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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social

@petersmokespotkin.bsky.social
26 followers 38 following 89 posts

Anarchist Communist, unionist, very occasional writer.

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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The only thing that will hold back the surge of far right reaction is the working class itself organising and fighting for ourselves. We have to arm ourselves with information and pass it on to our fellow workers, family and friends, as well as be able to propose concrete alternatives to fascism
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LabourStart @labourstart.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
FRANCE: Unions call nationwide strikes in Novembe www.thelocal.fr/20261006/fre...
thelocal.fr
French unions call nationwide strikes in November
French unions have called for a day of cross-sector strikes and demos in November, with unions calling on workers, retirees and young people to take to the streets.
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Freedom Press @freedompress.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
French students disrupt mandatory distance learning Virtual classrooms flooded with noise and fake profiles after government shuts down schools • 5,000 arrests since Friday, police brutality nationwide Contre-Attaque 6 October 2026 freedompress.org.uk/2026/10/06/f...
freedompress.org.uk
French students disrupt mandatory distance learning - Freedom Press
Virtual classrooms flooded with noise and fake profiles after government shuts down schools • 5,000 arrests since Friday, police brutality nationwide
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
I think this happening around October 7 and getting far less coverage than the "testimony" of Israelis says a lot about media priorities. Active, ongoing genocide and ethnic cleansing vs one day of violence. 1200 vs 20 times that number ONLY COUNTING THE CHILDEN www.theguardian.com/world/2026/o...
theguardian.com
Israeli settlers beat press photographer as soldiers watch in West Bank
Jaafar Ashtiyeh was covering violence against olive farmers when settlers set upon him with the butts of their rifles
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Who are some "Pro-Palestine groups" organising these vigils? Jews Against The Occupation ‘48 - among many others organised with help of Jewish people. No coincidence that as sentiment falls solidly with Palestinian people media attempts to force a narrative www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Australian leaders condemn pro-Palestine vigils planned for 7 October anniversary amid Jewish commemorations
Peak Jewish bodies organise ceremonies on third anniversary of attacks that triggered conflict in which 74,000 Palestinians have been killed
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The word "terror/ism" usually implies the targeting of civilians, however this was (allegedly) one state currently at war with another state. Why the eagerness to repeat the term "terror" in this case, but not in the case of Gaza? I mean, we know why, but still www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
US bombers pulled from RAF Fairford base after suspected terror plot
Aircraft leave Gloucestershire base to return to US following arrest of dual British-Iranian national in central London
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
There's not enough tinfoil in the world to cover that dome The 5G must've got in!
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Literal child killers and civilian butchers couldn't stand the social isolation and poor provisions that came along with bombing schools and hospitals on the other side of the world. Spare me. Cowards hailed as heroes by a dying empire. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
Eight USS Lincoln personnel have attempted suicide, US navy confirms
Hung Cao, acting US navy secretary, answered questions from US senator Kirsten Gillibrand in a letter
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
There's something very beautiful about the dance between worker and boss. He takes down my union posters, I put them back up. He moves the roster to cover it, I move it away. We interact more through moving paper around a corkboard than in person. Which is good, because he's a gigantic twat.
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 02/09/2026
#OtD 2 Sep 1889 around 1000 workers attended a public meeting with socialist and anarchist speakers in Great Yarmouth, England. Authorities had tried to ban the meeting, and one radical was arrested and jailed. Learn more: stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9232...
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The left globally lacks the coordination and development to carry out a successful revolution that could save us. Liberalism is on the retreat, beaten out to state power by far right reaction. Regardless, we still need to strive for a better future, or there will be no future at all, for anyone.
