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Breaking the rules: the campaign in Australia against apartheid

Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have. — Margaret Mead Without agitators, there would be no advance towards civilisation. Without dissent ... democracy in its true sense remains

Work Choices: now the fight gets serious

Dick Nichols On November 26, the Brisbane Courier Mail front page screamed: "Barnaby to wreck Howard's IR agenda". Less than a week later the "maverick Queensland senator" was trying to convince the country that government acceptance of his

The month in history

December 7, 1918: 100,000 textile workers strike in Lancashire, England. December 17, 1918: Hundreds of trade unionists take over Darwin and chase the corrupt administrator John Anderson Gilruth out to sea. December 21, 2003: Sydney high-school

Afghanistan: teetering on the edge of an apocalypse

I is for InfidelBy Kathy GannonPublic Affairs Books, 2005 REVIEW BY BILL NEVINS Kathy Gannon is an "old Afghan hand" and her book on Afghanistan is crucial reading. Four years after 9/11 and well into the third year of the US-led occupation, Iraq

Coalition 'wets' cave in on new sedition laws

Doug Lorimer A meeting of Coalition MPs on November 30 agreed to support the Howard government's Anti-Terrorism Bill (2005) with some minor alterations. Only two days earlier, government and Labor senators on the Senate committee examining the

ACTU passes resolution in solidarity with Venezuela

The following resolution was passed by the Australian Council of Trade Unions in November. The ACTU Executive congratulates and supports the Venezuelan government for its utilisation of the country's wealth and resources for reforms to benefit

CANADA: Kyoto - all talk, no action

Stephanie Long, Montreal From November 28 to December 9, more than 170 countries are engaging in negotiations under the Kyoto Protocol and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. To date, 157 countries have ratified the Kyoto

Invisible threads of history

Manifesto: Three Classic Essays on How to Change the WorldKarl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Rosa Luxemburg, Ernesto Che GuevaraPreface by Adrienne RichIntroduction by Armando HartOcean Books, 2005168 pages REVIEW BY ALEX MILLER Given 170 or so

PAKISTAN: LPP organises 5000 strong anti-WTO rally (updated)

Thousands of Labour Party Pakistan (LPP) activists demonstrated in Lahore on December 6 against the imperialist onslaught of privatisation and the World Trade Organisation, on the eve of the WTO ministerial meeting in Hong Kong. Trade union

Where to now for the IR campaign?

Sue Bolton After the tremendous success of the November 15 protests, the union movement is debating how to maintain the momentum against the federal government's Work Choices legislation. A motion was unanimously passed by the November 15 Geelong

Chilling parallels with the'war on terror'

Good Night, and Good LuckDirected and co-written by George ClooneyScreening nationally from 15 December 2005 REVIEW BY LACHLAN MALLOCH Edward R. Murrow is the hero of the best and most politically prescient film scheduled for release this