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We kid you not

A tidal wave of wealth

"Australia's top executives have seen their collective wealth swell by almost three-quarters — or about $15 billion — over the past year, easily outstripping gains by ordinary investors.

"The total wealth of Australia's top 200 business chieftains ballooned to $35 billion in 2010, up from $20.3 billion in 2009, according to the BRW 2010 Executive Rich List ...

"The combined wealth of Australian executives was 72 per cent higher than last year ..."

— March 24 Sydney Morning Herald.

Immigration: Australia's favourite scapegoat

Australian PM Kevin Rudd’s appointment of Tony Burke as population minister continues the Australian tradition of playing political football with immigration. His appointment came after Treasury estimates predicted that Australia’s population will grow from 22 million to 36 million by 2050.

'No more tailpipes, no more smokestacks'

Resistance’s Zane Alcorn spoke to Matthew Wright, a climate and energy campaigner from Beyond Zero Emissions. Wright is speaking at the Resistance 2010: the World can’t Wait! national conference, which will be held in Wollongong from April 24-26.

New racist attacks on refugees

The federal Labor government announced a moratorium on processing claims for asylum for people coming from Sri Lanka or Afghanistan on April 9.

The power of ordinary solidarity

< STRONG>Ordinary Courage: My Journey to Baghdad as a Human Shield By Donna Mulhearn Pier 9, 2010 254 pages, $32.95 (pb) STRONG>Anne Frank Remembered: The Story of the Woman who Helped to Hide the Frank Family By Miep Gies & Alison Leslie Gold Pocket Books, 2009 302 pages, $24.99 (pb)

'How long must we wait?' — desperation grows at Christmas Island

“How long must we stay like this, don’t they realise our hardship?”, a Tamil detainee in the Christmas Island detention centre asked when he called Green Left Weekly on April 8.

Matty Johns' free ride back to fame

Disgraced ex-rugby league player turned celebrity Matthew Johns made his return to TV on March 25, with the “family-friendly” Matty Johns Show being hailed a “success” by reviewers.

Brother Fox has the last laugh

Indigenous and trade union activist Chicka “The Fox” Dixon (1928-2010), was farewelled by more than 1000 people in a state funeral in Sydney Town Hall on March 31.

Can capitalism fix the climate?

Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. It has taken capitalism about 250 years to generate enough waste and pollution to press dangerously against nature’s limits. With such a damning record, there should be no grounds to expect a different outcome in the future.

What was really said at intervention consultations

This Is What We Said: Australian Aboriginal People Give Their Views on the Northern Territory Intervention. Compiled & published by ‘concerned Australians’ 71 pages, hard cover with Aboriginal cover design, $15

Forum condemns Black deaths in custody

Outraged by the six Aboriginal deaths in custody this year, the Indigenous Social Justice Association (ISJA) organised a public meeting at the Redfern Community Centre on April 9 to tell the stories and call for justice.

The Texas schoolbook massacre

Right-wing Republicans won an important battle in the “history wars” on March 12 when the Texas Board of Education approved a new social studies curriculum.