On September 9-11, the Red Ant Collective will hold its second national conference in Melbourne under the banner: Building Anti-Imperialism in a Polarised World.

All sessions will be at the Kathleen Syme Library and Community Centre in Carlton, Victoria.

FULL AGENDA, SESSION DETAILS AND SPEAKERS HERE

Day One includes talks on the world political situation and our internationalist tasks in Australia, imperialist co-optation of grassroots movements in the Global South, the struggle for socialism in Cuba today and a Marxist critique of neoliberal identity politics.

This will be followed by a social event with live music featuring Pipin Jamson from the Jawa Pitu Band at The Clyde Hotel on Cardigan Street in Carlton – just a short walk from the conference venue.

Day two will include sessions on Lenin’s two stage theory of revolution and its relevance, the Marxist theory of the united front, Australian capitalism within the crisis of the world imperialist system and Australian politics with Labor in power.

Why you should come to this conference

Red Ant’s Second National Conference will be an opportunity to organise, study and regroup. If you believe that the world needs changing and you see that serious thinking has to be done to achieve that, then this conference is for you.

At its founding conference in Sydney in August 2022, the Red Ant Collective was formally established with the purpose of re-building an organised anti-imperialist Marxist tendency in Australia. It also adopted a founding statement of principles and perspectives.

Imperialism – with its endless wars, exploitation, structures of servitude and humiliation – is at odds with the needs of humanity and the planet. As socialists, we argue that this system can be defeated by ordinary people across the world taking power and building a new future.

The founding members of Red Ant argued that as socialists inside Australia – the primary oppressor country in the region – we needed to organise on a consistent basis of anti-imperialism.

For Red Ant, organising against Australian imperialism does not mean only supporting overseas struggles – although that is indispensable. It is also the approach we bring to domestic struggles – which is also framed by Australia’s position in the world.

Since its founding, Red Ant has begun to grow and develop on this basis, yet our tasks are no less urgent.

Building an anti-imperialist Marxist current requires discussion and analysis of the national and world situation, as well as clarify the burning questions of the day. While the Red Ant project aims to revive an anti-imperialist tradition, this is not possible only on the basis of remembering or re-stating old ideas.

Much has changed, even very recently, and rapid change continues in all parts of the world. We are serious about attempting to understand what is happening in our world as a first step towards building a movement that can change it. For a very small, new group Red Ant has published quite a lot, including some new and original thinking.

That collective thinking process will continue at the conference with the agenda dealing with import new phenomena such as how we should understand the character of today’s China and Russia and the nature of imperialism’s confrontation with them; neoliberal identity politics; the post-boom prospects for Australian capitalism; Labor in power; and tactical orientations for progressive campaigns such as that against nuclear submarines and for climate action.

We plan to make another small but important step forward in the struggle to re-establish anti-imperialism in Australia. If you would like to support or be involved in this struggle, or just to find out more, you should register your attendance today.

For more information email: redant.communication@gmail.com

FULL AGENDA, SESSION DETAILS AND SPEAKERS HERE