Nine refugees held in the Northern Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin staged a protest on top of a building in the centre鈥檚 compound on March 15 after they witnessed Serco guards assault another detainee.
The refugees 鈥 who are Rohingya people, an ethnic minority in western Burma 鈥 told refugee advocate Carl O鈥機onnor on March 16 that the protest was sparked by a physical assault on another Rohingya detainee.
鈥淥ne man was refused rice in the mess room,鈥 the refugees said. 鈥淥ut of frustration he broke a glass. He was then chased down and tried to escape from two Serco guards.
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As the United States and Britain look for an excuse to invade another oil-rich Arab country, the hypocrisy is familiar.
Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is 鈥渄elusional鈥 and 鈥渂lood-drenched鈥, while the authors of an invasion that killed a million Iraqis, who have kidnapped and tortured in our name, are entirely sane, never blood-drenched and once again the arbiters of 鈥渟tability鈥.
But something has changed. Reality is no longer what the powerful say it is.
Of all the spectacular revolts across the world, the most exciting is the insurrection of knowledge sparked by WikiLeaks.
Emboldened by the successes of Muammar Gaddafi鈥檚 forces in Libya, a number of Arab regimes have escalated crackdowns on pro-democracy protests while the world鈥檚 media was focused on the earthquake disaster in Japan.
With the exceptions of Libya and Iran, the governments brutally cracking down on their citizens have received minimal criticism from the West.
Calls for 鈥渞estraint on both sides鈥 obscure the fact that it is governments armed with weapons made in the West ruthlessly attacking mostly unarmed people.
This video is from a protest by homeless people on 14-4-11 in response to plans by the state government to sweep homeless people off the street during the October CHOGM summit.
Through the eyes of many modern women, it seems difficult to comprehend that not so many decades ago women all around the Western world were fighting for the basic rights and freedoms they so rightly deserved.
Amid an ongoing struggle, laws began to change and social ideals began to alter. A new sense of empowerment quickly emerged as women entered the workforce and marked their places in the political arena.
Had gender equality finally been won? Or did certain stereotypes of women remain beneath the surface, waiting to be shaped by the norms of modern society and popular culture?
Wilhelm Furtwaengler 鈥 The Great EMI Recordings
21 CD set, EMI
Furtwaengler the Legend
Three CD set, EMI
George Whitbread, a long-deceased left identity in Perth who once led a printer鈥檚 strike at The West Australian, was reputedly fond of saying that 鈥淏eethoven gives you strength鈥.
Nor was 鈥淲hitty鈥 (as he was called) alone in his sentiments.
After World War II, many on the left 鈥 builders, grocers, teachers, homemakers 鈥 took an active interest in classical music.
The argument for a carbon tax in Australia boils down to two key points. The first is that a carbon tax puts a price on pollution. Pollution has been officially free for industry up until now.
Pip Hinman, the Socialist Alliance candidate for the NSW seat of Marrickville, spoke at a March 14 election forum at St Peters Town Hall organised by Climate Action Newtown and Sydney Residents Against Coal Seam Gas.
Hinman鈥檚 responses to the three questions put to her at the meeting appear below.
* * *
Will your party commit to not building any more coal or gas fired power stations in NSW?
I鈥檝e never really bought the idea that 17-year-old Canadian-born pop star Justin Bieber is just some harmless, happy-go-lucky teen heart-throb. Anyone who saw the near-riot he inspired in Liverpool can attest to this.
His most recent comments about abortion in an interview published by Rolling Stone on February 16, however, crosses a whole new line.
鈥淚 really don鈥檛 believe in abortion,鈥 Bieber told the music magazine. 鈥淚t's like killing a baby?鈥
Progressive Indonesian website said in a March 14 editorial that the recent US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks exposing the corruption of the Indonesian government confirmed what most Indonesians already knew.
However, it said the leaks have further delegitimised the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
In his two terms of government, the editorial said, Yudhoyono has imposed neoliberal policies and acted as a puppet of US imperialism.
How have Australian scientists handled the difficult task of keeping us informed about the unfolding nuclear disaster in Japan? Only a few Australian scientists have featured repeatedly in the media.
Parramatta Climate Action Network hosted a presentation by Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) at Parramatta Town Hall on March 14. About 30 people attended the forum.
The presentation summarised the 鈥淶ero Carbon Australia 2020鈥 stationary energy report, which details how Australia can transition to 100% renewable energy by 2020.
In contrast to Australia, which has excellent renewable resources but is dominated by fossil fuel energy, Spain already has several large-scale solar thermal energy plants that provide baseload power.
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