Conor Flynn is a United Workers Union (UWU) delegate, Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) member, activist, and writer based in Melbourne.
The AFL’s most celebrated indigenous player, Adam Goodes, has declined to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. His refusal is another act of resistance against the racism that has dogged his exceptional career — and football in general.
In 1975, an Australian constitutional coup brought down Gough Whitlam’s reforming Labor government, with the Queen’s governor-general delivering the fatal blow. Whitlam’s fate was a crucial lesson for left-wing movements everywhere: capitalists will only allow so much democracy before pushing back.