In the face of a general strike called by Shiite militants in Baghdads northeastern Sadr City district, home to 2.5 million people, US troops ended their week-long siege of the district on October 31.
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The US, Britain, Italy, France, Australia and Bahrain began two days of joint naval exercises in the Persian Gulf on October 31, including marine boardings of ships 32 kilometres from the Iranian coastline. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in Tehran: We are watching their movements very carefully. We do not consider this exercise appropriate. US moves go in the direction of more adventurism, not of stability and security.
Three-hundred people participated in the Sydney Reclaim the Night march this year. Speakers included Karen Willis from the Rape Crisis Centre, Jane Brock from Immigrant Women Speak Out and Tegan Wagner, an 18-year-old survivor of a 2002 sexual assault by two men who were sentenced in April this year.
Large rallies were held around Australia on November 4 as part of an international day of action to protest government inaction on climate change. Organisers of the “Walk against warming” estimated that the number of people who participated was up to: 47,000 in Sydney, 30,000 in Melbourne, 5000 in Hobart, 3000 in Canberra and Perth, 1500 in Brisbane, 1000 in Adelaide and Wollongong, 800 in Newcastle and 300 in Cairns.
On October 29, charges of refusing a police direction brought against six people involved in the protest against Kerry Packers state memorial service in February were dismissed by a magistrates court.
Green Left Weekly is calling on supporters to help get the paper into thousands of new hands on November 30 the ACTU-called national day of action against Work Choices.
On October 20-22, four local supporters of Turkish political prisoners held a solidarity hunger strike. They called on the Turkish state to abandon its F-Type prisons and for the European Union to end its support for isolation prisons. They also demanded that prisoners detained in F-Type prisons be allowed to communicate with each other, see their lawyers, and have visitors and access to books and other materials.
The Young Unionist Network (YUN) and the Rock for Your Rights at Work coalition are bringing together artists and cultural workers to stage five huge gigs here in the lead-up to the November 30 national day of action against the Howard governments anti-worker laws. Ranging from hip-hop to heavy metal, the gigs aim to maximise support for the campaign against Work Choices.
As of November 2, 2825 US military personnel and 232 other allied foreign troops had died in Iraq since the country was invaded on March 20, 2003, by US, British and Australian forces.
On October 21, 80 people attended a public forum in Footscray organised by the Maribyrnong Action Group. Speakers discussed the health risks of diesel emissions and the ever increasing quantity of trucks passing through residential streets in Maribyrnong. A range of solutions were presented, from immediate curfew observance and extensions to shifting more freight onto trains.
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