Issue 1038

News

  • Workers occupy factory in Dandenong

    The workers of International Flavours & Fragrances began occupying their building on January 27 as part of an ongoing strike. The Dandenong Leader reported workers "were locked out today after negotiations for a new workplace agreement stalled. About 60 workers were stranded by indefinite lockout by management early this morning. Negotiations have been ongoing since June, after contention arose over management鈥檚 proposal of a 55 cent an hour wage increase if workers forfeited one of their two paid ten minute breaks.

  • Melbourne Invasion Day protest: 'no pride in genocide'

    "Today was the best Invasion Day protest that I have ever been to," Socialist Alliance councillor told 91自拍论坛 on January 26. "There was a real feeling of Aboriginal Pride and Resistance. The crowd was bigger today too."

  • Medicare win deepens Tony Abbott's political crisis

    "The Abbott government's humiliating backdown on its proposed $20 GP rebate cut, further deepens the government's general political crisis," Susan Price, Socialist Alliance candidate for the seat of Summer Hill in the March 28 NSW state election, said on January 22. "The fact that the government was forced by a public outcry from doctors and the community to drop its plan to slash the Medicare rebate paid for GP consultations of less than 10 minutes is a major win for the movement to defend Medicare over the past 12 months," she said.

  • Ways to get active this week

    Help distribute 91自拍论坛 Weekly. Call 1800 634 236 or drop in to your local activist centre and pick up a bundle of papers to hand out in your workplace, school or community. Melbourne's annual Pride March recognises and celebrates Victoria's gay, lesbian, bisexual, intersex and transgender community. This year it celebrates its 20th anniversary. Join more than 100 groups in a march down Fitzroy Street in St Kilda on February 1.

  • Hunger strike in solidarity with refugees

    Twenty-two members of Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance initiated a 24-hour hunger strike in solidarity with the hunger-striking refugees on Manus Island. The action, held from noon on January 20 until noon on January 21, aimed to draw attention to the plight of 700 refugees on Manus Island. It was a symbolic gesture that allowed young people from around the country to start conversations with others who were unaware of what was happening on Manus Island at the direction of the Australian government.

  • Manus hunger strikers ask the world for help

    There is one message refugees in the Manus Island detention centre want Australia to hear: we need help. In a letter written on January 20, a group of asylum seekers taking part in a mass hunger strike wrote: 鈥淚n here alarms are ringing but heartless politicians are still indifferent.鈥 They said they were writing 鈥渇rom the heart of Manus鈥 as the hunger strike entered its 鈥渘inth day and it will continue鈥. 鈥淲e will continue our push until we reach our ultimate goal, which is freedom.鈥

  • Palestine鈥檚 football team unites supporters in Asian Cup

    More than 10,000 followers of the beautiful game sang, danced, shouted and chanted their way into AAMI Park for the Palestine vs Jordan match in this year鈥檚 Asian Cup. Although the 5-1 result in Jordan鈥檚 favour was no real surprise, supporters were as jubilant at the mere presence of the Palestinian team as they were at its first tournament goal.

Analysis

  • The politics of Australia鈥檚 unemployment

    The policy objective of most central banks, including the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), is full employment, even though it continues to be the failed promise of governments at every level. The federal government pledged to create one million jobs over five years when it was elected in 2013, a rate of more than 16,500 jobs a month. Yet in its first year of office less than 12,000 jobs were created each month as the official unemployment rate went up.

  • Gov鈥檛 axes funding for disability peak bodies

    Under the cover of Christmas, 10 peak representative bodies of people with disability were defunded by the federal government. Hang on, how does that work? Is this government not rolling out the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) that seeks to consult widely with people with disabilities and their advocates? Is this not the promise of a new arena of flexibility and choice, a 鈥渃onsumer-led鈥 initiative that puts disability rights and voice front and centre?

  • Queensland elections: a recipe for instability

    As the Queensland election campaign enters its final days, a Labor victory seems unlikely. Labor and the Liberal-National Party (LNP) say they will not do deals with minor parties. Recent opinion polls indicate the LNP will be re-elected with a clear majority. However, Campbell Newman could still be replaced as premier. Opinion polls are predicting between 10% and 11% swings to Labor. It needs a swing of 5.4% to unseat Newman in his electorate of Ashgrove.

