Jess Moore is running in the Australian federal election 2010 for the lower house seat of Cunningham.
News
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On July 15, 25 Justice Ride participants returned from their trip across Queensland to Alice Springs for the Defending Indigenous Rights convergence over July 6-9. The trip to Alice Springs took four days each way, so there was plenty of time for us to get to know each other, discuss local Aboriginal rights campaigns, such as those against black deaths in custody, and take in Australia鈥檚 beautiful and ancient landscape. -
On July 17, 25 members of Justice for Palestine (JFP) Brisbane met in the CBD to launch their boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israeli goods and services. The target for the first BDS action was the Israeli Seacret cosmetics company that uses 鈥渕ineral-rich mud and natural mineral salts of the Dead Sea鈥. It makes no mention of the occupied Palestinian land from which the minerals are extracted or the apartheid conditions under which Palestinians live every day.
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Work on every wharf in every port across Australia stopped for 24 hours from noon on July 23 to allow wharfies to attend services to mark the tragic death of Steve Piper. Piper was crushed to death by a steel beam on Melbourne's Appleton Dock on July 14. The 24-hour stopwork also called for special national waterfront safety regulations. Piper is the third wharfie killed on the job this year. Fourteen Australian maritime workers have been killed at work in the past two decades. Alarmingly, half of those have occurred in the past five years.
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Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) WA is organising a 鈥淐ompassion Caravan鈥 to the detention centre in Leonora, WA, where more than 30 families are being held, including more than 40 children. Some of these families鈥 applications have been 鈥渇rozen鈥 by the Gillard-ALP government in a political ploy to placate xenophobic sentiment toward refugees. This not only violates international law, but also punishes the bulk of refugees coming to Australia. To show that not all Australians agree with these policies, we will travel to Leonora to take gifts for the families being detained.
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A draft program for the Climate Change Social Change conference, over November 5-7, has been released and is available on the conference website. Major conference sessions include topics such as: 鈥淎 safe climate 鈥 what will it take?鈥; 鈥淐limate justice: their agenda and ours鈥; 鈥淔ood sovereignty for surviva鈥漧; and 鈥淭he global economic crisis and the ecological revolution鈥.
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On July 22, Socialist Alliance Senate candidate Soubhi Iskander condemned the Australia First Party's leaflets attacking immigrants from Africa. The leaflets were letterboxed in the western Sydney suburb of Seven Hills. Iskander is a refugee from Sudan and lives in Seven Hills. 鈥淭his is a call to incite racist violence against communities of colour", Iskander said. 鈥淏laming Africans for the social problems in Sydney's west that are the result of a lack of employment, affordable housing and public transportation is wrong.
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On July 31, 100 anti-uranium mining protesters rallied outside the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle, which was hosting the Australian Uranium Conference. WA Liberal Premier Colin Barnett lifted the ban on uranium mining in November 2008 soon after winning office. There are no commercial uranium mines operating in the state but the Australian Uranium Association has identified eight major uranium deposits in WA. The Anti-Nuclear Alliance of WA (ANAWA), which organised the protest, said there are 137 mining companies with uranium interests in the state.
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On July 24, the NSW Combined Rail Unions announced they had successfully applied to take industrial action for their enterprise bargaining agreement in 2010. Of key concern to the unions are safety and service levels, which have declined because of a RailCorp staff review that has cut staff at many stations. The CCTV system, a costly and inadequate method of security for train stations, is set to have its staff numbers cut 鈥 further endangering commuters and staff.
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鈥淭he poisoning of groundwater near Kingaroy is just the tip of the iceberg with coal seam gas [CSG] extraction鈥, climate change activist and Socialist Alliance candidate for the seat of Brisbane Ewan Saunders told 91自拍论坛 Weekly. The contamination of groundwater by toxic chemicals was revealed two weeks ago, sparking calls for urgent action against the CSG industry, which is rapidly expanding in south-eastern Queensland.
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The Sydney Stop The War Coalition has been collecting signatures on giant petitions calling on new PM Julia Gillard to withdraw Australian troops from Afghanistan.
91自拍论坛 Fighting Fund
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This election campaign is crazy. It鈥檚 crazy that so much fear is being whipped up about the few thousand of the world's 43 million refugees and displaced people who manage to get on a leaky boat to Australia. But neither mainstream party is willing to stop sending troops to the decade-long military occupation of Afghanistan. This war is largely responsible for 2.8 million Afghan refugees worldwide 鈥 the same war is opposed by most in Afghanistan and most citizens of the countries whose armies occupy it.
