A rash of workplace occupations is spreading across the globe as workers defy the brutal consequences of the recession.
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A chill wind was blowing early last Thursday outside my local train station. Commuters had their collars turned up and their arms folded as they hurried into the station. Dave, the suburb's iconic Big Issue seller in his red wheelchair, and I with the latest Green Left Weekly, were trying to attract those with windproof consciences.
Arthur MillerChristopher BigsbyWeidenfeld & Nicolson, 2008739 pages, $79.99 (hb
The article below is based on a statement by Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) general-secretary S. Arutchelvan on August 1, on the mass protests that day against the repressive Internal Security Act. The ISA allows security forces to detain people and hold them without trial.
The people of Honduras have now suffered more than 40 days of military rule. The generals’ June 28 coup ousted the country’s elected government and unleashed severe, targeted, and relentless repression.
Message Stick: Something to Celebrate – A celebration of the Indigenous news and culture program's 10th birthday, including highlights from the last decade and a birthday party featuring well-known performers filmed in front of a live studio
Aboriginal elders and families from Ampilatwatja have set up a permanent protest camp outside their government-controlled community in protest against policies that have neglected their needs and desires.
Vestas workers ended their 18-day occupation of Britain's only wind turbine factory on August 6.
In the year to May, manufacturing employers shed more than 68,000 jobs due to reduced demand emerging from the economic crisis, said the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Scientists are telling us we have to phase out coal quickly or risk an uninhabitable planet. Coal burning now accounts for about 36% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions. Mining and handling of coal adds even more.
On August 4, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released figures that showed housing prices across Australia’s capital cities rose by 4.2% over the three months ending in June. The rapid increase has worried the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) enough for it to warn of a threat of a housing bubble.
On the verge of another racist push?
Suddenly, the Rudd government has discovered the need to pump up the "terrorist threat". First, the Attorney-General discovered the so-called "anti-terrorist laws" were not strong enough.
Now, the biggest
On August 4, theatrical pre-dawn raids in Melbourne by more than 400 Victorian, NSW and federal police and ASIO agents — including paramilitary units armed with sub-machineguns — launched Australia’s latest terrorism scare.
The Australian and US government’s have proposed carbon trading schemes as a response to the threat of climate change. How to respond has been hotly debated in the climate action movements of both countries. Green Left Weekly has campaigned strongly for the Rudd government’s carbon trading scheme to be rejected as a false response to the climate emergency. Below, Ilan Salbe puts an alternative view.
The largest demonstrations for same-sex marriage in Australia’s history took place on August 1. A 3000-strong rally marched on the national ALP conference in Sydney. Four thousand took to the streets in Melbourne. Record crowds mobilised in other cities.
On August 4, more than 400 police, including the Australian Federal Police and ASIO, staged a pre-dawn raid on 19 homes across Melbourne. The raid was carried out under the federal government’s “anti-terrorism laws” — extreme and repressive legislation created by the previous Howard government.
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