News
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The debate around the Murray Darling Basin crisis has brought to public attention the need to rethink agriculture in Australia. Today, sustainable food production is relegated to niche status 鈥 squeezed out by methods of farming that are seen to be more efficient. However, the efficiency of the dominant mode of agriculture relies heavily on chemical inputs for fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides. This agriculture degrades soils, pollutes waterways and contributes heavily to climate change.
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Mulrunji Doomadgee died in police custody on Palm Island in November 2004. Despite reviewing findings highly critical of police by coroner Brian Hine at the third Coronial Inquest in May, on November 23 the Queensland Criminal Justice Commission (CMC) found there was insufficient evidence to prosecute the officers involved. -
The Independent Education Union (IEU) has launched a campaign for pay equity for early childhood teachers. In the months leading up to the NSW elections in March 2011, the campaign will include rallies, postcards and an email bombardment of the Labor and Liberal parties. Early childhood teachers working in community-based preschools and childcare centres earn up to 20% less than teachers working in state government preschools and independent and Catholic primary schools. A full-time early childhood teacher can earn $14,000 a year less than other teachers. -
The Melbourne Immigration Transit Accommodation (MITA) refugee centre in Broadmeadows has beds for 50 people. It housed 46 unaccompanied refugee teenagers until the government expanded the facility to detain more refugees. The centre now detains 132 boys, all aged under 17. The youngest is 13 or 14. Most of the boys are unclear about their own ages, and many don鈥檛 carry any form of ID, passports or birth certificates. After the arrival of 98 new people, there was a 鈥渞iot鈥 on November 13. Forty were injured and seven hospitalised. -
About 150 members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of New South Wales and Macquarie University have been stood down after taking part in lawful and protected industrial action. The union put a ban on the transmission of student results after more than two years of negotiations failed to make progress on improving job security, pay and other conditions for staff. A key sticking point in the negotiations is management鈥檚 unregulated use of fixed-term contracts and casual employment. -
Hannah Williams, a year 11 student, was recently told by her school, Ivanhoe Girls Grammar, that she couldn鈥檛 take her girlfriend Savannah Supski to the school formal. Angered, the two refused to attend the formal and will transfer to another school next year, where they would be allowed to attend formals together. They caught up with Resistance鈥檚 Chris Peterson. * * * You took your high school to the Equal Opportunities board; what was the outcome?
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National rallies on November 20 and 27 were held in support of equal marriage rights for lesbian, gay, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) couples. November 20 was also Transgender Day of Remembrance. The day started in 1999 to remember those who were killed by anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. Across the country, trans activists addressed equal marriage rights. A minute's silence was held to remember those killed by transphobic violence. -
"You can't come in鈥, Friends of the Earth (FOE) organiser Drew Hutton told mining companies on behalf of a coalition of farming groups from South-West Queensland, outside State Parliament on November 22. The farmers launched the campaign in opposition to mining companies鈥 plans for up to 40,000 coal seam gas wells and massive new coal mines on the farming land of the Darling Downs. "All the laws are weighted in favour of the mining interests and against farmers鈥, Hutton said. -
Prominent queer rights and climate activist, Paola Harvey, will stand for the Socialist Alliance in the seat of Keira in the March 2011 NSW elections. Harvey, a resident of Mount Keira and part-time student, is a founding member of Equal Love Wollongong, the organisation leading the struggle for marriage equality, and is a member of the Wollongong Climate Action Network (WCAN). Also a member of Resistance, socialist youth organisation, she is involved in campaigns for youth rights, education and employment.
