The Brisbane Reclaim the Night Collective released this statement on October 16.
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Reclaim the Night is a global event where women stand up against sexual violence and communities take control and respond to sexual violence against women. The event is held globally on the last Friday of October.
The Reclaim the Night Brisbane event will demand an end to sexual violence against women. The night will consist of a rally and march throughout the streets in Brisbane. The theme this year is “It’s time to end rape culture”.
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As “rainbow” high school students we would like to talk about an important issue which relates to us, and that is the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977.
This act protects people from being discriminated against based on factors such as age, sex, marital status, religion, sexuality, gender identity as well as many other factors. On the surface, this act is amazing for ending discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) people in particular.
This speech was given at a rally for marriage equality held in Sydney on October 12.
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Today we are out in force to stand up to Prime Minister Tony Abbott, and to speak out against the Liberals' mad attack on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI).
And yes, it is a full scale attack. Liberal Party governments all over this country are doing everything in their power to destroy 50 years of progress towards equality for LGBTI people.
About 100 members of the Sudanese community rallied in Sydney's Belmore Park on October 3 to protest against the military regime's crackdown on human rights in their home country. Speakers condemned the repression last month by the regime of President Omar Al-Bashir against crowds protesting sharp rises in fuel prices.
The Socialist Alliance released this statement on October 16.
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The Socialist Alliance is proud to gather with fellow feminists to Reclaim the Night around Australia this year.
We share the belief that women, when we organise and forge alliances, can make change. We fight the “victim” tag as we fight sexism and violence against women.
Three West Papuan activists scaled the walls of the Australian consulate in Bali on October 6, during the APEC meeting on the island, to seek refuge and demand that foreigners be allowed to freely enter West Papua.
The Australian government, however, took the opportunity to reaffirm its long-standing support for Indonesia's occupation of West Papua.
Egypt's military rulers help imprison Gazans
Rupen Savoulian writes: “Egypt’s new military rulers are closely aligning themselves with Israel’s strategic objectives in the region. Shutting off access to the Gaza Strip and isolating the Palestinians is one such objective with which the Egyptian military is fully cooperating with Israel.”
The combined economic and ecological crises
In the first week of October, primary and secondary teachers on Spain’s Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera) voted by large majorities to suspend their indefinite strike.
The strike was against education cuts and a new tuition method that would downgrade Balearic Catalan as the local education system’s main language of instruction.
Language
The Balearic variant of Catalan has been the language of the islands for 800 years, but was effectively outlawed during Spain's Franco dictatorship (1939 to 1975).
Back in October 2001, the US-led invasion of Afghanistan adopted an humanitarian face, professing that the defeat of the Taliban would rid girls and women of an infamously cruel brand of misogyny.
But the Taliban’s violent oppression was not alone in denying the country’s females of their basic right to education, health, inheritance, and physical and emotional safety inside and outside of their homes.
How could a former agent of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s notorious secret police, who is facing charges of kidnapping and forced disappearances and whose bail conditions prohibited them from leaving Chile, now be living in Australia?
This is the question many have asked after the recent broadcast on SBS Radio of an interview with former National Intelligence Directorate (DINA) agent Adriana Rivas.
In the interview, Rivas says she began working at DINA in 1974.
When the global financial crisis (GFC) unfolded in 2008, the unemployment rate for 15 to 19-year-olds looking for full-time work in Australia increased from 15% to 25%. It has remained at this level ever since.
In July, it stood at 25.5%. However, in the 10 areas listed by the Department of Human Services as the most disadvantaged in the country, the youth unemployment rate is more than 40%.
A socialist educational conference, “How to make a revolution”, is being held in Brisbane over December 13 to 15. This conference is being organised by Resistance Socialist Youth and the Socialist Alliance, and aims to be an event that gives young people the skills and perspectives to radically change the world.
West Papuans and supporters took part in a Freedom Flotilla earlier this month to highlight the fight for a free West Papua
Sydney’s Refugee Action Coalition released the statement below on October 12.
Read More:
West Papua: Indonesia uses soldier deaths to escalate conflict
Australian gov't backs Indonesian atrocities
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Adelaide-based welfare campaign group Stop Income Management in Playford released the statement below on October 3.
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Reports that the Coalition is planning to fund major expansions of Income Management as part of the 2014 Federal Budget are deeply alarming.
Despite six years of income management operating in the Northern Territory, there remains no compelling, solid data that the policy improves the financial-management skills or well-being of welfare recipients.
Refugee advocates defaced a Liberal campaign billboard in April. Now Abbott is literally trying to "disappear" the boats.
“We'll pretend we've stopped the boats and the conditions under which we pretend they've stopped,” seems to be the motto of Prime Minister Tony Abbott's government.
Bolivia's President Evo Morales issued a government decree on October 7 that allows workers to establish “social enterprises” in businesses that are bankrupt, winding up, unjustifiably closed or abandoned.
These enterprises, while private, will be operated by the workers and qualify for government assistance.
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