Planning has started for the Resistance National Conference, to be held this year in Adelaide, South Australia, over July 20-22 at the University of Adelaide.
With the Arab Spring in the Middle East, anti-austerity protests across Europe and the Occupy movement in the US, last year was a year in which people鈥檚 movements around the world stood up to take centre stage in world politics. The theme of this year鈥檚 conference, 鈥淎 Time of Revolution鈥, was inspired by these uprisings.
Kaurna Yerta/Adelaide
Thirty people attended a May 15 rally on the steps of South Australia鈥檚 Parliament House to protest the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration (Registration of Still-Births) Amendment Bill, also known as Jayden鈥檚 Law, introduced by Family First MP Robert Brokenshire, which was to be voted upon the next day.
However, in the face of community concerns regarding the intentions and wording of the amendment and a campaign organised by the South Australian Feminist Collective (SAFC), Brokenshire has delayed the vote for several weeks.
In South Australia, where abortion is still legally considered a crime under the Criminal Act, women do not have the legal right to make their own reproductive choices. What we have now is tenuous and limited access to abortions through an underfunded healthcare system.
Now, this access is under attack. Family First MP Robert Brokenshire has introduced into the SA upper house the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration (Registration of Still-Births) Amendment Bill (also known as Jayden鈥檚 Law), which will be put to a vote on May 16.
May Day was celebrated in Adelaide on Saturday May 5 with a march through the city streets.
A sizable Left Unity block marched down together from the Adelaide Activist Centre. They marched under a Left Unity banner, but also carried individual banners representing the participating groups.
The Left Unity contingent included Socialist Alliance, Resistance, the Communist Party of Australia (CPA), the Industrial Workers of the World (Wobblies) Adelaide branch, along with other independent members of the left.
Sahrawi human rights advocate and trade unionist Malak Amidane will visit Australia this month to share her experience of campaigning for justice in her homeland.
Previously a Spanish colony, Western Sahara was invaded by Morocco and Mauritania when Spain withdrew in 1975.
Today, 80% of the territory land is controlled by Morocco.
Amidane will meet with politicians and union leaders to lobby for greater support for Western Sahara.
She will also present a public lecture in Adelaide on May 3 at 5pm, at the University of Adelaide, Lower Napier, room G03.
If you are thinking of challenging a mining development in the courts, be prepared to go through the financial wringer. You might think you have an open-and-shut case, that the federal government has shirked its responsibilities under environmental legislation. But if the finding goes against you, the government and the mining industry will see you bankrupt.
Whatever BHP Billiton wants to expand operations at its huge Olympic Dam copper, gold and uranium mine, Australian authorities are almost frantic to give it. Clear violations of environment laws are not even being allowed to stand in the way.
A high-energy, loud and prominent rally marched through Adelaide鈥檚 central shopping mall on March 31 to show support for victims of extreme climate-change related weather events and demand real climate action. The event was Adelaide鈥檚 second annual 鈥淢arch for Survival鈥.
The march ended with a mock arrest of the state energy minister Tom Koutsantonis for 鈥渃limate crimes鈥. The charges included ignoring the urgency of the climate science and failing to support plans for solar thermal technology in Port Augusta.
Activists delivered an early birthday present for Rupert Murdoch to The Advertiser building in Adelaide on March 9.
Occupy Murdoch delivered a yellow 鈥渦ranium鈥 cake, along with demands for media reform, to the office of the News Ltd tabloid.
Activist Tamara Otello baked the cake, which she explained was intended 鈥渇or The Advertiser staff鈥.
She said: 鈥淚t hasn鈥檛 been laced with anything nasty ... unlike The Advertiser. It鈥檚 actually a chocolate mudcake.鈥
Adelaide has a new social movement in town, yet with a familiar name: Occupy.
The Occupy movement has been criticised for its lack of focus and demands, yet in Adelaide there is a clear focus for direct action: Rupert Murdoch.
Hence the name: Occupy Murdoch.
Occupy Murdoch specifically focuses on corporate controlled media, especially News Corporation. Adelaide's daily tabloid The Advertiser is a Murdoch paper that publishes rubbish dressed up as 鈥渘ews鈥 to distract people and supports specific political interests.
A creditable result in last Saturday鈥檚 by-election has capped a very active and visible campaign by the Communist Party (CPA) and its supporters in the state seat of Port Adelaide.
Inequalities are not only unjust: they literally make us sick. This was the conclusion reached by the sizeable turnout at Left Unity鈥檚 January 31 forum: 鈥淚nequality, Health, And Wellbeing: Why Inequality Is Bad For Us.鈥
Much of Adelaide鈥檚 progressive community came together 鈥 Resistance and the Socialist Alliance, the Communist Party of Australia, the Adelaide Anti-Capitalist Forum, Occupy Adelaide, anarchists, and current and former members of the Greens 鈥 to hear why inequality has increased dramatically throughout the world over the past few decades.
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