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The Socialist Alliance鈥檚 Socialist Ideas Conference on November 20 featured informative presentations and spirited discussion. It reviewed the political situation in Australia and globally. One of the speakers was Greens MLC Mark Parnell. The most animated discussion was about the Greens' political perspectives and relation to community campaigns and grassroots activism. This followed an online debate before the event, about whether a Greens parliamentarian 鈥 particularly from the right of the party 鈥 should have been invited to speak at a conference promoting socialist ideas. -
The Aboriginal Rights Coalition (ARC) held the "Deadly Dance 4 Justice" on November 19, which drew 100 people to the Globe Theatre for a night of live music, poetry and spoken-word performance, and raised more than $1500 for campaigns. Headlining was Byron Bay act Fyah Walk, accompanied by "Didgtronica" artist Tjupurru, and local acts Kindling, Homeless Yellow and Joss. 4zzz-fm hosted the night and punters enjoyed an incredible vegan feast courtesy of Food Not Bombs. To get involved in the ARC, email Ewan at ewanbris@gmail.com or phone 0401 234 610. -
Four thousand nurses and midwives met at Sydney Olympic Park on November 24 to protest against the state government's refusal to fund safe nurse-to patient-ratios. It was the first state-wide nurses鈥 strike since 2001 and 170 hospitals were affected. The action was supported by 180 branches of the NSW Nurses Association (NSWNA). The Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) said the strike must be called off, but the nurses were defiant. -
About 100 people attended a 鈥淪ave Gleniffer Brae鈥 meeting on November 15 as part of a campaign to keep the historic, heritage-listed manor house in public hands. Organised by Reclaim Our City, the meeting demanded, 鈥渘o action leading to the sale of public land at Gleniffer Brae and this precinct be taken by Wollongong City Council and its non-elected administrators鈥. The meeting welcomed a recent commitment by the council to hold off on any discussion of the matter until 2011. It demanded community consultation before any attempts to sell the land were made. -
A community sit-in defending Melbourne鈥檚 only Indigenous school, Ballerrt Mooroop College in Glenroy, began on November 24. The state Labor government planned to shift the Glenroy Specialist School (GSS) onto the site, which would push the Koori school into portable classrooms in a tiny area. The government provided $18 million to GSS to relocate, but the Koori school received just $750,000. -
The latest appeal against Stockland's Sandon Point development was dismissed on November 25, clearing the way for development. The case has been in the Land and Environment Court since August. The appeal was launched by the Sandon Point Aboriginal Tent Embassy (SPATE), which has been campaigning against the development for 10 years. The community campaign has opposed the Sandon Point development because of impacts on the environment and Indigenous cultural heritage, as well as a lack of transparency and democracy in the approval process.
Analysis
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A Socialist Alliance statement on the 鈥楾asmanian Forests Statement of Principles鈥 *** Since its inception in 2001, the Socialist Alliance has been actively involved in campaigns to protect high conservation native forests from being logged and we support an end to the forestry conflict in Tasmania. -
The federal Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard filed a submission to Fair Work Australia (FWA) on November18, which backed away from its year-long commitment to support the Australian Services Union (ASU) application for an Equal Remuneration Order for social and community sector and disability workers. The government said it supported the principle of pay equity, and agreed community sector workers were underpaid, but its submission argued against granting equal pay to this historically exploited section of the workforce because of budget constraints. -
On October 23, the Age reported that increased alcohol prices are driving many young people to switch to the party drug ecstasy, according to drug researchers, nightclub owners and young people themselves. 鈥淚t is cheaper and convenient to use pills鈥, said Professor Jake Najman, director of the University of Queensland鈥檚 Alcohol and Drug Research and Education Centre. 鈥淎 lot of young people are making that choice to switch between alcohol and ecstasy. Pills can be cheaper, there is no question.鈥 -
The gas industry is rapidly increasing its scope in the Australian energy market as, state and federal government approve drilling sites across the nation with little community consultation and relaxed environmental safeguards. Natural gas will account for 33% of Australia's primary energy consumption by 2030, compared with 8% from renewables, according to the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE). -
Workers with disabilities are speaking out against the Supported Wage System (SWS), which encourages employers to legally underpay workers with disabilities. The federal government鈥檚 Job Access program markets SWS as a progressive innovation by burying it among more egalitarian policies such as funding improvements to workplace accessibility. The Job Access website says the SWS is 鈥渁 process that allows employers to pay less than the award wage by matching a person's productivity with a fair wage鈥. -
