The Ever-Increasing Foreign Ownership of Australian Agriculture

Written by: Duncan B. on 22 March 2026

 

The foreign takeover of Australia’s farmland, water and the supply chain linking farmers to consumers continues.

The Register of Foreign Ownership of Australian Assets report for 2024-25 shows that the total area of land in Australia with a component of foreign control increased in the past year from 49.12 million to 50.26 hectares as at June 30 last year. This is an increase from 12.7% of foreign-controlled land in 2023-24 to 13% in 2024-25. (Much of the land controlled by foreign interests is land leased from state or territory governments.)

The Northern Territory has the highest proportion of foreign-controlled land with 14.75 million ha or 27.8%. Tasmania comes next with 362,000 ha or 24%. The UK, China, Canada and the US are the four biggest holders of land in Australia, although Canada has the biggest share of investments in Australian agriculture measured by value.

The story is the same with water. Foreign ownership of Australian water entitlements in 2024-25 increased to over 5000GL, about 13% of the total. Canada, the US, the UK and China are the four biggest holders of Australian water, with Canada controlling 1066GL.

The supply chain which moves agricultural products from the farm gate to the consumer is also heavily foreign dominated. The dairy processing industry recently saw even greater concentration of ownership in foreign hands with the sale by New Zealand processor Fonterra of its Australian operations to French-owned Lactalis.

This leaves Lactalis and the Canadian-owned Saputo as the two major foreign players in Australian dairy processing. Bega, Norco and Bulla, plus some smaller operators are still Australian-owned.

The meat industry in Australia is dominated by Brazilian-owned JBS, and Teys Australia which is owned by the US company Cargill. Other foreign-owned companies are Chinese-owned Kilcoy Global Foods, Japan-owned NH Foods Australia, Bindaree Food Group which is 51% Hong Kong owned and Minerva Foods Australia/Australian Lamb Company which is a joint venture between Brazil-owned Minerva and the Saudi Agriculture and Livestock Investment Company.

JBS and Cargill also control a large slice of Australia’s beef feedlots where cattle are fed on grain instead of grazing in paddocks. JBS leases extensive feedlot operations from Australian company Rural Funds Group. Teys Australia has its own feedlots in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The Japanese company NH Foods Australia also has its own feedlots in Australia. Having their own feedlots enables the meat companies to secure their supply of cattle, manage risk and tighten their hold on the market through vertical integration.

Other foreign companies have interests in various areas of Australian agriculture such as Canadian-owned PSP’s investments in cotton farms and the cotton gins where the cotton is processed.

Australian workers, whether in the cities or the country, and farmers must unite to oppose the continuing take-over of Australia’s agriculture by foreign companies.

Learn from the revolutionary spirit of Comrade Zheng Huilu

 Written by: Xiang Guanqi on 22 March 2026

 

(Comrade Zhang Huilu - photo supplied)

We have received news of the death of a respected Chinese proletarian revolutionary, Comrade Zheng Huilu, and have sent his comrades our condolences. We provide a brief introduction to Comrade Zheng and the keynote speech at his memorial service by Comrade Xiang Guanqi – eds.

 

Brief Introduction of Comrade Zheng Huilu

Comrade Zheng Huilu was born in 1956. He was a worker at the Luoyang Mining Machinery Plant. The Luoyang Mining Machinery Plant was one of the 156 key industrial and mining projects during China's First Five-Year Plan. During the arduous pioneering years, Comrade Zheng Huilu worked tirelessly on the front lines of production, innovating production techniques alongside his fellow workers, and was repeatedly awarded the title of "Model Worker." He was laid off during the privatization reforms of state-owned enterprises in the 1990s, losing his worker status and all sources of income. Comrade Zheng Huilu long propagated Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, promoted the superiority of socialist public ownership, and led workers in a resolute struggle against the traitorous clique of revisionism with Chinese characteristics. He was detained and sentenced by the authorities multiple times. Due to a lack of income, Comrade Zheng Huilu suffered from illness without effective treatment. He persisted in the struggle despite his illness for a long time, his health deteriorated, and he passed away on the evening of March 9, 2026, at the age of 70.

Comrade Xiang Guanqi's speech

Today, March 18th, is the day the heroes of the Paris Commune bravely seized power through an armed uprising. This day was designated a revolutionary holiday for the proletariat during the lifetime of Marx and Engels. Every year on this day, workers around the world take to the streets to commemorate the revolutionary martyrs, learn from them, and declare to the old capitalist world that although the heroes of the Paris Commune have fallen, the revolutionary cause of the proletariat has not fallen, and the sons and daughters of the Paris Commune heroes will inherit the revolutionary principles of the Paris Commune and carry the proletarian communist revolution through to the end.

Where there is struggle, there will be sacrifice; the fruits of revolutionary victory have always been nurtured and cultivated by the blood of martyrs. Since the Paris Commune, for over a century, countless heroic sons and daughters of the proletariat have sacrificed their lives for the happiness of future generations, both during the revolutionary journey and amidst gunfire. They fell bravely, but it was their sacrifice that brought about social progress. Therefore, they deserve to be forever remembered and commemorated by the living. Today, another dear comrade and comrade-in-arms has fallen—Comrade Zheng Huilu.

Comrade Zheng Huilu has passed away forever. Today, we bid farewell to Comrade Huilu with heavy hearts.

