Protest opposes military ties
@box text intr = DARWIN — Members of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor held an action during the June 25 visit of Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid, opposing any federal government attempt to renew ties with the Indonesian military.
While ASIET members staged a symbolic "die-in", lying motionless on the ground in memory of those who died in the struggle for democracy in Indonesia, Robyn Waite read a poem written by an Indonesian student activist in 1998, during the mass protests who toppled the dictator Suharto.
@box text subh = Activists support democracy in Indonesia
@box text intr = BRISBANE — Two of the participants in the Jakarta Asia Pacific People's Solidarity Conference addressed a forum on June 23 discussing the perilous state of democracy in Indonesia.
Jim McIlroy, Brisbane branch secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party, related how the conference was attacked by right wing militia following the removal by police of the foreign participants. "We must increase our solidarity work with the brave democracy activists in the People's Democratic Party", he said.
Ian Rintoul from the International Socialist Organisation also paid tribute to the courage of the Indonesian activists.
$170 was raised for INCREASE, the organisers of the conference.
Dinner raises $650 for Green Left Weekly
@box text intr = ADELAIDE — A "Global Justice" dinner on June 23 raised $650 for Green Left Weekly. Forty people enjoyed food and music from around the world, with mulled wine proving popular in warding off the winter chill.
John McGill from the Socialist Alliance praised the role of the paper in building the Socialist Alliance and urged the audience to join the alliance, saying, "don't be embarrassed when your grandchildren ask where were you when Socialist Alliance took off?".
Socialist Alliance calls for refugee rights
ADELAIDE — The recently formed Adelaide branch of the Socialist Alliance held its first public meeting on June 27, discussing the Howard government's attacks on the rights of refugees.
Dr U Ne Oo from the Network for International Protection of Refugees described his own experience when applying for refugee status from Burma. "We don't have the power and we don't have the money but we still have the spirit", he said.
Socialist Alliance speaker Kathy Newnam condemned the federal government's policy on refugees as racist scapegoating, and pointed out that the ALP was little better. "The Socialist Alliance believes that refugees should be welcomed and that there should be no mandatory detention", she said.