Protesters rallied across Australia on August 13 in support of equal marriage rights. In Sydney, protesters gathered at Town Hall.
News
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Up to 400 people gathered in Queens Park here on August 13, as part of a national day of action for equal marriage rights. The rally and march that followed were called for the seventh anniversary of the former Howard government's 2004 ban on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex (LGBTI) people's legal right to marry. -
On August 7, 50 sex and gender diverse and transgender people gathered in Petersham in Sydney鈥檚 inner west at a 鈥淪ave the Drop-In鈥 BBQ. The event was in response to the Gender Centre 鈥 the only community service provider for transgender people in Sydney 鈥 closed a cornerstone of its service: the weekly 鈥淒rop-In鈥 service. The drop-in attracted about 40 people each week. It was held in the evening and food was provided. The service accounted for 28% of the Gender Centre鈥檚 client contacts, according to the Centre鈥檚 2010 annual report. -
The dilemma facing journalists in Australia today was addressed by Philip Castle, a veteran journalist for more than 30 years and Griffith University academic, at a public forum sponsored by 91自拍论坛 Weekly at the Brisbane Activist Centre on August 9. The forum, titled 鈥淢urdoch vs Assange: Media corruption versus the truth鈥, also heard from Jim McIlroy, a long-time correspondent for GLW. -
Police snatched four Palestine solidarity activists from their houses in the early hours of August 9. Arrested for allegedly breaching their bail conditions by attending a protest against Israeli apartheid outside a Max Brenner shop on July 29, the activists had to pay outrageously high bail sureties to be released. -
For the last five days, Feli McHughes, Joel McHughes and Gregory Coffey from the Ngemba Billabong Restoration Project in Brewarrina, NSW, have been trying to hand over a $260,000 cheque to the head of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs.
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Resistance will host the Melbourne campaign launch for Wear It Purple on August 27. Wear It Purple is an organisation which looks out for the interests of young people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI), and runs numerous campaigns around homophobic bullying, particularly in high schools. -
Five activists from Anti-Nuclear NT (ANNT) gathered outside the offices of Energy Resources Australia (ERA) on August 9. They were congratulating the company on its decision to abandon plans to use acid heap leeching at its Ranger uranium mine in Kakadu national park. Acid heap leeching uses thousands of tonnes of highly toxic acid to release uranium oxide from the soil. It would have sent hundreds of acid-filled trucks along the Northern Territory鈥檚 Stuart Highway each day. -
鈥淟ooking at racism and denial in Australia 鈥 do we have zero tolerance, or is it zero acknowledgement of racism?鈥 Race Discrimination Commissioner Graeme Innes asked this question in an in Canberra. -
Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) staff took industrial action for two hours from 3pm on August 11 over stalled enterprise agreement negotiations. Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) members in DAFF walked off the job at about 40 sites across Australia for two hours in protest at the lack of progress with their pay claim. The stoppage affected quarantine inspections at airports, meat inspections at abattoirs and other DAFF services. The action followed a series of one-hour national stoppages the previous week. -
On Hiroshima Day, on August 6, two events were held in Wollongong to remember the terrible events of 1945. About 30 peace activists gathered around the Peace Plaque in the city mall to remember the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This year, 30 people shared a one-minute silence at 8:15am, the time the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. -
Friends of the Earth (FoE) has claimed a victory after company Mecrus Resources Pty Ltd removed coal and coal seam gas from its application for a resource exploration licence in Victoria. FoE raised the alarm on August 5 about the company's application with the Department of Primary Industries to explore for a range of resources in south-western Victoria, including mineral sands, brown and black coal, coal bed methane (aka coal seam gas), gold, silver, platinum and other minerals. By August 8, the company had removed coal and coal seam gas from the application. -
The organising collective for December鈥檚 conference in Sydney released the below on August 11. * * * The first national conference to discuss the future and direction of the marriage equality campaign has been announced. The grassroots campaign for marriage rights has been a great success to date 鈥 we have won civil unions in the ACT, three registration schemes and recognition of international same-sex marriages in Tasmania. -
