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More than 100 people rallied in Wollongong’s mall on June 7 for World Environment Day. Organised by the Wollongong Climate Action Network (WCAN), the action was in opposition to the proposed sell-off of NSW electricity and plans to build a new coal-fired power station.
On June 5, the International Committee for the Freedom of the Cuban Five — the five Cubans who infiltrated right-wing anti-Cuban terrorist groups in Miami and have been imprisoned in the US since 1997 — issued a statement condemning the decision the previous day by an Atlanta court of appeals to uphold the sentences against the men.
Young people today are angry: there are major and urgent problems in our society including global food shortages, a rise in oil prices — which will send millions into greater poverty — and the build-up of greenhouse gas emissions.
“The Penobscot Nation is committed to continue our efforts until the fish, wildlife and plants are safe to eat, and the sacredness is restored to the river. Only then will our culture be whole again …”
Venezuela, along with Argentina, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia, criticised the final declaration of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Summit in Rome on June 5, arguing that the document failed to identify the true causes of rising food prices, such as agricultural subsidies and unequal trade policies imposed by developed countries.
“Once they got their wages, [the workers] occupied the installations and demanded that the company go, then they occupied the offices and demanded that the administration of Sincreba [Merida Waste Incineration and Recycling System] retire”, Simon Rodriguez told Green Left Weekly on the peaceful take-over by its workers of the Solid Waste Processing Plant in Merida in September last year.
On June 9, PM Kevin Rudd announced that Australia would be forming an international commission to work towards the elimination of nuclear weapons.

The minister for Indigenous affairs, Jenny Macklin, announced a review committee on June 6 for the federal intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. The announcement came as the widely criticised intervention — often referred to as the "NT invasion" — approaches its 12-month anniversary on June 21. The terms of reference for the review are limited to assessing the intervention's progress and improving its implementation and "service delivery".

Fuel price hikes have always sparked widespread mass protests in Indonesia since the overthrow of the dictator Suharto in a popular uprising in 1998. However, the timing this year was special.
A Filipino left activist wrote in a June 12 post on the Green Left discussion list: “The fuel-hike protests in the Philippines are now underway. As I write 100 trucks and 500 pedi-cab (tricycle drivers) are marching to Mendiola, Malacanang Palace.
These days, the city of Wollongong is famous for all the wrong reasons.
Below is a June 3 statement from the International Trade Union Confederation. Visit http://www.ituc-csi.org.
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