Prominent queer rights and climate activist, Paola Harvey, will stand for the Socialist Alliance in the seat of Keira in the March 2011 NSW elections. Harvey, a resident of Mount Keira and part-time student, is a founding member of Equal Love Wollongong, the organisation leading the struggle for marriage equality, and is a member of the Wollongong Climate Action Network (WCAN). Also a member of Resistance, socialist youth organisation, she is involved in campaigns for youth rights, education and employment.
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The Socialist Alliance’s Socialist Ideas Conference on November 20 featured informative presentations and spirited discussion. It reviewed the political situation in Australia and globally.
One of the speakers was Greens MLC Mark Parnell. The most animated discussion was about the Greens' political perspectives and relation to community campaigns and grassroots activism.
This followed an online debate before the event, about whether a Greens parliamentarian — particularly from the right of the party — should have been invited to speak at a conference promoting socialist ideas.
In early November, I attended the Wesfarmers AGM at the Perth Convention Centre. Yes, that Wesfarmers, the one that owns Coles, Bunnings, Officeworks, coal mines and plenty more. Not my usual sort of haunt, but I was there holding proxy votes for members of the Australia Western Sahara Association.
Western Sahara was a Spanish colony until 1975, when Morocco invaded the country before a vote of self-determination could be held.
Tamil asylum seeker Mugeeb Rahuman Mohaideen is detained in Maribynong Detention Centre.
He came to Australia on November 7.
He told Green Left Weekly that he ran a clothes-making store in the war-torn Tamil Eelam province of Sri Lanka.
Mohaideen's customers included the Sri Lankan Army. He said the SLA took a large order in August 2009 and didn't pay. When Mohaideen asked for payment, they came for him.
The latest appeal against Stockland's Sandon Point development was dismissed on November 25, clearing the way for development.
The case has been in the Land and Environment Court since August.
The appeal was launched by the Sandon Point Aboriginal Tent Embassy (SPATE), which has been campaigning against the development for 10 years.
The community campaign has opposed the Sandon Point development because of impacts on the environment and Indigenous cultural heritage, as well as a lack of transparency and democracy in the approval process.
Max Watts, a well-known personality on the left in Australia, particularly in Sydney, died on November 23.
Max was a left-wing freelance journalist, an occasional contributor to Green Left Weekly and its discussion e-list, and a solidarity activist with many national liberation struggles, including in Palestine, Kanaky, West Papua and Bougainville.
In the 1960s, he was a central activist in Europe working with soldier resistance to the Vietnam War within the US armed forces. Resistance inside the army (RITA) was one of his great political passions.
About 100 people attended a “Save Gleniffer Brae” meeting on November 15 as part of a campaign to keep the historic, heritage-listed manor house in public hands.
Organised by Reclaim Our City, the meeting demanded, “no action leading to the sale of public land at Gleniffer Brae and this precinct be taken by Wollongong City Council and its non-elected administrators”.
The meeting welcomed a recent commitment by the council to hold off on any discussion of the matter until 2011. It demanded community consultation before any attempts to sell the land were made.
An Iraqi Kurd in his 30s who had been in detention at Christmas Island for about 12 months, attempted suicide, the Australian said on November 23. This came just a week after the second suicide in two months at Villawood detention centre.
About 20 fellow asylum seekers resorted to sewing their lips shut and 230 other detainees went on hunger strike in protest as “people felt that the Gillard government was ignoring their cases”.
The Aboriginal Rights Coalition (ARC) held the "Deadly Dance 4 Justice" on November 19, which drew 100 people to the Globe Theatre for a night of live music, poetry and spoken-word performance, and raised more than $1500 for campaigns.
Headlining was Byron Bay act Fyah Walk, accompanied by "Didgtronica" artist Tjupurru, and local acts Kindling, Homeless Yellow and Joss.
4zzz-fm hosted the night and punters enjoyed an incredible vegan feast courtesy of Food Not Bombs.
To get involved in the ARC, email Ewan at ewanbris@gmail.com or phone 0401 234 610.
Morning Star clarification
We were pleased to see Green Left Weekly’s reprint from the Morning Star of Jeff Sawtell's review of the Made in Dagenham film (GLW #860).
Just one quibble. You have expanded Jeff's reference to the Morning Star to the “Communist Party of Britain’s newspaper, Morning Star”, which is inaccurate.
For the record, since 1945, the Morning Star and its forerunner, the Daily Worker, have been owned by a readers' co-operative, the People's Press Printing Society Ltd (PPPS).
The third annual camp for climate action will happen in the Hunter Valley from December 1-5, between the Liddell and Bayswater power stations. The camp will bring will be an important forum for diverse groups to build stronger links with one another.
The letter below was written by Socialist Alliance member Justine Kamprad. She wrote it to federal member for Fremantle Melissa Parke after South Australian rigger Ark Tribe was found not guilty on November 24 of refusing to attend an interview with the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
Dear Melissa Parke,
As blue-collar workers, my partner and I have been involved with our unions over the past decade. In that time I have seen our unions fight for safety, dignity and a better life for our family.
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