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Action updates

Sorry Day Melbourne — On May 26, 400 people gathered at Federation Square to mark National Sorry Day and to remind people about the tragedy of the "stolen generations" — the many Indigenous children taken away from their parents by the

SCOTLAND: Putting socialism back on the agenda

ALISTER BLACK is an assistant national secretary of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), which had six comrades elected to the Scottish parliament on May 1. Black visited Australia in May. He spoke to Green Left Weekly's JOHN PERCY. What are the

UNITED STATES: Right to remain silent undermined

BY DALE MILLS "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law" — this advice, known as the Miranda warning, may no longer have to be given in all situations, the US Supreme Court ruled on

ZIMBABWE: Mass protests planned for June

BY TAMARA PEARSON Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), and major civic organisations are organising an indefinite mass "stay away" (general strike), beginning on June 2, aimed at forcing the government of

NSW finally equalises age of consent

BY DALE MILLS SYDNEY — For years, NSW has had one of the most backward gay age of consent laws in the Western world. That changed with the May 27 passage of the Crimes Amendment (Sexual Offences) Bill through NSW parliament. The bill reduces

CHINA: SARS exposes looming health crisis

BY EVA CHENG On May 1, a month after they admitted for the first time that they had discovered China's first cases of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) back in November but had withheld that information from public knowledge, Chinese

A return to bipartisan bad policy?

BY PIP HINMAN Since Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri declared martial law in Aceh on May 19, defence minister Robert Hill and foreign affairs minister Alexander Downer have been repeating ad nauseum that it is in Australia's "national

Marathon dispute for ETU at Smorgon Steel

BY SIMON MILLAR & LINDA WALDRON MELBOURNE — June 4 will be the 100th day on the picket line for Electrical Trades Union (ETU) members at Smorgon Steel in Laverton. The dispute began on February 25, when 25 full-time electricians downed tools

Anti-deportation alliance launched

BY KATRINA HECKENDORF & PAUL OBOOHOV On May 28, protest actions were held outside immigration department office in Adelaide, Canberra, Brisbane, Darwin, Perth and Sydney by asylum seekers and their supporters to launch the National Anti-Deportation

Left unity: the Scottish socialist experience

BY PAUL BENEDEK SYDNEY — "Sometimes the left spends more time fighting other socialists than fighting the establishment", Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) leader Alister Black told a May 29 public forum at the Gaelic Club, organised by the

Anti-free trade agreement rally

SYDNEY — Fifty global justice activists protested outside a "breakfast speech" by trade minister Mark Vaile, to the Australian Institute of Export in Sydney's CBD, early on the morning of May 31. They were opposing a free trade agreement with the

A day on the Morris McMahon picket line

BY LIAM MITCHELL& ADRIAN WRIGHT SYDNEY — On May 29, some 40 supporters of striking workers at can manufacturer Morris McMahon joined the picket line, then in its 12th week, to stop the scab bus in the morning, while 60 wharfies arrived during the