Emma and Chloe had a live conversation about all the things that make them mad in 2025, at the Marxism conference in Melbourne. They talked about Trump, wacky Auspol, bad takes on the left, lesser-known expropriatable billionaires and more, with fantastic audience participation to boot.

We spoke to Palestine Action Group leader and socialist Josh Lees about the renewed genocide in Gaza and the disgraceful antisemitism hoax in NSW which has been used to repress pro-Palestine activism.

In a true-crime scandal for the ages, a criminal hoax in NSW was falsely reported as an antisemitic terror plot intended to cause mass casualties. Both the state and federal Labor governments knowingly lied to the public, using the hoax to ram through draconian anti-protest laws in NSW.

The NSW antisemitism hoax is just one example of the unscrupulous campaign against pro-Palestine activism worldwide.

Further reading

Josh Lees on "The great antisemitism con job" for Red Flag

On Josh Lees' constitutional challenge to NSW anti-protest laws in The Guardian

On the People's Inquiry into Campus Free Speech on Palestine in Red Flag

We sat down with trans activist April Holcombe to talk about the unrelenting war being waged against trans people. April is a socialist train driver based in Sydney and the co-convener of Community Action for Rainbow Rights. She is the author of many articles for Red Flag newspaper and the Marxist Left Review.

April describes what is happening to trans people as "political sadism". She unpacks why right-wingers are so obsessed with policing gender, why socialists say gender is socially constructed, and how we can best fight back against these heinous attacks.

Further Reading:

April Holcombe's fantastic article in the Marxist Left Review: "The Freedom to Be": Marxism, gender oppression and the struggle for trans liberation

"Trump's war on woke is a war on all the working class" - by Sarah Garnham in Red Flag

Our guest Rick Kuhn explains the results of the German election. Rick is a socialist economist, political analyst, and honorary associate professor at ANU. He is the author of a biography of Marxist economist Henryk Grossman, for which he won the Deutscher Prize.

In understanding the German election, the key word is "polarisation". The fascist AfD have received their best vote yet, of over 20%. Meanwhile the anti-racist left party, Die Linke, tapped into a movement of young antifascists and picked up 9%. The centre ruling coalition has collapsed after years of economic stagnation and migrant-bashing, and has been replaced by the conservative Christian Democrats who court the far-right.

Further reading:

• "Far right surges, but left surprises, in German elections" by Sean Larson in Red Flag
• Buy Rick Kuhn's book: Labor's Conflict
• Rick Kuhn on economic crisis: https://marxistleftreview.org/articles/economic-crises-are-unavoidable-under-capitalism/

Emma and Chloe dunk on the billionaires who run the world. From Silicon Valley freaks like Peter Theil and Mark Zuckerberg, to Australia's own Gina Rinehart, to the world's richest man, Elon Musk. We explain how they accumulated their wealth (hint: they didn't "earn" it), explore the sickening conspicuous consumption of the ultra-rich, and discuss why they need to be expropriated for every cent.

We also discuss Trump's outrageous call for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.

An interview with socialist journalist Omar Hassan, editor of and contributor to the Marxist Left Review. Omar spent two weeks reporting on the ground from Syria for Red Flag. He visited cities and towns devastated by regime repression, and he spent time with and interviewed left-wing activists. The result of his travels has been some incredible coverage in English of post-Assad Syria.

This recording was part of a live zoom forum with Omar in January 2025.

Read Omar's reports on Syria at Red Flag: https://redflag.org.au/category/syria-after-assad

We're back for 2025! And we're talking about the fucked new mirror world we have stepped into with the second inauguration of Trump.

Emma and Chloe talk through Trump's new cabinet, his executive orders and his big special inauguration day and try to explain what the hell is going on. Why have Silicon Valley ex-liberal billionaires binned their corporate wokeness and lined up to kiss the ring? Why is Trump trying to fight Denmark, Canada and Panama? Why is Australia's Penny Wong so "honoured" to have been invited to the inauguration? We answer these questions and more.

Chloe and Emma cap off a terrible year by compiling some of the chattering classes' worst takes. We hand out prestigious awards for Australian journalism, including "Most Tone-Deaf Commentary on the Cost of Living Crisis" and "Most Hapless Middle-Class Guardian Writer." We survey the ups and (mainly) downs of 2024 and discuss reasons to be hopeful about 2025.