The Greens' 21% vote in the March 20 Tasmanian election represents the most serious shake-up yet to the two-party domination of electoral politics. Australia has been dominated by the Liberals and the Australian Labor Party, two parties loyally representing the interests of the corporate rich.
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The National Trust, Planning Backlash and Protectors of Public Lands Victoria joined forces to rally against the redevelopment of the historic Windsor Hotel, which is located in the parliamentary precinct.
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MELBOURNE 鈥 A group of West Papuans has been gathering outside the Indonesian consulate every couple of months to draw attention to the fact that the Indonesian state is jailing political prisoners in West Papua, as more and more young people join protests for a free West Papua. Some of the West Papuans who protested on March 26 are ex-political prisoners.
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PERTH 鈥 Construction, mining, maritime and metal workers rallied outside the Sheraton Hotel on March 23 while chief executive of mining giant Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Sam Walsh, hosted a business breakfast for Rio bosses.
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Campaigners against the Barnett state government's proposed 鈥渟top and search鈥 laws have welcomed the three month delay before the laws go to parliament. A parliamentary committee that was due to have made recommendations on March 25 has announced that its report won鈥檛 be released until June.
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About 40 were at the Edmund Rice Oceania Support Centre on March 24 for the launch of Donna Mulhearn鈥檚 new book, Ordinary Courage: My Journey to Baghdad as a Human Shield. Mulhearn travelled to Iraq before the March 2003 US-led invasion.
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Pro-Palestinian Marxist Gilbert Achcar, who grew up in Lebanon, is a professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The English translation of his book, The Arabs and the Holocaust, will be published in April 2010 by Metropolitan, New York. French weekly Politis interviewed Achcar on February 18. * * * In the introduction to your book, you declare that you wrote it to "fight the symmetrical caricatures" often heard about Arab attitudes to the Holocaust? What are these caricatures? -
Nationwide strikes in France on March 22 have hobbled public services from transport to schools as part of a union campaign to put the brakes on right-wing reforms planned by President Nicolas Sarkozy. But new labour minister Eric Woerth vowed to press on with changes to the "extremely fragile" pension system 鈥 the most controversial proposal. Unions say Sarkozy's conservative government hadn't offered satisfactory plans on jobs, salaries, purchasing power and working conditions.
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Hundreds of striking catholic school teachers marched on March 24 to demand an improved wages offer from their employer, the Queensland Catholic Education Commission. The Queensland Independent Education Union called the strike after rejecting a wages offer similar to that accepted by state school teachers.
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Four years after escaping to Australia in a boat bearing the message 鈥淪ave our souls鈥, a group of Melbourne-based West Papuan asylum seekers plan to carry their message about forgotten genocide to New York.Four years after escaping to Australia in a boat bearing the message "Save our souls", a group of Melbourne-based West Papuan asylum seekers plan to carry their message about forgotten genocide to New York. -
BRISBANE 鈥 On March 23, Sam Watson was preselected to lead the Socialist Alliance Senate team for Queensland in the upcoming federal elections.
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SYDNEY 鈥 A model drone, Guantanamo-style orange jump suits and many colourful banners were part of a 100-strong protest to mark the seventh anniversary of the invasion of Iraq (timed to coincide with the visit of US President Barack Obama that was subsequently cancelled).
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The Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC) will present the 4th Annual Tropical Alternatives Film Festival in Cairns over May 6-9.
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French voters have dealt a blow to right-wing President Nicolas Sarkozy in the first and second rounds of voting in the French regional elections. The opposition Socialist Party (PS) expanded its control of regional presidencies to 23 of the 26 regions, based on a record voting percentage in the second round on March 21. There were mixed results for parties to the left of the PS, and also a resurgence of the far-right National Front (FN). The elections have been marred by record-low voter turnout, with 46.5% and 51% of voters taking part in the two rounds.
News
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Australians are being invited to join a special delegation to Venezuela this September to witness an important event for the country鈥檚 pro-poor Bolivarian revolution.
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Socialist Alliance ran two candidates in the Tasmanian state elections on March 20. Melanie Barnes in the Hobart seat of Denison and Jenny Forward in the Kingston seat of Franklin campaigned for urgent action on climate change and to increase funding to public services.
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On March 20, 120 protesters gathered at Foreshore Park in Newcastle to protest against the proposed Tillegra dam. The protest was the culmination of the week-long 鈥淲alk for the Williams鈥, which started at Brownmore, passing the site of the proposed dam near Dungog before proceeding along the Williams River to Newcastle Harbour.
