Stephen Wright
@mycommunistcat.bsky.social
Writer, idler, anarchist on unceded Anaiwan country. He/Him
Can be found at Overland literary journal
overland.org.au
Novel ‘A Second Life’ still available around the place
Currently asleep on a verandah
Can be found at Overland literary journal
overland.org.au
Novel ‘A Second Life’ still available around the place
Currently asleep on a verandah
We lock children up because they don't fit a white, heteronormative template of what a child should be. This is baked into transphobia, racism and a dozen other fascisms.
November 12, 2025 at 10:34 PM
We lock children up because they don't fit a white, heteronormative template of what a child should be. This is baked into transphobia, racism and a dozen other fascisms.
This is a copy of Whitlam's 1972 policy speech I found in my local 2nd hand bookshop. Its obvs meant to be read by ordinary Australians & compared to today's Labor govt Whitlam is a raging Marxist (& to left of Mamdani). Here's a short thread of policies (Non-Australians look up The Dismissal)
November 9, 2025 at 11:29 PM
This is a copy of Whitlam's 1972 policy speech I found in my local 2nd hand bookshop. Its obvs meant to be read by ordinary Australians & compared to today's Labor govt Whitlam is a raging Marxist (& to left of Mamdani). Here's a short thread of policies (Non-Australians look up The Dismissal)
Man, this whole project is so ghoulish. I'd walk barefoot over hot coals before I'd read this.
November 7, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Man, this whole project is so ghoulish. I'd walk barefoot over hot coals before I'd read this.
Seen a few 'this isn't really systemic change' takes popping up from various well-intentioned comrades. But I've long had an idea that everyone on the right is paranoid & the left chronically depressed. So, this is what the depression can look like.
November 5, 2025 at 11:18 PM
Seen a few 'this isn't really systemic change' takes popping up from various well-intentioned comrades. But I've long had an idea that everyone on the right is paranoid & the left chronically depressed. So, this is what the depression can look like.
Surprise, surprise. Ten minutes after Mamdani is elected the Guardian wonders if NYers will 'lose patience' with him.
November 5, 2025 at 3:41 AM
Surprise, surprise. Ten minutes after Mamdani is elected the Guardian wonders if NYers will 'lose patience' with him.
Sure, you could stay at the Lunatic Hotel in a silent, decaying, one-mule Australian town in the middle of nowhere. What could go wrong?
November 4, 2025 at 2:35 AM
Sure, you could stay at the Lunatic Hotel in a silent, decaying, one-mule Australian town in the middle of nowhere. What could go wrong?
You can only want to help other living things grow, if you have something alive & growing in yourself. I wouldn't say that gardening is inherently anti-capitalist - think gardening as colonisation - but it can facilitate anti-capitalist growth in someone & soften them up for the coming revolution.
November 4, 2025 at 12:00 AM
You can only want to help other living things grow, if you have something alive & growing in yourself. I wouldn't say that gardening is inherently anti-capitalist - think gardening as colonisation - but it can facilitate anti-capitalist growth in someone & soften them up for the coming revolution.
It's an inherent good to grow living things. Can you imagine Trump gardening? Netanyahu? Or Albanese or Marles? Mass graves, marble dunnies, environmental vandalism are their niche interests, consonant with the nature of capitalism as a death drive.
November 3, 2025 at 11:57 PM
It's an inherent good to grow living things. Can you imagine Trump gardening? Netanyahu? Or Albanese or Marles? Mass graves, marble dunnies, environmental vandalism are their niche interests, consonant with the nature of capitalism as a death drive.
Here in Anaiwan country it can get down to minus 5 in winter & the changes of season are really something to see. In subtropical Bundjalung country, where I gardened for years, there are basically two seasons: Extremely Wet, and Somewhat Wet. Anything will grow there & usually does.
November 3, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Here in Anaiwan country it can get down to minus 5 in winter & the changes of season are really something to see. In subtropical Bundjalung country, where I gardened for years, there are basically two seasons: Extremely Wet, and Somewhat Wet. Anything will grow there & usually does.
After years of subtropical gardening I've had to learn cold climate gardening. I've scratched my head a lot & cursed my lack of knowledge even more, but it's a lot of fun. Everyone should do it. Gardening that is, not cursing one's lack of knowledge.