Analysis
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Myth: Public opinion on abortion is deeply divided Australians support access to abortion 鈥 for three decades, opinion polls have consistently shown that most Australians support women鈥檚 right to choose and believe that forcing a woman to have an unwanted child is worse than allowing abortion. Myth: The charges against the Cairns couple relate to drug importation or the fact they didn鈥檛 see a doctor. -
On July 17, the Adelaide-based Climate Emergency Action Network (CLEAN SA) hosted a forum in Port Augusta detailing the Zero Carbon Australia 2020 Stationary Energy Plan recently launched by Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE). -
October 12 is the trial date set for a young Cairns couple charged with procuring an abortion. According to Dr Caroline de Costa in a book released this month, Never Ever Again 鈥hy Australian Abortion Law Needs Reform, no woman has previously been charged with procuring her own abortion since the 1899 criminal code was first decreed in Queensland. De Costa believes this could be the first trial of its kind in Australia鈥檚 history. -
Ewan Saunders, Socialist Alliance candidate for Brisbane, recently returned from the Justice Ride to Alice Springs. * * * On July 14, after almost 50 hours spent on the road over four days, I, along with about 20 others, rolled back into Brisbane at 11.30pm. The trip back from Alice Springs was the last leg of a two-week Justice Ride that changed the lives of a busload of people, many of whom hadn鈥檛 considered themselves 鈥渁ctivists鈥 before the bus left on July 1. -
Victorian Electrical Trade Union (ETU) members have voted resoundingly to disaffiliate from the Australian Labor Party. In a ballot of ETU members on whether the union should remain affiliated to the ALP, 85% voted against affiliation. Nearly 44% of ETU members voted in the ballot conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission. This is the first time in many years a union has disaffiliated from the Labor Party, and possibly the first time a union has conducted a ballot of members on the issue. -
91自拍论坛 Weekly spoke to Peter Boyle, the national convener of the Socialist Alliance, about the political climate of the 2010 federal elections. * * * Many progressive people are feeling depressed about the federal election. How do you see it? Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition are in a 鈥渞ace to the bottom鈥, as Socialist Alliance lead Queensland Senate candidate and Murri community leader Sam Watson aptly put it. -
In November 2008, Palm Island man Lex Wotton was convicted of "incitement to riot鈥 and sentenced to six years' jail. His charge followed the Aboriginal community uprising and protest after the death in police custody of Mulrunji Doomadgee in November 2004. -
Forget about the climate science and the record high temperatures. Prime Minister Julia Gillard has decided she doesn鈥檛 need a serious climate change policy to win the federal election. In its place, she kicked off her election campaign on July 18 with a 鈥渟ustainable Australia鈥 policy. It promised a future of low population growth, which 鈥減reserves our quality of life and respects our environment鈥. Opposition leader and climate denier Tony Abbott was quick to say he fully agreed with this vision, but was even more committed to it than Gillard. -
The Order of Mates celebrated beside Sydney Harbour the other day. This is a venerable masonry in Australian political life that unites the Labor Party with the rich elite known as the big end of town. They shake hands, not hug, though the Silver Bodgie now hugs. In his prime, the Silver Bodgie, aka Bob Hawke or Hawkie, wore suits that shone, wide-bottomed trousers and shirts with the buttons undone. A bodgie was an Australian version of the 1950s English Teddy Boy and Hawke鈥檚 thick grey-black coiffure added inches to his abbreviated stature. -
Prime Minister Julia Gillard was supposed to launch Labor's new policy to tackle climate change on July 23. But in essence she merely restated the same old Labor climate policy: delay, delay and delay again. Gillard's speech was pages long, but her climate agenda can be summarised in just four words: more talk, less action. -
On July 18, the University of New South Wales (UNSW) administration was forced to reinstate 80 staff members and start two weeks of intensive bargaining. As a result, UNSW union members voted to lift a ban on releasing student results on July 23. The UNSW branch of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) imposed the ban from June 30 in response to management delaying bargaining for 16 months over union demands for improved job security, pay and other conditions. -
On July 22, the trial of construction worker Ark Tribe was adjourned until September 13. Tribe is facing up to six months鈥 jail for failing to attend an interrogation by the construction industry police 鈥 the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). Thousands of workers rallied around Australia to support him. In Adelaide, 2000 people rallied outside the court over July 20-23. On the first day, the rally included a march on the ABCC's Adelaide office. One of the most popular chants on the march was 鈥淛ohnny Lloyd you're a rat鈥. John Lloyd is the ABCC head. -
In one of her first policy changes after replacing Kevin Rudd as leader of the Labor Party, Prime Minister Julia Gillard dumped Rudd鈥檚 idea of a 鈥渂ig Australia鈥. On June 26, Gillard said 鈥淎ustralia should not hurtle down the track towards a big population鈥. Instead, she called for a 鈥渟ustainable population鈥. Almost four weeks on, however, Labor鈥檚 policy has no details 鈥 just lots of rhetoric designed to pander to fears that immigration (particularly asylum seekers) is causing a raft of social problems. -
A spectre is haunting the healthcare system 鈥 the spectre of Big Pharma. Fears over the side effects of a widely used diabetes medication in Australia have revealed the power of big money and its influence on the healthcare system. The medication 鈥 known as Avandia 鈥 is under fire for potentially causing heart attacks and strokes in patients. The manufacturer, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), is accused of hiding evidence of the drug鈥檚 harmful side-effects. -
The Textile, Clothing and Footwear Union ended its 20-day strike at Kennon Auto on July 20 after voting for a new agreement with a 10% pay rise and protection for the union鈥檚 conditions. Kennon Auto used to be part of the now-liquidated Nylex group. The new owner, Maggie Dong, at first refused to negotiate a new enterprise bargaining agreement (EBA) with the union.
