An estimated 7000 childcare workers took industrial action by walking off the job around Australia on September 5 to demand equal pay.
Issue 1196
News
On September 13, Micah Weekes, once a coal miner and now an anti-coal activist stopped a coal train heading into the world鈥檚 largest coal port in Newcastle.
A former scaffolder from the Central Coast, Weekes worked in the coal industry for nearly 10 years. He said he was taking action because of the听coal industry鈥檚 toxic impact on people鈥檚 health.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to work in the industry to get sick from this. My kids are going to get sick. It鈥檚 already happening. People in my community have reoccurring respiratory illnesses, cancers and tumours.鈥
鈥淜ick coal out of politics鈥 was the key message protesters sent to the new Prime Minister from Cronulla Park on September 8.
The action in the PM's electorate involved some 500 people and was part of the global #Rise for Climate. It was one of 40 protest actions organised in all capital cities and some 30 other cities and towns across the country.
Actions focussed on clean energy where people and justice are put before profits were organised in 83 countries.
Fifty refugee supporters held a vigil on World Suicide Prevention Day, September 10, to commemorate the suicides of three refugees in the space of two weeks.
A snap protest was organised by the Committee in Solidarity with Peoples Struggles in Iran on September 12 in response to the execution of three Kurdish political prisoners in Iran: Ramin Hussein Panahi, Loghman Moradi and Zanier Morandi.
Protesters took to the streets of Sydney on September 12 against Australia鈥檚 prosecution of Witness K and his lawyer Bernard Collaery for allegedly whistleblowing on Australia鈥檚 bugging of Timor-Leste government offices.
鈥淐rystalline silica is the new asbestos, but Australians are simply not aware of the dangers involved in working with such a common substance as compressed stone,鈥 Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) secretary Luke Hilikari said at the release of the new silica dust standard in late August.
There has been a significant rise in the number of workers suffering silicosis and lung cancers caused by inhaling silica particles while manufacturing, cutting and installing compressed stone benchtops.
Banned from entering Australia by the federal government, former United States intelligence analyst turned whistleblower Chelsea Manning instead delivered her message of hope to audiences in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane via video link.
The Australian immigration department denied Manning a visa on the basis of failing 鈥渢he character test鈥, citing as grounds the time she spent in jail for leaking documents that exposed US war crimes in Iraq.
Environment consultancy and advocacy group Coast and Country has released damning evidence that suggests Adani acted illegally by undertaking pre-emptive work at its proposed mine site in Queensland鈥檚 Galilee Basin.听
Lots of environmental campaigns are covered in this week鈥檚 Activist Report along with the latest union, feminist, refugee and anti-fascist actions.
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The campaign for travel concessions for International students in NSW is featured along with protests for public housing, funding for mental health services in Victoria, the latest anti-racist protests and more.
Analysis
The federal Coalition government has dropped further in the polls following the knifing of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Nevertheless, both new Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the hard right Peter Dutton/Tony Abbott faction in the Liberal Party seem determined to take politics even more to the right.
Talk has once again resurfaced about extending police powers and militarising police forces after a violent brawl outside a pub in Collingwood, Victoria, earlier this month. But many are asking just how far governments are willing to go in sacrificing freedoms for an ill-conceived notion of being 鈥渢ough on crime鈥.
While conservative governments are constantly making calls to criminalise trade union activities, Geelong Trades Hall Council secretary听Colin Vernon says governments should instead be focusing on the real crime wave occurring in our community right now.
Sometimes the most powerful protests are those made in silence by brave individuals deciding to take a stand.
Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi made an impassioned plea for the big powers in the region to stop bullying small Pacific Island nations just days before the 49th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) was held in Nauru over September 3-6.
South Australia鈥檚 Liberal government gave final approval for Leigh Creek Energy to begin a three-month trial of an underground coal gasification (UCG) process, despite UCG technology being banned in other states due to its devastating impacts on the environment.
World
In recent days, Malaysia attained international notoriety for caning two women after their being convicted in a religious court of attempting to have sex in a car.
In striking contrast, on September 6, the Indian Supreme Court held that section 377 of their penal code, which criminalised consensual acts between adults of the same sex, was unconstitutional. That is a mature decision that gives 1.2 billion people in India the freedom to have consensual sex.
The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC), several other trade unions and the Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) have slammed as 鈥渉umiliating鈥 and 鈥渂eggarly鈥 the new Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) federal government鈥檚 announcement that it would increase the country's minimum wage by just RM50 (A$17) a month to RM1050 ($350) from next January.
Unions are considering calling a mass workers鈥 protest.
Pakatan Harapan had promised to raise the minimum wage to RM1500 within 100 days if it won the May 9 general election.听
Four months after the new Italian government was installed, the reactionary nature of the coalition between the populist Five Star Movement (M5S) and the far-right Lega (League) emerges more clearly each day, writes Daniele Fulvi.
Despite the fact that the League won only about 17% of the votes in the last elections (compared with 32% for the M5S), the interior minister and League leader Matteo Salvini is emerging as the undisputed head of the government. He is dictating the government agenda as he sees fit.