In his famous speech "Serve the People" in remembrance of Comrade Zhang Side, Chairman Mao said, "Everyone must die, but the meaning of death varies. The ancient Chinese writer Sima Qian said, 'Death is inevitable for everyone, but its weight can be heavier than Mount Tai or lighter than a feather.' To die for the people's interests is heavier than Mount Tai; to die for the fascists, for those who exploit and oppress the people, is lighter than a feather. Comrade Zhang Side died for the people's interests; his death is heavier than Mount Tai." (Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 3, p. 954.) Chairman Mao's words can be applied to all revolutionary martyrs, and today, they can also be fully applied to Comrade Zheng Huilu. Comrade Zheng Huilu died for the people's interests; his death is heavier than Mount Tai.

Moreover, we should also recognize that Comrade Zheng Huilu was a new hero of the times, emerging in a new historical era and a new class struggle. As we have witnessed firsthand, Comrade Zheng Huilu stepped forward and fought and sacrificed for the people's interests under the even more arduous and difficult historical conditions of revisionism coming to power, capitalist restoration, and the implementation of a fascist bourgeois dictatorship. This makes his sacrifice all the more commendable and further highlights his nobility and greatness!

Comrade Zheng Huilu was Chairman Mao's loyal and outstanding student and fighter! He was a shining representative of the contemporary Chinese working class! He was a shining representative of the true Communists of contemporary China! He was a shining representative of the proletarian revolutionary fighters who bravely devoted themselves to the socialist re-revolution in contemporary China!

For 50 years since revisionism came to power, Comrade Zheng Huilu has fought for 50 years. Whether at the Luoyang Mining Machinery Plant, at Zhouwangcheng Square in Luoyang, or throughout the country, wherever there was struggle, there was Comrade Zheng Huilu. I was fortunate enough to fight alongside Comrade Huilu. He was ill and poor, but he always fought bravely on the front lines. This moved us all and became a role model for us all.

At this moment, as Comrade Zheng Huilu departs from us forever, we feel even more deeply that we must learn from and inherit his revolutionary spirit. Revolution, any revolution, especially a proletarian socialist revolution, always unfolds in the form of a mass movement. Without a mass movement, there is no revolution; and to unleash the revolutionary storm of a mass movement, it requires the masses to rise up and take revolutionary action. Merely talking and being a mere armchair revolutionary will not ignite a mass revolutionary movement. The Internationale sings "Arise!", the National Anthem sings "Arise!", and Chairman Mao taught us that rebellion is justified. Once the masses rise up, things become easier. All of this repeatedly affirms the truth of the proletarian socialist revolution. Comrade Zheng Huilu is a shining example standing before our broad masses of working people, a shining example of someone who devoted himself to the struggle against revisionism and restoration through concrete actions! Everyone often recites a quote from our revolutionary mentor: "Without revolutionary theory, there will be no revolutionary movement." However, let us not forget that revolutionary theory alone is still insufficient for a revolutionary movement. Only when the masses grasp revolutionary theory and are determined to put it into practice will there be a revolutionary movement. The exemplary significance of Comrade Zheng Huilu lies precisely here. Comrade Zheng Huilu had faith and theory, but more importantly, he never detached himself from the real struggle, always devoting himself wholeheartedly and selflessly to it. He consistently followed Chairman Mao's instructions, taking class struggle and the struggle over the political line as the guiding principles, drawing a clear line between himself and the "saving and protecting" faction that "only opposed corrupt officials, not the emperor," and bravely standing on the front line of class struggle. Therefore, he suffered the most severe persecution under the fascist dictatorship! He fought to his last breath in poverty and illness. As we mourn Comrade Zheng Huilu today, the most important and unforgettable thing is to learn from and inherit his spirit of truly engaging in class struggle, striving to launch a revolutionary storm across the country as soon as possible against the bureaucratic monopoly capitalism that practices fascist bourgeois dictatorship. Following Chairman Mao's line and strategy, we must bombard the bourgeois headquarters, seize back the power usurped by the bourgeoisie within the Party, and comfort Chairman Mao and the revolutionary martyrs, including Comrade Zheng Huilu, with the great victory of the Chinese socialist re-revolution.

Comrade Zheng Huilu left us with a tragic heart, not living to see the day of victory. As his comrades and comrades-in-arms, while deeply mourning him, we must seriously consider how we should take the red flag of revolution from his hands and continue the struggle. Moreover, we must first consider why, for so long, we have not been able to defeat the bureaucratic monopoly capitalism that practices fascist bourgeois dictatorship, or even achieve a large-scale victory across the country.

Workers' struggles in Australia intensify - make the rich pay

Written by: Ned K. on 20 March 2026

 

(Two days after this was taken and diesel is up to $3 per litre.  Photo supplied)

The US imperialist war of aggression in the Middle East is impacting on workers' lives in Australia. The most obvious impact is the rising price of fuel which in turn is leading to rising prices of everyday goods. 

The Reserve Bank chipped in by lifting interest rates to 4.1% which the big four Banks seized as an opportunity for squeezing workers even more by raising their interest rates to about 6.5%. 

The Albanese Government’s automatic reaction to support Trump's war on Iran is coming back to bite them, with Treasurer Chalmers telegraphing a tough budget (for working people) in May and language similar to Keating's "the recession we had to have".