  • 'Let Greece breathe,' Australian economists say

    Forty Australian economists have issued a statement prior to the Greek national elections on January 25 to condemn the debt recovery program imposed on the nation as unsustainable. The wide ranging list includes nine professors of economics, among them Professor John Hewson from the Australian National University (former federal leader of the Australian Liberal Party).

  • 鈥淲e have a political culture that is very shallow鈥 鈥 Interview with Greens candidate Jonathan Sri

    Jonathan Sri, Greens candidate for the seat of South Brisbane, joined Evan Verner to talk about the state of politics in Queensland and Australia, what made him run as a politician and his views on different political issues. In this interview, Sri discusses his views on politics and how music has influenced his view of the world. * * * The first time I saw Jonathan Sri was at a rally where he was on stage delivering one of his slam poems. "This is Queensland, where no man is carried we like our blacks in jail and our gays unmarried

  • Carlo's Corner: I can't believe it's not WorkChoices

    The Abbott government is very keen to tell us all that the new Productivity Commission review into workplace relations is not, in any way, a bid to revive the Coalition's deeply unpopular WorkChoices laws. Which, of course, as they keep saying, are totally 鈥渄ead and buried鈥.

  • Good news (for a change)

    BABY FEROUZ AND HIS FAMILY RELEASED FROM DARWIN DETENTION Baby Ferouz Myuddin and his family have been released from detention in Darwin. Ferouz was born in Brisbane two months after his Rohingya parents arrived on Christmas Island seeking asylum. The family have been involved in a long-running legal battle with the government over whether the boy could apply for a protection visa as he was born in Australia. The government argued that he could not because he was an unauthorised maritime arrival and the Federal Court agreed.

  • Liberal-National victory would devastate Queensland

    The Socialist Alliance released this statement on January 23 on the Queensland election. * * * The re-election of the Liberal-National Party (LNP) for a second term on January 31 鈥 with or without Premier Campbell Newman 鈥 would be devastating. A re-elected LNP would claim a mandate to complete the sale of public assets, begun by the previous Labor government and extended during the first three years of LNP.

  • Fighting Fund: Poor pay for rich to get richer

    A study conducted by Oxfam and released on January 19 highlighted the widening gap between rich and poor, showing that by 2017 the world鈥檚 richest 1% would own more than half of the world鈥檚 wealth. The study, titled , was released to coincide with the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. It analysed data from Credit Suisse and Forbes about the makeup of the 1% and the global distribution of wealth.

  • Renewable energy rises to power

    Despite the brutal cuts to leading renewable energy bodies by the Coalition government last year, incredible benchmarks in the field have been achieved.

  • Let鈥檚 end this domestic violence epidemic

    Every week, on average, in Australia, more than one woman is murdered by her present or former partner. Family violence is now the leading cause of death and injury for women under 45, and a staggering one-in-three women experience violence by a former or present intimate partner. On International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 24 last year, Telstra announced the introduction of an employment policy that provides for 10 days paid domestic violence leave each year for its employees.

  • White Australia's burning issue 鈥 what's wrong with Bill Gammage's book

    A popular argument suggests Aboriginal people always burned country so non-Aboriginal Australians should too, albeit for modern purposes, such as fuel reduction burns. Historian Bill Gammage argued this in the popular and influential book The Biggest Estate on Earth (2011). Remarkably, the book has attracted the praise of writers from both the left wing 91自拍论坛 Weekly and the far-right Institute of Public Affairs (IPA).

  • Bipartisanship responsible for asylum-seekers鈥 pain, suffering and deaths

    The shocking bipartisan cruelty towards refugees and asylum-seekers continues to expose the moral bankruptcy of the federal coalition government and the equally culpable ALP opposition. The latest despicable acts of criminal neglect and denial of human rights by our government towards asylum-seekers have been tragically playing out in a Darwin detention centre and in the Australian detention centre on PNG鈥檚 Manus Island, to our daily horror and disgust. Iranian asylum-seeker 鈥淢artin鈥 is now at a point of no return after more than 80 days on hunger strike in a Darwin detention centre.

