At first glance the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd聮s Nation Building and Jobs Plan looks like a pre-emptive strike against looming recession and unemployment.
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The 13 forest activists sued over the protester-led shutdown of Gunns Ltd聮s Triabunna woodchip mill in December, lodged their defence in the Launceston Supreme Court on February 3.
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At first glance Prime Minister Kevin Rudd聮s Nation Building and Jobs Plan looks like a pre-emptive strike against looming recession and unemployment.
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MELBOURNE 聴 After months of effort, the Socialist Alliance has retained its Victorian electoral registration. This means its name will appear on the ballot in seats it contests in the November 2010 state elections.
News
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On February 3, 200 people rallied against the Victorian Labor government聮s unsustainable water plans.
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With the Queensland ALP state government rumoured to announce an election date soon, the Socialist Alliance (SA) has selected two candidates to contest the poll.
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Canberra was the site of an historic four days of Aboriginal rights activism in Australia.
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鈥淭here is a systematic genocide going on in Sri Lanka at the moment and the world doesn鈥檛 know about it. That is why we are trying to create awareness about the issue and help put a stop to this genocide.鈥
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A number of new guest speakers from across the Asia-Pacific region have confirmed their attendance at the 聯World at a Crossroads: Fighting for Socialism in the 21st Century聰 conference, scheduled to be held in Sydney over the Easter weekend (April 10-12).
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We live in peculiar, troubling times, where the world鈥檚 climate scientists are all but screaming from the rooftops for governments to listen and take urgent action to avert climate change.
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The Australian Hazara community protested in Canberra on February 3 to strongly condemn the continued killing of Hazara people in Quetta City, Pakistan, by Taliban and al Qaida-backed religious extremists.
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New South Wales teachers held meetings across the state on February 6 to consider a settlement on salaries and staffing negotiated by the NSW Teachers Federation.
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On February 3, Abdul Nacer Benbrika, the alleged leader of a 鈥渢errorist organisation鈥, was sentenced to 15 years鈥 imprisonment. His six 鈥渇ollowers鈥 were sentenced to between four and seven-and-a-half years for being members of a terrorist organisation.
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Eighteen-year-old Cheyene Back was sentenced on February 2 to three months jail, despite having no prior convictions.
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Adelaide has been in the grips of an unprecedented heat wave, with temperatures soaring above 40掳C for six consecutive days into early February.
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Five thousand people, predominately from the Sydney Tamil community, gathered in Martin Place on February 4 to draw attention to the genocide being waged against the Tamil people in northern Sri Lanka. The same day, 150 people from the Tamil community and supporters of Tamil rights marched in Brisbane.
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Greens NSW MLC John Kaye has highlighted the massive inequity in school funding, citing the submission by Sydney Grammar School 聴 one of Australia聮s wealthiest schools 聴 of plans to build a new $23.5 million assembly hall.
Analysis
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On February 3, the federal government launched its second economic stimulus package of $42 billion, to be spent on special grants to individuals, businesses and schools.
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Socialist Alliance national co-convener Dick Nichols interviewed two climate action summit participants, Paul Petit from the South Australian Climate Emergency Action Network (CLEAN) and Giovanni Ebono from the New South Wales North Coast Climate Action Network.
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鈥淩udd is dangling the carrot of hope before us and it is a lie鈥, said Les Coe at the Aboriginal convergence in Canberra on February 3, at which 500 people protested the continuation of racist Howard-era policies by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
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Next month it鈥檚 likely many of us will receive a one-off cash payment of up to $950 from the Rudd government.
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91自拍论坛 Weekly鈥檚 Simon Butler asked a number of activists present at Australia鈥檚 Climate Action Summit why they attended and why they thought it was so important.
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Two weeks ago, federal environment minister Peter Garrett announced he will give the go ahead to the expansion of an open cut mine that will divert the McArthur River in the Northern Territory six kilometres off course.
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The news, on February 3, that South African dock workers in Durban had decided not to unload an Israeli ship due in on February 8 was welcomed by the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), a section of which wants the union to join the international campaign of sanctions against apartheid Israel.
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The heatwave across south-eastern Australia in recent weeks has given a hint of what we can expect as global temperatures continue to rise: black-outs, fatalities and transport chaos as privatised infrastructure fails.