Residents from the Putty Valley, 150 kilometres northwest of Sydney, are outraged at the news that coal seam gas drilling will begin in their rural community on August 15. An August 10 statement on the website said residents heard about the drilling start date only after a local resident called mining company Dart Energy about a different matter. -
Australian group released the statement below on August 9. * * * The Victorian Police and courts went to outrageous lengths to criminalise solidarity activism with Palestine on August 9. For the crime of attending a peaceful demonstration against Max Brenner chocolate store and its support for apartheid, four activists were snatched from their homes in the early hours of the day, locked in a holding cell, and made to pay a combined total of $16,000 in surety to be allowed to leave. -
Kevin Bracken, the Victorian secretary of the Maritime Union of Australia, made this statement below in a personal capacity in response to the arrest of four Palestine solidarity activists on August 9. * * * The heavy handed approach taken at the direction of the Victorian government to protesters condemning the Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people should be of concern to the community. The rolling out of arcane legislation to stifle any criticism of the state of Israel is an attack on our right to free speech. -
The Geelong and Region Trades and Labour Council released the statement below on August 10.
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Raids carried out at dawn this morning by police have seen several pro-Palestine activists arrested, in the most severe crackdown on civil liberties in decades.
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The Ward 1 of Community Voice, a ticket of community activists that will stand in the September 3 Wollongong City Council elections, released the statement below on August 9. * * * Founding members of Stop Coal Seam Gas Illawarra, Jess Moore and Chris Williams, are standing with Community Voice as Ward 1 candidates in the forthcoming Wollongong City Council elections. -
91自拍论坛 Weekly rejects the attempt by the Victorian government to criminalise supporters of Palestinian rights, 91自拍论坛 coeditor Stuart Munckton said.
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The statement published below was released on August 9 by Samah Sabawi on behalf of the steering committee. * * * It has come to our attention that the Victorian Consumer Affairs Minister Michael O'Brien has singled out our organisation as well as a few others for investigation by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC) for an alleged suspicion that we may have been involved in 鈥榮econdary boycotts鈥 against Israeli-owned businesses in Australia.
91自拍论坛 Fighting Fund
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The 鈥渇ree market鈥 fanatics at the Productivity Commission have done their dirty job once again with their newly released report. It would be more honestly titled Throw The Oldies To The Wolves because it follows vicious .
Analysis
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Electrical Trades Union members around the country are currently voting for national and state union officials. The ballot goes from August 8-29. Nationally, a team of Howard Worthing, former assistant Victorian secretary, and Greg Wilton, former Western Australia organiser, are challenging incumbent national secretary Peter Tighe and Allen Hicks, for the positions of national secretary and assistant national secretary respectively. Allen Hicks is former Queensland assistant secretary. Reconnect ETU is running a full ticket against the Victorian incumbent leadership. -
More than 100 community supporters, environmentalists and trade unionists assembled on the steps of Trades Hall in Melbourne to launch the 鈥100,000 Australians鈥 campaign. A project of the co-operative, the campaign seeks to build a cooperatively-owned factory making solar hot water systems in Morwell, Victoria. The project is hoping for 100,000 Australians to join the Earthworker Cooperative at $20 a member to raise the $2 million needed for the 鈥淓ureka鈥檚 Future鈥 factory machinery, fit-out and finish. -
In 1998, the UN hosted a special session on illegal drugs which set out to implement law enforcement control strategies in the hope of creating a 鈥渄rug free鈥 world.
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About 200 people have arrived on boats to claim refugee protection in Australia since the Australian and Malaysian governments signed a deal to 鈥渟wap鈥 refugees on July 25.
