Linda Seaborn
When the Whitlam Labor government introduced the single mother's benefit in 1973, it brought hope to women trapped in violent and abusive relationships. What had formed the steel in their trap was the poverty that is a consequence of
-
-
Mick Bull, Melbourne The Victorian branch of the construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has broken through in its quest to get a new industry-wide pattern enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA). On
-
Sheikh Taj Eldin Al Hilaly went to Iraq to help secure the release of Australian hostage Douglas Wood. He spent more than a month there, working with the Australian emergency response team. Wood was released on June 15 after Iraqi and US forces
-
Chris Slee and James Vassilopoulos, Melbourne A dispute at Kemalex Plastics' Dandenong South site, now in its ninth week, has become a flashpoint in a wider fight between unions and the federal Coalition government. If the government's proposed
-
Sam Wainwright There's a change in the air. In the first few months after PM John Howard was re-elected and he revealed the full scope of his government's anti-worker agenda, depression and despair were everywhere to be found. The message coming
-
June 29 1919: Police open-fire on a Townsville protest against the arrest of unionists and nine people are seriously wounded. 1954: The CIA backs a coup to oust Guatemala's left-wing government. July 2 1965: Victorian secondary school
-
Peter Boyle In the last sitting of the old Senate, the Greens combined with the ALP to pass a motion noting the launch of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) advertising campaign highlighting the impact of the Coalition government's
-
Peter Boyle & Margarita Windisch Union leaders around the country are demanding that federal Labor and state Labor governments actively fight PM John Howard's proposed new anti-union laws. On June 15, National Union of Workers NSW secretary
-
Kathy Newnam& Jon Lamb, Darwin The race card came up trumps for the Labor Party in the June 18 Northern Territory elections, which saw the ALP returned to government with an unprecedented 12% swing in its favour. The Country Liberal Party, which
-
PM John Howard and the federal Coalition's anti-union legislation will be disastrous for all workers, but some are likely to fare worse than others. 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly spoke to Jenny Kruschel, Victorian assistant secretary of the Textile, Clothing and
-
Half of Australia's workers (around 3.8 million) earn less than $678 a week ($35,351 per year). The work force grew by just over 400,000 new jobs from 2000-2003, but 64.8% of these pay less than $600 a week. More than 2 million people earn less
-
Zimbabwe I turn to GLW for alternative media, not repetition of the mainstream lies. You should divert your space to more serious African cases such as Equatorial Guinea, where almost 90% of oil revenue goes to foreign multinationals. Robert Mugabe
-
Sarah Stephen How fast the federal Coalition government can move when it wants to! On June 17, Prime Minister John Howard came to an agreement with the "Rebel 4" Liberal Party backbenchers on a compromise deal to reduce the harshness of mandatory
-
Casual readers of the newspaper headlines could be forgiven for believing that the leaders of the richest and most powerful countries have had a miraculous change of heart. If the papers are to be believed, the key decades-long demand of the global
-
Jude Deland & Jill Redwood The East Gippsland region is a hot-spot of biodiversity. It covers only 4% of the Victoria, yet is home to more than 300 rare and endangered species, half of the state's 3000 native vascular plant species and 43 different
-
Dick Nichols The fourth issue of Socialist Alliance's quarterly magazine Seeing Red, now out, focuses on the federal Coalition government's plans to break the back of the Australian trade union movement through its "reforms" to industrial relations
-
Ron Perkins, Perth Perth's Unions-WA organised June 30 protest rally against the federal government's proposed anti-worker industrial laws looks set to be the largest since unions mobilised against the state Coalition government's infamous "second"
-
The federal Coalition government's refugee detention policy is in crisis, and there is a feeling in the refugee-rights movement that we are at last making some headway. That was certainly the mood at this year's World Refugee Day rallies. The
-
Lachlan Maxwell, Huon Valley The federal government's forest industry rescue package has protected the large Myrtle tract of the Tarkine forest, selective areas of the Styx Valley, and other minor areas throughout Tasmania from intensive forestry
News
-
NEWCASTLE — "The trade union movement is at a crossroads — we can stick or heads in the sand, we can throw up our hands and promise to be good or we can lead the fight against Howard and make these laws inoperable." This is what Steve Murphy
-
SYDNEY — On June 9, refugee-rights activist Sunil Menon was committed to stand trial in August on a charge of aiding and abetting an Iranian asylum seeker to make a false statement in the course of obtaining an Australian passport. Rezai Mohsen
-
When Kuwaiti-born Palestinian refugee Aladdin Sisalem arrived in Melbourne on May 31, 2004, greeted by the glare of television cameras and the welcome of supporters, his emotions were tinged with a sense of triumph and relief.
