PM John Howards decision to take control of 60 to 70 Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory began to be implemented on June 27 when the first Australian Federal Police (AFP) officers flew into the Aboriginal township of Mutitjulu, near Uluru. The police officers were met by a large community delegation demanding answers.
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Shoalwater Wilderness Awareness Group (SWAG) spokesperson Steve Bishopric expressed concern on June 27 that the small community of Capricorn Coast on Queenslands central coast faced potential pollution from undisclosed military toxins as a result of the Talisman Sabre 2007 US-Australian war games at Shoalwater Bay.
The following article is abridged from a speech by Susan Austin, Socialist Alliance Hobart branch convener, to a 250-strong Indigenous rights rally on June 27 organised by the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.
Striking workers at the Esselte Australia warehouse in Minto have described as unrelenting their employers tactics in attempting to force them to sign individual contracts (AWAs).
Dr Gary MacLennan, a long-time socialist activist and lecturer in creative industries at the Queensland University of Technology, was suspended for six months without pay on June 6. He, along with a colleague, Dr John Hookham, was charged with misconduct following the publication of an article in the Australian that criticised a PhD film project that mocked the disabled. Students and staff launched a support campaign for the two suspended lecturers which has linked up with a struggle against QUT’s decision to close down the school of humanities and human services.
The gay and lesbian community in Cairns is planning the inaugural Tropical Pride Festival, to be launched on September 16 at the Tanks Arts Centre from noon, with music from 5-9pm.
In a June 25 joint statement issued with his Australians All co-patron and former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) chairperson Lowitja ODonoghue, former Coalition PM Malcolm Fraser attacked the Howard governments June 21 announcement that it was taking control of 60 Aboriginal communities in remote areas of the Northern Territory as a throwback to past paternalism.
Nigerias combative working-class movement has shown its strength and militancy. An overwhelmingly observed four-day nationwide general strike, which began on June 20, succeeded in rapidly forcing the countrys new president to back down on an announced doubling of value-added tax and increased fuel prices. The degree of popular support for the strike revealed that the 23-day-old regime of President Umaru YarAdua is already thoroughly discredited and despised.
In the wake of widely covered opposition protests against the Venezuelan governments decision not to renew Radio Caracas Televisons (RCTV) broadcasting licence following its countless violations of the law and its role in the 2002 coup attempt against the democratically elected government, Green Left Weeklys Sam King spoke with lawyer and writer Eva Golinger in Caracas. Golinger is the author of The Chavez Code and Bush Versus Chavez, which expose US intervention into Venezuela aiming to overthrow Chavez.
One week after American forces mounted their assault on insurgent strongholds in western Baquba, at least half of the estimated 300 to 500 fighters who were there have escaped or are still at large, the colonel who is leading the attack said Monday, the June 26 New York Times reported.
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