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I'm fairly confident that the more Israeli society continues to degrade, and the more isolated and authoritarian the Israeli state becomes enforce it's own existence, eventually you will see Jewish resistance to Zionism meet the same fate as Palestinians. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/a...
theguardian.com
Israel’s Ben-Gvir posts video of gallows site for hanging Palestinians
Far-right minister says those convicted in military courts of terror offences will be executed after passing of death penalty law that does not apply to Jewish extremists
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
We just need to start handing these fuckers a noose and daring them to do it. How many rapists get sob stories abt how their life & career are ruined & are a self-harm risk. Decades and decades of abuse and only now he's convicted is his mental health impacted. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Ralph Carr in ‘living hell’ after being convicted of rape, Victorian court hears
Lawyer for the entertainment industry and AFL figure says his career is ‘destroyed’ following conviction
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
It is increasingly clear that as current capitalist crises worsen and the working class agitates for our rights, union leadership/future Labor pollies aim to curtail class conflict by killing off any radical influence within trade unions. They want total control of the movement for their own ends.
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Just so I've got this right: - Joining foreign army to commit genocide: no prison - Providing monetary support for violent land, property theft: no prison - Profiting from slaughter of civilians, including children: no prison - This: terrorism, life in prison www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Vandalism of Melbourne defence manufacturer being investigated as terrorist act by ‘far-left extremists’
Federal police say those who vandalised a defence manufacturer and torched nearby cars could face life imprisonment
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
If you work in health/disability care, services, hospo, a large part of the ed sector, or any sector that employs maj women or migrant workers the "Aus dream" of home ownership has always been a myth. We need to stop pretending that all workers used to be able to buy houses.
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Poppa loves defending so much he just wanted to watch them do it for Egypt during pens
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
I will never not respect and appreciate the political/campaign work comrades in the major cities do. That said I think a lot of the reaction to the recent polling surge of Hanson and ON dismisses too much of the political reality of regional & rural Aus, rendering counter-action muted & limited.
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Freedom Press @freedompress.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Mikhail Bakunin: A vital, overflowing life Features, Jul 1st Marking 150 years since the death of the great revolutionary, whose vision of anarchism remains more relevant than ever ~ Nikolay Gerasimov ~ freedomnews.org.uk/2026/07/01/m...
freedomnews.org.uk
Mikhail Bakunin: A vital, overflowing life - Freedom News
Marking 150 years since the death of the great revolutionary, whose vision of anarchism remains more relevant than ever ~ Nikolay Gerasimov ~ The p…
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
They would rather drive abuse survivors to poverty and suicide than pay compensation. Organised, institutionalised religion is often the exact evil its own scripture preaches against. Jesus would have spat on these dogs. www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Like being ‘stabbed in the back’: abuse survivors left without trials after Christian Brothers’ unprecedented legal tactic
Order wants to set up its own scheme outside of court to pay survivors, who have been told they will not get what they are owed in full
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
If Ofir was a woman enjoying a night out, a trans person merely existing, an Indigenous person standing up for their rights, or a worker on strike DT would've said he 'asked for it'. Because he was their consenting prop to use as they wanted he gets humanised. www.theguardian.com/media/2026/j...
theguardian.com
Cairo Takeaway secures court win over pro-Israel activist who claimed he was ‘completely vindicated’ after settlement
Federal court judge rules Ofir Birenbaum breached parts of settlement with Middle Eastern restaurant reached after incident when working with Daily Telegraph
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
I remember when Trump was first running, liberal media and commentators loved to make fun of him. They genuinely believed he was so ridiculous that he couldn't succeed. Then he beat them, lost the next election, they did the exact same thing and he beat them again. They have learned nothing.
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Nearly homeless twice in 3 years because demand/prices so high. Fully employed, savings. Applied for over 30 diff rentals, no dice. How am I supposed to feel for 'rentvesters'? Far from making me more conservative, adulthood has shown me why landlords are often the first to be shot in a revolution
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 13/05/2026
#OtD 13 May 1985 Philadelphia police attacked the home of Black liberation and environmental group MOVE, then dropped a bomb on it, killing 5 adults and 6 children, destroying 61 homes in the predominantly Black neighbourhood, and making 250 people homeless.
