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Agitpop

Get Up Stand UpSaturdays, ABC TV at 10pm REVIEW BY DAVE RILEY As you grow older you forget. My ears have been listening to music for longer than I know and thousands of melodies have wafted between my two earlobes. I have been treated to so

Guns for hire

Rohan Pearce The post-9/11 rehabilitation of thinly veiled imperialist militarism, in the guise of the "war on terror", has been a massive windfall for "private military companies" (PMCs) — the preferred euphemism of the modern mercenary

Stop this bloody war

Pip Hinman Anti-war groups across Australia responded quickly to the news that US-based Australian contractor Douglas Wood had been taken hostage in Iraq. Snap protests were held in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth in the first week of May to urge his

State same-sex marriage bills discussed

SYDNEY — On May 1, 100 people attended a meeting organised by the NSW Greens at the Newtown Hotel to discuss same-sex marriage laws. The meeting was addressed by Rodney Croome, gay rights advocate from Tasmania, Tasmanian Greens MP Nick McKim,

Detention policy costs another life

Kathy Newnam, Darwin Another man has lost his life while being held under the federal government's policy of detaining foreigners caught fishing in Australian waters. Muhammed Heri was the captain of a fishing boat taken into custody by

Hundreds oppose state funeral for 'dictator'

BRISBANE — On May3, 400 people rallied in King George Square to protest against the state funeral held in Kingaroy that day for former premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen. Speakers included veteran left activists Brian Laver, Drew Hutton, Carole Ferrier

'Venezuelan workers are building Bolivarian socialism'

Roberto Jorquera, Caracas May Day 2005 will go down in Venezuelan history as an significant date in the developing revolution. Although there was no official estimate release, it is speculated that around 1 million workers marched through Caracas

Fundraising appeal for SIEV X trial

The trial of alleged SIEV X people smuggler Khaleed Daoed is scheduled to commence in the Brisbane Supreme Court on May 17 and will run for at least three weeks. The boat dubbed the SIEV X sank in international waters off Indonesia on October 19,

BRAZIL: Lula rejects US 'aid' for AIDS

On May 3, Brazil's government rejected a $40 million grant from the US to fight AIDS, explaining that its conditions were "too severe". The grant was conditional on Brazil's government taking a "moral" stand opposing, among other things,

Resisting Howard's neoliberal agenda

Federal treasurer Peter Costello's 10th budget, to be revealed on May 10, will continue the federal Coalition government's neoliberal "reform" — pushing increased "user-pays" and the privatisation of Medicare and higher education. The dire state

SUDAN: US rolls out red carpet for Darfur's executioner

Norm Dixon Revelations of a covert rendezvous in Washington between top CIA officials and the head of Sudan's secret police have starkly exposed just how hollow and hypocritical are the US administration's expressions of concern for the plight of

Write on: Letters to the editor

Timor Sea Dave Clarke (Write On, GLW #625) correctly observes that "Australia is cheating East Timor out of its share of the oil in the Timor Sea", but then he raises the clearly rhetorical question: "Could it be that the Australian government