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When the right-wing press isn鈥檛 hacking the voicemail of murdered teenagers, much of its energy goes to denouncing 鈥済reen extremists鈥. You know, the ones who鈥檇 destroy our economy just to claw back a few tonnes of greenhouse emissions. So what would Rupert Murdoch, Andrew Bolt and their whole tribe prefer be done, in practice and in the near term, to stop global warming? Let鈥檚 be honest 鈥 nothing. Cutting emissions, they implicitly argue, will inevitably cost more than if society lets carbon polluters get on with what they do best. -
鈥 Evidently there is progress in Northern Territory prescribed communities. The Prime Minister has visited and she says so. The mainstream media report so. Indeed what the Prime Minister says is remarkably similar to what Jenny Macklin has been saying for some time: there is progress. -
Australia鈥檚 dirty future Australian taxpayers, at their own expense, are receiving copies of the Labor government鈥檚 20-page document entitled 鈥淐lean energy future, What a carbon price means to you鈥. Unfortunately this scientifically-illiterate document contains a falsehood of commission or omission on nearly every page. -
We all know there鈥檚 a big problem with the environment and it needs drastic action to fix it. So does a Marxist analysis of the problem bring anything new to the table? Marxism redefines the terms of the mainstream environmental debate. Instead of seeing the problem as one of humans versus nature, the problem is framed as one where humans and nature are intrinsically linked and ecological crises arise in which the relationship between the two is thrown into imbalance. -
Distinguished US activist, writer and former political prisoner Angela Davis addressed a public forum in Sydney on August 11 organised by the prisoner rights group . Davis was a keynote speaker at Sisters Inside's sixth , held in Sydney over August 10 to 12. Her speech at the August 11 public forum is below. * * * -
- Israeli activists from the pro boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) issued the statement below on August 11 in support of in Melbourne who have faced arrests and intimidation from the Victorian government. * * * Following anti-Democratic Arrests and Intimidation Attempts: Israeli Citizens in Solidarity with Australian BDS Activists! -
The Socialist Alliance released the statement below on August 10.
World
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As I write these words, out-of-control hordes are swarming throughout downtown Manhattan. Their disregard for human decency, for the sanctity of people鈥檚 homes, jobs, property and health is beyond anything seen since the Dark Ages. These men and women, almost all of them white and disturbingly antiseptic for people living in a filthy and crowded city, are dressed in bizarre outfits.
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British inequality growing 鈥淎 detailed and startling analysis of how unequal Britain has become offers a snapshot of an increasingly divided nation where the richest 10% of the population are more than 100 times as wealthy as the poorest 10% of society... 鈥淭he report, An Anatomy of Economic Inequality in the UK, scrutinises the degree to which the country has become more unequal over the past 30 years 鈥
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Luz Smedbron 鈥 a disabled mother of three originally from Ecuador 鈥 and about a dozen housing rights advocates, stood together on Smedbrons' porch in Addison, Illinois on July 29. With protest signs in hand, they chanted: "The people united, will never be defeated!" DuPage County sheriffs moved in, but protesters stood their ground. As news cameras arrived on the scene, the officers slunk back to their patrol cars, looking confused and embarrassed. They radioed for reinforcements.
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Talking about the Supreme Court, how about a little history. On June 15, 2009 the United States Supreme Court announced its decision to reject the request for a revision of the Cuban Five case. The Cuban Five are Gerardo Hernandez, Antonio Guerrero, Ramon Labanino, Fernando Gonzalez, and Rene Gonzalez The five Cuban men jailed in the US for their role in collecting information on behalf of the Cuban government on potential terrorist acts by violent anti-Cuban groups in Miami.