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Leading solar energy company Solar Systems was sold on March 16 to Silex, a small Australian company specialising in uranium enrichment and the manufacture of solar panels.
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Newcastle City Council voted on March 16 to close down the South Newcastle Beach legal graffiti wall. This is Newcastle鈥檚 sole legal graffiti wall. The only vote against the motion was from Greens councillor Michael Osborne.
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A few months before the March 20 state election, the South Australian Labor Party was riding high in the opinion polls and the Liberal opposition was in disarray. But by election day, the result was too close to call. It wasn鈥檛 until four days after the election that Premier Mike Rann could claim a narrow victory for Labor.
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PERTH 鈥 Construction, mining, maritime and metal workers rallied outside the Sheraton Hotel on March 23 while chief executive of mining giant Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Sam Walsh, hosted a business breakfast for Rio bosses.
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鈥淪ave Straddie: National park, not mining鈥, was the main banner displayed outside the Queensland Supreme Court building on March 26, as Friends of Stradbroke Island, other conservation organisations and Indigenous residents of the island protested against moves to establish an industry to quarry and remove sand from the island.
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On March 20, 500 equal marriage rights activists rallied in Sydney once more as part of the 2010 National Year of Action for marriage equality. Ten speakers from diverse political and personal backgrounds addressed a loyal crowd eager to share in their stories and views.
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91自拍论坛 Weekly is taking a one-week break. Our next issue will be dated April 14.
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The following is a statement from the .
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In what is emerging as a deadly pattern in Western Australia, a 39-year-old Aboriginal prisoner died tragically in Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on March 22, after laying for several days in a brain-dead state.
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Two Socialist Alliance candidates for the coming federal elections 鈥 Rachel Evans for Senate and Pip Hinman for Grayndler 鈥 announced they were running on March 25, under Newtown's iconic 鈥淚 have a dream鈥 mural.
Analysis
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The 2010 Global Atheist Convention was held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre over March 12-14. Organised by the Atheist Foundation of Australia and Atheist Alliance International, tickets were sold out months before the conference.
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The Danish government is Australian activist Natasha Verco and US citizen Noah Weiss, who are standing trial and facing a potential 12-and-a-half-year jail sentence for organising a protest during the December United Nations climate summit. This follows a global trend.
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At Easter, many people will eat a lot of chocolate. What they won鈥檛 necessarily know is that much of it is produced using child slave labour in Third World countries.
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The same weekend that Tasmanian Labor Premier David Bartlett congratulated the Tasmanian Greens on their 鈥渟lick鈥 electoral campaign 鈥 comparing it to that of US President Barack Obama 鈥 the NSW Greens refused to take part in an anti-war rally, afraid it reflected too heavily on the president.
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Employment in the Latrobe Valley in Victoria is heavily dependent on brown coal for electricity generation.
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The Danish government is Australian activist Natasha Verco and US citizen Noah Weiss, who are standing trial and facing a potential 12-and-a-half-year jail sentence for organising a protest during the December United Nations climate summit. This follows a global trend.
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What would be the cost of eradicating poverty in this country? What would be the cost of solving homelessness or unemployment? Could Australia afford to provide universal, free healthcare and education? Is there enough material wealth here to move to a safe, low-carbon economy?
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Israel's state terrorists The recent revelations that Israeli state terrorists used four forged Australian passports to assassinate a Palestinian official in Dubai, and that Mossad has regularly faked Australian passports for criminal purposes,
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On March 23, Ewan Saunders was preselected as Socialist Alliance candidate for the seat of Brisbane in the upcoming federal election. Saunders is Queensland co-convenor of SA and is studying occupational therapy at the University of Queensland.
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Just in case anybody thought the episode involving mild criticism from Labor parliamentary leaders over Israeli involvement in forging Australian passports was going to lead to a change in Australia's craven support for Israeli apartheid, foreign minister Stephen Smith has put the record straight.
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On March 3, the New South Wales government approved a new 2000 megawatt (MW) 鈥渂aseload鈥 power station, Bayswater B, to be built adjacent to the existing Bayswater power station in the Hunter Valley.
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Adelaide is Australia鈥檚 festival city. Its arts festival is currently in swing. Polite debate, aesthetics and high-octane wine are putting the world to rights. With one exception. Adelaide is where Rupert Murdoch began his empire.
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We hear a lot from mainstream journalists, politicians and even some environmental groups about forming partnerships with the 鈥渂usiness community" to fight climate change. Many assume a carbon trading scheme or carbon tax alone will be enough to give business an incentive to shift to clean energy.
