James Cogan, the Socialist Equality Party candidate for Grayndler, in Sydney’s inner-western suburbs, conducted an extended interview this Tuesday morning on Radio Skid Row (88.9 FM), a community station broadcasting to the municipalities of Leichhardt, Marrickville and the City of Sydney.

Cogan, the SEP’s national organiser and a WSWS correspondent, spoke with the station’s morning show host Jack Frost on a wide range of topics. Cogan explained the context of the election, occurring amid the greatest failure of global capitalism since the 1930s, and the backroom coup that installed Julia Gillard as prime minister, at the behest of the mining companies and corporate elite. He drew out the connection between Gillard’s selection and the demands of Washington, including for an unconditional Australian commitment to the war in Afghanistan.

The socialist candidate spoke at some length on the history of the SEP and its predecessor, the Socialist Labour League, as the Australian section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, the world party of socialist revolution established by Leon Trotsky in 1938. Cogan explained the significance of the final election campaign public meetings that the SEP is holding in Melbourne tonight and Sydney tomorrow night on “Seventy years since the assassination of Leon Trotsky: The Fourth International and the Perspective of the Socialist Equality Party”.

Cogan’s interview received positive feedback from listeners, and he was invited to return after the August 21 election for a further broadcast. Tuesday’s interview can be heard here.

Click here for full coverage of the SEP 2010 election campaign

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