CANBERRA鈥 鈥淎LBA (the Bolivarian Alliance for Latin America) is the most rapidly growing regional development in the world today鈥, Dr Tim Anderson, senior lecturer in political economy at the University of Sydney, told a forum at the Australian National University on August 12.
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MELBOURNE 鈥 On August 11, the Ambulance Employees Association (AEA) secured an agreement for Victoria paramedics with the ALP state government that will deliver a 10-hour rest break and better wages.
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The following statement is from the Socialist Alliance national executive in response to the Senate rejection of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
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MELBOURNE鈥 Forty people attended a meeting organised by the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) on August 12 to discuss Indigenous deaths in custody. In particular, the meeting discussed the case of Aboriginal elder Mr Ward, who died of heat stress in the back of a prisoner transport vehicle in Western Australia.
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SYDNEY 鈥 Four construction workers, Nigel Gould, Peter Carr, Peter Riikonen and Andrew Jones who were sacked from the Thiess Services soil remediation project in Rhodes in June, were granted a 鈥渃onfidential settlement鈥 on August 10. The workers are all members of the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU).
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August 12 was an international day of solidarity with sacked workers at the Vestas wind turbine plant on the Isle of Wight, Britain. Vestas is determined to close the plant, despite high profits.
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MELBOURNE 鈥 August 15 marked 47 years since the US, Australia, the Netherlands and the United Nations made the New York Agreement, allowing West Papua to be invaded by Indonesia.
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SYDNEY鈥 NSW Premier Nathan Rees and Transport Minister David Campbell had to flee an angry group of rail unionists at a scheduled press conference at Central Station on August 6.
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MELBOURNE 鈥 When the Portuguese left East Timor in 1975, ending 450 years of colonial rule, the country was annexed by Indonesia. The East Timorese wanted independence and a resistance movement grew, which operated from the rugged, mountainous interior of the country.
News
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National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) members at the University of New South Wales will vote on the next steps in protracted enterprise bargaining negotiations with the university鈥檚 management.
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Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union national secretary Dave Noonan said that if building worker and CFMEU member Ark Tribe is jailed for defying the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) there would be industrial action until he was released.
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Male South Australian police have routinely stripped women prisoners naked and put them into padded cells, the Advertiser said on August 14.
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Graham Brown, a retired coalminer from the Hunter Valley in NSW, kicked off a national speaking tour by telling a University of Sydney forum on August 12 that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has 鈥渘o clue whatsoever鈥 about green jobs.
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PERTH 鈥 Twenty 鈥渂illionaires for coal鈥 and their supporters held a mock rally on the steps of Woodside Plaza on August 11, as parliament resumed for the session that was to vote on the Rudd government's proposed emissions trading scheme.
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Australian Education Union national president Angelo Gavrielatos has condemned the federal government's plans to allow the creation of league tables that compare Australian school results. He spoke at the Victorian AEU branch conference on August 1.
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A high number of homeless youth in Australia are lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual or intersex (LGBTI).
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Two Geelong council workers who were sacked on July 24 for accepting free steak sandwiches from a Geelong club owner have been reinstated. The victory followed an escalation in the two-week-old dispute, when the Australian Services Union (ASU) members walked off the job on August 10.
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US singer/songwriter David Rovics, Brisbane-based musician Phil Monsour and Aboriginal artist Tjupurru took 120 people in the packed Ahimsa House on a journey to Palestine, telling the story of a people forced from their homeland.
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Members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of Melbourne protested outside the vice-chancellor鈥檚 office at lunchtime on August 11 as part of a half-day strike.
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Environment minister Peter Garrett announced on August 10 that $9 million will be spent on rescuing 100 Aboriginal languages. However, the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre condemned the plan as 鈥渃ynical and false鈥.
Analysis
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Below is an abridged version of a speech by Greens NSW parliamentarian John Kaye at an anti-privatisation forum held at Parramatta Town Hall on July 16.
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Pemba Dorje Sherpa is the world record holder for the fastest climb of Mount Everest. He toured Australia from August 11 to 17 to raise awareness about the drastic impacts of climate change on the Himalayas.
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The 40th Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) took place in Cairns on August 5 and 6.
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Since its launch in February 1991, the content of 91自拍论坛 Weekly has been available on the internet free of charge.
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On August 6, the Australian Bureau of Statistics released labour force figures for July that showed unemployment remained steady at 5.8%. However, while the total number of people employed stayed stable, full-time jobs fell by 16,000 while part-time employment rose by 48,200.
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On August 12, ALP federal Attorney-General Robert McClelland announced a discussion paper that foreshadowed a new raft of draconian 鈥渁nti-terror鈥 laws. The proposed new laws would give police the power to enter premises without a warrant and create new 鈥渢errorist鈥 offences.
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Access to safe medical and surgical abortion is a right that women have fought for and are still to fully achieve. They鈥檝e kept fighting because the right to decide if and when to bear children is a cornerstone for women鈥檚 equality in society.