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
Zionists of all stripes proudly marched alongside self-described Nazis who organised anti-migrant March for Australia. Within months, avowedly zionist orgs receive 100s of millions in taxpayer $$ funding "security" against very same antisemites they marched with www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Budget earmarks more than $600m for Bondi attack response, with half going to Australia’s Jewish community
Funds flow to charities and other organisations, with Executive Council of Australian Jewry getting $124m for extra security
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 09/05/2026
Calls to uphold "international law" in the context of Palestine, Lebanon, Iran (etc. x infinity) are honestly pretty hilarious. Not to say international bodies like UN have had 0 positive impact, but the 20th and 21st centuries so far are one long list of it being completely ignored whenever suits
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
The Met Gala was no better before Bezos bought it for his wife. It was always a disgusting podium for the wealthy. They will never miss an opportunity to show us how disconnected they are from us. Extreme wealth brings on sociopathy, not arts patronage - thats just a side effect to stoke the ego
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Shiv Ramdas Mens Rice Activist @nameshiv.bsky.social · 28/02/2026
"The Islamists oppose women getting an education," I mutter, as I aim my missile at the girls school
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 01/03/2026
There will be no peace anywhere until the last capitalist and the last state are gone, replaced with direct democracy and worker control in both economy and society. No left politician or UN diplomat has the power or ability. They are bandaids on a beheading. Harm mitigation will never be enough
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 22/02/2026
Watching the obscenity of wealth that are awards nights as the world is burning up, falling apart and shooting itself to bits inspires a certain kind of anger. I don't think for one second that not having them would change anything, but the rich of all stripes really do live like a different species
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
A while ago I wrote an article about the current state of Aus trade unions, why they can be shit, why they're still important, and what we should be doing to fix it (spoiler: its rank and file power). It was pretty mid, so I've gone and made it better. Here it is open.substack.com/pub/grittyde...
open.substack.com
What's the point of our unions, anyway?
Jk …
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 16/02/2026
Are you actually fucking serious. Spineless cronyist dogs. 'multiple acts of serious domestic violence against his heavily pregnant partner and “interfering with the course of justice” to weaken the terms of her protection order... also faces criminal charges' www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Queensland police refused to discipline officer accused of domestic violence against pregnant partner
Police decided there was ‘no tangible benefit’ to conducting disciplinary action against the officer and opted not to investigate
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Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
2/ I can easily imagine Senator Cash cackling in delight & high-fiving Chris Minns upon reading this story by 76-year-old filmmaker James Ricketson, perhaps even remarking that he should consider himself lucky that he wasn't tasered to death like 95-year-old Clare Nowland:
LETTER TO PREMIER MINNS
Dear Premier Minns
I was arrested yesterday outside the Sydney Town Hall yesterday evening charged with assaulting a police officer. 
During my violent arrest I sustained several bloody injuries. I can barely walk today and my right kidney hurts very badly as a result of its  being punched. Or perhaps I have a cracked rib?
The demonstration was pretty much over when the police, backed up by eight or so fellow officers on horseback, started to aggressively push the crowd south, into an already very crowded space. I have witnessed this tactic before - used by police to generate a violent retaliatory response.
Up until then the police had been calm and respectful of we demonstrators. Then, they changed and became violent, as the footage you would have access to makes clear.
Clearly, someone in the chain of command instructed the police to create chaos and violent confrontations in order to retrospectively justify the large police presence yesterday, to use as evidence in support of the banning of future demonstrations, and in the hope that the media will play along and hold we demonstrators responsible for inciting violence.
Was it you who issued the edict to foment violence or someone else in the chain of command?
After 5 hours in a police cell with no offer of water or medical attention for my various injuries I was released without charge – the ‘assault police officer’ allegation having been dropped when it became apparent, from body cam footage, that I had not done so.
I am a 76 year old filmmaker and journalist and request a response to this letter and an indication of whom I should approach within your government to have my spectacles and torn short replaced and my medical expenses paid?
cheers
James Ricketson
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Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
'Al Jazeera investigation reveals how US-supplied thermal and thermobaric munitions burning at 3,500C have left no trace of nearly 3,000 Palestinians.' www.aljazeera.com/features/202...
aljazeera.com
Israel used weapons in Gaza that made thousands of Palestinians evaporate
US-made thermal weapons burning at 3,500C caused 2,842 people to "evaporate" in Gaza, Al Jazeera investigation finds.
