On behalf of the Alliance Party I would like to make a couple of comments about your April 6 article on New Zealand politics entitled "Redrawing the political map". The concern is that readers of the article may have gained the impression that New
-
-
Venezuelan solidarity in the US Activists in the United States organised a series of events to broaden the understanding of what is happening in Venezuela, during the week of April 11-17. Documentaries on the Bolivarian revolution and the coup were
-
Sarah Stephen The callous mistreatment of the children of asylum seekers and immigrants without valid visas by the immigration department (DIMIA) is something not widely known. Yet in early March it became part of wider public discussion after
-
Industrial relations After nine years of the Coalition government, we know that reform for them means more benefits for big business attained by additional hardship for working people, pensioners and all those on small incomes. This is an
-
April 20 1966: A candlelight vigil is held in Sydney as the first conscripts leave for Vietnam. 1996: The Scottish Socialist Alliance is founded. April 21 1856: Stonemasons in Melbourne are among the first workers in the world to win the
-
"Post-feminism" is the phrase du jour among mainstream political pundits, often accompanied by derogatory comments toward anyone who continues to complain that women lack equality. US society has entered a "post-feminist" phase, a level playing
-
Alex Rayfield, Melbourne Three activists — Jason MacLeod, Josie Lee and Adam Breasley — are currently before the courts after being arrested for non-violent direct action at the Australian Defence Industries (ADI) munitions plant in Benalla,
-
Seeing Red, the "forum of social, political and cultural dissent" initiated by the Socialist Alliance, has launched its web site (visit <;). The arrival of the site comes with the third issue of the magazine, which
-
Due to lack of funds, 68% of community services are unable to help all people who seek assistance. One out of every three times that people seek help from housing services they are turned away. Legal services turn someone away for every six times
-
Roberto Jorquera, an activist from the Venezuelan Solidarity Network in Australia, is in Caracas to help prepare for the solidarity brigade the network is organising from July 25-August 15, and to report on the unfolding revolution there. Regular
-
Kathy Newnam, Darwin The fight to expose the truth about the death in custody of Douglas Scott reached the NT Supreme Court on April 11 in a compensation case. Douglas' widow Letty and son Nathan brought the case against three NT prison officers,
-
James Crafti, Canberra "Over the years our relations have experienced many twists and turns, highs and lows ... Prime Minister Howard and I are heralding a new era of Indonesia-Australia bilateral relations ... the security, prosperity and
-
Zoe Moore, Sydney The federal Coalition government has turned its back on the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse emissions and NSW Labor Premier Bob Carr is promoting the necessity of another coal-fired power station in NSW, so it's now up to the people
-
Nick Everett, Canberra On April 4, the secretary of the federal Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) secretary, Dr Peter Boxall, announced that all future appointments to the department would be subject to the successful
-
Stuart Munckton According to an April 12 Venezuela Analysis <; article, supporters of the Movement for a Fifth Republic (MVR), Venezuela's governing party, voted in electoral primaries to establish the MVR's
-
Barry Healy, Perth The Aboriginal community in and around Bedfordale, in the south-east outer area of Perth, is reeling under the combined impacts of a racist campaign by the local Comment News and an attempt by World Vision to impose a neoliberal
-
Rohan Pearce The April 9 anti-occupation demonstrations by supporters of Shia cleric Moqtada al Sadr marked the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, which was probably the last time anything went as planned for Washington in its war on Iraq.
