed – not letting important news or policy be blown about by idle chatter then getting lost in the hubbub of gossip or advertising. We need “tag-teams” to liaise between the Party and the boards, to attack individual MSM journalists who propagandise for the LNP/ IPA/Murdoshians. We are beyond the point of beginning, but rather are seeking to complete the construction of a new generation of political discourse with social media at the centre.

This year will be an attack year for the LNP. They will have to cull Labor’s social policies and put in place their market-based options. It will be a slash and burn year for them. Murdoch will have his creatures going flat-out in support – his corporate future depends upon control of the media. They will probably use the Abbott / Morrison duo in a “good cop / bad cop” set-up. However they do it, they have to have their policy in place by the end of the year so as to butter the voters up for the next election. They have a plan, a strategy. We too must plan a counterattack and defence: it must be loud, wide-ranging and relentless. We must be able to melt back into the shadows and be ready to emerge with as much concentrated opinion as we can muster in as short a time as possible if we are to win this battle and we must be able to take it , via twitter, directly to the Floor of The House. Instant outrage! For it is a battle of ideology: to lose is to see a century’s worth of social infrastructure and a lifetime’s achievement of environmental restructuring wasted and destroyed. And for whom? For these people know no life save the barbaric solution of rapine and looting what is not and has never been theirs to loot!

Can we do it??? . . . “Yes we can!”

(Image Credit: Allposters)