Alarm bells are ringing in the ACTU as they realize that to maintain credibility with union members, they will have to put up a show at the Fair Work Commission for an "above inflation" wage rise at the National Wage Case held in April- May. The ACTU have put out an online request for union members to express their view about the need for an "above inflation" wage rise to apply in minimum rates Awards from 1 July 2026.

Workers who are employed under Enterprise Agreements continue to use the very limited "protected industrial action" provisions of the Fair Work Act to win real wage increases. In recent weeks this has included strike action by hundreds of Casino workers at Crown Casino and action by Queensland public sector workers against attempts by the Queensland Government to cut wages.

In the pipeline, workers in dairy food manufacturing are getting organized to protect and extend incomes by aligning Enterprise Agreement expiring dates so they can unite as an industry through a multi-employer agreement. BHP workers most of whom are FIFO workers will be "greeting" the new BHP CEO with united action to ensure real wage increases.

The working class will always find a way to resist attempts by imperialism and its parliamentary governments to make workers take a hit for imperialism's economic crises exacerbated by imperialist wars. 

 

ICOR Statement: The U.S.’s Murderous Oil Embargo Against Cuba

Written by: ICOR on 20 March 2026

 

(Cubans rally to defend national sovereignty.   Source: Granma)

Even as revolutionaries around the world are currently focused on monitoring and fighting the bloody war of aggression waged by the U.S. and Israel against Iran, they must not lose sight of the grave situation in Cuba. 

Through a Trump executive order, the U.S. has imposed a total blockade on oil supplies and is threatening any country that attempts to supply oil to Cuba with heavy punitive tariffs.

 

This provocation continues the long history of aggression and blockades that U.S. imperialism has waged since the victory of the revolution in 1959. But now this has been formalized within the framework of the National Security Strategy with the “Trump Corollary”, immediately following its announcement in the criminal attack on Venezuela on January 3. It resulted in more than 100 deaths and the kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Congresswoman Cilia Flores.

 

This attack has blockaded Venezuela and placed its oil under imperialist control, preventing it from continuing supplies to Cuba.

 

U.S. imperialism under the government of the fascist Trump is shifting from a trade war to what it calls “enforcing peace through violence.” In doing so, it intervenes in sovereign states and ultimately intensifies the oppression of peoples and threatens them, particularly in Latin America and the Caribbean, which it regards as a key region in the struggle for supremacy with China. Conflicts and flashpoints are increasing worldwide. This is part of the intensification of inter-imperialist contradictions in the struggle for hegemony. Capitalism, in its imperialist stage, can no longer exist without aggression and war.

In light of this grave situation of new restrictions that Cuba is facing—which have already led to a humanitarian crisis affecting not only production and transportation but also the health of the population—the greatest active solidarity from the international working class and the peoples of the world is required.

 

For we are confronting fascism in the U.S. itself and in an increasing number of countries, and the dangers of a new world war are intensifying.

 

Long live internationalist solidarity!

The Cuban people are not alone!

Yankees out of Latin America and the Middle East!

No to fascism and No to imperialist war!

Against capitalist-imperialist barbarism—let us intensify the struggle for socialism!

 

An addendum to the Monroe Doctrine, which states that the U.S. will prevent non-hemispheric competitors—particularly China and Russia—from owning or controlling strategically significant assets such as ports, telecommunications networks, energy facilities, raw materials, and resources in the Western Hemisphere.

 

Status of the signatories 19.03.2026. Further signatures possible. Current list of signatories at www.icor.info:

1. PCPCI   Parti Communiste Proletarien de Côte d'Ivoire (Proletarian Communist Party of Ivory Coast)

2. ORC   Organisation Révolutionnaire du Congo (Revolutionary Organization of Congo), Democratic Republic of the Congo

3. UPC-Manidem   Union des Populations du Cameroun - Manifeste National pour l’Instauration de la Démocratie (Union of Populations of Cameroon - National Manifesto for the Establishment of Democracy)

4. CPSA (ML)   Communist Party of South Africa (Marxist-Leninist)

5. PCT   Parti Comuniste du Togo (Communist Party of Togo)

6. NCP (Mashal)   Nepal Communist Party (Mashal)

7. RUFN   Revolutionary United Front of Nepal

8. CPA/ML   Communist Party of Australia (Marxist-Leninist)

9. БКП   Българска Комунистическа Партия (Bulgarian Communist Party)

10. PR-ByH   Partija Rada - ByH (Party of Labor - Bosnia and Herzegovina)

11. MLPD   Marxistisch-Leninistische Partei Deutschlands (Marxist-Leninist Party of Germany)

12. UPML   Union Prolétarienne Marxiste-Léniniste (Marxist-Leninist Proletarian Union), France

13. BP (NK-T)   Bolşevik Parti (Kuzey Kürdistan-Türkiye) (Bolshevik Party (North Kurdistan-Turkey))

14. KOL   Kommunistische Organisation Luxemburg (Communist Organization of Luxemburg)

15. RM   Rode Morgen (Red Dawn), Netherlands

16. UMLP   União Marxista-Leninista Portuguesa (Portuguese Marxist-Leninist Union)

17. MLGS   Marxistisch-Leninistische Gruppe Schweiz (Marxist-Leninist Group of Switzerland)

18. TKP-ML   Türkiye Komünist Partisi – Marksist-Leninist (Communist Party of Turkey – Marxist-Leninist)

19. PCP (independiente)   Partido Comunista Paraguayo (independiente) (Paraguayan  Communist Party (independent))

20. PC (ML)   Partido Comunista (Marxista Leninista) (Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist)), Dominican Republic

