Elders from the Gweagal-Bidjigal community on the southern side of Sydney near Botany Bay have called for people to join a convergence protesting the Coalition government’s “celebrations” to mark 250 years since Australia was colonised.
News
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Around 250 people rallied in Brisbane on January 24 around the slogan "Sack Scomo, Fund firies". This was the third such rally in three weeks, though smaller than the first two.
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Mudoch University’s decision on January 13 to drop its lawsuit against Associate Professor Gerd Schröder-Turk is a partial victory for him, academic freedoms and whistle blowing.
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The residents’ battle to save the trees in the historic Gandolfo Gardens is far from over, despite the Herald Sun’s claim that it “has ended”.
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Negotiations over a new enterprise agreement at stevedoring company DP World have turned bitter.
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The discovery of a significant koala population in close proximity to the proposed Wallarah 2 coal mine on the New South Wales Central Coast has given renewed vigour to a 20-year long community campaign against the mine.
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Larry Fink, CEO of the world’s biggest fund manager BlackRock, made a pitch on January 14 for a “more sustainable and inclusive capitalism” because of the threat posed by global climate change. Fink’s company controls US$7 trillion in investments.
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Analysis
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Looking out my office window in early January, the smoke haze blanketing Melbourne CBD blocked all sight of the city. It made visibility on the roads a problem and venturing outside a dangerous activity.
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“It is time to abolish billionaires ... because we cannot afford them, the planet cannot afford billionaires,” Kenyan climate activist Njoki Njoroge Njehu told 10,000 protesters in Lausanne, Switzerland on January 17. She is right. It is the billionaire class that is blocking moves to make the urgent shift to create a safe climate.
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David Mcevoy, an environment and LGBTI activist, was visiting a friend in Cobargo, NSW, on New Year’s Eve when the catastrophic bushfires hit the historic town. Green Left’s Rachel Evans talked to him about his escape from the firestorm and the community’s resilience.
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The following open letter to Antony Albanese is being circulated by Illawarra Knitting Nannas Against Greed. They are asking people to sign-on and send on to his office.
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison is fond of saying that Australia only produces 1.3% of global greenhouse emissions. He says this to bolster his climate denialist position that his government does not need to take a lead on cutting carbon emissions. This position is fundamentally wrong.
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News that the Austrian Greens made a deal with the hard-right People’s Party to form a coalition government should be a wake-up call to progressives everywhere. It reaffirms that the climate crisis can lead to eco-fascist conclusions just as much as left-wing solutions.
World
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A survey released on the eve of the World Economic Forum has found that just 18% of people believe capitalism is working for them.
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The United States is continuing to muscle the governments of Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala to stop the flow of refugees across its border. Many migrants are fleeing the consequences of US political intervention and economic policy in the region. They choose to travel in “caravans” for safety. Immigration officers have gone on the offensive against the caravans, writes Tamara Pearson.
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The Yazidi minority community in Sinjar, Iraq, is still recovering from the horrendous 2014 genocide by Islamic State (IS) terrorists. Yet, on January 15, it was the target of another deadly airstrike by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's dictatorial regime.
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Lebanese Prime Minister Hassan Diab announced a new government on January 21. The cabinet, made up of technocratic ministers backed by the main parties, is promising to tackle the country's deep economic crisis. Karim Traboulsi reports on the protest movement, which shows no sign of letting up.
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Rohingya refugees living in a refugee camp in Bangladesh are just surviving, as they look towards the day when they can return to their homeland, writes Paul Gregoire.
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Following United States President Donald Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos Switzerland, climate activist Greta Thunberg delivered this stinging rebuke to the world’s leaders for their failure to take serious action on climate change:
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Bolivians will return to the polls on May 3, almost five months after former president Evo Morales was ousted in a coup. Having been declared the winner of the October 20 election, the leader of the Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) was forced to resign three weeks later after opposition protests denouncing fraud culminated in the police and military calling on Morales to step down.
Culture
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In Fenian Fear, author, historian and filmmaker Peter Murphy has written a work of historical fiction based on O'Farrell's real-life exploits.
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At the height of the US invasion of Vietnam, about 500,000 United States military personnel were involved in the conflict. Of those, more than 50,000 lost their lives — and the US lost the war.