Eastern Distributor blockade rehearsed
SYDNEY — Anti-motorway activists occupied the Drivers Triangle area in Surry Hills for 24 hours on April 27 to practise for protests against the proposed Eastern Distributor freeway. Mock toll booths were accompanied by protesters' demand that the forthcoming state budget increase public transport funding.
May Day toast
GRANVILLE — International solidarity was celebrated at the May Day toast given by the Worker Communist Parties of Iran and Iraq on April 30. More than 100 people heard speeches in Farsi, Kurdish and English calling for unity among workers in order to win security and freedom and to defeat the spectres of fascism and racial hatred.
Logging protests
PERTH — The WA Forest Alliance is stepping up its campaign against logging of old growth forests as timber companies move into areas like Giblett block in the state's south-west.
On April 26, more than 100 people picketed timber company Bunnings' hardware store. Banners, speakers and street theatre blamed the company and the state government for the destruction of the small amount of remaining old growth forest. WAFA intends to launch a boycott of Bunnings and other timber stores.
Indonesia picket
MELBOURNE — In response to sentences handed down against leading activists from the People's Democratic Party (PRD) in Indonesia, Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor organised an emergency picket on April 30 outside Garuda Airlines.
The action was addressed by speakers from many organisations including ASIET, the Australia-East Timor Association, the Australian Democrats, Australians for a Free East Timor, Campaign Against Militarism, Resistance, the CFMEU (construction division), and the Democratic Socialist Party. An effigy of Indonesian dictator President Suharto was burned.
Cuba solidarity
BRISBANE — Fifty people attended the Australia-Cuba Friendship Society's national consultation at Yungaba Migrant Centre on April 25-27. Major tasks set for the ACFS for the next year include preparations for the 1998 work brigade to Cuba, which begins in January, and a tour by prominent Cuban singer Sara Gonzalez.
Resolutions were passed condemning the US blockade of Cuba and opposing the US and Australian authorities' interference in postal and other communications between Australia and Cuba.
Building national day of action
MELBOURNE — Hundreds of students demonstrated on campuses around Victoria on May 1 in preparation for the May 8 national day of action against education cuts and up-front fees. The actions were called by the cross-campus Student Unionism Network and organised by on-campus groups.
At La Trobe University, 30 students rallied to protest cuts to various departments and massive cuts to staffing levels. They marched to the administration building, where they attempted to present a list of demands.
At the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 100 students attended a speak-out, then marched to the vice-chancellor's office to protest against the possible introduction of up-front fees.
At the University of Melbourne, 50 students attended a speak-out and marched to the administration building, where a list of demands was presented to the vice-chancellor, along with an invitation to respond to the demands at the May 8 rally.
Rally against cuts to disability services
CANBERRA — More than 200 workers, parents, people with disabilities and their supporters rallied outside the Legislative Assembly here on May 2 against cuts to disability services expected to be announced in the federal budget.
Rally organiser Bryan Woodford told the crowd that an extra $450 million needs to be injected into disability services just to meet existing needs; 13,500 Australians with disabilities are in need of accommodation and another 38,000 in need of an employment service.
East Timor Anzac Day protest
CANBERRA — Jim Aubrey and Amandio Gomes from Australians for a Free East Timor and Gareth Smith from Canberra Program for Peace chartered a plane to carry a banner reading "East Timor: broken promises, friendship abandoned" over the Canberra Anzac Day ceremony on April 25. The plane circled several times before the Australian Federal Police terminated the flight on the grounds of noise interference.
"The pilot has flown over the Anzac ceremony for several years ... clearly this was a political decision", Aubrey said. Leaflets distributed about the plight of the East Timorese and their role during the war were well received by Anzac Day marchers in Canberra.