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Ali Humayun's bid for freedom

Ali Humayun, a queer Pakistani, was recently granted permanent residency after spending more than three years locked up in Villawood Detention Centre. He made the following statement to Green Left Weekly on May 23.

'No deal' say Victorian teachers

Victorian Premier John Brumby announced on May 5 that a deal had been struck with the Australian Education Union. While Mary Bluett, AEU branch president, described it as the deal we were fighting for, many union members are furious with the agreement made on their behalf.

Afghanistan — an unjust war

Despite the April 27 death of Lance Corporal Jason Marks, the fifth Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion, and subsequent allegations of the mistreatment of Afghan prisoners of war by Australian troops, the there are no plans to withdraw any of the 1000 Australian troops from Afghanistan.

MAdGE marches against GM food

MAdGE (Mothers Against Genetic Engineering) took its opposition to genetically modified food to the streets on May 21, to coincide with a May 21-22 GM crops summit in Melbourne.

'Guest workers' or modern slavery?

A pile of bags and clothing on an old shopfront verandah on Cuff Road in Singapores Little India is home to a group of about 50 migrant workers who have been spat out by an economy that relies heavily on so-called guest workers.

Desalination campaign takes to Melbourne

Anti-desalination plant campaigners rallied at the Victorian Labor Party conference in Melbourne on May 24. They were protesting against the state ALP governments construction of a large desalination plant at Wonthaggi on the South Gippsland coast.

Lisbon Treaty — dumping social Europe

The Irish referendum on the European Union Lisbon Treaty will take place on June 12. The Dublin government, media and all the major political parties, with the exception of Sinn Fein, are calling for a Yes vote for jobs, the economy and Irelands future in Europe.

A complex socialist composer

Shostakovich: A Life
By Laurel E. Fay
Oxford University Press, 2005
458 pages, $47.95 (pb)

South Africa: Xenophobic violence condemned

It is a sad day for South Africa when we see our brothers and sisters from other countries being attacked, killed and injured in our communities and streets, a May 21 statement by the South African Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF) stated, in response to the wave of violent attacks against foreigners in the townships and working class suburbs around Johannesburg.

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