21. PCR-U   Partido Comunista Revolucionario del Uruguay (Revolutionary Communist Party of Uruguay)

22. SUCI (C)   Socialist Unity Center of India (Communist)

23. Chinese Communists (MLM)   Chinese Communists (Marxist Leninist Maoist)

Reflections on the movement to oppose the war against Iran

Written by: Louisa L, and Nick G. on 22 March 2026

 

(NSW rally against Iran war - photo supplied)

US imperialism is the greatest enemy of the world’s peoples. We hail the heroic Iranian people in their struggle to defeat it. A second enemy, acting in concert with US imperialism, is Israeli Zionism. Netanyahu and others in the Zionist leadership are openly committed to the goal of Greater Israel, which includes expansion into and occupation of parts or all of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait. 

The Iranian government and military, and Hezbollah in Lebanon, have inflicted huge blows on both aggressors in the face of horrific carnage. Palestinians have not been defeated. Despite the carnage, neither Hamas nor the two main Palestinian liberation fronts have been destroyed; Hezbollah still exists and is fighting back, and the Houthis remain a potentially powerful player.

On January 17, when large numbers of Iranians had taken to the streets to protest the regime, and were bloodily suppressed, we released a statement that “supports the right of the Iranian people to rebel against the country’s theocratic dictatorship”.

We said: “We support the demands of the progressive elements: 
 
• Oppose any foreign interference in Iran, especially from US and Israel  
• Oppose the Islamic Republic of Iran 
• Defend imprisoned politicians and stop the killings”

The attacks launched by the US imperialists and the Israeli Zionists on February 28 represented a qualitative change in the Iranian situation, and hence in our demands.

The second slogan, “Oppose the Islamic Republic of Iran” was no longer appropriate. Not only was there no organised force within Iran capable of defeating it following the February 28 US-Israeli aggression, but the main task now was also the defeat of that aggression. The Iranian people still have their own independent and just demands which would strengthen the masses and the united front within Iran and the diaspora. They must determine the best way forward in a complex situation.

Heal divisions within the diaspora

Several weeks ago, an Iranian anti-imperialist protest outside the US embassy in Sydney was drowned out by a counter demonstration shouting their love and thanks to Trump and the US.  Israel’s flags were carried by some.

Divisions within the diaspora grew as others also previously imprisoned and tortured in Iran have made clear the key principal contradiction is with the US imperialist regime’s attacks on Iran.  

Reality has made clear there can be no talk at this time of overthrowing the Iranian government which is standing firm against US and Zionist bombardment, as it had previously done with its support for the Palestinians and Lebanon.

On Saturday 14th March a protest organised by the Sydney Anti-AUKUS coalition, the MC demanded an Iranian flag be removed. Rightly, that demand was refused. An Iranian woman who denounced the repressive actions of the Iranian government was drowned out, the microphone removed, and a sea of Iranian flags were raised, alongside placards of Ayatollah Khamenei. Contradictory emotions and demands within the diaspora are to be expected. There must be unity around opposition to imperialism and Zionism and opposing views accommodated and respected. A thousand-strong march spontaneously took to the streets chanting an end to US imperialism, declaring support for Iran, for Palestine, for Lebanon.

In the leadup to the US/Israel attacks some communists, leftists and women activists whose family or themselves had been tortured and imprisoned in Iran, called for the overthrow of the Iranian government alongside opposition to US imperialism. In speeches and in writing, our party had shown sympathy with them.  

US imperialism motivated by rivalry with Russia and China

(NSW rally against Iran war - photo supplied)

The assassination of Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, after the US unilaterally ended peace negotiations, is yet another US war crime among millions across the world since World War Two and even earlier.

A crony capitalist US President, who enriches himself and his family directly from government decisions, escalates the US imperialist rampage around the world. 

US imperialism has its own reasons for acting in concert with the Zionist mass murderer Netanyahu. It aims to weaken the influence of rival imperialisms, Russian and Chinese, in the Middle East and specifically in Iran, a full member of BRICS. 

So arrogant are Trump’s mobsters, they made minimal attempts to prepare the ground for the attack with lies and deceit. They quickly dumped the pretence they were liberating the Iranian people. Their disgusting enjoyment of the war, their trashing of rules of war, limited though they are, and sinking of a non-combatant Iranian Navy vessel and abandonment of drowning sailors has alarmed many in the Australian military, particularly in the navy.

Then came denials, and proclaimed ignorance in the face of mass murder of school children.

The US ruling class is divided, with only the military corporations, oil industry and Trump’s CR cronies fully on side. His director of the US National Counterterrorism Centre, Joe Kent, resigned several days ago, saying that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.” A day or so later, Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence prepared a written statement for a US Senate hearing which said Iran's nuclear enrichment program had been "obliterated" in 2025 strikes, and that the regime had not resumed enrichment activities. 

Trump’s actions have continued to undermine worldwide US alliances with Europe and NATO and much of the rest of the world. 

Iran’s justified retaliation against US military bases in neighbouring countries, has shown the danger of allowing the 750 US bases worldwide, with around 40 in Australia, to operate. We demand removal of those targets from our soil.

The US seems incapable of winning this war. Our party and its spokespeople rightly say we must fight US imperialism here. The period of despondency that followed the Zionist counter attack after the Bondi terrorist attack is being cast aside. 

