Mrs Lowry & Son
Directed by Adrian Noble
Starring Vanessa Redgrave & Timothy Spall
In cinemas as part of the MINI British Film Festival
This film adaptation of the stage play by Martyn Hesford shows the early life of one of the titans of modern British art, L. S. Lowry, famous for his paintings of “matchstick people” going about their lives in working class northern England.
His simplistic style evokes beauty in what was considered squalid and lower class.
The struggle for LGBTI rights continues in WA under the banner of Rainbow Rebellion.
Meanjin (Brisbane) march of around 1000 people on November 13 to campaign against Black deaths in custody, to say #JusticeForWalker and #IStandWithYuendumu.
A key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody asserts that, in dealing with First Nations peoples, the criminal justice system should apply both arrest and imprisonment as sanctions of “last resort”. But like most of its 339 recommendations, this has simply been ignored.
On a catastrophic fire day for NSW, November 12, the Liberal-National government had planned to push through a bill to weaken the state’s planning laws, in favour of coal and gas corporations.
A snap action outside NSW parliament that day drew hundreds of people from across the state. They made their opposition to the bill known and expressed support for the NSW Rural Fire Service, which is battling the flames with shortages of equipment and personnel due to budget cuts.
The following joint statement from the Asian left and progressive groups was issued on November 11, in response to the coup in Boliva.
* * *
Stand with Evo Morales and the Movement Towards Socialism!
Resist the US-backed coup!
We stand with Evo Morales and Bolivia’s Movement Towards Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo, MAS) and condemn in the strongest possible terms the United States-backed coup against Bolivia’s democratically elected president, the government, the progressive social movements, trade unions and indigenous peoples.
This year has been the most violent year on record for Mexico, with almost 26,000 intentional homicides between January and September.
The following message was released by the the Political Committee of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) in Bolivia:
* * *
Resist, so that tomorrow we can fight again
Today, November 10, the humble, the workers, the Aymaras and Quechuas, begin the long path of resistance, to defend the historic achievements of the first indigenous government, which ended today with the forced resignation of our president Evo Morales as a result of the civic-police coup.
After three weeks of protest and social upheaval, people are still taking to the streets in Chile in overwhelming numbers, calling for social justice and demanding dignity.
I have spent a week in Santiago, witnessing first-hand the police use of force and repression.
An armoured vehicle with a water-cannon chased protestors down my hotel’s small street at least twice and multiple tear gas attacks occurred outside my hotel window on several days.
Hong Kong police unleashed a new wave of violence against protesters on November 11, killing one and injuring others. Green Left’s Pip Hinman asked student activist Wlam*, who is currently studying in Australia, about the democracy movement and where things are headed. (*Wlam is a pseudonym to protect his identity.)
With all hell breaking loose as catastrophic fires ravage parts of New South Wales and Queensland, all Prime Minister Scott Morrison can advise is to pray. It’s a poor excuse from a government that has criminally refused to take action on the climate crisis.
World leaders and organisations expressed their solidarity on November 10 with former Bolivian President Evo Morales under the hashtag #ElMundoconEvo (the World with Evo) and strongly condemned the right-wing coup which forced Morales to resign.
The ongoing coup attempt by the United States-backed opposition in Bolivia has reached boiling point. Sections of the police have declared mutiny and far-right protesters attacked and shut down the government’s media outlets, assaulting its journalists. Now new elections have been called by the Bolivian government in an attempt to defuse the situation.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has announced new elections will be held, following two weeks of violence and an attempted coup, as the right-wing opposition seeks to overturn the election results of October 27 that returned him to office.
The Refugee Action Collective organised a protest in Brisbane on November 9 to save the Medevac bill. The Medevac legislation applies to around 600 refugees in PNG and Nauru. It means that refugees who need medical care can receive it without political interference. The government plans to repeal the bill but doesn't seem to have the numbers to do so at this point.
The Report is based on the real-life work of US Senate staffer Daniel Jones, who led the investigation into the Central Intelligence Agency’s international torture program that followed the 2001 World Trade Centre attacks.