Max Watts, a well-known personality on the left in Australia, particularly in Sydney, died on November 23. Max was a left-wing freelance journalist, an occasional contributor to 91自拍论坛 Weekly and its discussion e-list, and a solidarity activist with many national liberation struggles, including in Palestine, Kanaky, West Papua and Bougainville. In the 1960s, he was a central activist in Europe working with soldier resistance to the Vietnam War within the US armed forces. Resistance inside the army (RITA) was one of his great political passions. -
The third annual camp for climate action will happen in the Hunter Valley from December 1-5, between the Liddell and Bayswater power stations. The camp will bring will be an important forum for diverse groups to build stronger links with one another. -
Tamil asylum seeker Mugeeb Rahuman Mohaideen is detained in Maribynong Detention Centre. He came to Australia on November 7. He told 91自拍论坛 Weekly that he ran a clothes-making store in the war-torn Tamil Eelam province of Sri Lanka. Mohaideen's customers included the Sri Lankan Army. He said the SLA took a large order in August 2009 and didn't pay. When Mohaideen asked for payment, they came for him. -
An Iraqi Kurd in his 30s who had been in detention at Christmas Island for about 12 months, attempted suicide, the Australian said on November 23. This came just a week after the second suicide in two months at Villawood detention centre. About 20 fellow asylum seekers resorted to sewing their lips shut and 230 other detainees went on hunger strike in protest as 鈥減eople felt that the Gillard government was ignoring their cases鈥. -
The success of Greens MP Adam Bandt's marriage equality motion in federal parliament, which called on MPs to take the issue back to their electorates, shows how successful our grassroots movement has been. We've forced the Gillard Labor government to back away from its ridiculous discriminatory policy of denying equal marriage rights. Prime Minister Julia Gillard now says the official ALP policy, which says marriage can only be between a man and a woman, should be looked at again at Labor鈥檚 next national conference. She wants to bring the conference forward to December 2011. -
Ark Tribe walked out of Adelaide Magistrates Court a free man on November 24, after he was finally found 鈥渘ot guilty鈥 of failing to attend an Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) interview in 2008. As Tribe, a rigger and Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) member left the court house, he was greeted by cheers from more than 1000 workers and officials from different unions. The victory was celebrated as a win for all workers. -
All around the Western world, far-right groups (some with neo-Nazi links), are gaining political ground through an orchestrated campaign against Muslim communities. These groups are spreading fear and hatred against recent immigrant communities from Muslim countries, and tap into well-resourced post-9/11 war propaganda initiated by rulers of the world鈥檚 richest and most powerful states. -
In early November, I attended the Wesfarmers AGM at the Perth Convention Centre. Yes, that Wesfarmers, the one that owns Coles, Bunnings, Officeworks, coal mines and plenty more. Not my usual sort of haunt, but I was there holding proxy votes for members of the Australia Western Sahara Association. Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975, when Morocco invaded the country before a vote of self-determination could be held.
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鈥淲inning Our Rights鈥 is the theme of the December 10-11 Union and Community Summer School, which will be held at Melbourne Trades Hall. The conference will discuss the 30-year-long retreat of the Australian union movement and also victories over that period. 鈥淲inning Our Rights鈥 will feature unionists leading important struggles. They will share their experiences and discuss how to turn the tide. Attending will be Tom Buckley from New Zealand鈥檚 Unite union. Unite has won the rights of restaurant and other retail workers by organising in a heavily casualised industry. -
The letter below was written by Socialist Alliance member Justine Kamprad. She wrote it to federal member for Fremantle Melissa Parke after South Australian rigger Ark Tribe was found not guilty on November 24 of refusing to attend an interview with the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). Dear Melissa Parke, As blue-collar workers, my partner and I have been involved with our unions over the past decade. In that time I have seen our unions fight for safety, dignity and a better life for our family. -
Morning Star clarification We were pleased to see 91自拍论坛 Weekly鈥檚 reprint from the Morning Star of Jeff Sawtell's review of the Made in Dagenham film (GLW #860). Just one quibble. You have expanded Jeff's reference to the Morning Star to the 鈥淐ommunist Party of Britain鈥檚 newspaper, Morning Star鈥, which is inaccurate. For the record, since 1945, the Morning Star and its forerunner, the Daily Worker, have been owned by a readers' co-operative, the People's Press Printing Society Ltd (PPPS).