World
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Alarm bells should be ringing as the threat of war looms on the horizon, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned in his July 18 weekly column. The warning came after tensions again flared with neighbouring Colombia, and the Central American nation of Costa Rica agreed to 6000 US troops being deployed on its soil. Chavez placed Venezuela on high alert and broke diplomatic relations with Colombia after a July 22 meeting of the Organisation of American States (OAS). -
A unprecedented mass demonstration took place on July 8 in Jayapura, the capital of Indonesian-occupied West Papua, Straighttimes.com said that day. Thousands of people joined a long march, walking 17 kilometres from the Papua People鈥檚 Assembly (MRP) to the Papuan Provincial Legislature (DPRP) to reject the 鈥渟pecial autonomy鈥 granted by Indonesia in 2001. Protesters demanded a referendum on West Papuan independence and an internationally-mediated dialogue with Jakarta. -
When right-wing billionaire Ricardo Martinelli was elected Panama鈥檚 president in May 2009, political commentators heralded it as a sign that Latin Americans were becoming disillusioned with the 鈥減ink tide鈥 of progressive and leftist governments. But one year later, the Martinelli government is facing a wave of resistance to its anti-labour and anti-union laws. Resistance has grown in the face of deadly repression. -
Over-fishing threatens caviar 鈥淟overs of fine food face a shortage of Beluga caviar that may last more than a decade. Eurasian states are discussing a ban on catching sturgeon in the Caspian Sea. 鈥淥ver-fishing has reduced the population of the fish that produces the delicacy by 90 per cent. 鈥淚t has pushed the price up nearly sevenfold to $14,340 per kilogram, or $1434 for enough to make a sandwich. 鈥淭he Caspian Sea is home to four-fifths of the sturgeon bearing the most sought after varieties of caviar ... -
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered a maximum alert on Venezuela鈥檚 border with Colombia after the administration of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe accused the Chavez government of harbouring terrorists and running terrorist training camps on July 22. Uribe鈥檚 government gave a shameful presentation before member states of the Organisation of American States (OAS) on July 22. It was similar to former US Secretary of State Colin Powell鈥檚 2003 鈥渨eapons of mass destruction鈥 Power Point evidence to the United Nations Security Council to justify the war in Iraq. -
In an effort to mitigate the global outrage that followed its May 31 attack on the Gaza aid flotilla, Israel has, ever so slightly, eased its blockade on Gaza. However minimal, this step has only been taken because of the pressure applied to Israel by the international grassroots protest movement. The Gaza aid missions have aimed to alert the world to the criminality of the blockade. In this, they have succeeded 鈥 though the price has been heavy: Nine killed (mostly with shots directly to the head and neck) and 700 others violently abducted, detained and abused. -
Thousands of republicans from across Ireland gathered on July 20 in Sallins, County Kildare, to honour Theobald Wolfe Tone, known as 鈥渢he father of Irish republicanism鈥. Tone led an uprising against British rule and for an Irish republic in 1798. When it was defeated, Tone was sentenced to death. -
The global carbon market, which trades 鈥減ollution rights鈥 to encourage industry to cut greenhouse gas emissions, grew in 2009. Far from signaling a success, this reflects a huge increase in fraud, the dumping of surplus emissions permits by industry, and a rise in financial speculation. -
Germany鈥檚 Federal Administrative Court ruled on July 21 that the Verfassungsschutz 鈥 Germany鈥檚 domestic spy agency 鈥 had a right to spy on the left-wing party Die Linke. Bodo Ramelow, Die Linke鈥檚 leader in the eastern state of Thuringia and others were appealing against the agency spying on them. The justification for the spying are claims Die Linke contained 鈥渁nti-constitutional鈥 elements because of its origins in the former East German state. -
El Salvador is a country where supermarket prices are comparable to those in developed countries, yet a sugar cane cutter earns $5 a day. This small, predominantly rural, yet densely populated country has a violent history of colonial oppression and the attempted genocide of the indigenous people. More recently, it went through the 1980-92 civil war. 鈥La Lucha鈥 is a phrase you hear a lot in El Salvador. It means 鈥渢he struggle鈥. -
