GLW issue 743, published 2008-03-12.

Rethinking 'opposing imperialism'

In the most recent edition of Green Left Weekly (GLW #742, links to all contributions in debate so far are below), well-known progressive anti-imperialist activist, Professor Stephen Zunes, has proclaimed that I am a liar.

Divers demand collective agreement

Fourteen divers at the Sydney desalination plant being built at Port Botany went on strike this week over safety concerns and demanding a union collective agreement walking off the job on Monday March 3. They are employed by Construction Diving Services (whose parent company is Dempsey Industries).

Union protest backs sacked guest worker

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) organised a community rally outside the Sombreros Mexican restaurant in the beachside suburb of Cronulla on March 7. The rally was to protest the sacking of chef Basilo Reyes for taking time off to have a cancer removed.

Pilger addresses 200 in Katoomba

Journalist and documentary filmmaker spoke at a public forum on March 7. Attended by 200 people, the forum was hosted by Pilger’s high-school friend, actor Jack Thompson, at his pub in the Blue Mountains town of Katoomba

Further

Australian News

Rudd's move to 'recognise' Israel's national day criticised

As the horror of Israel’s recent attacks on Gaza spread, UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon could only describe Israel’s rocket launches as “an excessive use of force”. By contrast, he described a Palestinian homemade rocket, which killed two Israeli soldiers and one civilian, as a “terrorist” act.

Catholic teachers take stopwork action

Over 4000 Victorian Independent Education Union (VIEU) members from Catholic schools stopped work for 24 hours on March 7 in support of their enterprise bargaining agreement.

Further Australian News

International News

Iraq: No more blood for oil

US chief of staff operations director General Carter Ham told a February 25 press briefing that the Pentagon plans to keep its occupation force in Iraq at 140,000 troops after the end of the 30,000-strong US troop “surge” in July.

Indonesia: Peasant activist assassinated

Below is a statement released by the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas).

Further International News

Comment and Analysis

Australian government continues Israeli love affair

Well, so much for our new government taking an even-handed position on Israel/Palestine.

CFMEU to campaign against ABCC

“We’re approaching the future with some confidence notwithstanding the obstacles that are put in our path by institutions like the ABCC [Australian Building and Construction Commission]”, Dave Noonan, national secretary of the construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union told Green Left Weekly. Noonan spoke to GLW after the CFMEU national conference, held in Sydney from February 18-22.

Further Comment and Analysis

Letters

Write On

Venezuela As an Australian person currently living and working in Venezuela, I feel there are many important aspects to the ExxonMobil issue that have been, perhaps deliberately, ignored by the mainstream media in Australia. Legalities aside

General

$250,000 Fighting Fund: The prince and the war on paupers

It has to be one of the most unbelievable stories of the century: New Idea, a magazine that trades on gossip about royals and other celebrities, is blamed for exposing Prince Harry’s deployment in the British military intervention in Afghanistan. It is about as believable as the plot of Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, in which a young prince swaps places with a street lad to see what life is like in “Paupersville”.

Resistance!

'Operation Iraqi Subjugation'

As the Iraq war approaches its fifth anniversary on March 20th, it is important to remember why the war was started. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989 the US has looked to find new ways to justify its military interventions in order to increase economic prosperity and further expand its empire.

Student poverty and prostitution

Poverty is a dominant feature of life for many university students. Statistics from Melbourne University show that living expenses (excluding course fees) for a student in share accommodation amount annually to around $25,000. Most students must work at least one job to supplement the meagre government-provided youth allowance, which, if paid at the maximum rate of $425 per fortnight, amounts to just $11,050 per annum.

Cultural Dissent

Israel's real 'peace' plan

Between the Lines — Readings on Israel, the Palestinians, and the US ‘War on Terror’
Edited by Tikva Honig-Parnass & Toufi Haddad
Haymarket Books, 2007
406 pages, US$17

Latin America on screen

3^rd Sydney Latin American Film Festival
Chauvel Cinema, Paddington and other venues
Until March 16
<http://www.sydneylatinofilmfestival.org/cms/>

Further Cultural Dissent

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