More than 40 Aboriginal delegates attended the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) to refute the Australian government鈥檚 reporting on its treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
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Wild International
Art exhibition by Sam Bullock
June 1-July 2
Andrew Baker Gallery
26 Brookes St, Bowen Hills
Brisbane
www.andrew-baker.com
Sam Bullock has a wonderful artistic talent. He is also autistic.
Indigenous rapper Caper says a backlash from his fans caused Facebook to reverse their banning of the video to his song "How Would You Like To Be Me?" (lyrics below). The song, which addresses racism in Australia, has enjoyed extensive radio airplay, becoming one of the most requested songs on Magic FM. The 30-year-old musician, otherwise known as Colin Darcy from Whyalla in South Australia, said in a post on the social networking website: "Whoever reported my new video 'How Would You Like To Be Me' as offensive has actually stopped it from being promoted on facebook.
One of the most original and provocative books of the past decade is Disciplined Minds by Jeff Schmidt.
鈥淎 critical look at salaried professionals,鈥 says the cover, 鈥渁nd the soul-battering system that shapes their lives.鈥
Its theme is postmodern America. But it also applies to Britain, where the corporate state has bred a new class of Americanised manager to run the private and public sectors: the banks, the main parties, corporations, important committees, the BBC.
Celebrated US author and poet Alice Walker is among 38 people who will join Audacity of Hope, the ship sponsored by US Boat to Gaza as part of an international effort to break Israel鈥檚 maritime siege of聽 Gaza.
Walker has authored more than thirty books, the best known of which is the Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Color Purple.
In a June 22 televised speech from the White House, United States President Barack Obama announced plans to withdraw 10,000 US soldiers from Afghanistan in 2011 and a further 23,000 in 2012.
This would leave US soldier numbers at about 70,000 the same as before the official "surge" by occuyping forces began at the end of 2009.
Britain鈥檚 Channel 4 said on June 24 that the reduction in soldier numbers would be partially compensated for by increased use of armed, pilotless drones.
Contrary to the popular belief that Australian citizens hold absolute rights to freedom and privacy, Australia continues to evolve toward a 鈥渂ig brother鈥-like society as the government strengthens the powers of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO).
With the support of the opposition, the government expanded ASIO鈥檚 powers to share information from wiretaps and computer access with other agencies. The expansion came with the Telecommunications Interception and Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Act, passed in March.
The lawyer who won access for refugees to Australia鈥檚 courts last year has gone to the High Court again to prevent a family being split up by the federal government鈥檚 鈥淢alaysia swap鈥.
Huge demonstrations of the anti-austerity M-15 movement in 97 Spanish cities and towns brought at least 250,000 people onto the streets on June 19.
The federal Labor government put a new law before the Senate on June 14 to set up a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory.
The same day, opponents of the radioactive waste dump plan gathered outside Parliament House in Canberra to protest.
Federal resources minister Martin Ferguson has said the government鈥檚 preferred site is Muckaty station, 100 kilometres north of Tennant Creek. The proposed bill also gives the government the go-ahead to set up dumps elsewhere in the NT.
This article is based on a June 24 statement released by Socialist Alliance members in Tasmania.
How is the government getting away with this idea that a public-sector pension is a 鈥渓uxury鈥?
Is it something that suave bachelors show off, saying: 鈥淥nce I鈥檝e taken you for a spin in my Aston Martin, how about I show you the mid-range forecast for my teacher鈥檚 pension over a bottle of Veuve Cliquot.鈥
A pension is a necessity, so you might as well say we simply can鈥檛 go on enjoying the luxury of a sewerage system, given that the amount of waste we鈥檙e flushing is 35% higher than in 1996, so from 2015 we鈥檝e got to throw it out the window otherwise we鈥檒l end up like Greece.
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