November 3, 2025 at 2:07 PM
After years of subtropical gardening I've had to learn cold climate gardening. I've scratched my head a lot & cursed my lack of knowledge even more, but it's a lot of fun. Everyone should do it. Gardening that is, not cursing one's lack of knowledge.
Colonial sadism, in the form of attacks on children, looks like this. Mutatis mutandis for people policed by Centrelink, marginalised because they are Blak or queer or disabled etc.
November 3, 2025 at 8:19 AM
Colonial sadism, in the form of attacks on children, looks like this. Mutatis mutandis for people policed by Centrelink, marginalised because they are Blak or queer or disabled etc.
If you know how much Strugatsky books routinely go for, you'll know that this is an incredible bargain. Free postage too! (Yes, I bought them)
November 1, 2025 at 10:17 PM
If you know how much Strugatsky books routinely go for, you'll know that this is an incredible bargain. Free postage too! (Yes, I bought them)
The essay also has a really heart stopping ending,very powerfully addressing how so many of us struggle to think about Gaza.
October 31, 2025 at 10:16 AM
The essay also has a really heart stopping ending,very powerfully addressing how so many of us struggle to think about Gaza.
Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only.
October 23, 2025 at 7:36 AM
Who robbed the Louvre? Right answers only.
Incredible really. 'But this is the man who once took down Gerard Henderson!' Which is apparently equal to Hedges activism, radical politics/reporting. Opposite me in my local bookshop is this display of issues of Quarterly Essay. Cutting edge Australian intellectual life in one cosy image.
October 22, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Incredible really. 'But this is the man who once took down Gerard Henderson!' Which is apparently equal to Hedges activism, radical politics/reporting. Opposite me in my local bookshop is this display of issues of Quarterly Essay. Cutting edge Australian intellectual life in one cosy image.
Attenborough voice: The usual habitat of these shy creatures, rarely filmed, is the basket or discarded box. Several may use the same one at different times, from which they emerge to stalk their preferred prey such as cheese, weetbix, shadows, invisible objects & well upholstered furniture.
October 16, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Attenborough voice: The usual habitat of these shy creatures, rarely filmed, is the basket or discarded box. Several may use the same one at different times, from which they emerge to stalk their preferred prey such as cheese, weetbix, shadows, invisible objects & well upholstered furniture.
Good little rally for Palestine in Anaiwan country this arvo. Welcome to Country by local elder Uncle Steve, drawing direct line between colonisation of Palestine & so-called Australia.
October 12, 2025 at 2:40 AM
Good little rally for Palestine in Anaiwan country this arvo. Welcome to Country by local elder Uncle Steve, drawing direct line between colonisation of Palestine & so-called Australia.
This is the Guardian's Australian headline today, a desperate attempt to maintain the neoliberal status quo & rehabilitate a right-wing party that is long past its use-by date.
October 12, 2025 at 1:30 AM
This is the Guardian's Australian headline today, a desperate attempt to maintain the neoliberal status quo & rehabilitate a right-wing party that is long past its use-by date.
Its true. I can reveal that I was called into Antifa HQ today & taken into the lair of our leader, known only as The Subcomandante (seen here in black to conceal his real identity). Apparently I haven't punched enough Nazis this week. He was not pleased.
October 8, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Its true. I can reveal that I was called into Antifa HQ today & taken into the lair of our leader, known only as The Subcomandante (seen here in black to conceal his real identity). Apparently I haven't punched enough Nazis this week. He was not pleased.
Look at this wretched creature. Grubbed up half my lettuce seedlings, raided the kitchen bench to eat cheese, and continued to shred the arms of the couch. But of course, now she's 'tired' and doesn't want to talk about it.
October 2, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Look at this wretched creature. Grubbed up half my lettuce seedlings, raided the kitchen bench to eat cheese, and continued to shred the arms of the couch. But of course, now she's 'tired' and doesn't want to talk about it.
Tapping the sign for the nth time this year.
October 2, 2025 at 4:51 AM
Tapping the sign for the nth time this year.
Look, all I did was have morning tea at the 2nd hand bookshop, and check the mail when I got home. It wasn't my fault.
October 1, 2025 at 3:49 AM
Look, all I did was have morning tea at the 2nd hand bookshop, and check the mail when I got home. It wasn't my fault.