Two people were hospitalised with breathing difficulties in the Newcastle suburb of Mayfield East on November 9. NSW Fire and Rescue crews identified the cause as ammonia gas blown from the Orica chemical plant five kilometres away on Kooragang Island.
The Environment Protection Authority ordered the entire Orica site to be closed. A Fire and Rescue spokesperson said an estimated 900 kilograms of the gas had escaped over about an hour.
904
In early November, a Twitter hashtag called #mencallmethings was set up, under which women bloggers can post the sexist, misogynistic and often threatening comments they receive.
Tigerbeatdown.com’s Sady Doyle started the tag after becoming angry and disillusioned with the huge amount of sexist hate mail she and other female bloggers had received. Doyle saw the need to publicly challenge this culture of silencing women bloggers.
I will come straight to the point.
We are rapidly coming to the end of the year and we still need to raise $59,536 to meet Green Left Weekly’s $250,000 Fighting Fund target for the year.
Our supporters have raised $190,424 so far this year, but we need an extraordinary effort in the rest of November and December to make our target.
GLW is a people-powered independent media project. We go against the stream in a society where public debate is dominated by the slick, self-serving corporate media.
Hundreds of people marched on November 12 in Hobart’s “Slutwalk” to protest violence against women and to reject the idea that victims of sexual violence are somehow responsible for the assaults against them because of what they wear.
Project Assange from extradition
I am writing to you to ask you to take action and urge the Australian government to protect Julian Assange from extradition.
In November 2010, a European Arrest Warrant was issued against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for allegations of sexual misconduct against two Swedish women; a claim that he denies.
An extradition hearing took place at the Belmarsh Magistrates Court in London in February 2011 to consider an application by Swedish authorities for the extradition of Assange to Sweden.
November 19 marks the seventh anniversary of “the police murder of Mulrunji Doomadgee on Palm Island”, says Sam Watson, a prominent Queensland Murri leader and Socialist Alliance member.
In Brisbane, supporters of Aboriginal rights will rally that day to demand governments implement all 339 recommendations of the 1991 Royal Commission into Black deaths in custody.
Watson told Green Left Weekly: “It is important that Aboriginal people and their supporters mark this solemn day with a rally and march to continue our urgent call for justice for all Aboriginal deaths in custody.
Security guards at the Northern Immigration Detention Centre (NIDC) locked a man suffering from an electric shock in a room until he collapsed on November 15. The incident happened less than a week after the contract with the private firm that runs the centre was made public and revealed guards could be hired with no formal qualifications.
Activists from Occupy Melbourne’s Indigenous Working Group served an eviction to Melbourne City Council and Lord Mayor Robert Doyle on November 23.
Indigenous activist Robbie Thorpe said: “Australia is a crime scene, whose law is based on the principles of theft, rape and murder. We need a treaty with the Original Nations.”
The action was called by in response to the recent violent attacks on the democratic right to protest, including the brutal attack on several Indigenous activists on October 21 when Occupy Melbourne was evicted from City Square.
Twenty people protested against the expansion of US military presence in the Northern Territory when US President Barack Obama visited Darwin on November 17.
During his visit to Australia, Obama announced a plan to use the Robertson Barracks to host a force of US marines for training and intervention in the Asia-Pacific. The force is to start at 250 marines and expand to 2500 by 2016. The Australian Labor government and the Coalition opposition have welcomed the US base plan.
The report below was posted by Occupy Wall Street on the evening of November 17.
* * *
On the November 17 Day of Action in New York, to mark two months since the Occupy Wall Street camp began and coming just two days after violent eviction of campers from Liberty Park in Manhattan, there was:
* More than 30,000 People Rally in New York City (NYPD estimated 32,500), including organised contingents of workers, students, and other members of “the 99%”.
* Actions in at least 30 cities across the country and around the world
Renowned Australian historian Humphrey McQueen spoke outside Parliament House, Canberra, at a November 17 protest to mark US President Barack Obama’s Australian visit. His speech, which first appeared on ChrisWhiteOnline, is below.
* * *
Ten years ago, we were told that we were going to choose who came here. Today, we are exercising that choice by protesting at the arrival of the war and economic criminal Obama.
Stop the War Coalition Sydney, Sydney Solidarity for Bradley Manning and Peace Bus released the open letter below on November 17.
* * *
An open letter to the President of the United States Barack Obama & Prime Minister Julia Gillard on the occasion of Barack Obama’s address to the Australian Parliament on November 17, 2011.
While you meet in Australia’s Parliament House, Australians concerned about human rights, peace, justice and equality protest against your policies.
Non-profit climate research group Beyond Zero Emissions (BZE) has slammed global engineering company WorleyParsons, saying the firm has suppressed a damning report into the emissions produced by coal seam gas (CSG) mining.
Officially, the announcement that 2500 US marines would be permanently based in Darwin had nothing to do with China.
Announcing the new military agreement with Australia on November 16, US President Barack Obama said: “I think the notion that we fear China is mistaken. The notion that we are looking to exclude China is mistaken … We welcome a rising, peaceful China.”
Zurich’s Paradeplatz is home to Swiss banks such as Credit Suisse and UBS and the main slogan of the Occupy Paradeplatz protest is "Save human beings, not banks".
On November 7, 50 people were living at the Occupy Paradeplatz camp at Lindenhof, a nearby park. Occupy Paradeplatz holds daily assemblies and weekly rallies.
Don’t be fooled by their smiles. Ignore the trivia about “best friends” and crocodile insurance. This is about guns and money, about preserving the “right” of the richest 1% to exploit the world.
Pages
