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Zimbabwe: WOZA members arrested

On June 6, around 20 members of Women and Men of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA/MOZA) were arrested while conducting a peaceful, silent march through Bulawayo to launch their “10 Steps to a New Zimbabwe”. Two groups of people began the march from different locations towards the offices of The Chronicle, a government-owned newspaper, but both were stopped and beaten by riot police along the way. Several people required medical attention. The march was organised to highlight the unfairness of current negotiations in Zimbabwe that only involve politicians who, WOZA reports, will “not be addressing issues of social justice — the ‘bread and roses’ Zimbabweans need”. For more information, visit http://www.wozazimbabwe.org.

Australian 'aid' vs Cuban internationalism

The Australian government has recently come under fire for the inefficiency of its overseas aid programs, particularly in the Asia Pacific. The June 4 Sydney Morning Herald reported that more and more aid destined for the region was being lost in administrative costs or dished out to private corporations in the name of “development”.

On the box

Yossi & Jagger — The story of a gay relationship in the Israeli army. SBS, Saturday, June 16, 1.05am. Compass: Bearing Witness — Examines the trauma experienced by journalists who have been witness to terrible world events while on assignment.

Outrage greets Anvil Hill coalmine approval

In what the superstitious might call nature’s revenge, wild seas caused a coal freighter to run aground in Newcastle on June 8, the day after the NSW Labor government approved the opening of a massive open-cut coalmine at Anvil Hill in the Hunter region.

Iraq: Stop Bush's killing spree!

There is little mystery behind Iraqis' tenacious resistance to US President George Bush's war of occupation: over four years of war have left the country devastated and resulted in the deaths of over half a million Iraqis, according to a study published in the influential British medical journal The Lancet.

Young Muslims fighting to be heard

Temple of Dreams
Directed by Tom Zubrycki
Sydney Film Festival, Sat June 16, 11.50am

Protests highlight key climate issues

Activists marked World Environment Day (WED) — June 5 — with a protest in Bourke Street Mall that highlighted corporate plunder of the planet.

Iraq: Parliament threatens US forces' mandate

On June 5, the Iraqi parliament approved a law giving itself the formal authority to block the extension beyond December of the UN Security Council mandate under which US and allied foreign troops are deployed in Iraq.

Alternative national anthem, to the tune of 'Advance Australia Fair'

Australians all, let us rejoiceFor we are girt by seaWhich makes it very difficultFor would-be refugees,If any of them make it here and it's not a lot We lock them upAnd send them offSomewhere that's very hotWe lock them upAnd send them offSomewhere

Obituary: Greg Heys

Former Newcastle lord mayor Greg Heys died on June 5 after a massive heart attack.

55,000 commemorate Tiananmen massacre

Some 55,000 people demonstrated in Hong Kong on June 4 — the 18th anniversary of the Chinese army’s bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy student protesters at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

Where to now for unions and the Anti-Labour Party?

The ALP deserves to be re-badged the “Anti-Labour Party” as historian Humphrey McQueen suggests, and the ALP’s public dressing down and forced resignation of Victorian Electrical Trade Union (ETU) secretary Dean Mighell reinforces this view.