School services officers rally
ADELAIDE — Some 3000 school services officers and supporters rallied on December 6 against the state government's plan to cut 250 jobs. Half the public schools in the state closed an hour early in support of the campaign organised by the Public Sector Association and the South Australian Institute of Teachers. SA Premier Dean Brown declined an invitation to attend.
Anti-racists protest against National Action
ADELAIDE — A right-wing Eureka Day rally by National Action (NA) on December 2 faced a counter-rally organised by the Anti-Racism Alliance (ARA). The rallies drew around 40 people each. While NA played German military music, workers attending the anti-racism rally unfurled a banner with the Eureka flag and the message: "Builders Labourers Support Multiculturalism". The Construction Forestry Mining and Energy (Builders Labourers Division) — whose office was vandalised by NA in the days following the rally — also ran an advertisement in the
Sunday Mail rejecting NA's use of the Eureka flag. Another 50 people at a rally for democracy in Nigeria organised by the Nigeria-Australia Association planned to march to Parliament House, where the ARA and NA rallies were being held. But police stopped this march until NA finished their rally to prevent the alleged "potential for a race riot". The anti-racist activists stayed to join the protest against the execution of human rights activists in Nigeria.
Tarkine campaign gains support in SA
ADELAIDE — The South Australian Tarkine Action Group held a successful band night on November 29, raising money to send activists to protests in Tasmania's beleaguered Tarkine forest over summer. About 50 people attended the launch of a book,
The Tarkine, produced by the Tarkine National Coalition. Copies are available for $11.95 at The Centre for Urban Ecology on 49 8031.
Conference on labour market programs
ADELAIDE — On December 6, South Australian Unemployed Groups in Action convened a seminar on the jobs compact, case management and labour market programs. Representatives from the union movement, private and public case managers, the Young Christian Movement, Welfare Rights, unemployed action groups, and the Department of Employment, Education and Training attended. The seminar noted that the federal government's Working Nation job training program is not working. Seminar reports are available on 231 6056.
Protest against US nuclear sub
MELBOURNE — Some 60 people gathered at Breakwater Pier, Williamstown on December 7 to protest the visit of the nuclear-powered US submarine,
USS Helena. Nine protesters were about to swim to the submarine when police set up an exclusion zone.
Meeting discusses Cuba's future
CANBERRA — Is Cuba going capitalist was one of the questions discussed at meeting with Democratic Socialist Party member Jill Hickson who has recently returned from Cuba. She reported on the variety of views she came across about the way forward in Cuba, both inside and outside the Communist Party and its affiliated mass organisations. One topic that aroused considerable interest was Cuba's turn to organic farming after the chemicals and machinery needed for the country's highly mechanised state farms became unavailable. There is considerable debate in Cuba today over whether, should the agricultural chemicals become available again, organic farming should remain. While providing food is primary, many Cubans are becoming aware that, in this area, their country is leading the world.
Forum supports Tamil rights in Sri Lanka
BRISBANE — "The Sri Lankan government thinks the capture of Jaffna is the end of the matter. It is really only the beginning", Dr K Nava, a committee member of the Tamil Association of Queensland, told a
Green Left Weekly public forum on December 6. Nava explained the background to the crisis in Sri Lanka, in which the majority Sinhalese-dominated government has launched a genocidal war against the minority Tamil people in the north of the island. A video, smuggled out of the Tamil area, showed the deaths of hundreds of civilians in the bombing of a Catholic church by the regime. Nava called on the Australian government to sponsor a fact-finding mission to Sri Lanka, and for international pressure to force the Colombo regime to end its military offensive against the Tamils and to lift its economic embargo on the north.
Notice to Quit
MELBOURNE — In solidarity with the national "Notice to Quit" campaign actions in Canberra, the No More Hiroshimas Coalition held an anti-nuclear, anti-US bases rally in Treasury Gardens on December 3. Around 300 people turned out to hear speakers on uranium mining, nuclear testing, independence for the Pacific and the role of US bases in Australia.
West Papua meeting
MELBOURNE — Thirty people attended a public meeting organised by the Australia-West Papua Association on November 28. Speakers included Victorian Labor MP Jean McLean, who recently visited West Papua, John Otto Ondawame, the Australian representative of the OPM (Free Papua Organisation), and Pat Walsh. Ondawame explained that land had been confiscated without compensation. In 1977 after Freeport had rejected a petition from locals asking that the company recognise their land, the OPM attacked a pipeline. After peaceful demonstrations in 1994 demanded compensation for the destruction of land and the displacement of people, Indonesian troops attacked. While the Indonesian government claims that OPM no longer exists, Ondawame said it "exists in the hearts of all West Papuan people". AMP and State Super have shares in Freeport. Many Australian companies are dependent on sales to Freeport, which spends $230 million in Australia (much of it in Cairns).