All around the Western world, far-right groups (some with neo-Nazi links), are gaining political ground through an orchestrated campaign against Muslim communities. These groups are spreading fear and hatred against recent immigrant communities from Muslim countries, and tap into well-resourced post-9/11 war propaganda initiated by rulers of the world鈥檚 richest and most powerful states.
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鈥淲inning Our Rights鈥 is the theme of the December 10-11 Union and Community Summer School, which will be held at Melbourne Trades Hall. The conference will discuss the 30-year-long retreat of the Australian union movement and also victories over that period.
鈥淲inning Our Rights鈥 will feature unionists leading important struggles. They will share their experiences and discuss how to turn the tide.
Attending will be Tom Buckley from New Zealand鈥檚 Unite union. Unite has won the rights of restaurant and other retail workers by organising in a heavily casualised industry.
A community sit-in defending Melbourne鈥檚 only Indigenous school, Ballerrt Mooroop College in Glenroy, began on November 24.
The state Labor government planned to shift the Glenroy Specialist School (GSS) onto the site, which would push the Koori school into portable classrooms in a tiny area. The government provided $18 million to GSS to relocate, but the Koori school received just $750,000.
Prominent queer rights and climate activist, Paola Harvey, will stand for the Socialist Alliance in the seat of Keira in the March 2011 NSW elections. Harvey, a resident of Mount Keira and part-time student, is a founding member of Equal Love Wollongong, the organisation leading the struggle for marriage equality, and is a member of the Wollongong Climate Action Network (WCAN). Also a member of Resistance, socialist youth organisation, she is involved in campaigns for youth rights, education and employment.
The success of Greens MP Adam Bandt's marriage equality motion in federal parliament, which called on MPs to take the issue back to their electorates, shows how successful our grassroots movement has been.
We've forced the Gillard Labor government to back away from its ridiculous discriminatory policy of denying equal marriage rights.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard now says the official ALP policy, which says marriage can only be between a man and a woman, should be looked at again at Labor鈥檚 next national conference. She wants to bring the conference forward to December 2011.
The Socialist Alliance鈥檚 Socialist Ideas Conference on November 20 featured informative presentations and spirited discussion. It reviewed the political situation in Australia and globally.
One of the speakers was Greens MLC Mark Parnell. The most animated discussion was about the Greens' political perspectives and relation to community campaigns and grassroots activism.
This followed an online debate before the event, about whether a Greens parliamentarian 鈥 particularly from the right of the party 鈥 should have been invited to speak at a conference promoting socialist ideas.
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