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Waterside worker and long time Aboriginal activist Charles "Chicka" Dixon has died in Sydney aged 81 鈥 struck down by asbestosis he contracted while working on the wharves.
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In the past year in Indonesia, almost 3000 asylum seekers have been stopped from heading to Australia, the Herald Sun said on March 23. The Australian government does not care what happens to these people, who are often detained in horrific conditions or deported back to unsafe countries.
World
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February 4 marked 11 years since Hugo Chavez first assumed the presidency in Venezuela, following a landslide election victory that swept the country鈥檚 discredited traditional parties out of power.
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Alexis Adarfio is a revolutionary activist who has been nominated as a pre-candidate in the primary elections to determine the candidates for the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in the September 26 National Assembly elections. He is based in the state of Bolivar, Venezuela鈥檚 industrial heartland.
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About 200,000 immigrants and supporters marched on March 21 in Washington to protest against the inaction of President Barack Obama and Congress on legislation that could legalise more than 11 million undocumented immigrants.
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On March 26, two Palestinians and two Israeli soldiers were killed in a clash near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip when the Israeli army made an incursion into the besieged territory, the March 27 Guardian said.
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On March 1, elected Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) members became the only Malaysian politicians to publicly declare their assets.
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The small African nation of Eritrea had the United Nations Security Council impose sanctions against it in December 2009 for allegedly funding and arming the al-Shabaab islamic militia group in neighbouring Somalia.
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Hundreds of residents of the urban slum village of Kampung Guji Baru in West Jakarta besieged the office of Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo from early in the morning on March 18 to reject the planned eviction of their settlement.
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Jorge Enrique Medina Delgado, a member of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez鈥檚 United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), was assassinated on March 17 in San Antonio del Tachira in the opposition-controlled state of Tachira.
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In Copenhagen, Sydney-based climate justice advocate Natasha Verco and US activist Noah Weiss faces charges under Denmark鈥檚 鈥渢errorism鈥 laws. Verco faces up to 12-and-a-half year jail for her role in organising protests against the United Nations Copenhagen climate summit in December.
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The Bolivian government is seeking to use the 鈥減eople鈥檚 summit鈥 it is organising in April to push for a global referendum on climate change, AFP said on March 17.
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On March 20, 10,000 people converged at the White House 鈥 the largest anti-war demonstration since the announcement of the escalation of the Afghanistan war.
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Ben Peterson is an activist with the socialist youth organisation Resistance and the Socialist Alliance who spent four-and-half-months in Nepal last year.
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Arctic researchers have found vast amounts of methane 鈥 a powerful greenhouse gas 鈥 are leaking from the seabed off the East Siberian coast. This is the first time a study has found so much methane escaping into the atmosphere from the ocean.
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Australian activist Tash Verco and US citizen Noah Weiss were arrested in Copenhagen for the crime of helping organise a mass demonstration to coincide with the December United Nations climate summit.
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Banks' price gouging profit bonanza "The Australia Institute has picked the week of another increase in mortgage rates to launch what it claims to be a comprehensive history of the price gouging habits of the big four banks. "Not only have [the
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BRITAIN: Hypocrisy of anti-union brigade Over March 22-24, British Airways cabin crew staged a three-day strike over the refusal of BA management to negotiate a reasonable long-term pay offer. A second round of strikes was scheduled to begin on March 27. British socialist and comedian Mark Steel responded to the media and government hysteria against the strike in a March 17 column posted at .
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The vicious underbelly of the right-wing 鈥渢ea party鈥 movement was on full display in the run-up to March 21 vote on health care in Washington.
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Two Melanesian activists are currently touring Australia to promote their campaigns against land privatisation through the Asia-Pacific region.
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is an organisation of 17,000 doctors who support single-payer national health insurance (similar to Britain鈥檚 National Health Scheme or Australia鈥檚 Medicare). It released the following statement on March 22 after the US House of Representatives passed the health care bill.
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More than 20 African countries are selling or leasing land for intensive agriculture on a shocking scale in what may be the greatest change of ownership since the colonial era, a March 10 Alternet.org article said.
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In every corner of Greece, popular anger over the government鈥檚 latest neoliberal assault on job security, pensions and social services has lead to a series of general strikes involving hundreds of thousands of militant workers.
Culture
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Doosra: The life and times of an Indian student in Australia
By Roanna Gonsalves
ABC Radio National 360 documentaries
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Johnny Ray鈥檚 Downtown
By Perry Keyes
CD, Laughing Outlaw Records
, $24.95 -
San Patricio
By The Chieftains featuring Ry Cooder
CD, Fantasy/Concord