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"Over the past 20 years since the Oslo Accords were signed, we have seen the continued reduction of Palestinian sovereignty over their legitimate territory,鈥 Richard Falk told a forum at Sydney University on September 19. 鈥淧alestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and elsewhere are consigned to a permanent never-never land. The oppression of the Palestinians by Israel over the past decades is one of the most unspeakable denials of human rights in the world today.鈥 Falk is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Palestinian human rights, and a leading legal academic from the US.
Jeff Halper, the leader of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD), spoke about his ideas on the future of Palestine and Israel at Melbourne University on September 19. The ICAHD campaigns against the demolition of Palestinian houses by the Israeli occupation regime. It has rebuilt 187 houses that had been demolished.
The new Prime Minister Tony Abbott is infamous for his homophobia. Only recently he dismissed the equal marriage rights campaign as the 鈥渇ashion of the moment鈥. The equal marriage rights campaign is about much more than marriage. It鈥檚 about a prejudice that kills people. Particularly for young people, life in the queer community keeps them constantly on their toes. All around, queer people are self-harming, and every day young people worry that somebody they care about might commit suicide. These are the consequences of homophobia and transphobia.
Research by The Australia Institute has found Australian gas prices are set to double over the next few years 鈥 not because there is a gas crisis, but because gas companies are exporting Australian gas for much higher prices, driving up the price of domestic gas. Mark Ogge from explained this research in of Stop CSG Illawarra in Wollongong on September 15. ***
Hundreds of blind people and their supporters have linked white canes in front of Vision Australia Enterprises in support of blind manual workers facing the sack at the end of this month. The white cane chain stretched more than 200 metres, doubling back across the length of the Kensington worksite. It received widespread media coverage. The crowd, which gathered on September 15, chanted, 鈥減eople before profits鈥 and 鈥渉ave some vision, change your decision鈥, referring to Vision Australia鈥檚 decision to close its supported employment program because it failed to make a profit.
One of Prime Minister Tony Abbott鈥檚 first acts has been to abolish the Climate Commission. Set up under Julia Gillard in 2011 and chaired by Tim Flannery, the commission鈥檚 role was to explain climate science to the public. It is well known Abbott will abolish the carbon price, but other climate programs in Abbott鈥檚 sights include the Climate Change Authority and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. This is a clear sign the new Abbott government believes the environment can be sacrificed for profit.
A media campaign began this month to discredit the findings of the fifth major report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), due to be released on September 27. The Australian published a front page story on September 16 headlined: .

About 1000 people packed the Sydney Opera House on September 16 for a public forum featuring Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald, WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, Chelsea Manning鈥檚 defense lawyer David Coombs, independent US journalist Alexa O鈥橞rien and Australian academic Robert Manne.

Liberal PM Tony Abbott can't abolish the truth, but he is trying. Whether it is his new government's attempt to keep refugee boat arrivals secret or the abolition of the Climate Commission, Abbott has moved quickly to keep the public in the dark. Former Climate Commissioner Tim Flannery warned after the commission was disbanded: "As global action on climate change deepens, propaganda aimed at misinforming the public about climate change, and so blunting any action, increases."
If after , , and , you thought that you could be sickened by racist violence but no longer shocked, you need to know the story of Jonathan Ferrell.
Pavlos Fyssas.

When he was assaulted by a gang of black-shirted Golden Dawn thugs on the night of September 18 in the Keratsini district of Athens, 34-year-old Pavlos Fyssas 鈥 a big and powerful man 鈥 was with his girlfriend and another couple.

Real Talk book cover artwork.

Australian hip-hop pioneer Urthboy told The Music Network last year: 鈥淚 was asked to write about the state of hip-hop in Australia. I鈥檇 prefer to shine a light on what may be the future of it: Indigenous Hip-Hop.