The third anniversary of the death of Aboriginal teenager TJ Hickey will be on February 14. TJ was impaled on a metal fence while being chased by Redfern police. Had police followed proper medical practices, it is likely that TJ would have survived.
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As 鈥淎ustralia Day鈥 approaches, heralded by government advertisements telling us to 鈥渃elebrate what鈥檚 great鈥, the question arises again: what is nationalism?
The Tasmanian government聮s Stolen Generations of Aboriginal Children Bill 2006, which set up a $5 million compensation fund, was passed by the upper house of the state parliament on November 28, having been unanimously approved in the lower house seven days earlier.
Security giant Group 4 Securicor has sacked 40 of its workers after they protested the transfer of hundreds of workers to a different corporate entity, which resulted in many long-term workers losing benefits. Last year, Group 4 Securicor attempted similar attacks on its workers in Jakarta, but after security guards who were illegally sacked camped outside the company聮s headquarters and thousands of people around the world sent messages of protest, Group 4 Securicor was forced to rehire the workers. Demand justice for the Panama workers 聴 visit < http://www.labourstart.org/cgi-A href="mailto:bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=182"><bin/solidarityforever/show_campaign.cgi?c=182> to send your protest letter to Group 4 Securicor.
The Australian writer Donald Horne meant the title of his celebrated book, The Lucky Country, as irony. 聯Australia is a lucky country run by second-rate people who share its luck聰, he lamented in 1964, describing much of the Australian elite as unfailingly unoriginal, race-obsessed and in thrall to imperial power and its wars.
On January 15, Pedro Zamora, the general-secretary of the dock workers聮 union STPEQ was murdered by armed assassins, who sprayed more than 100 bullets at his car. Zamora had been leading a campaign against the privatisation of the Quetzal port. Zamora聮s 3-year-old son was injured in the attack. In a January 17 statement issued by the International Trade Union Confederation, ITUC general secretary Guy Ryder said: 聯This gruesome killing recalls the darkest days of Guatemala聮s decades of civil conflict, and the country聮s reputation will continue to suffer unless action is taken to root out and punish those who commission and perpetrate intimidation and murder. This murder was planned and premeditated, and appears designed to send a message to those who dare to stand up for fundamental rights.聰 For information on the ITUC聮s international campaign to demand justice, visit < http://www.ituc-A href="mailto:csi.org"><csi.org>.
Sheikh Isse Musse, Imam of the Virgin Mary Mosque and spiritual leader of Melbourne鈥檚 Horn of Africa Muslim community, condemned the US bombing of his native Somalia and its instigation of the invasion by Ethiopian troops inlate December. He also expressed hope that out of the current conflict Somalia might regain its sovereignty and national unity after years of anarchy and violence.
On January 18, the Australian ran a story on a leaked report commissioned by the Peter Beattie Labor state government on the shocking living conditions for Aborigines in Queensland (see accompanying article). 91自拍论坛 Weekly asked Sam Watson, Murri leader and member of the Socialist Alliance, about this and the ongoing struggle for justice for Indigenous people in Australia.
聯I look on the blacks as a set of monkeys, and I think the earlier they are exterminated the better.聰 So said a juror during the 1838 Sydney trial of settlers accused of the Myall Creek massacre of 28 Aborigines.
A confidential report titled Partnerships Queensland was drafted last year by the Queensland Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Policy. The report 聴 which found there was an urgent need to improve the standard of living for Indigenous people and take 聯immediate and sustained action聰 聴 was withheld from public release before the September state election. Premier Peter Beattie聮s government abolished the department after Labor聮s re-election.
On January 15, Ecuador鈥檚 new president, Rafael Correa Delgado, was sworn in, promising to build 鈥渟ocialism of the 21st century鈥 to overcome the poverty and instability of the small Andean country.
The decision by a full bench of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) on appeal to deny a Victorian cinema manager access to unfair dismissal laws because he was sacked for 鈥済enuine operational reasons鈥 is another blow to attempts to hold unfair employers to account.
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