Resistance held a NSW activist camp on April 13-15, themed 鈥淐onfronting war and imperialism, socialism in the 21st century鈥. The camp was attended by 50 people and included workshops on socialist solutions to the environmental crisis, the Venezuelan revolution, fighting sexism today, racism and imperialism, and the Palestinian struggle.
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The Golden Triangle Community Crisis Committee (GOLCCOM), a community-based organisation in the south of Johannesburg, has been leading a struggle since the beginning of the year for access to basic housing in the Freedom Park informal settlement. A March 15 community march called for the right to land, housing, water, electricity and education, but the council has still not responded to these demands. In early April, another peaceful protest was held at which police randomly shot protesters and arrested 14 people, who were later released under pressure from the community and supporting organisations. One of those shot, Simon Mkupe, lost his right and GOLCCOM plans to take legal action in response. For more information, email Thabang Makhele at <thamihukwe@toughguy.net>.
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The 2007 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras award for 聯Most outstanding political comment聰 was awarded to the 聯Bring David Hicks home聰 float.
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Bulldogs winger Hazem El Masri and lawyer Adam Houda were racially harassed on the night of April 12, according to the two men.
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Tens of thousands of people joined a march on April 22 against the Howard government鈥檚 anti-worker laws, followed by an afternoon 鈥淩ockin for your rights鈥 concert. In Melbourne, more than 1500 people gathered at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.
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Joe Collins from the Australia West Papua Association said on April 19 that Australia should have no ties with the Indonesian military (TNI) until it is proven to have reformed. TNI commander Marshal Djoko Suyanto was visiting Canberra at the time to strengthen Australia-Indonesia military relations.
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Less than two weeks after resigning to protest against substandard wages and conditions, construction workers at the Coles-Myer distribution centre in Somerton have secured a collective agreement with construction industry-standard wages and conditions. Coles re-opened negotiations with the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union soon after community activists organised by Union Solidarity blockaded the centre聮s gates on April 13. The workers had been employed as casuals on individual contracts with wages approximately $10 per hour below industry standards.
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PERTH 鈥 Woodside Petroleum shareholders were greeted by protesters representing the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union and Friends of Australian Rock Art at the Perth Convention Centre on April 19. FARA's message to Woodside's annual general
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The federal government must take a 聯strong and principled聰 approach to opposing the death penalty whenever and wherever it is applied, former ALP national president Barry Jones told a public forum attended by more than 100 people on April 19. The forum was organised by Australians Against Capital Punishment.
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The Australia-Cuba Friendship Society held its 2007 national consultation in Canberra on April 13-15, attended by some 60 activists from around Australia. The gathering was also attended by Cuba聮s consul and consul general in Australia, Nelida Hernandez Carmona and Ifrahim Miranda Leon, as well as representatives of the Cuban Institute of Friendship with the Peoples, vice-president Buenaventura Reyes Acosta and Alicia Corredera Morales.
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Around 40 people attended a screening of Who Killed the Electric Car on April 18, hosted by the non-profit, community run Western Region Environment Centre in Werribee. The film was followed by a very lively debate about issues such as industry聮s drive for corporate profits, the lack of leadership from federal and state governments to provide solutions to climate change and the need for community action.
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Protesters followed PM John Howard from the Williamtown RAAF Base to the Hunter Valley Grammar School on April 18, in opposition to his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. Howard was kept safe from confrontation with any dissenters at both invitation-only events.
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A snap candlelight vigil was held on April 20 against PM John Howard聮s proposal to ban refugees and migrants with HIV/AIDS from entering Australia. The protest, attended by around 100 people, was organised by National Union of Students queer officer Peter Johnson and endorsed by the Queer Students Network, Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) Sydney and the Refugee Action Coalition (RAC).
News
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The eight-day trial against seven people facing charges relating to a February 2006 protest against Kerry Packer聮s taxpayer-funded state memorial has concluded with the dismissal of one or more charges against each defendant. Four defendants decided to plead guilty to one minor charge each.
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On April 14, the Victorian Socialist Alliance held its state conference, which unanimously voted to make the federal election a key area of campaigning for the coming year. The alliance will hold further meetings to preselect candidates and determine the shape of the election campaign.
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Failed state "I have told the American people often it is best to defeat them there so we don't have to face them here ... That's one of the major lessons of September the 11th. In that case, there was a safe haven found in a failed state, where
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Refugee-rights groups have accused immigration department and GSL management at the Villawood detention centre of collective punishment of detainees in the aftermath of two detainees escaping on the evening of April 19.