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Garrett's a hypocrite As a longtime anti-nuclear and anti-uranium campaigner, former state coordinator of the Nuclear Disarmament Party (Tasmania) and other organisations, I write to publicly express my utter disgust with Peter Garrett and the
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A 200-strong public meeting that claimed to support the Palestine-Israel peace process was organised by right-wing union leader Paul Howes at the ALP conference in Sydney on July 30.
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Two equal love activists were bundled off the stage at a Christian right breakfast held in Parliament House on August 13.
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The following statement was released by the Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network on August 12. Visit .
World
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US imperialism is 鈥渁lready preparing the [military] attack鈥, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned, speaking to industrial workers in the region of Guayana on August 8.
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US President Barack Obama responded to growing criticisms of his government鈥檚 position on the coup regime in Honduras at an August 7 press conference. The Honduran military overthrew elected President Manuel Zelaya on June 28.
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Thirty thousand workers at state-owned Chinese steel works Tonghua Iron and Steel Group clashed with 1000 riot police and prevented the company's privatisation, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy said on July 24.
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The National Front against the Coup D鈥檈tat in Honduras (FNRG) accused the United States on August 3 of engaging in two-faced politics to allow the leadership of the June 28 military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya to gain time and strengthen their position.
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On August 6, a general strike in Kanaky (the French colony of New Caledonia) was called off after an accord between the Federation of Unions of Kanak Workers and the Exploited (USTKE) and Air Caledonia was finally signed by the airline.
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South American presidents have expressed deep concerns over a United States plan to increase its military presence in Colombia. They voiced their fears at a Union of South American Nations (Unasur) summit in Quito, Ecuador on August 10.
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The following article is abridged from an eyewitness account of repression of protesters in Tegucigalpa, Honduras鈥 capital city, on August 12. The protest was against the coup government, which overthrew the democratically elected government of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28. The article first appeared at . It was based on a phone report filed by Alexy Lanza, who lives in Chicago and is a member of La Voz de los de Abajo, Casa Morazan and Producciones EN EL OJO 鈥 independent media.
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In June, several Melanesian community groups met in Madang, Papua New Guinea, to create a land defence group. The Melanesian Indigenous Land Defence Alliance (MILDA) will coordinate efforts in the region to help traditional families maintain control over their own land.
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More than 100 people attended a conference in Belfast on August 8 on political persecution in the Basque Country organised by the Don鈥檛 Extradite the Basques Campaign as part of Feile an Phobail (Festival of the People).
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鈥淏HP Billiton and two other leading US energy companies operating in Australia have been caught up in a lobbying scandal that was aimed at defeating the landmark US climate change bill鈥, the Sydney Morning Herald said on August 13.
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The article below is abridged from an August 11 open letter from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) meeting in Quito, Ecuador. The full letter can be found at . It was translated by Kiraz Janicke.
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What is the smart thing to do when you are travelling through a major international transport hub and are asked to 鈥渟tep this way鈥 by someone in a uniform or a Marks and Spencers suit to answer a few questions while they rummage through your luggage?
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Fatah, the dominant party in the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) and which controls the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, held its sixth general conference in Bethlehem over August 4-6.
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On August 3, Ecuador celebrated a milestone when left-wing President Rafael Correa was sworn in for a second term 鈥 the first president to serve a second term since democracy was restored 30 years ago.
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If combating climate change is left up to the governments of the world鈥檚 wealthy nations, much of humanity is likely done for.
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Recently the International Transport Workers鈥 Federation general secretary David Cockroft issued a letter to the Thai government in support of three trade unionists who face charges for closing down the international airports last year.
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At 10:40pm on August 1, an unidentified man with a ski mask walked into a weekly meeting of Gay Lesbian Bisexual Trangender teenagers in Tel Aviv and shot indiscriminately with an automatic weapon. Two people were killed and a dozen wounded.
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Recalling the words of Les MiserablesVictor Hugo, United Socialist Party of Venezuela Youth (JPSUV) leader Heryck Rangel said 鈥渘othing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come, and today in Venezuela, the time of socialism has arrived鈥.
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Vestas workers ended their 18-day occupation of Britain鈥檚 last remaining wind turbine factory on August 6, declaring their fight to be 鈥渏ust the start鈥 of a mass campaign for green jobs.
Culture
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Best Australian Essays 2008Edited by David MarrBlack Inc, 2009$29.95
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Human Smoke: The Beginnings of World War II, The End of Civilization Simon and Schuster, 2009566 pages, $26.99 (pb)
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These things I see, each day, as I wander round this great, gaunt city. I. Mornings I hear her. and the wail of those hungry tired children, shadows beyond the frost cracked windows of her battered Toyota. When its rusted rear door
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Anyone with a basic sense of humanity can take heart from the fact that 2DayFM radio host Kyle Sandilands lost his lucrative $1 million contract to judge Australian Idol.