Canberra anti-racism rally
CANBERRA -- Five hundred people rallied on November 23 in the centre of Canberra as part of a national day of action against racism. The action was organised by the Anti-Racist Coalition and issued the demands: defend Aboriginal rights; migrants are welcome, racists are not; and stop Howard's cuts.
Demonstrators heard from Isobel Coe, a representative of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy; Bob O'Hara from the ACT Trades and Labour Council; Rick Kuhn from the National Tertiary Education and Industry Union; speakers from the International Socialist Organisation and the Labor Party, including John Langmore MP and Wayne Berry from the ACT Legislative Assembly; and Nadeem Ansari from the Democratic Socialist Party.
The rally marched to the offices of Liberal Senator Margaret Reid, stopping along the way at the Imperial Court restaurant, the site of a racist attack on the owner and his son on November 5.
NTEU campaign
The National Tertiary Education and Industry Union has launched a campaign around contract workers. Union branches are directed to give priority to cases involving short-term staff whose contracts expire before the end of 1996. The campaign is running concurrently with the national contract and casual employment case, which began in the Industrial Relations Commission on October 15.
The NTEU aims to win better conditions and job security for this growing section of the tertiary education work force. The urgency is prompted by the employers' efforts to avoid new award conditions by not renewing contracts this year and by the threat of forced redundancies.
Zapatista forum
CANBERRA -- On November 22 and 23, the Committee in Solidarity with Latin America and the Caribbean here held forums on the current political situation in Mexico and the Zapatista and EPR insurgencies in the southern states of Chiapas and Guerrero, attracting some 30 people. Speakers included Neville Spencer, a member of CISLAC's Sydney committee who recently attended a Zapatista international conference in Chiapas, and Peter Stedman, who has worked in Guerrero.
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