World
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Haiti's November 28 election was marred by widespread fraud. Despite the call of all the leading candidates but one to cancel the exercise, officials with the UN Security Council mission as well as the United States, Canada and Europe are voicing satisfaction with the result and urging the country鈥檚 electoral commission to press ahead with a second-round runoff vote in January. -
Sombat Boonngamanong is a long-time NGO activist in Thailand and has been of great help to renewing public Red Shirt activity following the bloody April-May military crackdown. Lee Yu Kyung spoke to him about the prospects for the democracy movement in Thailand. * * * -
The streets of Ayala, the old financial capital of Manila, were taken over by about 5000 people on November 25 in a protest against the growing use of contract labour. Philippine Airlines, owned by the Philippines second richest man, is the latest company to sack its workforce and rehire them as contract workers 鈥 with lower wages and without the benefits and security guaranteed to formal, permanent workers.
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Media fanfare has subsided around the October rescue of 33 miners from the San Jose mine in Chile 鈥 an event watched by an estimated 1 billion people across the globe. But could this event at least help bring about change for miners鈥 rights and conditions? Unfortunately, if we look behind all the commotion and government rhetoric about making big changes for the lives of miners in Chile, the answer seems to be no. On November 7, two miners were killed in an accident in the Los Reyes mine near Copiapo, close to where the San Jose mine accident took place. -
Irish election officials said on November 26 that Sinn Fein candidate Pearse Doherty had won a long-awaited by-election in Donegal with an overwhelming 40% of the vote. The election was blocked for months before it was forced on Prime Minister Brian Cowen by the Irish courts. Cowen faces a struggle to win votes on raising taxes and cutting spending when the 2011 budget is unveiled in parliament on December 7. -
Representatives of 76 indigenous peoples said they reject market-based mechanisms as a false solution to the climate crisis at a recent international conference. They said UN-backed carbon trading schemes such as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD), 鈥渁re offered as solutions but have negative impacts and cause divisions among indigenous peoples, whose access and control of forest resources are eroded鈥. -
Pope Benedict XVI has told a German journalist that condom use can be justified in some cases to help stop the spread of AIDS. News of the Pope鈥檚 historic new stance was first posted online on November 20 in L鈥橭sservatore Romano, the Vatican鈥檚 newspaper. -
Maire Leadbeater is a spokesperson for the Indonesia Human Rights Committee (Auckland). She recently returned from West Papua, a nation that has faced repression since its occupation by Indonesia in 1963. She spoke to 91自拍论坛 Weekly's Ash Pemberton. * * * Can you give your impressions of West Papuan society under Indonesian occupation? -
The 2005 Naivasha Agreement ended the civil war between the Sudanese government and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Movement (SPLM), based in South Sudan. About 2 million people were killed in the 1983-2005 conflict. A further 500,000 people were killed in the 1955-1972 civil war, also fought between the government and rebels in the south. Under the agreement, a referendum on independence will be held in the south in January 2011. The SPLM leadership recently endorsed independence for the South, while prior to the peace process it been committed to a united, democratic, federal Sudan. -
The public finances of Ireland will, for the next three years at least, be subject to 鈥渞egular reviews鈥 by external monitors working on behalf of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the European Union (EU) and the British and Swedish governments. On November 21, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Brian Cowen and minister for finance Brian Lenihan, after a week of shocking lies and deceit, said they would accept the IMF/EU bailout. It later emerged that the G7, made up of the seven most powerful countries in the world, had met to give its approval to the deal. -
A rising tide of homophobic aggression in Uganda has divided religious leaders. At the root of the problem, Western missionaries have been spreading anti-gay sentiment and dividing the community. Homosexuality has been illegal in Uganda since British colonisation in the late 19th century. However, many Ugandans trace the current crisis to March 5, 2009, when right-wing evangelical missionaries from the US held a three-day conference at the Triangle Hotel in Kampala. -
