Issue 429

BY ANDREW HALL CANBERRA — With the ACT Liberal government targeting public spaces such as nature reserves, ovals, lake shores and parklands for privatisation, nearly 400 people rallied in opposition on November 18. Community groups from across

BY RUTH RATCLIFFE Canberra — The Burmese embassy will be the site of a demonstration on November 30, the deadline set by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) for forced labour to end in Burma. The ACT Trades and Labour Council (TLC) will

BY CATHERINE GOLDEN SYDNEY — On November 18, the Sydney and Parramatta International Women's Day (IWD) collectives held a speak-out in conjunction with the Committee in Defence of Iraqi Women's Rights (CDWIR) to raise awareness about the plight

BY CHRIS SLEE MELBOURNE — Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) members employed in Victoria's privatised power generation industry defied threats of legal action to meet at Morwell on November 16. Workers from all four power

BY PAUL OBOOHOV CANBERRA — Members First candidate for deputy president of the ACT branch of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), Deborah Lally, is focusing her campaign on the lack of action taken by the ACT and national union

BY MICHELLE BREAR& FEDERICO FUENTES SYDNEY — Staff members and students from University of Western Sydney picketed all seven UWS campuses on November 9 in protest at the proposed restructuring of the university. The strike was the second held in

BY BRONWYN JENNINGS BALLARAT — Bans imposed by trade union members at Ballarat University have broken the stalemate in negotiations between management and staff. The bans, which came into effect on November 13, were imposed on exam supervision

BY LISA MACDONALD SYDNEY — A new Palestine Human Rights Campaign was launched at a meeting of Palestine solidarity activists on November 18. The group will provide a coordinating centre for activities here in solidarity with the Palestinian

BY NEVILLE SPENCER The leftist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) has increased its strength in Nicaragua's municipal elections held on November 5, raising the possibility of it winning back power in next years' presidential and

More than 60,000 municipal workers around South Africa on November 15-17 staged strikes and marches to oppose the privatisation of local government services being pushed through by mainly African National Congress-controlled councils. In

BY PIP HINMAN Prime Minister John Howard, under pressure, once described the successive Australian governments' approaches to East Timor as “bipartisan wrong policy”. Yet this hasn't influenced his views on the self-determination struggle

BY YACOV BEN EFRAT JAFFA — The al-Aqsa intifada has succeeded in altering agendas both in Israel and the region. In Israel, it has drawn Arab citizens into the struggle for the first time, while pushing the Labour Party rightward. In the wider

BY JIM GREEN The human impact on climate change is more certain than ever before and the Earth's main surface temperature is predicted to rise further than previous estimates, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The

BY PAT BREWER HAVANA — "We affirm our conviction that the Cuban people have the unquestionable right to construct their own model of economic, political and social development, to decide their own future without interference or aggression and to

On October 29, 26 million Brazilians voted for municipal governments in cities where no candidate had won an absolute majority after the first round of voting on October 1. Brazil's left-wing Workers Party (PT) won 13 of the 16 cities where it had

BY TIM GOODEN& SUE BULL DELHI — Workers are locked out of a car manufacturing plant, scabs are brought in and workers are told to sign individual contracts before they can return to work. The new contracts require workers not to participate in