World

  • India: A tale of two power stations

    The wave of social and environmental destruction sweeping India in the age of globalisation can be seen in the 鈥渄evelopment鈥 being imposed on entire 91自拍论坛 of small farmers, fishing communities, forest tribes and small artisans. It can be gauged from two instances of attempts to build coal-fired power stations in sensitive ecological regions of coastal Andhra Pradesh, a state in south-east India.

  • France jails people for irony

    It may sound like an ironic joke, but it isn鈥檛. Less than a week after the huge rallies in defence of 鈥渇ree expression鈥 after the murders of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists, French authorities have jailed a youth for irony. The arrest is part of a harsh crackdown on free speech in the country that has prompted criticism from national and international human rights groups.

  • Sri Lanka: Navy wages secret war on Tamil fisherfolk

    Allegations made by south Indian Tamil fisherfolk against the recently deposed Mahinda Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka reveal a trail of death and corruption. They said 750 fisherfolk have been killed by the Sri Lankan navy since 1983. Eighty-four boats were seized in the past six months alone.

  • Palestine ambassador praises Venezuelan support

    Venezuelan assistance to Palestine has played an important role in helping Palestine achieve domestic development goals, said Palestine's ambassador to venezuela, Linda Sabeh Ali. Sabeh Ali said her people hope to achieve some of the same freedoms the Venezuelan people have enjoyed in recent years. 鈥淰enezuela is a free land of liberators. We dream of a free country like this [Venezuela],鈥 Sabeh Ali said in a January 21 interview to Venezuelan state media.

  • Mexico: Missing student struggle reflects deeper issues

    In Australia, the life of a teaching student comes with certain inconveniences, but not acute physical danger at the hands of law enforcement, political authorities and organised crime. Sadly, that is not the case in Mexico. On the night of September 26-27 last year, in the southern state of Guerrero, police attacked a bus convoy taking a group of students from their normales rurales (rural teaching college) in Ayotzinapa to the city of Iguala.

  • Greece: A look at SYRIZA鈥檚 win -- the numbers behind the vote

    The victory of SYRIZA 鈥 Greece鈥檚 Coalition of the Radical Left 鈥 in the January 25 elections caused enormous outpouring of joy on the streets of Athens and confirmed general expectations. The 鈥減oll of polls鈥 done on the day before the election had SYRIZA winning 37.5% and 146 seats. The final result was 36.49% and 149 seats. SYRIZA will now form government in alliance with the socially conservative, but anti-Brussels, Independent Greeks.

  • Venezuela offers SYRIZA 'complete solidarity and support'

    The Venezuelan government has congratulated Alexis Tsipras, the leader of the left-wing Syriza party, who won a huge victory in Greece's parliamentary elections on January 25. Tsipras has been inaugurated as the country's prime minister. A Venezuelan government statement said: 鈥淰enezuela warmly congratulates the Syriza coalition party and Alexis Tsipras for their historic victory, wishing them success and complete solidarity and support.鈥

  • Greece: Tsipras sworn in with civil oath, honours communist resistance fighters

    Leader of the Greek radical left wing party SYRIZA Tsipras, took an oath pledging to "always serve the interests of the Greek people", rather than the traditional religious oath, in his swearing-in as the nation's new prime minister on the afternoon of January 26. The ceremony was held before the President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias at the Maximos Mansion in central Athens. This is the first time in the history of Greece that a prime minister has not taken the traditional oath and blessing of holy water from the Archbishop of Greece.

  • Interview with SYRIZA activist and pensioner Sissy Vovou: 'We need your solidarity!'

    91自拍论坛 Weekly/s Vivian Messimeris spoke with SYRIZA activist and pensioner Sissy Vovou in Athens about the effects of austerity and the hope a SYRIZA government brings. You can read all of the 91自拍论坛 reporting from Greece here and follow the 91自拍论坛 live blog on the elections . What impact have the austerity measures had on you?

  • SYRIZA wins: 'Greece is leaving behind austerity and pain'

    鈥淕reece is leaving behind the destructive austerity, fear and authoritarianism. It is leaving behind five years of humiliation and pain,鈥 SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras told a joyous crowd of flag-waving supporters after the radical left party won a large victory in the January 25 elections.

