GLW issue 767, published 2008-09-17.

Swings against Labor in NSW council elections

The Greens and independents appear to be the main beneficiaries of a large swing away from Labor in the September 13 NSW council elections.

Campaign grows to abolish the ABCC

A sign-on statement calling on the federal Labor government to abolition the anti-union Australian Building and Construction Commission, and extending solidarity to any worker victimised by the ABCC, was initiated last week by Tim Gooden, the secretary of Geelong and Regional Trades and Labour Council.

Abolish the building industry Gestapo now!

Nothing is beyond big business in its unscrupulous drive for profits.

Manufacturers argue for rubbish

The Australian Food and Grocery Council has attacked a Senate inquiry’s recommendation for national container deposit legislation, calling the approach “inefficient” and likely to cause price increases.

Australian News

Protesters spied on

Information released under freedom of information (FOI) laws shows that NSW Police is keeping detailed documentation about numerous groups and individuals on the political left. Police intelligence assessments have targeted a variety groups, including Mutiny and Greenpeace.

Campaign for justice for 'comfort women'

People in Australia are being urged to pressure the federal parliament to pass a resolution calling on the Japanese government to apologise and provide compensation to the “comfort women” of World War Two.

Further Australian News

International News

Paraguay: New government faces elite resistance

Barely two weeks after being sworn in on August 15, a coup plot to oust newly elected Paraguayan president Fernando Lugo was exposed on September 2.

Venezuela: New coup plot exposed, US ambassador expelled

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered the US ambassador in Caracas, Patrick Duddy, to leave the country within 72 hours on September 11.

Further International News

Comment and Analysis

Strike signals broader media crisis

The Fairfax Media workers’ strike on August 28-31 signalled growing troubles in the Australian media industry.

How to crash a planet: Just follow Garnaut

On September 5, the government’s climate change adviser, Professor Ross Garnaut, released his recommendations for medium-term cuts to Australian greenhouse gas emissions.

Further Comment and Analysis

Letters

Write On: Letters to the editor

Workplace 'restructures' In my workplace we have been suffering restructuring for the whole time I have been there, which is three years now. We have had the closing down of sites, redundancies, increased workloads, unfair rosters and restrictions

General

Green Left Weekly's $250,000 Fighting Fund: "Things will have to change"

Bruno, a supporter of Green Left Weekly, said to me last week that the political situation today reminded him of a famous quote from a story about a Sicilian prince at the time Italy’s feudal principalities were being challenged by Giuseppe Garibaldi’s “Redshirts”:

Cultural Dissent

Who's afraid of building a vanguard party?

Building The Revolutionary Party: Jim Percy Selected Writings 1980-1987
Resistance Books, 2008
212 pages, $20
Available from http://www.resistancebooks.com

Too hot for Hollywood

Hollywood’s Censor: Joseph I. Breen & The Production Code Administration
By Thomas Doherty
Columbia University Press, 2007
427 pages, $49.95 (hb)

Further Cultural Dissent

Portraits of a nation

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Billionaire Rinehart's media control bid reveals corporate influence

Above: GetUp! released video showing professional climate change denier "Lord" Christopher Monkton advising a room full of mining executives on how the industry must gain control of Australia's media. This week mining billionaire Gina Rinehart became the largest shareholder in the Fairfax media conglomerate, having already bought a stake in Channel Ten.