More and more people understand the cost of living crisis is exacerbated by this war, that it's leading to recession and even an economic depression. Even rationing of some critical commodities seems likely. 

Most Australians can currently cope, but the scale of price rises is shocking. A significant and growing section of our peoples cannot pay the rent or mortgages, or feed and clothe their families. They cannot afford petrol to travel to and from work. Public education and health are undermined. 

We also demand an end to price gouging. We target the giant corporations that control our economy.

While the Federal Government promises to maintain military spending, which has zero to do with defending this country or its peoples, it promises cuts to spending. Where else can these cuts come from, but the basic needs of the people? 

In struggle, we must deepen people’s understanding of what US imperialism means for Australia and its peoples. It’s urgent. 

Our Party places its trust in the masses of the Australian people of all races, ages and religions. Our task is to build the struggle. Serve the People. 

Cut military spending! Remove US military bases. End US domination of Australia.

 

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Book Review: If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies: The Case Against Superintelligent AI by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares

Written by: Alex M and Duncan B on 13 March 2026

 

The tech billionaires, Musk, Altmann and others are locked in a race to build Artificial General Intelligence, otherwise known as Superintelligent AI. These are machines that surpass human brainpower. So far no one has got there yet. With the current rate of development of AI, and the billions of dollars being thrown at AI, it may not be long until Superintelligent AI is a reality.

There is a spectrum of views about Superintelligent AI. Its promoters say that Superintelligent AI is wonderful and will save humanity. Its opponents take the “Doomsday view” that Superintelligent AI will destroy humanity. 

The authors of this book, Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares are both firmly in the “Doomsday” camp. They were both involved in working to develop Superintelligent AI until they came to realise the dangers it poses. 

They could not put their fears any more bluntly than in the introduction to the book when they say “If any company or group anywhere on the planet, builds an artificial superintelligence using anything remotely like current techniques, based on anything remotely like the present understanding of AI, then everyone, everywhere on earth will die.

We may laugh at this prediction. The authors paint scenarios of how   Superintelligent AI could start thinking for itself and escape human control and eventually wipe out humans. 

This may seem far- fetched, but when we look at the character of the people like Musk who are developing Superintelligent AI, in a USA run by Trump, we can’t have any confidence that they will care about the consequences of Superintelligent AI, as long as they are the first to build it. 

Last year we reviewed Empire of AI, which told how people like Sam Altman brushed aside the concerns about the safety of AI which the safety teams of their companies raised. The attitude was “be first in the race for AI and sort the bugs and problems out later.”

The authors are adamant that joint international action must be taken to shut down all attempts to build Superintelligent AI everywhere in the world. They want the great powers of the US, UK, Russia and China to take the lead in preventing the development of Superintelligent AI. 

We can’t see this happening. No country will want to be left behind in the AI race. We have also seen how Trump, egged on by the tech billionaires, reacts to attempts by any country to impose any sort of controls on AI. This is seen as an attack on American sovereignty, and Trump threatens retaliation against any country which tries to regulate the tech billionaires.

                                                *****************************
Duncan B has admirably summed up the central thesis of Yudkowsky’s and Soares’s book. The book has attracted quite a bit of attention because the authors are relentless in hammering home their doomsday scenario. That is, the development of Superintelligent AI will be apocalyptic for humanity. 

It is interesting that quite a number of people appear to have been swayed by Yudkowsky’s and Soares’s arguments in the book, if the endorsements on the book’s fly are any indication. The reason why I point this out is that their arguments are not well handled, relying on assertion and a number of analogies and hypothetical scenarios that reinforce their message but do not necessarily persuade a more skeptical/critical person. Being disturbed about the doom-laden viewpoint and not entirely convinced by how the two writers set out their ‘stall’, so to speak, I sought out online reviews of If Anyone Builds It… and found one particular review which really got to grips with the book’s inadequacies.

Will Macaskill writing in a post on his Substack site ‘Both/And’ reviewing If Anyone Builds It… gets stuck in straight away: 

I thought that “If anyone builds it, everyone dies”, by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares, was disappointing, relying on weak arguments around the evolution analogy, an implicit assumption of a future discontinuity in AI progress, conflation of ‘misalignment’ with ‘catastrophic misalignment’. I think that their positive proposal is not good .

I had hoped to read a Yudkowsky-Soares worldview that has had meaningful updates in light of the latest developments in ML and AI safety, and that has meaningfully engaged with the scrutiny their older arguments received. I did not get that. (1)

Macaskill criticizes the use made of evolution as an analogy for the development of Superintelligent AI by Yudkowsky and Soares. While there is some merit in using evolution as an explanatory tool to help laypeople understand how the training of AI works, there are problems with the analogy. One of the problems Macaskill highlights is the fact ‘that evolution wasn’t trying, in any meaningful sense, to produce beings that maximise inclusive genetic fitness in off distribution environments. But we will be doing the equivalent of that!’ Here Macaskill is referring to the drive to produce Superintelligent AI, where tech companies are actively trying to bring into being this product. The analogy thus falls down.