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Civil rights and anti-war activists rallied around Australia on April 21 to demand immediate freedom for David Hicks and the closure of the US鈥檚 military prison in Guantanamo Bay.
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The short answer to that question is: because we need to be. It is an illusion that women have attained true equality.
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new front in the battle against the Howard government聮s anti-union laws has opened with a push by federal workplace relations minister Joe Hockey for local councils to sign their employees up to the new Work Choices legislation.
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The 聯Our Public Transport聰 campaign was launched in Melbourne on April 12, when some 40 local commuters rallied at Flinders Street Station to demand free, publicly run transport.
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A community protest organised by Union Solidarity shut down the construction site at Woodside聮s Otways gas plant near Port Campbell on April 17.
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Around 1000 workers rallied in Musgrave Park on April 20 to oppose the Howard government鈥檚 Work Choices legislation, under the theme 鈥淭ime鈥檚 Up鈥.
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On April 17, 160 people rallied at Melbourne University (MU) against the introduction of the 鈥淢elbourne model鈥. They were joined by students from the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA).
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Workers at Wangaratta fabric manufacturer Bruck Textiles defeated a second attempt by management to implement a non-union agreement in votes held on April 19 and 20. Bruck tried to entice workers to sign its sub-standard non-union agreement with a 3% annual pay increase that wouldn聮t even keep up with inflation.
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91自拍论坛 Weekly will be taking a one-week break. Out next issue will be dated May 9.
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Around 100 people filled Newtown Neighbourhood Centre on April 18 to hear visiting Zimbabwean socialist Munyaradzi Gwisai explain the background to the Zimbabwean people鈥檚 struggle for democracy.
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Sydney city council is preparing a vicious crackdown on the ability to distribute newspapers such as 91自拍论坛 Weekly and leaflets advertising political rallies and events.
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Forty-nine workers at Coghlan and Russell, a car components factory in Geelong, have been stood down after the company called in receivers. On April 5, the workers discovered that their superannuation had not been paid for more than eight months. When the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) confronted management, it was told that the company had a plan and would talk to the union in a couple of days.
Analysis
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The federal Coalition government is proposing to bar the entry to Australia of migrants and refugees with HIV, supposedly to contain HIV rates.
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With his April 17 speech to the National Press Club, federal Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd launched a pre-emptive strike against all those unionists, including ALP members, who thought that the April 27-29 ALP national conference would be debating a new industrial relations policy to replace the Howard government鈥檚 hated Work Choices legislation.
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Describing the situation as 聯unprecedentedly dangerous聰, PM John Howard announced on April 19 that no water will be allocated to irrigators in the Murray-Darling basin after June 31, unless there is substantial rainfall and therefore water inflows to the basin in the next six weeks.
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ALP leader Kevin Rudd鈥檚 industrial relations policies, outlined in an April 17 speech to the National Press Club, have caused great concern among many trade unionists because they echo many of the anti-worker provisions in the federal government鈥檚 Work Choices laws.
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It is 20 years since the release of Australia Reconstructed, a policy report that came out of an Australian unionists聮 tour of Western Europe in 1986. It is also 25 years since Australia On the Rack was published by the metalworkers聮 union (now the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union - AMWU). Back on Track - A Way Forward for Australia is the latest such policy offering.
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It now appears certain that the ALP鈥檚 national conference, to be held in Sydney from April 27-29, will drop the party鈥檚 鈥渘o new uranium mines鈥 policy, adopted in 1998. This will satisfy the big mining companies鈥 desire to expand uranium mining. Labor leader Kevin Rudd and his 鈥渓eft-wing鈥 deputy, Julia Gillard, are leading the push to scrap the policy.
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Paul Wolfowitz, president of the World Bank and formerly US President George Bush聮s deputy secretary of defence, doesn聮t seem to comprehend why he is in trouble. He has admitted to ordering a US$60,000 pay increase for his lover, a World Bank employee, before seconding her to the US State Department as part of a generous compensation package.
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With support from the South Australian Labor government and the federal ALP, pilot work is starting on the desalination plant that is to supply fresh water for BHP Billiton聮s planned expansion of its copper-gold-uranium mine at Olympic Dam.
