NEWCASTLE 聴 聯The worst ALP government is as bad as the best Liberal government聰, Kevin Maher, Newcastle and Central Coast secretary of the Australian Workers Union, told a public sector pay rally on July 30. About 60 AWU unionists, as well as members of services, teachers and public service unions, rallied outside the office of MP for the Hunter and NSW treasurer Michael Costa.
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KATOOMBA 聴 Braving sleet and snow, 35 people attended 聴 and were inspired by 聴 a screening of writer and activist Dr Tim Anderson聮s new documentary, The Doctors of Tomorrow, in the Blue Mountains on July 28.
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More than 100 workers and union solidarity activists closed down the Yarraville CSR construction site on July 25. They were protesting against construction manager John Kint聮s threat to dock the pay of any worker who talked to a union official. Kint is notorious for his anti-union stance. He was responsible for sacking a workers聮 representative at Woodside聮s Otways gas plant in Port Campbell in 2007, which led to months of industrial unrest. There will be a community meeting in Yarraville to discuss the CSR dispute. For more information, visit .
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The fight to keep NSW electricity in public hands must and can be won. If Premier Morris Iemma and treasurer Michael Costa get away with their plan to sell off the state鈥檚 electricity generation capacity and its retail arms, working people and the community will get a dearer, less reliable service, and the chances of the state moving to a sustainable energy policy will be reduced to zero.
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WOLLONGONG 聴 More than 200 workers rallied on July 30 as part of actions across NSW in support of all public sector workers currently negotiating with the NSW government over pay and conditions.
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SYDNEY 聴 A speakout and concert is being organised for August 16 to unite campaigns for Aboriginal rights in Australia.
News
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A 150-strong community meeting on July 29 called on the NSW government to urgently re-open the region鈥檚 only maternity unit, at Blue Mountains Hospital in Katoomba.
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The truck drivers鈥 national transport shutdown came to an end on July 30, with the Transport Workers Union (TWU) failing to endorse the action and calling on frustrated drivers to instead lobby the federal government.
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In Australia today, paid maternity leave is still not adequate, women still do not have equal pay for equal work, and many women, particularly young women, are experiencing sexual harassment and discrimination almost 25 years after the anti-discrimination laws were created.
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Two radical events marked July 26, the date in 1953 when Fidel Castro led an attack on the Moncada Barracks that failed militarily, but inspired the ultimately successful Cuban Revolution.
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An estimated 1500 shop stewards and union delegates met at Dallas Brookes Hall on July 30 to discuss the campaign against the charging of Noel Washington, the construction worker facing a jail term for refusing to hand over information to the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). The meeting also discussed the ongoing Your Rights at Work campaign. It was called by the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC).
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Twenty people discussed the possibilities and challenges for Cuba, socialism and the environment following a screening of the documentary Power of Community 鈥 How Cuba Survived Peak Oil at Gecko House in Currumbin on July 27.
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At a 鈥淩ally for the River鈥 on August 1, some 2000 people gathered on the steps of state parliament to voice concerns about the plight of the Murray River鈥檚 Lower Lakes and the lack of action by state and federal politicians to address the crisis.
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Farmers in Liverpool Plains, south of Tamworth, are taking on BHP Billiton鈥檚 drive for black gold.
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A survey of unionists in the heart of Australia鈥檚 coal regions shows strong sentiment for action to stop climate change. The poll, commissioned by the Australian Manufacturing Workers鈥 Union (AMWU), surveyed 400 AMWU members in the Bowen Basin, Gippsland, Newcastle and the Hunter Valley.
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If you only read the mainstream media, you would think that Venezuela is run by a dictator who suppresses democracy and violates human rights. But the opposite is true.
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The campaign to throw out all charges against Palm Island Aboriginal leader Lex Wotton is gaining momentum. The Indigenous Social Justice Association, Melbourne (ISJA) is organising a Victorian speaking tour with him from August 6-10.
Analysis
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Former PM John Howard鈥檚 blandly named Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) remains under PM Kevin Rudd. It is prosecuting Victorian vice-president of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), Noel Washington, who faces six months鈥 jail for not answering questions about a union meeting.
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Howes doesn't speak for me I am an Australian Workers Union member and totally disagree with Howes' article "Give workers a voice in climate change solutions" in the July 24 Age, where he advocates free emissions trading permits for individual
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A French court has denied a woman citizenship because she wears a burqa 聴 a veil covering the entire body 聴 according to a July 11 Reuters report.
