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Action Updates

Ruddock 'greeted' NEWCASTLE — Federal immigration minister Phillip Ruddock attended a citizenship ceremony here on May 28. With only two hours notice, 20 protesters outside greeted the "Minister for Racism" outside the Town Hall. The

The Dirty Digger

BY ROWAN CAHILL A selective and mythologised account of the past draws young people to Anzac Day celebrations. The chief of the armed forces is the Australian of the Year. Parliament passes a bill enabling the military to be used domestically

Workers' compensation rights defended

BY LISA MACDONALD SYDNEY — Chanting "Hands off workers' comp!", 2000 construction workers and their supporters brought lunchtime traffic to a halt as they marched through the city on May 29. The rally was smaller than originally expected due to a

Looking out: Constitution trees

“Don't you realize that I could have killed you ten times by now — your monkey boy bodyguards notwithstanding...” — anonymous. The hate-filled words heading this essay are from a bullying letter sent to an African-American student leader at

Blockaders determined to save Badja Forest

BY PAUL OBOOHOV BADJA FOREST — The South East Forest Rescue Squad of about 30 activists is blockading two roads, one of them recently bulldozed, to stop logging in the old-growth Badja Forest wilderness on the escarpment overlooking the NSW south

Write on: Letters to the editor

Socialist Alliance? It is quite obvious that, due to media bias and reactionary politics, terms such as socialism, communism, anarchy, green and left have been effectively discredited in the minds of a lot of people. The expression "Socialist

Is blockading a democratic right?

COMMENT BY ROBERTO JORQUERA  PERTH — According to countless media commentators and letter writers, the M1 protesters who blockaded stock exchanges around the country were violent, undemocratic and hypocritical because they were denying

On the box

Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 9pm. Ph 9565 5522. Visit <http://www.channel31.org> for

Why Nazis still call Australia home

REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON War Criminals Welcome: Australia, A Sanctuary for War Criminals since 1945By Mark AaronsBlack Inc, 2001649 pp, $34.95 (pb) When justice minister Amanda Vanstone said that the alleged Latvian war criminal Konrads Kalejs was

'Boat people' flee across the Tasman

BY SARAH STEPHEN Imagine this: it's 2005, and a fundamentalist Christian regime has come to power in New Zealand. In its effort to consolidate power, it is undertaking a campaign of systematic persecution of all those who have organised against it

SCOTLAND: Glasgow rallies against racism

BY MARK BROWN GLASGOW — In a powerful blow against the anti-refugee bigots, the Campaign to Welcome Refugees here held a 200-strong hustings meeting in the city's Moir Hall on May 24. Representatives of all six parties, including the Scottish

BRITAIN: Blair likely to remain

BY MARGARET ALLUM Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair is smug in the knowledge that his government is almost certain of victory in the June 7 British general election. Blair knows that the continuing political impotence of the Tory opposition will