Tag: corporate power

Editorial illustration of corporate and political figures examining a glowing global gas map that is cracking into flames, while shadowed civilians stand in the background.

The Seduction of Simple Answers

A seductive theory claims the US-Israel war on Iran is driven by LNG profits. It sounds convincing. It is also wrong. When examined closely, the market logic collapses, leaving behind a far messier and more dangerous reality.

Construction workers at a union rally — the CFMEU has faced decades of political and media campaigns despite winning better wages and safety conditions for Australian builders.

The Perennial Persecution of the CFMEU: Demonisation as a Defence of Power

For thirty years, Australia’s most powerful construction union has served as a moral punching bag for the nation’s political and media establishment. Every few years another “reckoning” arrives: a Royal Commission, a regulator’s dawn raid, a media exposé discovering organised crime in high-vis. Each time, … Continue reading The Perennial Persecution of the CFMEU: Demonisation as a Defence of Power

CAUGHT IN THE CRUNCH: The Surveillance State Comes to Your Local Supermarket

Walk into any Coles outlet today and you’re not just buying milk. You’re feeding a surveillance machine processing 10 billion rows of data through Peter Thiel’s Palantir Technologies. In early 2024, Coles signed a deal to deploy Palantir’s “Foundry” platform across more than 840 stores, analysing every transaction, every worker’s movement, every shift allocation. Workers across Victoria are monitored, with one shelf-stacker in Ballarat saying: “The computer knows where I am before my manager does.”