-
Mike Byrne With great fanfare, the new CEO of Telstra, Sol Trujillo, was announced to an expectant corporate audience on June 9. This would not be news in itself if it wasn't for the staggering $10 million remuneration package that accompanies the
-
Kiraz Janicke Sydney-based human rights activist Donna Mulhearn has made three separate visits to Iraq in the last 18 months. She first visited Iraq during the US invasion in March 2003, serving as a "human shield". Mulhearn was in Fallujah
-
NEWCASTLE — Environmental group Rising Tide staged an evening protest in Civic Park on June 21 to highlight the damaging impact of climate change. More than 200 people gathered for the winter solstice, symbolising a period of peak energy
-
Jim McIlroy, Brisbane Workers in the federal government's main social welfare agency, Centrelink, face a major struggle in their campaign for a new enterprise agreement this year. During negotiations between Centrelink and the Community and Public
-
SYDNEY — On June 18, 160 people attended a relationship equality forum organised by the Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby (GLRL) NSW. Among the featured speakers were New Zealand Labour MP Tim Barnett, former GLRL convenor David McLachlan, University of
-
MELBOURNE — A local fight-back against PM John Howard's industrial relations "reforms" kicked off in Melbourne's western suburbs on June 22, when a newly formed coalition of community and union members organised a 100-strong forum in Footscray.
-
MELBOURNE — At a meeting to launch its social justice charter for 2005, Hume City Council reaffirmed its opposition to the proposed Broadmeadows immigration detention centre. Councillor Gary Jungwirth, the HCC's portfolio councillor for social
-
SYDNEY — On June 20, the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) council voted 13-to-three in favour of introducing full-fee-paying places for up to 35% of domestic undergraduate places next year. Michelle Sparks, president of the UTS Students
-
Sibylle Kaczorek, Sydney On June 18, 200 people attended a public meeting organised by the Greens to discuss PM John Howard's planned new anti-union laws. The meeting was addressed by a number of union leaders. Unions NSW assistant secretary Mark
-
Nick Everett, Canberra On June 20, federal workplace relations minister Kevin Andrews demanded the ACTU remove TV advertisements claiming that under the federal government's planned new industrial relations laws, workers could be forced into
-
Graham Matthews, Sydney On June 22, 70 people attended a "Stand Up and Speak Out" meeting at the Parramatta Town Hall. Organised by the Coalition Against the Howard Government, the meeting involved a broad coalition of unions, the University of
-
Expert opinion "In a News Ltd newspaper, Labor powerbroker Robert Ray labelled the frontbench a 'bunch of dills'." — Melbourne Age, June 21. Being a dill among a bunch of dills? "I think he's been doing a very good job in very difficult
-
Tony Iltis, Melbourne The Timor Sea Justice Campaign (TSJC) held a public information evening on June 23 at the Collingwood Town Hall to explain the current state of negotiations between Australia and East Timor. Hosted by Melbourne comedian Rod
-
Dave Holmes Radical publisher Resistance Books has launched a new online bookshop — <;. Its old website at this address has been given an extreme makeover and now lists over 330 books, pamphlets and other
-
Sue Bull, Geelong Long-time political activist and socialist Tim Gooden was declared elected unopposed to the Geelong Trades Hall Council's secretary position on June 21. His tenure will be for five years. This is a significant victory for union
Sue Bull, Geelong
Long-time political activist and socialist Tim Gooden was declared elected unopposed to the Geelong Trades Hall Council's secretary position on June 21. His tenure will be for five years.