Turning now to the discontinuity in AI progress that Macaskill identifies in If Anyone Builds It… In their book, Yudkowsky and Soares posit a hypothetical scenario where there is a sudden overnight leap in intelligence which comes about when AI is used extensively to develop Superintelligent AI. Such an overnight leap in capacity will necessarily mean it will be too late for humanity to ‘align’ the new AGI to human values. Macaskill argues that the discontinuity in AI progress exemplified here overstates the rapidity of the process of development which may be very fast but not as a ‘sudden, sharp, large leap…’ 

Aligning Superintelligent AI to human values for Yudkowsky and Soares is an impossibility and therefore we must stop any attempts to build it. Macaskill argues that their views on the alignment question are flawed. Yudkowsky and Soares at times conflate ‘imperfect alignment’ (where the AI doesn’t always try to do what the developer/user intended it to do), with ‘catastrophic misalignment’ (where the AI tries hard to disempower all humanity, insofar as it has the opportunity). For Macaskill here is another example of Yudkowsky’s and Soares’s tendency to invoke the ‘discontinuous jump to godlike capabilities idea’ which is a feature of their approach in the book.

It is useful to highlight Macaskill’s critique of If Anyone Builds It… because it validates both what myself and Duncan B initially thought about the book. It is not well argued; relies on some flawed analogies and assertions; and offers up a possible solution which as Duncan B suggested above is not likely to ever be implemented.

The development of Superintelligent AI, like AI in general is in the hands of predominantly US based tech billionaires. They have a massive vested interest in pushing these products down our throats, which have caused and will continue to cause job losses across the globe. Other pernicious effects have arisen, such as deep fake porn, scams, heightened surveillance, and the targeting and killing of civilians in conflict zones. Now there is the possibility of the end of humanity courtesy of artificial superintelligence. As Nick Estes so eloquently put it when recently referring to the morass engulfing the US in the light of the Epstein scandal, and which I argue also holds for the current AI era, we are witnessing ‘… the moral pathology of capitalism in its decadent phase and the morbid symptoms of imperial decline.’ (2)

The only solution remains socialist revolution.

(1) https://willmacaskill.substack.com/p/a-short-review-of-if-anyone-builds accessed 10 March 2026

(2) https://nickestes.substack.com/morbid-symptoms  accessed 7 March 2026

Solidarity with the Revolutionary Socialists in Turkey

 Written by: ICOR on 12 March 2026

 

(Source: Instagram youngstruggle_europe )

The International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organisations (ICOR) has taken up the case of the latest victims of repression inside Turkey. We reprint a call from ICOR for solidarity with the arrested activists - eds

On February 3, 2025, the Turkish state carried out a large-scale wave of arrests targeting numerous revolutionary forces. Among those arrested were representatives of the Socialist Party of the Oppressed (ESP), the Limter-Is Port Workers’ Union, the Central Workers’ Movement (BIH), the Beksav Cultural Center, the environmental organization Polen Ekoloji, the youth organization SGDF, and journalists from the ETHA news agency. A total of 82 people were taken into custody. This state attack is yet another attempt to silence antifascist and revolutionary forces in Turkey and suppress resistance against the fascist regime under the AKP and MHP.

What is particularly striking is the fact that while the state is negotiating with Abdullah Öcalan for the disarmament of the Kurdish movement, with no substantial progress made in the national question or democratic reforms, the repression against antifascist forces, even the bourgeois opposition, continues to escalate. A particularly notable example is the persecution of Istanbul's opposition CHP mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, whose arrest in March 2025 led to large scale mass mobilizations.

The repression against the ESP, which has positioned itself critically towards the current political process and is actively mobilizing against the NATO summit in Ankara in July 2025, is meant to serve as a warning to any antifascist and anti-imperialist forces in the country. Despite the repressive measures, the comrades of the ESP have shown their militant stance and moral strength in court as they resisted fascist pressures.

These arrests and persecutions are just the beginning of a series of repressive measures that will be taken against all antifascist forces and political resistance in the country. A new generation of fascist jurists is already in office, with the new Minister of Justice, Akin Gürlek, acting strictly according to political orders and already planning significant restrictions on the rights of lawyers.

While the AKP once faced the threat of being banned as a party and vehemently opposed such repression at times, it now seeks to de facto eliminate any parties that oppose the fascism.

Worldwide, repression against revolutionary and antifascist forces is growing, accompanied by the rise of fascism and the threat of imperialist wars. Reports of similar repressive measures are emerging from countries such as Cameroon, India, and Nepal. In light of this international development, international solidarity becomes even more important. The experiences of resistance and international solidarity are invaluable, and we must build upon them.

In this critical situation, ICOR is calling for a comprehensive solidarity campaign for the revolutionary socialists in Turkey.

 

 

Anti-War Protestors Invade Premier Malinauskas' Electoral Office

 Written by: Max O. on 9 March 2026

 

(Photo supplied)

Campaigning in the South Australian 2026 state election is well underway. Anti-war protestors have their own thoughts on what should be on the campaign agenda. They decided to focus on a number of electoral seats that host industrial military complexes in Adelaide/Kaurna Yerta.

Premier Malinauskas, who holds the seat of Croydon, is also the Minister for Defence and Space Industries. Lucy Hood, Minister for Climate, Environment and Water, whose seat of Adelaide hosts Lot 14—a hub that houses the Australian Space Agency and a number of other military research-related corporations and start-ups—Boeing Defence, and the Defence SA office in the CBD.

On 4th March, anti-war protestors from Disrupt Arms Traders, IPAN-SA (Independent & Peaceful Australia Network - South Australia), and PACOA (Port Adelaide Community Opposes AUKUS) took their no-war message to the electoral offices of Malinauskas and Hood.

