Rally for Burma
CANBERRA — Eighty protesters demonstrated outside the Burmese embassy on May 27, the ninth anniversary of the 1990 parliamentary election in Burma. The victory of the National League for Democracy in that election was rejected by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (now the State Peace and Development Council) regime, which continued its brutal rule.
The demonstration, called by the All Burma Students Democratic Organisation (ABSDO), was in support of the Committee Representing the People's Parliament, which was founded in September with the support of 251 of the elected parliamentarians. Speakers included 1990 election candidates Utin Htut, who was jailed for six years, and Nai Tun Wai, as well as Burmese student activists, including ABSDO general secretary Muang Muang Than.
Solidarity messages from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the National Union of Students' NSW branch, Resistance and other students were read. The demonstrators marched to the Thai embassy to protest against the Thai government's support for the Burmese regime and the repression of Burmese activists in Thailand, and then on to the Japanese embassy to highlight Japanese investments in Burma and the Japanese government's support for the dictatorship, the only "democratic" government in the region to do so.
Rage against the regime
BRISBANE — Mark Cronin, Rebecca Wright, the Slow Wahs, del Relish and Pop Properly entertained 60 people at a benefit gig for Indonesia and East Timor on June 3. The gig was organised by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor and Resistance. Resistance's Susan Austin called on people to keep up the pressure on the Australian government and the Indonesian regime.
Del Relish bassist Alfonso Corte-Real, who is from East Timor, passionately declared that East Timor would be free before launching into the anthem of the evening, "Xanana". The money raised will be distributed through ASIET to organisations in Indonesia and East Timor.
Indonesia documentary premiere
HOBART — The premiere of Jill Hickson's documentary Indonesia in Revolt: democracy or death, raised more than $200 for grassroots democracy activists in Indonesia. While mainstream media coverage of the Indonesian election has focused on the establishment opposition parties led by Megawati Sukarnoputri and Amien Rais, this film highlights the activists, mainly from the People's Democratic Party, whose organisation of workers, students and the urban poor helped bring down Suharto in May 1998.
ASIET activist Ema Corro introduced the film. She pointed to the mainstream opposition's support for the IMF's austerity programs. "No matter how much these people talk about respecting human rights, there is no way such a massive transfer of wealth from Indonesia's impoverished masses to Western capital can happen without the use of guns, imprisonment and torture", she said.
Speak-out against the GST
BRISBANE — Around 50 people attended a speak-out in the Queen St Mall on June 4 to protest against the GST. The action condemned the effects of the tax on the poorest people in society.
Ruth Ratcliffe, from Resistance, criticised the establishment media's "debate" around the GST. Arguments about what will or won't be taxed miss the point, she said, which is that the GST taxes those who cannot afford it. Nick Everett, a Community and Public Sector Union delegate and Democratic Socialist Party member, argued that the trade union movement needs to lead the struggle against the GST if it is to be defeated at this stage.
Students, workers unite against GST
SYDNEY — On May 31, students occupied the Australian Democrats' Crows Nest office. The police were called and students were threatened with capsicum spray before 29 were arrested and charged with being on private property without a reason. The students argued that they had a very good reason — the GST will disadvantage those who can least afford pay it.
On June 3, students rallied outside the Liberal and Democrat offices which are, appropriately, in the same building. The rally included contingents from the National Union of Students, trades unions, the Greens, and socialist organisations including Resistance. Collaboration between trade unions and students is to continue with the NSW Trades and Labor Council-endorsed day of action against the GST on June 21.
Bradbury retrospective
NEWCASTLE — Forty people heard film-maker David Bradbury speak at a retrospective screening of his work on May 30. Between film clips, he discussed his motivation for making documentaries such as Frontline (about veteran Vietnam War camera operator Neil Davis), Public Enemy Number One (about anti-war journalist Wilfred Burchett), Chile Hasta Cuando? (shot clandestinely during the Pinochet dictatorship), Nicaragua: No Pasaran (about the Sandinista revolution), Loggerheads and Jabiluka.
Bradbury emphasised the importance of alternative media such as the Frontline Film Foundation and Green Left Weekly which co-sponsored of the afternoon.