  • Live blog: Greek Election

    Welcome to 91自拍论坛's live election blog for the Greek Elections! Dick Nichols, Vivian Messimeris and Athanasios Lazarou will be updating live from Athens throughout the day. Voting has just begun in Athens and the big news is that the Coalition of the Radical Left party, SYRIZA, are widely believed to be set for a historic victory over the current New Democracy government. Led by the young and charismatic Alexis Tsipras, SYRIZA are set to become the first left wing party to hold power in Europe for decades and will be the first anti-austerity party to come to power in the Eurozone.

  • Huge Basque rallies against Spanish repression

    An estimated 33,000 people marched through the Basque city of Donostia on January 17 to protest ongoing Spanish state repression against civil rights activists and lawyers in the Basque Country. Marching under a large banner reading 鈥淗uman Rights, Resolution, Peace鈥, the demonstration included members of the Basque pro-independence left coalition EH Bildu, trade unions and supporters of Basque political prisoners.

  • Gazans struggle with siege, storms

    Early each morning, Um Atiya makes toast on a mud stove. She has become reliant on the stove since Israel鈥檚 51-day attack on Gaza in July and August last year. Electricity and cooking gas are scarce throughout the Gaza Strip. The situation has been particularly difficult in recent weeks. Gaza鈥檚 power plant was shut down on December 28, its fuel reserves exhausted due to lack of funds. Um Atiya only has six hours of electricity a day.

  • Kurdish journalist on Rojava's inspiring revolution

    Ozgur Amed is a journalist, columnist, teacher, and activist from Diyarbakir in south-eastern Turkey. He spoke to Dylan Murphy, in conjunction with , about the democratic revolution underway in predominantly Kurdish Rojava in the Syrian state 鈥 opposing both the Assad regime and fanatical Islamic State (IS). Despite sustained attacks by IS on Kobane in Rojava, resistance fighters liberated most of the city 鈥 and Rojava's fascinating and inspiring experiments in direct democracy live on.

  • Palestinians strike against police killings

    Sami Ziadna, who died as a result of excessive tear gas inhalation on Jaunary 18, was the 50th Palestinian citizen of Israel to be killed by Israeli police since October 2000. Then, as protests spread throughout Palestinian communities in Israel, 13 unarmed demonstrators were shot and killed by police officers in northern Galilee. About 1.7 million Palestinians carry Israeli citizenship, but dozens of discriminatory laws stifle their political expression and limit their access to state resources, including land and education.

  • Athens vox pops: 'We need change'

    91自拍论坛 Weekly journalist Vivian Messimeris, in Greece as part of 91自拍论坛's team reporting on the country's crucial January 25 elections, spoke to people in Athens on the elections and the likelihood of a win by radical left group SYRIZA. You can read more coverage of Greece and the elections here. *** Manolis Litsioltis Pensioner

  • Looming SYRIZA wins alarms European elite

    In the days ahead of Greece's January 25 general elections, all signs point to victory for the Alexis Tsipras-led Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA). The big unknown is whether the party will win an absolute majority in the 300-seat Greek parliament, freeing it from the need to negotiate with minority parties and ending the chance of a further national poll in case negotiations fail.

  • Greece eyewitness: SYRIZA pushes plan to help jobless

    Speakers from the SYRIZA -- the radical left force poised to win Greece's January 25 general elections -- addressed the topic of 鈥淗ow To Recover From Unemployment鈥 and the role of the Manpower Employment Organisation (OAED) in Athens on January 20. The meeting was addressed by SYRIZA candidates Despina Spanou, Dimitrios Stratoulis and Nazos Iliopoulos, as well Maria Karamesini, a SYRIZA member and economics lecturer at Panteio University.

Culture

  • Blue King Brown step up for West Papua and global justice

    Blue King Brown (pictured) are back on tour in January to promote their new album Born Free and just generally to spread the love with their fans. The , which was released in November, is a cutting-edge roots selection of tracks centred around the message of internationalism and the people of the world coming together to support social justice.

  • Robert McChesney blows roof off the 21st century

    The work of renowned media critic Robert McChesney 鈥渉as been of extraordinary importance鈥, says the 鈥渨orld's top public intellectual鈥, Noam Chomsky. 91自拍论坛 Weekly's Mat Ward spoke to McChesney about his new book, Blowing The Roof Off The Twenty-First Century.