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Gareth Stephenson, CFMEU:'Cut the ALP adrift'

[MELBOURNE — On May 11, the Socialist Alliance sponsored a trade union seminar, discussing, among other things, unions and political representation. This question of relating to political parties, and specifically the ALP, has been an increasing

MBSMA bans GLW distribution

BY RUTH RATCLIFFE DARWIN — Supporters of Green Left Weekly are once again having to defend their right to distribute the papers in public space. The latest attack on that right has come from Mindil Beach Sunset Markets Association (MBSMA). GLW

Police hospitalise five at anti-Ruddock protest

BY TONY ILTIS MELBOURNE — A non-violent blockade of a meeting featuring immigration minister Philip Ruddock, extreme right-wing Herald Sun columnist Andrew Bolt and anti-immigration academic Bob Birrell was violently attacked by police in front

PALESTINE: Israeli lies exposed

BY ROHAN PEARCE Media-monitoring group Electronic Intifada has released a report by Nigel Parry into media coverage of the April 2-May 10 siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, during which seven Palestinians were killed, and

BRITAIN: Salesmen of death

BY JOHN PILGER LONDON — Soon after New Labour came to power in 1997, the then foreign secretary, Robin Cook, announced an “ethical dimension” to British foreign policy. He said that the government “will not issue an (arms) export licence if

Committee formed to free 'Miami five'

BY NEVILLE SPENCER SYDNEY — On May 31, Cuba solidarity activists set up a Free the Cuban Five Committee with aim of supporting the worldwide campaign to free five Cubans sentenced to long prison terms in the US on espionage charges. The five

NEPAL: State of emergency extended

BY EVA CHENG Anticipating he would not be able to get parliamentary approval for a six-month extension of the state of emergency in place since November 2001, on May 22 Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba dissolved the parliament and called

COLOMBIA: Warmonger elected president

BY ALLEN JENNINGS The May 26 election of Alvaro Uribe Velez as Colombia's next president represents a watershed in both Colombia's and the United States' approach to the country's spiralling discontent and four decades of armed insurgency. The

Dalai Lama dodges hard questions

BY JESS MELVIN Tens of thousands of people around the country attended public meetings featuring Tenzin Gyatso, Tibet’s 14th Dalai Lama, in late May. His May 20 Melbourne address attracted 9000 students. Gyatso received the 1989 Nobel

Ranelagh fights Southwood road

BY DARREN JIGGINS HOBART — "The small town community of Ranelagh has stood its ground at the commission hearing into the proposed Southwood woodchip mill", local activist Peter Cahill told Green Left Weekly. Forestry Tasmania is planning to build

EAST TIMOR: A UN failure

BY MAX LANE A major theme of the ceremony that took place in Dili on May 20 to proclaim the independence of East Timor was that the three-year period of United Nations transitional administration was a great success. However, East Timor has been

Loose cannons

Final frontier "Several big Japanese builders have set up divisions for moon-based-construction research. Shimizu Construction Corp, for instance, has been studying plans for lunar tennis courts and golf courses." — Wall Street Journal, May 24.