Pot calls kettle black
"Their [the Islamists] goal in the broader Middle East is to seize control of a country, so they have a base from which they can launch attacks against governments that refuse to meet their demands." 鈥 Lord Darth Cheney,
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On February 28, Major Michael Mori, David Hicks鈥檚 US military lawyer, addressed a packed Founders鈥 Hall at the University of Ballarat. The mixed crowd of at least 600 learned a whole lot more about how Hicks is the Australian government鈥檚 sacrificial lamb in the 鈥渨ar on terror鈥.
Since the Howard Coalition government was elected in 1996 record numbers of women have entered parliament, yet women聮s rights are under massive attack without so much as a murmur of opposition from the female Coalition MPs and very little outcry from the ALP.
Strange times
What strange times we live in. In the 1970s, I disagreed with Malcolm Fraser's ideas and opposed his conservative government's policies. In the 1980s and '90s I agreed with Peter Garrett on a range of political and environmental
Underneath the enormous conveyor belts at the back of the Yallourn power station, 49 metalworkers from MEC Engineering, which is part of the Eliott group, have maintained a six-month 鈥減rotest embassy鈥 to win their jobs and entitlements back.
In her 1993 book, The End of Equality?, Anne Summers admits to being puzzled by the Howard government鈥檚 concern about Australia鈥檚 low birth rate and its call for women to reproduce more while, at the same time, it refuses to provide inexpensive and quality childcare to help this happen.
Four Queensland University of Technology students were arrested on March 1 for expressing their political opinions on campus.
Despite having won formal equality, the lack of an organised women鈥檚 movement means that the Howard government has been able to take back a lot of the reforms won as a result of the struggles of the 1970s and 1980s. No reform is permanent under capitalism, and without a strong movement that mobilises to defend and expand reforms to improve women鈥檚 lives, the capitalist class can easily remove, or knobble, the gains that have been won.
Angry at the brutal occupation of Iraq and the inhumane treatment of David Hicks, university students are joining anti-war and radical groups such as Resistance at orientation weeks in bigger numbers this year. The first revolution of the 21st century, in Venezuela, is also attracting a lot of interest.
When the vice-president of the 聯land of the free聰 came to Sydney recently, the joke going around was that he brought a 聯troop surge聰 to town. A few friends are still sporting bruises from that 聯surge聰, made possible by the NSW Labor government聮s generous provision of a large number of bullies in uniform to terrorise the local population.
Most students started on campus a week after John Howard decided to send more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. With the government under growing pressure to bring David Hicks home, the surge against the war and the so-called war on terror is growing rapidly on all campuses.
The NSW Public Service Association and Unions NSW have called a rally on March 15, in the lead-up to the NSW elections, against job cuts. The PSA is highighting Liberal leader Peter Debnam鈥檚 threat to cut 20,000 public service jobs if elected, and is circulating a petition calling on all candidates to 鈥渕aintain public sector job levels in real terms as at 2006 state budget levels鈥.
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