Re: AUT: parliament house & class composition [a nation of

[nik <fragments@xxxxxxxxx>]

>When I arrived things were already heating up, there seemed to be at
>least 1000 people there.
>So I must have missed some of the initial action that you saw.

ah, I could be completely wrong about the numbers. I often am.

>
>The other big thing was the confrontation between police and
>indigenous activists at Old Parliament House near the tent embassy
>the following day.

If I remember correctly, that happened again just recently (a month
or so). The powers-that-be really don't like having a visible
reminder of the indigenous dispossession on their front lawns...

Just as an aside, I've been finding the posts about the changing
configuration of class in the USA are very interesting. Australia is
changing in a slightly different way in so far as we have become
(again?) a nation of shop-keepers - 20% of the employed are small
business owners (which means everything from small factories to
corner stores to plumbers with two employees, to graphic designers
with ABN's). Which doesn't sound too significant a number, but the
dominate figure of 'the Australian polity' is that of the small
business person. And on top of that, people are taught to think of
themselves as 'individual businesses' - sell yourself, make yourself
an attractive option for employment. Add the high rates of investment
and property speculation in the general population, and you've got
the hegemonic figure that walks the myth-scape.

Are there similar changes occurring elsewhere?

nik
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