GLW issue number 948

PHOTOS: Vigil for refugees

Refugee activists in Melbourne organised a candle lit vigil on November 30 to condemn the federal government's racist policies against refugees. Mohammed Bakhtiari, a former detainee on Nauru, said: "We need to demonstrate to people that we have rights too". Photos by Ali Bakhtiarvandi:

Celebrity watch

A selection of this week's celebrity news... Country singer Trace Adkins in Hot Water For Confederate Flag Earpiece. http://bit.ly/115BnCt Tycoon Donald Trump says Chinese invented global warming to damage US business. http://on.fb.me/11xeFSY Randy Blythe, singer with anti-Iraq war band Lamb of God, indicted for manslaughter. http://eonli.ne/SIjxR9 Chris Brown Returns to Twitter, Posts Scantily Clad Photo of Rihanna on Instagram. http://eonli.ne/QYzg1J

Australian News

Public interest case to cost $40,000

Local campaign group Illawarra Residents for Responsible Mining (IRRM) have been told to pay $40,000 before their case challenging the expansion of a coal mine will be heard in the Land and Environment Court. Coal-mining company Gujarat are seeking approval to expand their coal mine in the residential area of Russell Vale, a suburb of Wollongong. The expansion will mean the company will mine seven times more coal a year compared to current levels, increasing the output to 3 million tonnes a year.

Students occupy Immigration minister's office

This statement was released by the Sydney Uni Anti-Racism Collective on November 29. *** At 12:30pm today a dozen student refugee activists occupied Immigration Minister Chris Bowen's electoral office demanding that he act now to save the life of Omid Sorousheh, the Iranian hunger striker on Nauru now on his 49th day of hunger strike.

Further Australian News

International News

World Bank should take its own advice on climate change

The World Bank delivered a brutal warning about the dangers of runaway climate change and called for rapid action to cut greenhouse gas emissions in a recent report. But don’t expect the bank to take its own advice.

Gazan activist: Despite Israel's crimes, we are not defeated

Israel's brutal eight-day assault on Gaza, which killed dozens of Palestinian children, was formally ended with an Egyptian-negotiated ceasefire between Israel and Hamas on November 21. It caused fresh carnage in the besieged Gaza Strip, which is regularly bombed by Israel and has not recovered from Israel's 22-day offensive in 2008-09 that killed about 1400 people. Rockets fired from Gaza in response to Israeli attacks killed five Israelis.

Further International News

Comment and Analysis

Albury-Wodonga rallies against homophobia

Green Left Weekly spoke to Evan McHugh, the co-organiser of the first Equal Love rally in the Albury-Wodonga area that took place on November 17. Why did you organise this protest?

Bowen ignores rights of refugee 'close to death'

Hunger-striking refugee 35-year-old Omid Sorousheh's desperate plea to be recognised as a refugee in Australia has been treated with contempt by immigration minister Chris Bowen, despite clear indications that he was close to death. Omid has been on a hunger strike for 50 days on November 30. That day it was reported he had been finally airlifted from Nauru and returned to Australia.

Further Comment and Analysis

Resistance!

Universities need more public funding

Around Australia, proponents of neoliberalism have led attacks on tertiary education an ideological onslaught against the idea of well-funded public education. In July, Fred Hilmer, vice-chancellor of UNSW and chair of the Group of 8 Universities, a coalition of university managements, called for total fee deregulation and “cutting red tape”.

Cultural Dissent

Femcee Kayemtee raps for queer rights

Forever Kayemtee Impossible Odds Records 2012 www.impossibleoddsrecords.com Jimmy Barnes is probably the most heterosexual man in Australia - but he has now inspired probably the best homosexual rap tune to come out of the country. The Cold Chisel frontman is famous for allegedly bedding more than 1000 women early on in his career. But Indigenous femcee Kayemtee has taken his band's highest-charting song, "Forever Now", and given it a radical twist.

The Marx Dictionary: A good, but not perfect, introduction to Marxism

The Marx Dictionary By Ian Fraser & Lawrence Wilde Continuum, 2011 223 pp., $39.99 “A is for Alienation, that made me the man that I am, and B's for the Boss who's a Bastard, a Bourgeois who don't give a damn.” So goes Scottish folk singer Alex Glasgow’s witty song, “The Socialist ABC”, which is a succinct introduction to Marxism. However, for a slightly more rounded alphabetical introduction this volume is very good. In it the authors manage to condense quite readable explanations of some of the Western intellectual tradition’s most challenging concepts.

Further Cultural Dissent

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