More than 1 million people marched in Barcelona on September 11 in support of Catalonia鈥檚 struggle for independence from the Spanish state. The day is marked each year as Catalonia鈥檚 national day, commemorating Barcelona's capture by Bourbon forces in 1714 during the War of Spanish Succession.
This year鈥檚 march also demanded the release of pro-independence political prisoners, who have been jailed for their role in last year鈥檚 independence referendum.
Venezuela鈥檚 foreign minister Jorge Arreaza听has reiterated his condemnation of the United States for seeking an intervention and supporting military conspiracies.
His September 9 comments followed a report that members of the US government have been meeting with Venezuelan military officers who were actively plotting听to听oust democratically elected President听听since mid-2017.
There is a growing body of pro-establishment statements in the United States opposing the possibility of US military intervention in Venezuela, writes Steve Ellner.
The latest expression of this position is a New York Times editorial titled 鈥淪tay Out of Venezuela, Mr. Trump鈥, published on September 11.
At first glance the editorial is a welcome statement that counters the careless war-mongering declarations coming from the ilk of Marco Rubio and a number of high-ranking Trump administration officials, as well as Donald Trump himself.
The US Central Intelligence Agency鈥檚 drone program in Africa is expanding, the New York Times said on September 10.
Just south of the Libyan border, a covert military base in Dirkou, Niger has been deploying fleets of drones on surveillance missions for several months, a Defense Department spokeswoman, Major Sheryll Klinkel told the NYT.
Bolivian President Evo Morales said 鈥渢he听 is the real threat to humankind鈥 on September 7 in response to US Senator Marco Rubio's talk of using the US Armed Forces against the Venezuelan government. Rubio had said Venezuela 鈥渉as become a threat for the region and even for the United States鈥.
As Yemeni journalists reported that at least 15 civilians were killed in Saudi airstrikes in the port city of Hodeidah on September 12, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo officially certified that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose three-year assault on the country has been made possible by US support, are doing all they can to avoid civilian casualties.
Hundreds of thousands of people joined protests around the world on September 8 calling on governments to take serious action on climate change.听
The Assad regime and its allies have been building up their forces around the rebel-held Idlib province, in Syria鈥檚 north-west, in preparation for a major offensive. Some bombing raids have already been carried out in the south and west of the province.
The Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC), several other trade unions and the Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) have slammed as 鈥渉umiliating鈥 and 鈥渂eggarly鈥 the new Pakatan Harapan (Alliance of Hope) federal government's announcement that it would increase the country's minimum wage by just RM50 (A$17) a month to RM1050 ($350) from January 2019.
Unions are considering calling a mass workers' protest.
Activists from the Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea (MKOTT) are mobilising public support in Timor-Leste for former Australian spy "Witness K" and his lawyer Bernard Collaery, whose trial began in Canberra on September 12.
Culture
With a bold call for protests against Israel鈥檚 crimes of apartheid, US-based pop band Of Montreal has dropped out of Israel鈥檚 Meteor Festival on September 4, just days before it was set to begin.
This follows the cancellation by headliner , who on August 31.
Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth
By Charles Massy
University of Queensland Press, 2017
592, paperback
In Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth, Monaro farmer Charles Massy has written an excellent book on agricultural change to restore the environment.
Massy talks about his transformation from a land degrader to a land regenerator, and the inspiration he received from dozens of other Australian farmers who have done the same.
2028
By Ken Saunders
Allen & Unwin, 2018
$29.99
This satirical novel is set in Australia鈥檚 near future and revolves around an accident-prone Liberal Prime Minister running a hopeless election campaign.听听
The setting is near enough to be uncomfortably recognisable but allows Ken Saunders to stretch out today鈥檚 neo-liberal realities to the point of absurdity.听
The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner
Daniel Ellsberg
Bloomsbury, 2017
420 pages
After the controversy of US Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning being refused a visa on 鈥渃haracter鈥 grounds, Phil Shannon takes a look at a book by one of Manning鈥檚 forerunners 鈥 Daniel Ellsberg, best known for leaking the Pentagon Papers in 1971, exposing US military secrets.
Australian artists are joining the more than 140 international artists in the for a boycott of Eurovision 2019 if it goes ahead in听Israel next May, says BDS Australia.
Inspired by the conscientious artists who refused to perform in apartheid South Africa in the 1980s, Palestinian artists and cultural groups have called for non-violent pressure in the form of boycotts on Israel until it complies with its obligations under international law.
In a world of Donald Trump, climate change and the threat of World War III, we need a laugh and quick 鈥 before it is too late.
So 91自拍论坛 Weekly has put together what should be an electrifyingly funny evening in Sydney on September 22. It even features a couple of well-known, if not exactly well-loved names with Donald Trump and Tony Abbott making an appearance on stage (via the impersonation skills of Jonas Holt)
BlacKkKlansman
Directed by Spike Lee
Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier & Topher Grace.
2018, in cinemas now
For the final chapter in his book, Real Talk: Aboriginal Rappers Talk About Their Music And Country, 91自拍论坛 Weekly's Mat Ward drives two hours south of Sydney to talk to Dobby. To find out why it's the final chapter, read on.