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Internet filtering — reasons to oppose it

Federal Labor’s proposed internet filtering policy is an attack on freedom of speech and needs to be stopped.

World at a crossroads

Less than a year ago, it was widely held among mainstream economists that the world economy was doing fine, and that, in the face of any eventual problems, Australia would be secure.

Climate change and doomsday sci-fi

The Last Albatross
By Ian Irvine
Simon & Schuster, 2008
383pages, $29.95

Telstra's union busting agenda

Telstra workers, members of the Communications Plumbing and Electrical Union and the Community and Public Sector Union, took 24-hour strike actions nationally (except Victoria on account of the recent bushfire tragedy) on February 9.

Our Common Cause: Health report prescribes Band-Aids

The National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) was set up a year ago to review the Australian health system. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s pre-election promise — “to end the blame game between Canberra and the states when it comes to health and hospitals” — merely registered the obvious fact that the hospital system is in crisis.

The rise of 'socialism for the 21st century'

“For us there is no valid definition of socialism other than the abolition of the exploitation of one human being by another”, insisted Argentinean-born revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara at the Afro-Asian Conference in Algeria, 1965.

Threat of 25% drop in world food

World food production will decrease by as much as 25% by 2050 due to “environmental breakdowns” associated with climate change, according to the United Nations.

The president and the philosopher: socialism in the 21st century

The Challenge and Burden of Historical Time: Socialism in the Twenty-First Century
By Istvan Meszaros
Monthly Review Press, 2008
480 pages, $59.49

Guadeloupe: General strike spreads

The article below is a statement released on February 16 by the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) in France on the situation in the Caribbean islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique, which are still French-run colonies (French Antilles). It is reprinted from http://monthlyreview.org/mrzine.

Outsourcing threat to ATO jobs

“The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) plans to shed thousands of full-time jobs and drastically increase outsourcing in areas including debt collection, tax refund management and business activity statements as part of a new efficiency drive”, according to the February 13 Australian Financial Review.

'Forcing us to abandon our culture'

The following statement is by Yingiya Guyula, a Yolngu man from North East Arnhem Land. His family is based in Millinginbi and Gapuwiyak.

Zimbabwe: MDC surrender saves Mugabe regime

After the June 27, 2008 putsch by Robert Mugabe, signs were always there that the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) were headed for surrender. It officially happened on January 30 when the party hoisted a white flag on top of its Harvest House headquarters.