鈥淲hat the hell did we do to deserve this?鈥, BP CEO Tony Hayward asked fellow executives in the company鈥檚 London office, days after the April 20 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico, the April 29 New York Times said. Eleven workers died in the explosion that has generated the US鈥檚 worst ever environmental disaster. BP finally managed to place a cap over the well on July 15, although its status remains tenuous. Associated Press reported seepage detected from the cap on July 21. -
On June 28 last year, democratically-elected Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was overthrown in a US-backed military coup. Zelaya had upset US and Honduran corporate interests with policies such as blocking privatisation, increasing the minimum wage and joining the anti-imperialist Latin American bloc led by Venezuela and Cuba, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA). But it was Zelaya鈥檚 decision to grant a demand of the social movements and begin a democratic process towards rewriting Honduras鈥檚 pro-elite constitution that led directly to the coup. -
Joe Glenton, the British Army Lance Corporal who refused to return to fight in Afghanistan, was released from military prison on July 12. Glenton was jailed in March after going absent without leave from the army in 2007. He had previously spent seven months in Afghanistan as part of the US-led military occupation. He campaigned against the occupation, speaking at an anti-war demonstration in October. Glenton was greeted by about 30 supporters and dozens of reporters outside the Military Corrective Training Centre in Colchester, Counterfire.org said on July 13. -
Two recent reports, released by NASA and the US National Climate Data Centre, have confirmed that last month was the warmest June since records began. June was the fourth consecutive month that had broken temperature records, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. Global monthly records were also broken in March, April and May. June was the 304th month in a row that recorded a global average temperature higher than the 20th century average. February 1985 was the last month temperatures fell below the average. -
Anti-war campaigners have challenged British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg to act on his belief that the invasion of Iraq was illegal by making sure those responsible were tried for war crimes, including former PM Tony Blair. Clegg, from the Liberal Democrats, shocked his pro-war Conservative Party coalition partners on July 21 when he declared the US-led invasion 鈥渋llegal鈥. Clegg was standing in for Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron for prime minister鈥檚 questions in parliament. -
Recent moves by the Venezuelan government, which now claims almost 50% of the shares in a pro-coup TV station and revoked the concession of another, represent new steps towards reclaim the media for the people. The moves came as US-Venezuelan writer Eva Golinger revealed on July 15 in a Chavezcode.com post that recently declassified documents showed the US State Department has funded opposition media to the tune of more than US$4 million. -
The US Senate passed the much-ballyhooed financial reform bill this week to applause from an increasingly thin crowd of Obama administration supporters. Most focused on the 鈥渟omething is better than nothing鈥 features of the bill. But this could barely disguise the fact that the new regulations will do little to curb the activities of the mega-financial institutions at the centre of the economic crisis that ensued in 2008.
Culture
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Chasing the Lollyman Presented by deBASE Productions State Library of Queensland, Brisbane 鈥淢ove them along!鈥, referring to police strategies to deal with loitering Aboriginal people on Australia鈥檚 urban streets, was a phrase parodied to hilarity by Mark Sheppard during his acclaimed one-man show, Chasing the Lollyman, which ran at the State Library of Queensland during NAIDOC Week.
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Boomalli, one of Australia鈥檚 longest running Aboriginal artists鈥 co-operatives, is threatened with closure. Based in Sydney鈥檚 inner-city suburb of Leichhardt, Boomalli was set up in 1987 by Aboriginal artists to get their art recognised. Boomalli means 鈥渢o strike, to make a mark, to fight back, to light up,鈥 in the languages of the Kamilaroi, Wiradjuri and Bundjalung peoples of New South Wales.
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Brain science 鈥 neuroscience 鈥 is big business, big science and big research. Neuroscientists are offering to explain, mend and manipulate the mind. Many see no problems with this. For example, Eric Kandel, who won a Nobel Prize for his work on memory, said: 鈥淵ou are your brain.鈥 This is an extraordinary, arid reductionism. This is the idea that you can collapse the complex phenomenon that goes on in the human mind into being simply the working of cells or molecules.