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
I wrote something about the police attacks on Monday, their context, and what I think the focus should be now. The violence is not isolated, and it's not random. Their aim is to punish us and make us fear action, but we should use that as motivation. open.substack.com/pub/grittyde...
open.substack.com
There is only one way out
The actions of cops at demonstrations against the invitation of war criminal Isaac Herzog to these shores have been nothing short of horrific.
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
In light of cops across the country beating protesters and using chemical weapons on them to protect the image of war criminal Herzog (with the full support of the Aus state at every level), this article from the Anarchist Communist Federation is pretty timely I reckon: ancomfed.org/2026/01/why-...
ancomfed.org
Why we say ‘ACAB’
When enforcing the law is your job, there’s only one thing you can be.
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 06/02/2026
Wealth is a mental illness
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 06/02/2026
#OtD 6 Feb 1919 the Seattle general strike occurred when 100,000 downed tools in support of striking shipyard workers. They then went on to elect a general strike committee and began running the city under workers' control for five days stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/1060...
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
Balancing the frustration of being forced to watch everything go to shit in a rapidly accellerating way with the knowledge that not everyone has the same perspective is borderline impossible imo I swing rapidly between rage and empathy, idk if those two states can coexist
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Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
It's kinda weird how Australian media sees white nationalist rallies and calls them "anti-immigration", but it's also a reflection of the degraded nature of media and public discourse & no small reason for its parlous state.
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
One major frontier of workers struggle here in Aus MUST be fighting for and winning updated heat procedures and policies from bosses. My workplace says "drink water, wear appropriate clothes, watch for signs of heat stress etc." but nothing else. No extra breaks, no point at which shift called off.
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Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
The $50,000 Australia's Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism Jillian Segal & her husband John Roth invested (by way of Henroth) in 'Advance' & their latest campaign to Protect Australia Day from ... well ... who knows amirite? is really paying dividends. www.youtube.com/watch?v=88Rw...
youtube.com
Man arrested over alleged hate speech at March for Australia rally in Sydney | ABC NEWS
YouTube video by ABC News (Australia)
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
At what point will there be the same calls for action after blatant "revenge" killings of women and their families that occur year in year out as there are for concocted "youth crime epidemics"? 1 in 4 women experience violence from partner by the age of 15. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
‘He was laughing’: survivor speaks after Lake Cargelligo shooting as NSW police continue search for triple murder suspect
Investigators receive more information suggesting fugitive Julian Ingram had been in Mount Hope, about 70km from Lake Cargelligo, after Thursday’s shooting
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
I do feel time is running out re: climate crisis, rise of fascism, late stage capitalism. Needs to be a really, really big push in terms of organising and mobilising the working class, and I don't know if I see any org yet capable of carrying that out rn on the scale needed, at least by itself
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Andy Fleming @slackbastard.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Alex Ryvchin reckons 'It is also incumbent on us to contemplate how we got here', which is kinda like what I've spent my entire life doing, and the only thing it's got me is a spot on a government watch list.
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Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 22/01/2026
First podcast episode of 2026! We talk to Tomas Rothaus about the 2001 Argentina uprising, which led to the fall of the government, the spread of neighbourhood assemblies, and a wave of worker-run factory takeovers. Out now for early listening on Patreon: www.patreon.com/posts/e115-a...
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Hopefully unionised folks and unafiliated workers actually put the 'general' in general strike. The better the participation the greater the effect! The more we flex our collective muscle the more strength and confidence we get, which is why organised, active labour is so hated by bosses and pollies
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Watching the conservative/neoliberal alliance that is the Coalition eat itself alive over legislation right wing figureheads were frothing their loins for only a week or so ago is a kind of comedy gold that could only be mined in Aus. The only upside to these daft new laws, honestly
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petersmokespotkin.bsky.social @petersmokespotkin.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
The contrast between reactions to Trump's pursuit of Greenland and the historical context of literally hundreds of years of US imperial agression against non-white/european people is incredibly stark. Trump is not the first US pres to pursue expansion.
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LabourStart @labourstart.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
AUSTRALIA: Maritime Union of Australia alleges crews on Carnival Cruise ships are exploited and earn a fraction of minimum wage 7news.com.au/news/maritim...
7news.com.au
Explosive claims over working conditions levelled at Carnival Cruises
The company has responded to a raft of shocking allegations.
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