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Letters to the Editor

Palestine Clearly both Nigel Rogers and Kryten Walia in their respective letters (GLW #740) have some political differences with the Australian Jewish Democratic Society (AJDS). At a guess, they disagree with our support for a genuine two-state

Letters to the Editor

Palestine Clearly both Nigel Rogers and Kryten Walia in their respective letters (GLW #740) have some political differences with the Australian Jewish Democratic Society (AJDS). At a guess, they disagree with our support for a genuine two-state

AMWU delegats demand Rudd stick to election promises

As part of a series of nationwide delegates meetings, the Queensland branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union held a delegates’ forum on February 26 at the Queensland Council of Unions building.

Loose Cannons

In denial "Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson both acknowledged problems in the US economy Thursday, but both said they believe the nation will avoid falling into recession... Bernanke said he believes major

News briefs

@head6 =Racist police brutality alleged @9point non = BRISBANE — In a media release issued on February 24, Queensland Aboriginal activist Bob Weatherall accused police of assaulting him and his daughter the previous night in Brisbane's Fortitude

As thousands protest, Iemma moves to speed up energy sell-off

The campaign against the privatisation of NSW electricity took an important step forward with a February 26 protest outside parliament. Power workers in Bega and Port Macquarie struck in support.

Brisbane targetts ExxonMobil

Twenty protesters staged a late afternoon rally on Friday 29 February against ExxonMobil’s new attack on Venezuelan sovereignty, outside the Treasury Casino.

Indigenous women: Welfare quarantine a disaster

Barbara Shaw, a resident of the Mount Nancy town camp near Alice Springs and a member of the National Aboriginal Alliance, told Green Left Weekly on February 29 that the racist intervention into Northern Territory Aboriginal communities launched by the former Howard government “has been very negative for our people and undermined many of our own ways of dealing with issues”.

US anti-war unionist speaks out

Kathy Black, a convener of US Labor Against the War (USLAW), told a union reception in Sydney on February 29 that she is proud that the organisation has brought workers into the anti-war movement, remarking that “this was the first time that labour has been organised against a foreign invasion and occupation”.

Opposing imperialism

I’m sure that most Green Left Weekly readers are tired of reading Michael Barker’s paranoid ramblings against the International Center on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC) and his efforts to convince readers that I and other anti-imperialists and human rights activists who work with ICNC and similar NGOs are somehow acting as agents of the CIA and the Bush administration.

NSW: state of scandal

Less than 12 months after its re-election, the NSW Labor government is in a poll slump — Premier Morris Iemma has a public approval rating of just 34%, according to a Nielsen poll released on February 26 (the Coalition’s Barry O’Farrell managed just 27%). The government has been rocked by scandals involving dodgy deals with developers, new hospitals unfit for patients, and faulty equipment delaying the opening of new rail lines.

Victorian socialists make plans

The Socialist Alliance held a Victorian state conference in Melbourne on February 3. Around 80 members and supporters discussed how to meet the challenge of global warming and continue the struggle to overturn all anti-union laws, including the much-hated Work Choices legislation, many aspects of which the new federal Labor government plans to retain.