World
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The international economic crisis has plunged a knife into the growth of wind-generated electricity in Europe.
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Even before its official launch at its founding congress on the outskirts of Paris on February 6鈥8, the new Anti-capitalist Party (NPA) has had discussions with the Left Party (PG) on the possibility of forming a united Left Front (FG).
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Angry workers at the Waterford Wedgewood鈥檚 crystal factory in Kilbarry, Ireland have begun an occupation of the factory, following the announcement on January 30 that the factory would be closed.
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A boat of Burmese refugees found off Indonesia claimed on February 3 that they had been towed out to sea and set adrift by Thai authorities.
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On February 2, President Hugo Chavez led the celebration of 10 years of his time in office with a caravan and mass rally in the Caracas.
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More than 120,000 people marched in London on January 31 against the genocidal war being carried out by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) that has conquered Tamil-controlled areas in Sri Lanka鈥檚 north and east at massive cost to the civilian population, according to Tamilforum.com.
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鈥淭he choice facing Israel in eight days time concerns peace, and the country can say yes to peace or no to peace 鈥 A dove of peace is sitting on the window ledge, and we can decide to open the window and let it in, with all the apprehension, or slam the window shut鈥, Kadima party electoral candidate and current Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni told an international media conference on February 2.
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The following press release was issued on February 3 by the secretariat of the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee. For more information on the global BDS campaign, visit . On February 6, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) announced that members of the affiliated South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) "achieved a great victory" when a ship carrying Israeli goods to South Africa was unable to offload due to a SATAWU-imposed boycott.
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The abridged interview below with Walden Bello, from Focus on the Global South, was carried out and published by Alejandro Kirk for the Inter-Press Service about the tasks facing the World Social Forum (WSF), which met between January 27 and February 1 in the Brazilian city of Belem. The full interview can be read at .
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More than 1000 people, including 920 elected delegates, attended the inaugural congress of Power of the Masses Party (PLM) on January 30.
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The following article is by Kavita Krishnan and is reprinted from the January issue of Liberation, which is produced by the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist. Krishnan is the editor of Liberation and is the national secretary of the All India Progressive Women聮s Association. She is a featured guest at the World at a Crossroads conference in Sydney, for more information or to register, visit .
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鈥淭he reform is aimed as a personal project. This is neither revolution nor socialism, but personal ambition鈥, argued Federico Black of the student organisation Furthering the Country to the virulently anti-Chavez Venezuelan daily El Universal.
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The ninth World Social Forum ended on February 1 in Belem with its 聯Assembly of assemblies聰 adopting 聯dozens of resolutions and proposals to be the subjects of a programme of mobilisations around the world in 2009聰, according to a February 2 Inter-Press Service report.
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Hundreds of thousands of workers and small farmers marched across Mexico, on January 30 in a huge mobilisation for economic and human rights.
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Somalia is often cited by Western politicians and journalists as the archetypical 聯failed state聰, with no functioning state since the collapse of the last central government in 1991, and with power contested by warlords, Islamists, clan militias, armed criminal gangs and even pirates.Somalia is often cited by Western politicians and journalists as the archetypical "failed state", with no functioning state since the collapse of the last central government in 1991, and with power contested by warlords, Islamists, clan militias, armed criminal gangs and even pirates.
Culture
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Milk
Directed by Gus Van Sant
Written by Dustin Lance Black
With Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch and Josh Brolin
In cinemas -
I Don鈥檛 Wanna Play House
Written and performed by Tammy Anderson
Original Production Direction John Bolton
Q Theatre, 597 High Street, Penrith
Feb 24-28
Tickets 42/$37 Conc
Bookings (02)4723 7600 PREVIEW BY YVONNE HELLMERS -
February 12, 2009 is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Robert Darwin. His masterwork, On the Origin of Species, was published 150 years ago, in November 1859, initiating a revolution in science that continues to this day.
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River of No Return 鈥 Frances Daingangan is a 45-year old mother of three who comes from the remote community of Ramingining in North East Arnhem land, and her dream came true when Rolf de Heer cast her in the lead female role of Nowalingu in Ten