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Student activists targeted

Simon Cunich, Sydney Students have claimed all year that the Howard government's proposed "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) legislation is really aimed, not at giving freedom of choice as the government claims, but at silencing dissent against its

Save Recherche Bay, says heritage group

Alex Bainbridge, Hobart The Recherche Bay Protection Group held a commemoration on October 28 for the 250th anniversary of the birth of French botanist Jacques-Julian Houtou de Labillardiere. The group used the occasion to call once again on the

Ambulance officers stop work

BRISBANE — Ambulance officers around Queensland stopped work on October 26 to demand improvements in staffing and working conditions, in the first statewide strike in history. Around 500 paramedics and their families demonstrated outside the Kedron

New sedition laws target anti-war movement

Doug Lorimer At an October 16 media conference where Prime Minister John Howard announced the Australian government's intention to double the number of people directly employed by its ASIO secret police agency by 2010, he dismissed concerns that

James Hardie locks the gate

Andrew Martin, Brisbane On October 19, workers at James Hardie's Meeandah concrete pipe factory arrived for their usual start time of 6.30 am to find factory's gates locked. The company had initiated a 28-hour lockout in response to workers holding

VENEZUELA: Call for Pat Robertson to be extradited

On October 26, Venezuelan ambassador Fermin Toro Jimenez told the UN Security Council that his country has begun processing an extradition request for Reverend Pat Robertson from the US. Robertson has publicly called for the assassination of

UNITED STATES: Anti-war Iraq veteran faces expulsion

Dave Airhart, an anti-war activist and an Iraq war veteran, is being threatened with expulsion from Kent State University for his anti-war activities. On October 19, the Kent State Anti-War Committee disrupted US Army recruiters as they attempted to

Up yours, Howard

Brianna Pike & Emma Clancy Since its re-election last year with control of the Senate, the federal Coalition government has moved to introduce a range of new attacks, targeting disability pensioners and sole parents, trying to force through the

Venezuela's revolution: Socialism is back!

Stuart Munckton US multinational corporation IBM was recently fined and had its Caracas offices forcibly closed down for 48 hours by the Venezuelan government for attempting to avoid paying its taxes, according to an October 6 Canadian Press

ARGENTINA: Kirchner consolidates his grip on power

Doug Lorimer Argentine President Nestor Kirchner emerged as the victor after the country's October 23 mid-term legislative elections. Kirchner's Peronist governing Front for Victory (FPV) won 43% of the popular vote in the lower-house Chamber of

Write On: Letters to the Editor

WorkChoices At an invitation-only BBQ in Canberra, Stephen Jones, assistant national secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union, eloquently outlined his battle plan to defeat the Howard government's WorkChoices legislation. Plan A:

Our Common cause: Welfare-to-work program punishes the poor

With its fourth-term agenda, the Howard government has launched a vicious attack on working people, both in and out of work. Its proposed changes to industrial relations are aimed at crushing the ability of workers to organise collectively, and