The Socialist Alliance released the following statement in response to the developments in the anti-league tables campaign.
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The federal executive of the Australian Education Union (AEU) resolved on April 12 to impose a ban on implementing National Assessment Program 鈥 Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests, after damaging league tables were published in newspapers, based on 2009 NAPLAN data.
Socialist Alliance supports the principled stand against league tables taken by teachers.
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A battle has been joined for the very soul of Arizona.
On one side, there are the Minutemen, the craven state Republican lawmakers, Governor Jan Brewer, and the utterly unprincipled John McCain, all supporting SB 1070, a law that codifies racial profiling of immigrants in the state.
SB 1070 makes it crime to walk the streets of this state without clutching your passport, green card, visa, or state ID. It not only empowers, but requires cops to demand paperwork if they so much as suspect a person of being undocumented.
The has endorsed Dr Renfrey Clarke to run for the Senate in South Australia. Clarke was one of the founders of the Climate Emergency Action Network in 2008, and is a well-known activist and writer on environmental topics. He is a member of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union.
A specialist on Russia and Latin America, Clarke worked for many years as a foreign correspondent for 91自拍论坛 Weekly and other progressive media.
Below, Clarke outlines the priority issues around which he campaigns.
On May 8, 70 people from local groups joined with Socialist Alliance to march through Brunswick鈥檚 Barkly Square shopping centre, demanding management allow community stalls, including those held by the Socialist Alliance, to resume.
Protesters had a replica of the original cage that radical artist and Communist Party of Australia member Noel Counihan spoke from in the 1933 free speech battles in Brunswick. A speak-out was held in the shopping centre, defying police and security guards.
The following statement was released by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the organisation of the 鈥淩ed Shirts鈥, on May 6. It is abridged from .
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UDD leaders have again debunked speculation that the Red Shirt rally at Ratchaprasong will soon be packing up and the protesters returning home.
Much of the public discussion on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd鈥檚 proposed tax reforms 鈥 made in response to the Henry tax review 鈥 has centred on the projected 40% tax on 鈥渟uper-profits鈥 in the mining industry. Most people probably agree that the big mining multinationals could afford to contribute a lot more to the public purse.
We have just finished a very successful May Day brigade to Venezuela, organised by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network (AVSN). The majority of the 14 participants were from Australia, with two Canadians and one from the US also taking part.
May Day was, of course, a highlight of the 10-day tour: more than 1 million marchers, all in red t-shirts. Brigadistas were greeted with cheers of welcome 鈥 we were easily identified by our Australian solidarity activists shirts and banner.
Across the United States, large rallies were held on May Day (May 1, the international workers鈥 day). Opposition to attacks on immigrants were a major theme in big cities and small towns. Organisers of the march in Los Angeles estimated 250,000 immigrants and supporters staged a boisterous march in opposition to Arizona鈥檚 anti-immigrant SB1070 law.
In Tucson, Arizona, 15,000 protested against the racist law. About 30,000 people protested in New York and about 3000 marched in Washington D.C.
A huge crowd of 50,000 people marched in Auckland on May 1 against the New Zealand government鈥檚 plans to allow mining in the country鈥檚 national parks. It was New Zealand鈥檚 biggest protest march in living memory.
Greenpeace ambassador Robyn Malcolm said: 鈥淔or nearly 50,000 Kiwis to turn out and be prepared to speak with one voice, must tell the government something ... Our land will always be more important to our identity than some extra dollars in the pockets of mining companies.鈥
When setting a giant oil spill on fire is the least-worst option to limit environmental damage, you know you're in trouble.
But that appeared to be the case as US authorities debated how to contain an spill caused by the failure in April of a deepwater oil rig 鈥 owned by the oil giant BP 鈥 about 80 kilometres off the US in the Gulf of Mexico.
On May 2, the Times of London reported that Professor Ian MacDonald, an ocean specialist at Florida State University, said satellite data suggested the leak has already spread 9 million gallons of heavy crude oil.
A key demand adopted by the World People鈥檚 Summit on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth was for the industrialised First World nations to pay their 鈥渃limate debt鈥 to the underdeveloped nations. The summit was held in Cochabamba, Bolivia, over April 19-22 and attended by 35,000 people from around the world.
A key concept promoted at the summit was that of vivir bien 鈥 living well. This is similar to the common idea expressed in the West, 鈥渓ive simply so that others may simply live鈥.
Underground Coal Gasification
As the head of Linc Energy, a world leader in Underground Coal Gasification (UCG) technology, I wish to correct some references to 2001 US Department of Energy (DOE) report in relation to UCG in Renfrey Clarke鈥檚 article 鈥淪A Labor backs UCG Coal Scheme鈥 (GLW #835).
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