-
Sarah Stephen At its height between 1999 and 2001, the immigration detention business was very lucrative, with up to 3000 asylum seekers imprisoned at one time. But the current operator, Global Solutions Ltd (GSL), is facing lean times. Since
-
Tales from a Suitcase — Khadem Nori and Shafiq Monis, Hazaras persecuted by the Taliban in Afghanistan, escaped to Australia to be placed in Woomera detention centre. SBS, Friday, April 22, 2pm. Message Stick: The Songman/Don't Say Sorry —
-
Roberto Jorquera, Caracas A week of festivities started in Venezuela on April 11, to celebrate the third anniversary of the events of April 11-13, 2002, when a US-backed coup that briefly overthrew the left-wing President Hugo Chavez was defeated
-
By Fred Fuentes & Laura Ealing Hundreds of people attended pickets, protests, film screenings, public meetings and other events across Australia from April 11 to 17 to develop solidarity with the people and government of Venezuela. The week of
News
-
Ian Jamieson& Nikki Ulasowski, Perth A Unions WA executive meeting on April 12 decided to call a cross-union delegates' meeting — likely to be held in May — to form a campaign committee against the federal Coalition government's planned
-
BRISBANE — Lani Russell, a researcher for the Scottish Socialist Party in the Scottish Parliament, and an activist in the SSP, spoke about her experiences in the SSP since leaving Australia in the 1990s at an April 2 public forum sponsored by the
-
Tara Guinness, Sydney Red balloons filled the streets on April 10 as 150 refugee-rights protesters marched to the Villawood detention centre. The rally, organised by the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC), was called after police popped balloons
-
Alex Bainbridge, Hobart Forest campaigners have won important, albeit partial, victories in the Weld Valley and at South Sister. These wins are significant given the disappointment following the re-election in October of the pro-logging Howard
-
BRISBANE — On April 9-10, the University of Queensland hosted a conference to commemorate the 100the anniversary of women's suffrage in Queensland, achieved on January 25, 1905. The conference — attended by 40 women and men — was organised by
-
HOBART — On April 12, the Greens introduced a bill into the Tasmanian parliament allowing for same-sex marriages and have called for a parliamentary committee to discuss the issue. Despite calling the Greens' move "a stunt", Labor
-
Pip Hinman, Sydney Nearly 100 people attended a local peace group meeting at the Marrickville Town Hall on April 11 to hear Stephen Hopper, Andrew Wilkie and Sam Iskander talk about the Iraq war and what could be done to stop it. Hopper, Mamdouh
-
MELBOURNE — On April 13, the La Trobe University Student Representative Council (SRC) held a Student General Meeting (SGM) to discuss and pass motions against the implementation of "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) legislation. The SGM was
-
BRISBANE — On April 9, 40 people attended a showing of the anti-war film In the Year of the Pig at the Activist Centre to commemorate the 30th anniversary this month of the victory of the Vietnamese people against the US invaders and their puppet
-
CANBERRA — During a government-hosted visit by a South African trade union and government delegation on April 12, six of the delegation members, including Gavin Moultrie, president of the Health and Other Service Personnel Trade Union of South
-
SYDNEY — Thirty supporters rallied outside the Downing Centre Local Court on April 12 to demand that charges be dropped against refugee activists John Morris and Sunil Menon, accused of making false statements to enable escaped refugees to make
-
Karen Thorpe & Tim Stewart, Brisbane "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere", Aboriginal rights activist Murrandoo Yanner told a cheering 200-strong crowd at the Inala Community Centre on April 14. The meeting was organised by the
-
Andrew Martin, Brisbane "I've had a gutful of the phraseology of boxing clever, keeping the powder dry and the troops disciplined. We must discuss genuine collectivism and solidarity", Bob Carnegie, an organiser for the Queensland Builders
-
Dale Mills On April 6, the High Court handed down a decision in the case of Nuha Jamil Koehler v Cerebos (Australia) Limited which represents a setback for workers' health and safety rights. Koehler, 50, claimed she was unable to cope with the
-
Vannessa Hearman, Melbourne The Timor Sea Justice Campaign is set to broadcast its next series of television advertisements to coincide with Anzac Day on April 25. The group has chosen this time to focus on Australian soldiers and their
-
War is 'conflict prevention' "The US intelligence community is drawing up a secret watch-list of 25 countries where instability might precipitate US intervention, according to officials in charge of a new office set up to co-ordinate planning for
Analysis
-
On April 7, US President George Bush announced that he was nominating Zalmay Khalilzad to replace John Negroponte as the US ambassador to Iraq. Who is Zalmay Khalilzad? An Afghan-American, Khalilzad began working in the US State Department during
World
-
A motion put to the annual shareholders meeting of Caterpillar industries to "re-evaluate selling bulldozers to the Israeli army" was defeated, garnering 3% of the vote (representing US$600 million share holdings), on April 13. Caterpillar bulldozers
-
On April 10, 200 people, many from the Labour Party Pakistan, gathered at a few hours notice to discuss a campaign to support the family of Yasmeen Kanwal, who was murdered on April 4. The meeting followed a protest on April 7 in the centre of
-
"We have got to demand that all foreign troops leave Iraq certainly, but let's also demand that the troops come back from the US bases around the world, not just the war zones..."
