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Capitalism exploits young people

BY SOPHIE FISCHER Capitalists like to pretend that young people aren't really people at all. People under 18 are not allowed to drink, smoke, lease a house or even get a library card without "adult" permission. There are many other restrictions

Why Abbott targets Victoria's militant unions

BY SUE BOLTON MELBOURNE — Federal workplace relations minister Tony Abbott is lashing out at the two main militant unions that defend their members' rights, regardless of the federal government's anti-worker industrial relations laws. The two

Dayson workers hold out for union rights

BY SAM WAINWRIGHT SYDNEY — Twelve workers from the Dayson compressor manufacturing plant at Rydalmere have been on strike for more than four weeks. The strike began when seven workers, including two union delegates, were sacked without notice on

Residents oppose Pinkenba refugee prison

BY ADAM BAKER BRISBANE — "Australia has mistreated the Aboriginal people for more than 200 years. Why can't we show some compassion?", pleaded a resident opposed to the proposed Pinkenba refugee detention centre during a 100-strong meeting at

PALESTINE: How Israel creates suicide bombers

BY NOAM CHOMSKY "What we feared has come true", Israeli sociologist Baruch Kimmerling wrote in a leading newspaper in Israel a year ago. Jews and Palestinians are "regressing to superstitious tribalism... War appears an unavoidable fate", an "evil

COLOMBIA: Most dangerous country for unionists

Colombia is the most dangerous country for trade unionists. This was the finding of a survey conducted by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). In 2001, 201 trade unionists were reported killed or disappeared in Colombia. This

Government tests Labor with islands' excision

BY SARAH STEPHEN On June 18, the federal government was forced to introduce into the Senate regulations it had drafted 12 days earlier to excise some 3500 islands from Australia's migration zone, islands which run from 200 kilometres south of

EAST TIMOR: Canberra pressures Xanana

BY JON LAND East Timor's recently elected president, Xanana Gusmao, arrived in Canberra on June 17 for his first official state visit to Australia. Accompanied by foreign minister Jose Ramos Horta and other East Timorese representatives, Gusmao

Loose Cannons

Axis of misogyny "We have realised that without countries like Sudan, abortion would have been recognised as a universal human right in a UN document" — Austin Ruse, president of the US Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, quoted in the

UNITED STATES: Treaty withdrawal fuels militarisation

BY JIM GREEN The United States government formally withdrew from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty on June 13. The withdrawal is part of the US government's broader plans to upgrade its nuclear arsenal, enhance its nuclear "first-strike"

INDONESIA: When 'national unity' is no longer voluntary

BY MAX LANE JAKARTA — The persistence of the movement for a self-determination referendum in Aceh, the emergence of the Papuan People's Council and the troubles in Ambon have all raised concerns about whether Indonesian unity can be maintained.

INDONESIA: Squalls before the storm

BY MAX LANE JAKARTA — Natalia Scholastika was a student activist in Bandung, West Java, when the first arrest warrant against her was issued in 2001. A member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), she had helped organise a protest by thousands