Fighting for a city for people, not profit

What to expect

Our city, and our society, is in crisis. Wages aren’t keeping up with inflation and cost of living increases, community infrastructure and public services are run down, and many of us are struggling just to keep a roof over our heads.

This crisis is driven by capitalism. The cities and communities we live in should work for all of us, not just the wealthy few. The fact that, increasingly, they don’t, is due to the sacrifice of basic human needs to the pursuit of private profit—a sacrifice in which the major parties have, over many decades, been complicit.

Victorians Socialists believe it doesn’t have to be this way. It’s ordinary people that make our cities and communities run, not the occupants of high political offices and corporate boardrooms. It’s us, not them, that should run the city.

Were this to happen, our priorities would be very different to those pursued by big business and their representatives in government today. We could create a city for people, not profit.

Victorian Socialists want to be part of that. We want to help bring together all those concerned with the state of our cities and communities and start to give voice to a vision of how things could be different from the profit-driven status quo.

To kick this off, we want to hear from you. We're launching a survey to better understand the reality of the housing crisis and other problems people are facing, and to find out residents’ views on the most urgent priorities for action.

Speakers:

• Verity Burgmann – left-wing historian, activist and author of ‘Green Bans, Red Union: The Saving of a City’ (see https://unsw.press/books/green-bans-red-union/) will speak on the Builders Labourers Federation’s ‘Green Bans’ which saved many important heritage buildings, public housing, and green spaces in Sydney and Melbourne in the early 1970s.
• Steph Price – Long-time tenants’ rights lawyer and Victorian Socialists candidate for Preston will speak on the class conflict in cities under capitalism and what a socialist city might look like.
• Grace Hill – National Union of Students Queer Officer and a young renter, will speak on the experience of renting in Australia today and what renters can do to fight for their rights.
• We will also hear from a public housing tenant involved in the fight against the Andrews Labor government’s demolition of inner-city public housing estates.

Join us for this special event to discuss how we can build a city that works for everyone, not just the rich.