Just before these campaigners occupied the office foyers, they forewarned the media of their intentions. Half of the protestors entered the building while the other half stood outside displaying banners to passing traffic.

Once inside Premier Malinauskas' office foyer, they delivered a letter opposing the transformation of South Australia into a war base to serve US imperialism's aggression in East Asia. They then proceeded to occupy the foyer, chanting anti-war slogans and criticising the premier's fawning over US weapons corporations to the staff.

Channel 7 TV arrived at Malinauskas' office and interviewed a representative of the protestors, who pointed out the dangers of AUKUS and the numerous US and UK weapons manufacturers in the state, such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, and BAE. The protest was televised that night on the evening news (see our Facebook page for March 5).

Afterwards, the anti-war protestors repeated the action at Lucy Hood's office in Prospect. This action caught the Labor Party and electoral staff off guard, leaving them somewhat flummoxed and embarrassed to have to deal with the protestors.

Overseas war profiteers in South Australia have become one of the biggest industries in the state. The anti-war protestors threatened to repeat this kind of action at other electoral offices in the future.

Malinauskas’ key agency is Defence SA, which rolls out the red carpet to weapons makers. He wants a weapons export economy, no matter what it takes and what gets destroyed as a result of the weapons exported from South Australia.

Exporting parts for F35s, guided missiles, and cyber warfare technology—used to destroy and kill—is all fine according to "Weapons Pete." Hey, he’ll even throw in a government grant or two to help global weapons makers. As long as there’s a shiny photo opportunity, he’ll be there.

Malinauskas' obsession with AUKUS puts him on a par with Marles and Albanese. When the US directs, they jump. Malinauskas is so obsessed with AUKUS that he has given global arms dealers access to our entire education system to spread their propaganda to youngsters in our schools.

The significance of Diego Garcia for the US

 Written by: (Contributed) on 8 March 2026

 

(Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/)

As the Starmer government in the UK continues to dither about honouring a high-level diplomatic agreement with Mauritius concerning the sovereignty of Diego Garcia, the status of the joint US-UK base that exists there has been shown to have caused some difficulties in US-UK relations.

The UK government initially refused Trump’s request to use its military bases in support of the war with Iran. But on 1 March, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced he would, after all, permit the use of the UK’s overseas base on Diego Garcia. This is to be limited to ‘defensive’ action against missiles and drones based in Iran. This limited concession was reportedly negotiated with Washington, in accordance with London’s view on the legal issues involved.

Starmer’s vacillations led Trump to sledge him as “not a Winston Churchill”.

Concerns about Diego Garcia are regarded as sensitive.

The main reason of concern remains the changing nature of UK relations with the US and the failure of the Trump administration to access reliable intelligence assessments about China's diplomacy in the wider Indo-Pacific and Africa, and then act accordingly

In 2022, the British government began negotiations with their counterparts in Mauritius about the sovereignty of Diego Garcia, following a legal ruling by the International Court of Justice three years earlier that the UK should relinquish one of their last remaining colonial acquisitions. It was eventually resolved that Britain would transfer sovereignty of the tiny land-mass strategically placed in the centre of the vast Indian Ocean and also pay Mauritius $190 million a year for long-term rental. The finance was accompanied with strings to safeguard US and British interests.

It was acknowledged in official communiques that the reasoning behind the decision taken by Whitehall was that the proposal would guarantee western control of Diego Garcia, for example, against a backdrop of increasing competition from China.

In a manner similar to other geo-strategic outposts, Mauritius is regarded as a 'swing state' in competition between the US-led foreign policy and China. (1)

The arrangement between Britain and Mauritius did not include an established timeframe, although was generally acknowledged to be important after the official diplomatic signing last year. Since that time, however, the matter has continually been pushed down foreign policy agendas by the Starmer government in Westminster. The British are well-known for such delaying tactics although Starmer has already been openly criticised by members of his own Labour Party as not even possessing the suitable qualities of an M.P., let alone Prime Minister; he is a puppet. He remains, for example, part of an elite patronage system based on Leeds University and considered by those controlling class and state power to be a safe player for defending traditional British interests. Social change and traditional Labour politics is not an agenda item for the Starmer government despite it possessing a huge parliamentary majority. Social democracy has taken on a different meaning with Starmer.

The Starmer government remains, nevertheless, quite content to merely manage vast bureaucracies converging upon Whitehall, staffed by grey-flannelled faceless wonders serving patronage systems, designed to block any social change. The politics department at Leeds University produced vast numbers of such people. They look after each other well.

Recent dithering by the Starmer government over decisions about Diego Garcia remain, therefore, just one point of consideration. There are numerous other examples.

Behind the scenes, Diego Garcia has a chequered history; its strategic significance for US defence and security provision has been a central factor of consideration since the 1970s.

While falling into the hands of British colonial control in centuries past, Diego Garcia was forcibly cleared of its population during the 1960s and early 1970s and subsequently leased to the US for basing a highly sensitive intelligence facility, as part of a global network.

The intelligence facilities became fully operational in March 1973, linked into a global network and arc which included counterparts based at Silvermine in Apartheid South Africa, Abu Masa in Iran, Kagnew in Ethiopia, Subic Bay in the Philippines and Pine Gap in central Australia. (2) The diplomatic alliance between Australia and the US is primarily focussed upon the long-term and continued viability of Pine Gap.   