The Israeli government agreed 鈥渋n principle鈥 on November 17 to withdraw from the northern part of Ghajar, a village in the occupied Golan Heights. The village was conquered by Israel in 1967, during the six-day war. In 2000, Ghajar was split in two. The northern part was to be controlled by Lebanon, the southern part by Israel. The southern part of Ghajar was deemed by the United Nations (UN) to be a part of the Golan Heights, Syrian territory occupied by Israel since 1967. -
Despite pledges at the recent Millennium Development Goals (MDG) summit to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, there has been a constant battle across the global South for access to vital antiretroviral HIV/AIDS treatments and antibiotics for malaria and tuberculosis (TB). One of the greatest challenges in accessing high-quality and affordable medicines is the collusion between rich governments and pharmaceutical giants. -
Portugal's working class brought the country to a standstill on November 24 to press the Socialist Party government to scrap its regressive cuts program. The general strike against European Union-mandated austerity, the first to be organised jointly by Portugal's two main unions since 1988, is the country's largest ever stoppage. Trains and buses did not run, planes were grounded and banking services halted. -
The sixth plenum of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist 鈥 UCPN(M)) began on November 20 in Gorka District. It was the largest meeting in the party鈥檚 history; more then 7000 local members are taking part in discussions. The Nepalese revolution is in a state of limbo. The current government resigned in May, but continues in a caretaker fashion, as no alternative has come forward. -
Irish socialist republican party eirigi chairperson Brian Leeson has labelled the Dublin government鈥檚 four-year fiscal adjustment plan 鈥渁 criminal charter for the wrecking of working class communities鈥. Among the measures contained within the plan are: 鈥 A 鈧2.8 billion cut in the social welfare budget. 鈥 The gradual increase of the pension age to 68 by 2028 and the reduction of the pension rate for retired public sector workers. 鈥 The reduction of the minimum wage to 鈧7.65 an hour. 鈥 The raising of university registration fees to 鈧2000. -
The 2011 UN climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, is not expected to agree to sharp cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. But the UN and rich nations will push for the conference to endorse a carbon trading scheme to protect forests, known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). Below is an 鈥渙pen letter to the indigenous peoples of the world鈥 from Bolivian President Evo Morales. Released in September, the letter calls for the protection of the world鈥檚 forests, and also for opposition to REDD and other carbon trading schemes. *** -
The 190th Annual Meeting of Southern Baptists, held on November 16 in Columbia, South Carolina, approved a resolution calling its pastors to preach against homosexuality 鈥 鈥渢o uphold the biblical standard of human sexuality against all onslaughts鈥 鈥 but also to 鈥渓ove and show compassion toward homosexuals and transgendered persons鈥. Mixed in with this 鈥渉ate is love鈥 doublespeak is a great deal of defensiveness about the loss of social status by the US religious right. -
Tough talk by the warmongers at the November 20-21 NATO conference in Lisbon, Portugal, obscured the growing opposition in the US and Europe to the nine-year occupation of Afghanistan. Ten thousand people took to the streets of London on November 20 to protest the war. Angry at the British government鈥檚 recent cuts to services and pensions, many carried 鈥淐ut war not welfare鈥 placards. -
Chilean activist Manuel Olate Cespedes was arrested in Santiago on October 29 after the Colombian government alleged he is linked to left-wing guerilla group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Below is an abridged statement issued by the Latin America Social Forum (LASF) Sydney that calls for Cespedes鈥 release and opposes plans to extradite him to Colombia. *** The LASF (Sydney) wishes to express its opposition to the arrest and detention of Manuel Olate Cespedes. We also express our grave concern regarding Colombia鈥檚 request to extradite Cespedes.
Culture
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It should come as no surprise that Latin America, a region converted into a laboratory for ongoing experiments in social change, has increasingly become the topic of discussion and debate among the broader left.
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The Rise of the 91自拍论坛: Inside the Worldwide Ecosocialist Movement By Derek Wall Pluto Press, 190 pages, paperback Review by Mat Ward As the threat of climate catastrophe looms ever larger, Derek Wall has written what he calls "an explicit call to non-violent arms".