PM John Howard’s new “intervention” policy in the Northern Territory has begun with federal and state police storming into Indigenous communities.
717
A gathering of 150 unionists and political activists stood outside the Queensland ALP conference held at BrisbaneÂ’s Exhibition and Convention Centre on June 30. Organised by the state branches of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union and the Electrical Trades Union, the protest called on the ALP to maintain the promise made at the ALP national conference to abolish the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). After the national conference, LaborÂ’s industrial relations spokesperson Julia Gillard announced that a Labor government would keep the ABCC until 2010.
It is often thought that concern for the interconnection of living systems is a modern development. But Karl MarxÂ’s talked about it repeatedly throughout his Capital.
Joanna Blythman exposes the hype about the recent British food revolution as a myth.
During the visit of US aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk to Sydney, Stop the War Coalition activists held two anti-war protests — on July 5 and 8. Under the gargantuan shadow of the Kitty Hawk activists handed out anti-war material, held a banner calling for the end of the occupation of Iraq, and spoke out for the withdrawal of Australian and US troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
July 5 marked 196 years since Venezuela declared its independence following a long struggle led by the countryÂ’s Indigenous people and a black slave revolt. To mark Independence Day, the embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela hosted a public conference in Sydney on July 7.
In the two weeks following the Sharm el Sheikh Summit on June 25, at which Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised to release 250 Fatah-affiliated prisoners from Israeli jails, Israel abducted more than 300 members of Fatah in the West Bank.
The annual rally for NAIDOC week on July 13 drew a crowd of 1500-2000 people. While officially a day to celebrate the survival and revival of Indigenous culture and heritage, outrage at PM John HowardÂ’s recent intervention in the Northern Territory was palpable in the crowd. A sea of placards and banners made reference to the importance of protecting land rights, and fears about children being taken away.
In an unexpected backdown, the Queensland University of Technology agreed in the Federal Court on July 12 to continue paying the salaries of the two lecturers who were suspended after they criticised a documentary titled Laughing at the Disabled: Creating Comedy that Confronts, Offends and Entertains, produced by QUT PhD student Michael Noonan.
“I completely agree with New Zealand Maori Party MP Hone Harawira that Prime Minister John Howard, by attacking marginalised Aboriginal communities, is a ‘racist bastard’”, Aboriginal leader and Socialist Alliance Indigenous spokesperson Sam Watson said in response to Harawira’s July 9 comments.
“We’ve tried to enter Palestine by land. We’ve tried to arrive by air. Now we’re getting serious. We’re taking a ship”.
I am sure readers would agree that the real swindlers were exposed in the discussion after the much-watched screening of Martin DurkinÂ’s Great Global Warming Swindle on ABC TV last week.
- Page 1
- Next page