Silvermine, moreover, was also the strategic link into a wider intelligence-gathering facilities, including NATO and the Southern Ocean Defence Plan, guaranteeing the Pentagon with defence and security provision spanning the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans. (3) The stated range of the Silvermine facilities reached Argentina to Bangladesh, northern Africa to Antarctica. (4)

Mauritius was also an important player in the intelligence network, being the main conduit through which telecommunications were channelled directly from Diego Garcia to Whitehall. (5) Similar to provisions for the Pentagon used facilities based in Puerto Rica. (6)

Since 1973, the US intelligence facilities based on Diego Garcia have been subject to continual upgrading. They now have the status of a military hub for operations, with a similar counterpart based in Guam in the Pacific, swinging on an arc from Pine Gap. (7) They, furthermore, use facilities based at Darwin Harbour as a support centre for regional and other deployments. (8)

What, however, has shaken US foreign policy considerations is the rapid rise of China as a serious competitor to traditional US-led hegemonic positions. In fact, a US congressional committee found the US were no longer the dominant power in the Pacific, nearly a decade ago; it has far-reaching implications for the use of Guam as a military hub for operations. (9) Pentagon intelligence assessments have, therefore, shifted toward the continued viability of Diego Garcia as the military hub for operations in the Indian Ocean. The outcome was the proposed agreement between the UK and Mauritius.

Coinciding with the findings of the US congressional committee, a military intelligence research finding drew attention to China's increasing role in the Indo-Pacific and Africa. (10) It was recommended that the US, therefore, should expand and upgrade their three-tier Island Chain Theory operational in the Asia-Pacific, to a fourth and fifth chains proposed for the Indian Ocean; the facilities based on Diego Garcia were central to the proposal. (11)

And there lies the main reason for the continual dithering on the part of the Starmer government and the position of the Trump administration, which have changed their position toward the proposed agreement with Mauritius on several occasions. (12) A day after the US State Department recently agreed to accept the Mauritius agreement with Britain, for example, a personal intervention by Trump halted US support. (13)

While the continually changing US position toward the Mauritius agreement is, in part, due to the mindset and cognitive disposition of Trump, it also reveals a general failure by the US to accurately assess the nature of China's diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific and Africa, and then  create a general agreement inside the corridors of power; Washington and the Pentagon, however, appear increasingly dysfunctional. The problem starts at the top and flows in a downward direction toward lesser minions.

Elsewhere, in the Middle East, former associates and analysts employed by the Trump administration have spoken openly about how 'the president fundamentally fails to grasp' analytical and intelligence assessments. (14) There is little reflective insight in his decision-making; his closest associates, who he presumably calls upon for advice, include family real estate financiers, a dried-out alcoholic and a former heroin addict with a fourteen-year history. They are not insightful, educated people, but remain part of a coterie of intrigue.   

To date, the Starmer government have stated they will not go ahead with the Mauritius agreement without US support. It has provided a convenient cover played out by dithering and a continued sycophantic prime minister in Westminster. The puppet is squirming.

Meanwhile, the clock remains slowly ticking away with an acknowledgement that, 'Diego Garcia … allows the US to project power across a vast part of the region and is seen as increasingly strategic at a time when a more assertive China is rivalling US influence in the Indo-Pacific, including a close relationship with Mauritius'. (15) No ambiguity.

The implications for the US failing to act accordingly are potentially far-reaching.

A former advisor to the Starmer government has already been quoted, for example, stating, 'it was pressure from the Biden administration that helped push the UK to strike the deal … giving sovereignty to Mauritius would help US and British interests by preventing the island from allying long-term with China'. (16) Political expedience was the order of the day.

The Trump administration, however, appear to see the world rather differently. That is, if they see it at all. They appear oblivious. The government of Mauritius together with a number of influential international bodies, nevertheless, have already stated that honouring the agreement 'is the only way to ensure the long-term security of the base'. (17)  

1.     Chagos deal halt to pacify Trump, Australian, 27 February 2026.
2.     Essential instruments of US strategy, two new gendarmes: Iran and South Africa, Le Monde Diplomatique, December 1976.
3.     Maritime Operational and Communications Headquarters, The Star (South Africa), 10 March 1973; and, Silvermine Communications Centre, Signals Units of the South African Corps of Signals and related services, Walter Volker, (Pretoria, 2010), page 609; and, Not in Europe Alone, John Biggs-Davison, M.P., Brassey's Annual: Defence and the Armed Forces, 1972, pp. 78-89, which states: “Australia is one of three A's of the southern ocean defence system … the other two being South Africa and Argentina” (page 87).
4.     Star, ibid.
5.     Security in the mountain, The Star (South Africa), 17 March 1973.
6.     Ibid.
7.     See: US intensifies military presence in Indo-Pacific, The Global Times (Beijing), 24 July 2018.
8.     Ibid.
9.     Study: US no longer dominant power in the Pacific, Paul D. Shinkman, Information Clearing House, 22 August 2019.
10.   See: China's reach has grown, Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, 22 October 2018.
11.   Ibid.
12.   Chagos deal, Australian, op.cit., 27 February 2026.
13.   Ibid.
14.   Iran 'ready to spill American blood – even at huge cost', Australian, 27 February 2026.
15.   Chagos deal, Australian, op.cit., 27 February 2026.
16.   Ibid.
17.   Ibid.