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Those hoping for a more serious approach to tackling global warming from the federal ALP than the do-as-little-as-politically-possible tack of John Howard鈥檚 Coalition government should revise down their expectations. On February 25, Labor leader Kevin Rudd unveiled the centrepiece of his party鈥檚 鈥渃limate action plan鈥 鈥 $500 million in funding for 鈥渃lean coal鈥 technologies research.
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Carbon rationing Tony Iltis ("Stopping climate change: tomorrow is too late!" GLW #706) draws extensively from the recent Carbon Equity Project report, Avoiding Catastrophe, but is wide of the mark in dismissing carbon rationing as simply "a right
World
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With 80 million inhabitants, West Bengal is the fourth most populous state in India. It has been ruled by the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front (LF) coalition for three decades. This government, however, has regularly used police repression against workers and peasants to defend big-business interests.
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As the regime of President Hosni Mubarak regime in Egypt faces a growing crisis of legitimacy, expressed by protests, boycotts and industrial strikes, the government has pushed through a referendum to amend the constitution and enshrine the country聮s police-state laws. On March 25, Amnesty International said the amendments will cause 聯the greatest erosion of rights in 26 years聰 in Egypt.
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An authoritative opinion poll for the Scotsman newspaper indicates a strong increase in support for the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) in the run-up to the Scottish Parliament elections on May 3. The April 6 Scottish Socialist Voice reported that 鈥渋n both the constituency and regional list vote, 5 per cent of Scots voters plan to vote Scottish Socialist鈥, according to the ICM poll. This represents a 3% rise in the regional vote and a 4% increase in the constituency ballot 鈥 the biggest increase in support in the previous month for any political party in Scotland.
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The six cabinet members loyal to Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr quit the 37-member cabinet of US-backed Prime Minister Nuri al Maliki on April 16. The Sadrists had headed the ministries of agriculture, health, tourism and transportation.
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On April 15, Ecuador voted overwhelmingly to ratify President Rafael Correa鈥檚 proposal to convoke a Constituent Assembly with the power to re-write the constitution with the intention of weakening the stranglehold on the country of the traditional wealthy elite.
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聯The Women Workers Help Line is a member-based, voluntary, non-profit making, non-governmental organisation, struggling to create legal, political, democratic and trade union awareness among women for a socially just, economically equitable, politically aware and gender sensitive society聰, explains the WWHL聮s vision statement. 91自拍论坛 Weekly聮s Jim McIlroy visited Bushra Khaliq, the WWHL聮s general secretary, at the organisation聮s Lahore headquarters in late March.
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聯A preliminary US military investigation indicates that more than 40 Afghans killed or wounded by Marines after a suicide bombing in a village near Jalalabad last month were civilians聰, the April 14 Washington Post reported it had been told by the US commander who ordered the investigation.
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Returning once again to Venezuela 鈥 having last spent four months here in 2005 鈥 I recalled a refrain that had been constantly repeated by Venezuelans: 鈥淎fter we re-elect Chavez in 2006, the real revolution will begin.鈥 It took very little time for me to realise exactly what they meant.
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The Israeli journalist Amira Hass describes the moment her mother, Hannah, was marched from a cattle train to the Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen. 鈥淭hey were sick and some were dying鈥, she says. 鈥淭hen my mother saw these German women looking at the prisoners, just looking. This image became very formative in my upbringing, this despicable 鈥榣ooking from the side鈥.鈥
Culture
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Dances in Deep Shadows: Britain聮s Clandestine War in Russia 1917-20
By Michael Occleshaw
Constable, 2006
360 pages, US -
The Chaser's War on Everything 鈥 Australian political satire. ABC, Wednesday, April 25, 9pm. Child Soldiers 鈥 The plight of children recruited to fight in armed conflicts around the world, and the daunting post-conflict challenges they face.
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Kurt Vonnegut聮s life and art were shaped by personal tragedies. His mother committed suicide. His sister and her husband died within days of each other, leaving three children. One of his sons suffered from schizophrenia.
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John Brown, Abolitionist
By David S. Reynolds
Vintage Books, 2006
578 pages, $34.95 (pb) -
Nabarlek is one of the bands synonymous with Indigenous rock in this country today. Rounding up their Queensland tour at the Cairns Civic Theatre on March 10, they brought the house down. The audience was dancing in the aisles in the second set when this nine-piece group from Manmoyi in Western Arnhemland got the place rocking.