Community Solidarity Action was launched in Darwin to respond to funding cuts under the federal government's Indigenous Advancement Strategy and to protest against the closure of communities in Western Australia.
The group was launched by community organisations, unions and individuals concerned about or affected by the recent funding announcements and community closures.
Clashes erupted on April 15 at the Wickham Point detention centre in Darwin when refugees resisted attempts to send them back to the Australian-run concentration camp in Nauru where they have suffered serious human rights abuses.
Thousands of people took to the streets of Melbourne and Sydney on April 10 to protest against the forced closure of remote Aboriginal communities.
Zakia Baig from the Australian Hazara Women鈥檚 Friendship Network speaking at the rally.
One hundred and fifty people rallied in Melbourne on April 11 against the kidnapping of 31 Hazara people in Afghanistan. This action was part of Australia-wide rallies.
More than 100 people joined a rally at Sydney Town Hall on April 11 to demand "US hands off Venezuela!"
The rally demands were: "No more coups; End foreign intervention; Respect Venezuela's revolution; and Peace in Latin America!"
Four Jobs for Women leaders in front of the steelworks in the early 1980s. Photo: Jobs for Women Facebook
In Wollongong in the early 1980s, jobs for women were scarce. They either had to wake at dawn to travel to Sydney on the diesel train or they sewed in backyard sweatshops for minimal wages.
鈥淎 high-ranking official close to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said the Greek government is not planning to give in to its creditors鈥 pressures and go against the program they had promised to the Greek people who brought them to power,鈥 on April 16. The comment came amid rising tensions between Greece's SYRIZA-led anti-austerity government and its creditors 鈥 the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Striking McDonald鈥檚 workers took part in marches and pickets in Auckland, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin on April 15, with many speaking to the crowds and media about the hardship of living with insecure work and income.
Sudan鈥檚 ruling National Congress Party (NCP) persisted with April 13-15 national elections, despite widespread condemnation of the process from inside and outside the country. Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir, who came to power in a 1989 coup, contested the presidency among 15 mostly unknown candidates. The election was boycotted by opposition groups. They have called for an inclusive consultation process to resolve the country鈥檚 substantial problems, establishing a transitional government, and immediately ending the repression of dissent as prerequisites for free and fair elections.
The revolutionary 鈥淭he Law for Labour Justice and Recognition of Work from Home,鈥 was passed by Ecuador's National Assembly on April 14, . The law, which was first proposed by President Rafael Correa on November 15 to about 100,000 workers, passed by 91 votes to 29. The law will extend the benefits of the social security system to all Ecuadoreans wishing to be affiliated.
United States politics is witnessing a new sorry spectacle 鈥 and one with real consequences for Australia, as well as other nations on the Pacific rim. US President Barack Obama is trying to drum up support from his party to implement the agenda of the huge corporations that sought to block his election and re-election via the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) 鈥渇ree trade鈥 deal involving 12 Pacific rim nations.
President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela began his visit to Panama City for the Summit of the Americas with a visit to the impoverished neighbourhood of El Chorrillo to lay a wreath at the monument to those killed by the US bombing of the community during the 1989 US invasion of Panama.
The seventh Summit of the Americas, held in Panama City on April 10 and 11, was widely hailed as a victory for left-leaning and progressive forces in the region, particularly Venezuela and Cuba.
A shows the aftermath of the 鈥淧aniai massacre鈥 in West Papua in December last year, bringing to light Indonesia's human rights abuses.
Protesters demanding widespread reform of the police took the streets on April 14, as killings of unarmed black men have become all-too frequent in US headlines.
A new police murder of an unarmed Black man in the United States has received global attention. It comes as the #BlackLivesMatter movement has swept the country since the police murder of an unarmed Black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri last August.
Internationally awarded Uruguayan author and journalist Eduardo Galeano died on April 13 of lung cancer at age 75 in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay.
