Issue 1229

News

A huge solidarity demonstration in Brisbane on July 27 expressed solidarity with Hong Kong democracy protests.

The key demands were: complete withdrawal of the Hong Kong extradition bill; for the Hong Kong chief executive to resign; retract the claim that recent protests were riots; investigation of police abuses; and universal suffrage in Hong Kong.

Around 180 people rallied in Brisbane on July 20 to end the abusive regime of mandatory detention and offshore processing. The action was part of a national mobilisation on the sixth anniversary of the reopening of Manus and Nauru detention centres.

More photos on the Green Left Facebook Page.

The Wangan and Jagalingou Family Council lost its Federal Court challenge against Adani on July 12, NAIDOC day. But it is not giving up the fight.

The “final” approvals for Adani’s Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin in Central Queensland have proven to be a flickering green light, at best. Persistent challenges by the Environment Defenders Office Queensland (EDO) and Lock the Gate Alliance appear to have borne fruit.

Kingborough Council voted to declare a statewide Climate Biodiversity Emergency on July 8, just three weeks after adjoining Hobart City Council became the first Australian capital city to do the same.

A protest outside New South Wales Parliament on July 10 demanded the state government take real action to combat the dire situation facing the Murray-Darling river system.

Protesters gathered outside the NSW Independent Planning Commission (IPC) on July 16 to urge it and the Coalition state government to save the precious Bylong Valley, in Central West NSW, from a new thermal coalmine.

Aboriginal rights activists rallied on July 12 as part of the NAIDOC celebrations.

The National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee emerged in the 1920s as part of the struggle by Indigenous Australians for their rights.

Extinction Rebellion activists disrupted numerous intersections in Brisbane’s CBD on July 11.

Residents gathered at several sites near entrances to the environmentally and socially disastrous WestConnex tollway tunnel on July 13 to protest the opening of the NSW Coalition government's signature $27 billion transport nightmare.

RMIT University professor Rob Watts believes Australia needs a “Green Fair Go” — akin to the United States proposal of a “Green New Deal” — that would include a commitment to full employment through jobs linked to combating climate change.

Trade unionists and community activists converged at the DP World container terminal on Swanson Dock, West Melbourne, on July 12 to support the 600 Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) members midway through their four-day strike action.

Analysis

Speculation and a privatised system of building inspection are the common elements in the evacuation of the Sydney apartment towers and the fires casued by flammable cladding, writes Sue Bolton.

Most people would not be aware that two Israeli companies are the main suppliers of irrigation systems in Australia. They are potential targets for Palestine justice activists keen on expanding the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign into rural areas, writes Mark Govier.

With the re-election of the Coalition government, conservatives have become emboldened to intensify their agenda of transferring even more wealth and power to the already dominant at the expense of the rest of us, writes Nick Fredman.

When billionaires advocate for social change, or adopt green issues, they are not doing so for the public good, but to reinforce an unequal status quo, writes Rupen Savoulian.

Nuclear power is currently enjoying a flurry of interest in Australia. But those promoting nuclear power are almost exclusively from the far right of the political spectrum, writes Jim Green.

The Murray-Darling river system is the lifeblood of Australian agriculture, but it is now in serious crisis.

World

Juan Guaido’s team is receiving over US$40 million through USAID to fund salaries, travel, training, propaganda and technical assistance.

Three men linked to self-declared “Interim President” Juan Guaido were arrested on July 12, while allegedly selling weapons stolen during the failed April 30 putsch.

Ali Wazeer and Mohsin Dawar, members of the Pakistan National Assembly, were arrested in May on trumped up terrorism charges. An international solidarity campaign is calling for their release.

Activists are tracking a ship bound for New Zealand containing an unknown quantity of what they allege is stolen Sahrawi phosphate which is illegally mined and exported by Morocco, the occupying power in Western Sahara. Morocco is the largest producer and exporter of phosphates in the world.

More than 500 Tamil demonstrators tried to march to the site of a destroyed Hindu temple at Kanniyaa in the Trincomalee district of Sri Lanka on July 16.

Sudanese took to the streets in their tens of thousands across the country on July 13, while negotiations for a transitional civilian-led government hung in the balance.

There are no easy fixes, but to succeed, climate activists must build a broader movement to challenge and transcend global capitalism, writes Hans Baer.

Chicago has a proud working-class history and this year elected six socialists to its city council. At a time when social movements are on the rise and interest in socialist ideas in the United States is at an all time high, the Windy City was the perfect venue for the annual Socialism conference on July 4-7.

Culture

Bastani frequently quotes Marx, but his economics are Keynesian, his history is crude technological determinism, and his political program doesn’t go beyond social democratic reforms, writes Ian Angus.

Nuclear weapons need never have been built. Our world could have been free from the “frozen tableau of terror” of 9500 nuclear warheads capable of destroying the world 100 times over, as Peter Watson comprehensively shows in Fallout: Conspiracy, Cover-Up and the Deceitful Case for the Atom Bomb

Yesterday is a family-friendly rom-com that satisfyingly reaches a heart-warming and highly ethical conclusion. It is almost ridiculously wholesome, writes Tracy Sorensen.