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The export of coal is an important issue for climate campaigners to consider. Australia exports more carbon dioxide in the form of coal than its entire domestic emissions of the gas.
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Millions of Australian workers have faced the worst losses in their superannuation since 1992. Super funds have shown losses of on average 6.4% for the last financial year, with some showing losses as high as 15%, putting workers聮 retirement funds in jeopardy.
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Remember the 鈥渨ealth effect鈥? Rapidly rising housing and share prices made people feel wealthy and so they borrowed big-time and became big-time spenders, and this supposedly makes for an endless economic boom. Just about every capitalist economist was singing from that cheery song sheet 鈥 until recently.
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The Australian Workers Union has many members in the aluminium refining and smelting industry, which accounted for 45.3 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in 2006 (7.9% of Australia聮s total). Obviously, such a major greenhouse polluter 聴 the dirtiest for every dollar of value added 聴 has to be radically restructured if carbon emissions are to be cut to sustainable levels.
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Refugee activists have welcomed the July 29 announcement by federal immigration minister Chris Evans to significantly dismantle Australia鈥檚 policy of mandatorily detaining refugees. They noted, however, that while the changes represent an important victory for the movement for refugee rights, the struggle is not yet over.
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The Reverend Helen Elizabeth Cox died on July 15 after a short illness in hospital in Melbourne. A service was held on July 21 at Doncaster East Uniting Church, and was attended by her extended family, friends and the many people touched by her ministries.
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The July 24 Sydney Morning Herald reported Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showing that rents across Sydney had increased by 8% over the 2007-08 financial year, almost twice the rate of inflation.
World
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Below is a July 30 statement by the Residents Action Movement.
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While some, including US presidential hopeful Barack Obama and the Australian government of PM Kevin Rudd, attempt to present the US-led occupation of Afghanistan as a 聯good war聰 counterposed to the disastrous occupation of Iraq 聴 seen as a distraction from the 聯war on terrorism聰 聴 the bloodshed and repression in the service of the US-installed warlords in Kabul continues.
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The Serbian government last month cornered Radovan Karadzic, the former leader of the Bosnian Serb Republic during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
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Below is a July 20 statement from the Sudanese Communist Party, which is waging a struggle for democracy and justice against the current regime. It is reprinted from .
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On July 19-20, the latest negotiations over Iran聮s uranium enrichment program were held in Geneva between the five UN Security Council members (the US, Britain, France China and Russia) and Germany on one side and Iran on the other.
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On September 28, the people of Ecuador will be asked to vote on a new constitution, drafted over the past eight months by an elected constituent assembly.
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With the August 10 recall referendum on Bolivian President Evo Morales and eight out of nine prefects (governors) approaching, the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) government, together with the social movements, has launched an offensive against attempts by the right-wing opposition to prevent the electoral process going ahead.
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His hair has grown, his voice sounds a little deeper and his wounds appear to have healed somewhat. But what isn聮t clear from the first ever Guantanamo Bay interrogation video to be released for public consumption is that Omar Khadr is blind in one eye.
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New laws were passed through the French Senate on July 23, which will see the virtual dismantling of the law that limits the working week for employees to 35 hours, which was introduced by the Socialist Party (SP) government in 1998.
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From the first day it appeared online, the masthead of the Climate and Capitalism blog has carried the slogan 聯Ecosocialism or Barbarism: there is no third way聰.
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Colombia is a 鈥渘arco-state that applies and puts into practice state terrorism that affects the region鈥, insisted Nicaragua鈥檚 ambassador to the Organisation of American States (OAS), Denis Moncada, on July 24.
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced plans to nationalise one of the countries largest banks, the Bank of Venezuela, according to a July21 Xinhua.com report.
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The Terror Dream: Fear & Fantasy in Post-9/11 America
By Susan Faludi
Scribe Melbourne, 2007
351 pages, $35
Culture
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Charlie Wilson聮s War
Directed by Mike Nichols
Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin
With Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman
On video & DVD -
Desert Queen: The Many Lives and Loves of Daisy Bates
By Susana de Vries
HarperCollins, 2008
294 pages, $33 (pb) Daisy Baites: Grand Dame of the Desert
By Bob Reece
National Library of Australia, 2007
205 pages, $24.95 (pb)