Hunger strikes and suicides justified by strong moral, ideological, patriotic or religious beliefs usually touch people’s conscience.
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The Socialist Alliance in New South Wales has added two migrant activists to its list of candidates for the upcoming federal election.
The annual Palm Sunday peace rally took place in Brisbane on March 28, sponsored by the Rally for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament. The main themes of the rally were: Nuclear-free Australia; oppose climate change; no to uranium weapons; and safe havens for refugees.
That the contents of a previously suppressed Pentagon video has come as a nasty shock to so many, highlights the noxious disinformation fog in which Western citizens are cocooned.
It was not a chemical plant, nor a nuclear facility, nor a manufacturer of weapons of mass destruction. But almost all the rubble of the entirely destroyed factory was covered in white, with white chunks everywhere.
When the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001, they brought a president with them — Hamid Karzai.
Unlike some powerful (and brutal) warlords in his government, Karzai has no private army. But like the warlords, he is loathed by the people.
Even in the capital, Kabul, Karzai cannot venture out without a large contingent of US bodyguards. Soldiers from the US/NATO occupation force guard his palace.
The following open letter was sent to Dr Michael Spence, the vice-chancellor of Sydney university, by renowned journalist and film-maker John Pilger. The letter, one of many sent to Spence by activists and academics, is in response to a decision by the university to ban two left-wing activists from being on campus (see GLW#831).
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Dear Dr Spence,
I have a number of reasons to feel affection for Sydney University: my mother's distinction there, and the 2009 Sydney Peace Prize, which was presented to me at the University by a University Foundation.
Here is news of the Third World War. The United States has invaded Africa. US troops have entered Somalia, extending their war front from Afghanistan and Pakistan to Yemen and now the Horn of Africa.
Barkly Shire dumped 3000 litres of raw sewage at the local tip at the Northern Territory Aboriginal Ampilatwatja township on April 6. The township is a “prescribed community” under the Northern Territory Intervention.
Once again the Thai non-government organisations have sided with the military-installed royalist government against the demands of hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy “Red Shirts”.
When word started spreading that the far right wanted to relive the 2005 racist Cronulla riot organised an April 9 “mass rally against migrants and Islam” in Melbourne, anti-racist groups started organising a counter rally, to show that migrants were welcome and racism was not.
Professional engineers at Qantas, members of the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists and Managers, Australia (APESMA), remain locked in combat with the airline after almost a year of negotiations over a new work agreement.
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