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Botswana has become the latest country to follow the Western powers in recognising the Benghazi-based Transitional National Council (TNC), set up by rebel forces opposed to Muammar Gaddafi's dictatorship, as the legitimate government of Libya, Mmegi said on August 12. Meanwhile, the August 12 British Telegraph reported that Gaddafi鈥檚 regime in Tripoli was threatened by splits. -
This years global uprisings remind us how infectious the revolutionary spirit can be. In recent weeks, a social movement within Israel has sprung to life in an almost spontaneous manner. A small housing protest that started on July 14 has swept hundreds of thousands of people into protest across the country. As in many other countries, people in Israel face rapidly rising living costs and the privatisation of public assets. Israel once saw itself as a welfare state (though its policies have been designed to benefit mainly the Jewish population since its inception). -
US President Barack Obama's war on whistleblowers has suffered several setbacks. Two high-profile prosecutions against whistleblowers failed and the mistreatment of alleged WikiLeaks source, military analyst Bradley Manning, has been confirmed. The cases show a pattern of vindictive harassment against anyone involved in leaking information the US government deems 鈥渟ecret鈥. These cases are part of a broader attack on the public's right to know what governments do behind closed doors. -
The family of Mark Duggan, shot dead by police in Tottenham on August 4 have called for a second postmortem to be carried out into the cause of his death. Mark Duggan was shot dead by armed police in Ferry Lane, Tottenham Hale, on the evening of August 4 after the minicab in which he was travelling was stopped in a pre-planned operation. The first postmortem suggested he had been shot twice, once in the arm and once in the chest.
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As part of the 鈥淒on鈥檛 Dance for Israeli Apartheid鈥 campaign in Ireland 鈥 organized by the Irish Palestine Solidarity Committee (IPSC) 鈥 activists in Dublin are protesting Irish dance troupe Riverdance鈥檚 decision to perform in Israel in September, ElectronicIntifada.net said on August 11. IPSC is organising a protest on August 18 outside the Gaiety Theater 鈥 鈥渢he final action in our series of ongoing protests before Riverdance heads to perform for Israeli Apartheid鈥.
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Martin Ferris, Sinn Fein TD (member of the Dublin-based parliament, the Dail) for Kerry, visited Australia at the end of July. Ferris spoke to hundreds of people at public meetings in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne on the economic crisis in Ireland. He also spoke on the struggle to reunify the six counties in Ireland's north still controlled by Britain with the 26 counties that make up the southern state. -
Dear Mr & Mrs Cameron, Why did you never take the time to teach your child basic morality?
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鈥淢ob rule鈥. 鈥淲anton destruction鈥. 鈥淢indless thuggery鈥. 鈥淪heer criminality鈥. Media, politicians and police always say the same thing about urban riots. Riots can spin out of control and engulf ordinary people. But that does not alter the fact that they are rooted in social oppression.
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Why is it that the same areas always erupt first, whatever the cause? Pure accident? Might it have something to do with race and class and institutionalised poverty and the sheer grimness of everyday life?
Culture
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The Bob Marley songbook is bursting with eloquent social protest, exposing the poverty, oppression and injustice endured by inhabitants of the 鈥渄eveloping鈥 world. 鈥淏urning and Looting鈥, for example: 鈥淭his morning I woke up in a curfew. O my God I was a prisoner too 鈥 Could not recognise the faces standing over me, they were all dressed in uniforms of brutality.鈥
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Contested Territory 11- 28 August 2011 Curated by Luisa Velasco At the Vanishing Point gallery, 565 King Street, Newtown, Sydney Contested Territory explores 鈥 through contemporary art 鈥 narratives highlighting areas of dispute, particularly issues of land and human rights of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples in the Middle East. At the same time, Contested Territory delves into the phenomenon of Islamophobia and our own historical and contemporary cultural disposition toward the fear of otherness.
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Forming in New York City around 1990, The Casualties started out with an idea to return to the 鈥淕olden Age鈥 of street punk, something they felt had been on sharp decline since the mid 1980s. Having racked up eight full length albums, three EPs, three live albums and countless miles in the tour van, The Casualties continue to enjoy success more than 20 years after their inception. The band is touring Australia in September. 91自拍论坛 Weekly's Chris Peterson caught up with them for a bite-sized interview. * * *
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Inspired by Brisbane flash mob actions in support of the 鈥渂oycott, divestment and sanctions鈥 campaign against Israel, I hunted for songs to adapt and use here in Newcastle.