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Museworthy: The Unshared

Museworthy: The Unshared Our hearts are shrinking to fit our leader's chestThe press have been speaking with him againand he fills their papers and screens with wordswhich excuse himIn whose eyes?Does anyone look?From his hands grow the shadows

People's inquiry reveals government lies

BY TAMARA PEARSON SYDNEY — Sister Susan Connolly has counted 22 lies about refugees that have been spread by the federal government, she told the "People vs Philip Ruddock" public meeting held in Granville Town Hall on February 20. Organised by

Refugee solidarity grows in north NSW

BY BERNIE WUNSCH LISMORE — The refugee solidarity movement in the Northern Rivers region has grown rapidly. Around 400 people attended pro-refugee meetings in the space of four days. The February 15 launch of the Lismore chapter of

The most disturbing lie of all

BY SARAH STEPHEN Every asylum seeker has the right to a lawyer, don't they? That's what the law says. Section 256 of the 1958 Migration Act states: "Where a person is in immigration detention ... the person responsible for his or her immigration

Socialist Alliance beats the odds

BY LISA MACDONALD SYDNEY — On February 22, the NSW Socialist Alliance surmounted the final legal barrier to having its name printed next to its candidates on ballot papers in the 2003 state elections. The barriers were erected by the NSW

M1 Melbourne gains support

BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS MELBOURNE — May 1 is set to become "no-war May Day" after the February 5 meeting of the M1 Alliance. Adopting a call to action, the alliance is planning protests based around three slogans: no war on refugees; no war on the

The Murdoch effect

Here in Australia, the "threat" of the "flood" of illegal asylum seekers (no more than 4000 arrive in a year, most of them genuine) is said to have given Prime Minister John Howard his election victory last November. The decisive

'Labor MPs don't represent membership'

BY RYK MOLON DARWIN — Socialist Alliance candidate for Lord Mayor Ruth Ratcliffe and Independent Education Union organiser Simon Hall, who recently resigned from the Labor Party over its support for mandatory detention of refugees, addressed a

PALESTINE: Guerilla actions stun Israeli military

BY AHMAD NIMER RAMALLAH — Last week there was a massive escalation in Israel's military attacks against the Palestinian population of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. On a nightly basis, Israeli F-16 warplanes have dropped bombs over Palestinian

INDONESIA: Saying 'Long live the workers' gets you a prison sentence

BY MAX LANE Normalinda, an activist from the Indonesian National League of Students for Democracy (LMND) and Fransiscus "Black" Farneubun, an activist from the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), were each sentenced to three months in prison by a

SOUTH AFRICA: Privatised power company sacks workers

BY PETER McINNES JOHANNESBURG — Around 480 voluntary retrenchments have been offered to municipal workers at the recently privatised Kelvin power plant. Kelvin, a coal-powered electricity station, provides 25% of Johannesburg's electricity

Loose cannons

Virtual monarch "We all know she doesn't really exist any more, but we can't quite bring ourselves to tell her or admit it." — New Zealand Herald columnist Brian Budman, on Queen Elizabeth II. Perish the thought! "I would have thought that it