BHP fire crew strike
WOLLONGONG — Eighty Port Kembla fire, ambulance and security workers at BHP's Port Kembla mill went on strike for 24 hours on February 12, forcing the company to stand down 2000 steelworkers whose safety could not be guaranteed.
The action was in protest at a plan to outsource protective services personnel. It came a week after 3000 workers at the mill voted for a series of rolling stoppages against the outsourcing.
A community solidarity group has been formed to raise public awareness about the issue. The group is organising a forum on March 11 at 2pm at the Illawarra Migrant Resource Centre, corner Market and Kembla Streets, Wollongong.
Turkish prisoners supported
MELBOURNE — A benefit concert held here on February 10 has raised support for 1000 imprisoned Turkish hunger strikers.
The February 10 concert, attended by 250 people, featured graphic footage of the military's December "Operation Return to Life", which showed soldiers storming the prisons where protests were being held and firebombing cells. Thirty-one prisoners were killed in the operation.
The liberation struggle of the Kurdish people and the campaign against the devastation caused by an Australian goldmining company in the ancient town of Pergamon were also highlighted.
Refugee rights defended
PERTH — Activists from a newly-formed refugee rights coalition, chanted "Close the detention centres, free the refugees" and made speeches against the federal government's harsh treatment of asylum seekers at an action in the centre of the city here on February 9.
The Refugee Rights Action Network, formed in January, is next planning a public forum on March 16, "From persecution to Detention — Refugees speak out about their experiences", which will feature first-hand accounts from Iraqi, Palestinian, East Timorese and Afghan refugees.
Resistance speaks out
PERTH — The socialist youth group Resistance has hit the streets here with a series of a speakouts against the racist policies of Pauline Hanson's One Nation, which won two upper house seats in the February 10 state election.
"Although One Nation's result is a protest vote against the two major parties it is not a real alternative," said Perth Resistance organiser Sean Martin-Iverson. "A party based on racism is not a real alternative but is rather a useful tool for the major parties. It hides their poor economic and social policies by scapegoating those most disaffected and oppressed by the system."
Speakers also hit out at attempts by the Coalition and sections of the corporate media to legitimise One Nation and claim it was no longer a racist party.