-
On April 12, a shepherd in Salfit in the West Bank found small pink pellets spread across his grazing ground. He took some of the pellets to the police. A Bir Zeit University analysis of the pellets found them to be wheat seeds boiled in rat poison,
-
Two men, one an Australian citizen, were sentenced two years' imprisonment by a Fijian court on April 6, for engaging in "unnatural offences" and "indecent practice between two males". The men had made a video featuring gay sex. Homosexuality is
-
On April 11, Botswana's parliament debated a bill to scrap the constitutional clause that allows restrictions to the free movement of the general public in order to protect the indigenous Bushmen people of the Kalahari. The Bushmen are currently
-
Suadi Sulaiman Laweueng, the Free Aceh Movement's (GAM) spokesperson for the Pidie regency in north Aceh, spoke to 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly about the struggle in Aceh. The interview was translated by James Balowski. Can you explain the situation there?
-
On April 1, Judith Karpova and Faith Fippinger were issued with penalty notices from the US Treasury, alleging that they had shielded "government of Iraq infrastructure" and provided services to the Iraqi government in 2003, prior to the US invasion
-
On April 8, the American Civil Liberties Union commenced legal action against a Missouri public high school that disciplined a student for wearing t-shirts with gay-friendly messages. Fifteen-year-old LaStaysha Myers was twice sent home for wearing
-
Days after parliament rejected a Labour government bill to introduce identity cards for all citizens, Home Secretary Charles Clarke has authorised mandatory fingerprinting of new passport applicants to be introduced from next year. The passport
-
On April 8, the British government decided to deny visas to all 18- to 30-year-old Nigerians who have not visited the country before and have not been accepted to study in Britain. Last year, 60,000 Nigerians in that age group were granted visas.
-
Alex Miller In the British general election scheduled for May 5, the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) will be standing candidates in every Scottish parliamentary constituency, with the exception of East Kilbride, where Rose Gentle, mother of Scottish
-
Brian Stephens, Harare "We're in it to win", read the giant banner hanging off the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change in Harare during Zimbabwe's general elections. The opposition MDC's 41 seats were mainly won in the major cities
-
Duroyan Fertl On April 13, thousands of Ecuadorians protesting in the capital Quito were violently attacked by riot police with tear gas. The protesters, led by unionists and students, blocked roads with burning tyres and shut down the centre of
-
On April 12, Dr Klaus Stohr, the head of the Geneva-based World Health Organisation's global pandemic program, told reporters that Canadian authorities had discovered on March 25 that between 4700 and 5700 laboratories in 18 countries had been sent
-
John Pilger Can you imagine the BBC and other major broadcasters apologising to a rogue regime which practises racism and ethnic cleansing; which has "effectively legalised the use of torture" (according to Amnesty International); which holds
-
Eva Cheng Japan's escalating of territorial disputes with China and Korea — and Tokyo's latest attempt to whitewash its wartime atrocities — provoked huge protests in China and South Korea in March. The protests snowballed in China,
-
Raul Bassi On March 4, four people kidnapped a woman worker from the Zanon ceramics factory outside her workplace. Bringing back chilling memories of the 1970s "dirty wars" against left-wing activists, the woman was forced into a green Ford Falcon,
-
Doug Lorimer US officials have cited a decline in US troop fatalities in Iraq since the January 30 elections as evidence that the anti-occupation resistance is waning. Whereas 107 US troops were killed in January, the death toll fell to 58 in
-
On April 9, Jose Bayardi, the Uruguayan defence minister, told a press conference that Uruguay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil were considering withdrawing from the United Nations Mission for the Stabilization of Haiti, the multinational force backing
Culture
-
In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs — A Memoir of IranBy Christopher de BellaigueHarper Collins, 2004280 pages, $35 REVIEW BY SARAH STEPHEN In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs is a story of Iran told from the standpoint of someone who is both an
-
At last at the Pearly Gates John Howard stood,St Peter with steely eyes looked at him good.He said, you've a bloody cheek comin' up here,With your fibs and no sorries and your campaigns of fear. Your "kids overboard" made us all feel quite
-
Max Lane, Sydney Indonesian left-wing publisher Joesoef Isak attended the Third Asia Pacific International Solidarity Conference (APISC) in Sydney over the Easter weekend. In addition to speaking at a workshop on "Marxism in Indonesia after 1965"
-
Three DollarsStarring David Wenham, Frances O'Connor, Sarah WynterDirected by Robert ConnollyNow showing nationallyThree Dollars follows somewhat in the footsteps of director Robert Connolly's last film, The Bank, the story of