Issue 1253

News

Three solidarity activists who recently returned from Venezuela addressed a meeting organised by the Venezuela Solidarity Campaign in Melbourne on February 13, reports Chris Slee.

A new sports rorts scandal, involving senior levels of the Australian Public Service, highlights just how institutionalised corruption is in the federal government, writes Jim McIlroy.

There is growing concern the university sector is not following best practice in dealing with the outbreak of the coronavirus, but is instead joining in the racist hysteria, write Yaji Spencer and Chris Slee.

Chris Slee reports that professional firefighters in Victoria have won a pay rise.

Community concern about the federal government’s inability to develop a coherent national energy policy was evident at the national community summit on coal power transition, writes Steve O'Brien.

Marie Flood and Pip Hinman report from the second hearing into the NSW government's enforcement of the Chief Scientists' guidelines on coal seam gas. They heard disturbing reports from farmers.

Protesters marched through Melbourne on February 9 against a proposed religious discrimination bill that, if passed, would increase the ability of religious institutions and individuals to discriminate, writes Kerry Smith.

Emissions from New South Wales coal burnt overseas need to continue to be taken into consideration by planning authorities. But, as Pip Hinman writes, the NSW Minerals Council is pushing the state government to do the exact opposite.

Supporters of justice for Palestine condemned United States President Donald Trump’s “deal” on Palestine and Israel on February 7 in Sydney, reports Jim McIlroy.

A protest was held outside Brisbane's Immigration Detention Centre on February 8 to highlight the inadequate medical treatment and other care being given to refugees brought to Australia from Manus Island and Nauru, reports Alex Bainbridge.

The following statement was released by various organisations calling for a national day of action to demand climate action on February 22.

Analysis

More people are saying “politics is broken” and it is not hard to see why. But, as Alex Bainbridge argues, fixing the situation will require breaking the enormous power fossil fuel corporations have over the major parties.

Bullying is never okay, and certainly not from the “lunatic fringe” inner city or “scientists”, writes Carlo Sands.

The bushfire emergency has not slowed the bipartisan charge to push the planet over the climate catastrophe cliff, writes Sam Wainwright.

Rural Fire Service volunteer Robynne Murphy, who has been on the bushfire frontline since November on behalf of her local community on the NSW south coast, told Green Left: "I want this government brought down because they have no solutions".

While political elites would have us believe that everything is under control, a political shift is taking place as a result of the bushfire emergency and lack of preparation by state and federal governments, writes Pip Hinman.

While extreme weather events are driving up food prices in Australia, poorer nations experiencing the same extremes face very different and disastrous consequences, writes Pat Brewer.

World

Three feeder columns of the annual Long March to free Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan, which started in Geneva, Frankfurt and Luxembourg, are converging on Strasbourg, France, reports Peter Boyle.

The same institutions who have been banging on about election meddling by Russians and how much of a threat US President Donald Trump poses to democracy, now look partisan in what seems to be overwhelming evidence of election rigging, writes Daniel Safi.

Peter Boyle reports from Brussels that European left and green parliamentarians condemned Turkey's invasion of Rojava, the democratic autonomous liberated zone in North and East Syria, at an international conference on February 5–6.

The movement against Emmanuel Macron's pension reforms is entering a new phase. Lisbeth Latham takes a look at this historic movement.

The seismic February 8 general election result, which saw Sinn Féin become the most popular political party in the 26-county Irish Republic for the first time, has shaken the Irish political system to its core and sent shockwaves across Europe, writes Duroyan Fertl.

The fear of collaboration by the so-called mainstream democratic parties with the far-right in Germany has been realised in the first such incident in post-war times, writes Sibylle Kaczorek.

Culture

Bran Nue Dae

Bran Nue Dae, the first Aboriginal musical, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a national tour. Original, eclectic, soulful and feisty its speaks of dispossession, racism, resistance and hope. The fact it is still relevant shows how little has changed since its creation, writes Annolies Truman.

Kirk Douglas

Award-winning filmmaker and Hollywood star of more than 85 blockbuster films Kirk Douglas died on February 5 at the age of 103. Peter Frost recalls how Douglas helped break the notorious ban on writers and actors during the early years of the Cold War.

As our media continues to go further down the neoliberal alley with the likes of US President Donald Trump's Twitter feed haunting our social lives, you’d be surprised to find a bastion of progressive values beginning to embed itself within an unlikely sector of the economy, our gaming industry, writes Yaji Spencer.