Media statement August 9, 2010
Rachel Evans, the lead NSW Senate candidate for Socialist Alliance, condemned Family First鈥檚 鈥 likening the legalisation of same-sex marriage to the legalisation of child abuse as 鈥渉omophobic鈥 and 鈥渋ncitement to more violence against lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender and queer people鈥.
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Last month, I stood in the Guildhall Square in Derry and watched as the relatives of the 14 innocent victims of the British Parachute Regiment expressed their delight at the Saville report鈥檚 conclusion that the 14 were innocent victims.
At the time of the killings the dead were labelled as terrorists by the British government. The British system and, to its shame, much of the British media, accused those who had been shot of being 鈥済unmen鈥 and 鈥渂ombers鈥.
鈥淎lways Was, Always Will Be, Aboriginal Land: The struggle for Aboriginal rights鈥, was the title of an August 3 forum in the Brisbane Activist Centre sponsored by Socialist Alliance and Resistance. Speakers were Murri activist and SA Queensland Senate candidate Sam Watson and Ewan Saunders, SA candidate for the seat of Brisbane who has recently returned from the Justice Bus Ride to the Northern Territory.
As of June 25, more than 4116 people, 566 of them children, were in Australian immigration detention centres, according to figures published on the Department of Immigration and Citizenship website.
The site also noted an increase of 46 people in the past week.
In a country of 22 million people, 46 is a minute figure. That 鈥渟topping the boats鈥 is a key election promise of both major parties illustrates the mean-spiritedness of their campaign.
When police in Jamaica launched a bloody assault in May on poor neighbourhoods in the country鈥檚 capital city, news outlets in Canada responded with an ignorance and insensitivity that is all too common in their coverage of the Caribbean islands. As with Haiti, Jamaica is portrayed as incomprehensibly violent and not quite civilised.
The Stop the War Coalition Sydney held a picket outside ALP MP Tanya Plibersek鈥檚 office on August 5 to call for an end to Australian support for the war in Afghanistan.
The STWC has condemned the Australian government鈥檚 purchase of 18 unmanned spy drones and training packages worth $175 million.
Spokesperson Marlene Obeid said: 鈥淭he drones are part of an offensive weapons system that, almost certainly, will be linked to US systems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In other words, Australia will be subsidising US assault operations, which will kill more Afghan women and children.鈥
The following open letter was written by Bernardo Alvarez Herrera, Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the US, to the Washington Post editorial board. He wrote in response to a July 30 editorial that accused Venezuela of harbouring Colombian 鈥渢errorists鈥. Alvarez said: 鈥淭his letter has been made public given that The Washington Post rarely publishes our responses.鈥
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The Gaslight Anthem must be sick of the Springsteen references by now. Ever since bursting into international consciousness a few years back, there鈥檚 been no shortage of critics willing to draw the connections between them and the Boss.
On August 4, California鈥檚 ban on same-sex marriages was ruled unconstitutional by federal judge Vaughn Walker. However, religious fundamentalist and anti-queer groups have indicated that they will appeal the ruling.
On August 6, Walker granted a stay on the implementation of his ruling, meaning lesbian and gay couples are still unable to marry in California.
Californian Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown have both argued against the stay and for the ruling to be implemented immediately.
In Russia, a seven-week-long heatwave has caused giant firestorms to break out across more than 114,000 hectares of the country. At least 48 people have died and more than 400 new fires broke out on August 4 alone, the Kyiv Post said that day.
Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said on July 30 that 鈥減ractically everything is burning鈥 in 14 regions of the country, Time said on August 2.
In the past, Medvedev has not seemed too concerned about climate change. At last year鈥檚 Copenhagen climate conference he bluntly announced that Russia would increase its emissions.
Some of the Illawarra鈥檚 foremost fighters for social justice have backed Socialist Alliance candidate Jess Moore in the seat of Cunningham on the New South Wales south coast.
Highly regarded, veteran trade unionists Monica Chalmers, Neville Arrowsmith, Jim Keogh and Ken McBride, who have all spent decades in union and solidarity campaigns, have endorsed Moore and are helping her campaign.
Moore is a well-known community activist who is national coordinator of the socialist youth organisation Resistance.
The Tasmanian Gay and Lesbian Rights Group (TGLRG) organised political candidates to publicly sign a pledge stating their party would not use election material that incited hatred or ridicule against people based on their sexuality or gender.
The pledge signing took place at Salamanca markets in Hobart on July 31 and was signed by the Socialist Alliance, Greens, Democrats and Labor candidates and independent candidate Andrew Wilkie.
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