Analysis
-
PM John Howard's new industrial relations laws will be disastrous for working people. The changes are not simply an attack on the wages and conditions of today's workers, they are an attempt to render workers powerless and allow bosses free reign in
World
-
A May 21 attempt to transfer a Saharawi prisoner from Laayoune, in Western Sahara, to Morocco's north has sparked a wave of protest. Morocco has occupied Western Sahara since 1975. Protests on May 24-27 against the transfer were brutally attacked by
-
Alex Miller On June 15, the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) lodged a bill in the Scottish Parliament to require councils to provide free, nutritious meals to every Scottish schoolchild. The bill, lodged by SSP member of the Scottish parliament
-
Doug Lorimer In stark contrast to the endless coverage of the supposed "rescue" of Australian-born hostage Douglas Wood, most media has been silent on revelations of hundreds of Iraqi Arabs and Turkmen kidnapped by US-backed Kurdish police and
-
Federico Fuentes On June 19, the national directorate of the Worker's Party (PT) of Brazil called on its members to organise public actions and other events to denounce "the unscrupulous campaign of false accusations and lies" being waged by
-
Rohan Pearce US troops shot Farqad Mohammed Khinaisar at 8am on May 29. She was 15 minutes away from the Baghdad high school she taught at when a convoy of soldiers from the 3rd Infantry Division opened fire on her car. Her death was the end result
-
On June 19, the Observer published leaked extracts from the US submission to the G8 action plan on climate change. They revealed that Washington intended to force the removal of any reference to the fact that climate change is a 'serious threat to
-
Norman Brewer, Bremen It took three things to trigger the historic and promising unity process between the Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) and the Electoral Alternative for Jobs and Social Justice (WASG), which was formed through last year's
-
Feminist Gloria Steinam joined around 30 people to protest the opening of De Beer's first US store, telling media that the "Bushmen are the real diamonds of the Kalahari". The Botswanan government has been evicting the Bushmen from their traditional
-
Ben Reid There is growing political turmoil in the Philippines as the government of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has become increasingly besieged by critics. Broad coalitions of political forces are beginning to emerge calling for her ouster
-
Three legal experts appointed by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan in February to investigate Jakarta's trials of those responsible for atrocities during East Timor's 1999 independence referendum has described the trials, in which all but two accused
-
On June 21, 200 people, representing 127 organisations, gathered at Malaysia's Parliament House to protest the proposed privatisation of the country's water supply management. Malaysia's ruling National Front party is rapidly privatising basic
-
Malik Miah, San Francisco The latest setback for US workers' right to secure retirement pensions occurred in the airline industry with the termination last month of four defined benefit pension plans at United Airlines (UAL), the world's second
-
Stuart Munckton & Roberto Jorquera On June 21, Venezuelan interior minister Jesse Chacon announced that Venezuelan security had uncovered a plot to assassinate President Hugo Chavez. He said the plot was linked to those who organised an
-
On June 21, President Alfredo Palacio declared that Ecuador will not be signing a treaty granting US troops in the country immunity from prosecution for crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court. The decision, which followed a
-
Roger Annis & John Riddell, Toronto Revelations contained in a federal commission of inquiry, headed by Justice John Gomery, have deeply shaken the stability of capitalist politics in Canada, and placed the issue of Quebec independence again at the
-
Zimbabwean asylum seekers in detention centres across England launched a mass hunger strike on June 21, in an attempt to force the British government to stop deporting Zimbabwean asylum seekers. While, on June 23, foreign secretary Jack Straw
-
Eva Cheng Hong Kong's phoney election for a new chief executive took a farcical twist on June 16 when the legally required secret ballot was done away with, leaving no possibility for even isolated protest votes to be cast. With strong
-
Rohan Pearce The May 13 massacre in the Uzbek city of Andijan proved acutely embarrassing for Washington. Uzbek President Islam Karimov has been an important ally in the White House's "war on terror" and the regime has received substantial US aid
-
Katie Cherrington The Bolivarian revolution in Venezuela, which is working to change the political and economic structures of Venezuelan society in favour of the poor majority, is also creating a mini-revolution in the nation's labour movement.
-
On June 21, communities across the Niger Delta, supported by Friends of the Earth Nigeria, filed legal action in Nigeria's High Court against Shell, Chevron-Texaco and Nigerian oil companies, to stop the flaring (burning off) of associated gas. While
-
As Mexico redeployed a massive number of troops in the Chiapas region, around the 1111 villages declared to be in self-government with the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN), communiques released on June 19 and 20 by EZLN leader
-
Rohan Pearce In the lead-up to Afghanistan's September parliamentary elections, additional foreign troops, most likely including Australians, are being deployed to prop up the central administration of President Hamid Karzai. Karzai relies on
-
Glenn Walker Canadian mining giant Barrick Gold is facing increasingly fierce opposition to its proposed bi-national "Pascua Lama" open-pit mine on the border of Chile and Argentina. The powerful multinational, notorious in Australia for its
Culture
-
Pablo Neruda: A Passion for LifeBy Adam FeinsteinBloomsbury, 2004497 pages, $65 (hb) REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON Pablo Neruda was a poet who won the Nobel prize for literature. He was also a lifelong, if increasingly troubled, Stalinist. As Adam
-
Australian Biography: Jack Mundey — As secretary of the NSW branch of the Builders Labourers Federation, Jack Mundey led the union's famous "green bans", a conservation campaign that redefined the development of Australia's major cities. SBS,
-
Charmaine Chew is one of hundreds of presenters who volunteer their time for Melbourne community radio 3CR's 132 programs that go to air each week. Chew presents the Borderlines program at 5-5.30pm each Wednesday, which deals with
-
Live radio plays: July 3, 7pm, The Body in the Basement and July 10, 7pm, Sit on My FacetsThe Studio, Sydney Opera House$20/$15, for bookings phone (02) 9250 7777 or visit <; Feel the drama. Live the
-
Help support the development of progressive and radical TV — Actively Radical TV is offering the Art Resistance Community TV weekly program for purchase on DVD or VHS. The Art Resistance hour is broadcast 9.30-10.30pm on Sunday