On October 19, the ALP announced that, if elected, it will leave the Goods and Services Tax almost entirely intact — just another reminder that the Labor Party is interested only in the needs of the corporate rich, not the rest
-
-
For the November 10 federal election, the Socialist Alliance is directing preferences to the Greens ahead of Labor in the Senate. Some affiliates and members of the alliance disagreed with this. Here, Democratic Socialist Party member and Socialist
-
The speakers' lists at Reclaim the Night rallies across Australia were littered with election candidates from all political parties — in Adelaide it was Democrats Senator Natasha Stott Despoja and the Coalition's Trish Draper; in Sydney it was
-
BY DICK NICHOLS, IAN RINTOUL& RIKKI LANE The Socialist Alliance was appalled by and condemned the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington (for a full statement see our web page, www.socialist-alliance.org
-
The fear of "bio-terrorism" in the United States is being cynically used to whip up war fever by politicians, the "attack Iraq" faction of the US administration and the mass media in the wake of the deaths of a Florida media worker on
-
DARWIN — There have been mixed reactions to the October 24 apology made to indigenous people by the Northern Territory Labor government before a gallery packed with members of the stolen generations: some see it as the dawning
-
We are a nurse, illegally striking, to protect the health of patients. We are a student at the Australian National University, working two jobs to pay for uni. We are an S11 protester, beaten up by the cops. We are an ex-ALP
-
SYDNEY — An anti-war teach-in on October 27 provided an opportunity to discuss a range of issues confronting the anti-war movement. The teach-in, organised by the Network Opposing War and Racism (NOWAR), was attended by 50 peace
-
Federal Labor leader Kim Beazley has made much of the fact that Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has so far refused to discuss the issue of asylum seekers with the Howard government. During the Tampa incident, Megawati
-
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS& MARGARITA WINDISCH The US-led war on Afghanistan is killing hundreds and displacing tens of thousands of Afghan civilians. Millions are threatened with starvation, and many of these will attempt to flee from Afghanistan in order
-
The government released its mid-year budget review on October 17. A key feature of the review was the allocation of large sums on top of existing funding for coastal surveillance and detention of asylum seekers arriving in
-
One prominent feature of Hobart's October 18 student walkout against Bush's war was the presence of two police officers with a video camera in a carpark 50 metres away from the anti-war rally. Despite the fact that it was an
-
The crude efforts by a faction of the US government to link anthrax-infected letters to the Saddam Hussein regime — without a shred of evidence — are an attempt to win greater public support for an extension of Washington's "war
-
Billy Bragg I Like Daniel Sullivan ("Bollocks", Write On, GLW #468), I appreciate the music of Billy Bragg but unlike Daniel I find some of Billy's recent political stands quite obnoxious. Unfortunately, I missed his recent round of concerts but
-
For each other's sake "In my opinion, the young generation of whites, blacks, browns, whatever else there is: you're living at a time of extremism, a time of revolution, a time when there's got to be a change. People in power have misused it, and
News
-
Human rights visit cancelled The visit to Australia by Akin Birdal, leader of the Human Rights Association in Turkey, reported in last week's Green Left Weekly, has had to be cancelled at short notice. Birdal cannot make the trip because of a
-
Majorities are another question Fighting terrorism "must never be an excuse to persecute minorities". — US President George "The Crusader" Bush. Foot 'n mouth disease is enough "I do not have anthrax." — George the Crusader again.
-
PERTH — Determined to take action against the US attacks on Afghanistan, 55 students and staff formed an anti-war alliance at an October 24 forum on Curtin University. Addressing the meeting, Gavin Mooney, a health sciences
-
MELBOURNE — Federal education minister David Kemp was shocked to be interrupted mid-speech by screams of "You racist warmonger" during an October 23 forum of 1500 high school students in the Melbourne Town Hall. Kemp was
-
BRISBANE — Three hundred construction workers on October 23 released black balloons in a moving tribute to workers killed on the job. Between 1990 and 2000, 161 workers were killed by electrocution on the job. Members of the
-
MELBOURNE — In a combined mass meeting on October 24, 10,000 construction unionists have decided not to cooperate with the royal commission into the industry set up by the federal government and have backed a united industrial
-
Students form anti-war group CANBERRA — Following a student walkout on October 19, a dozen students from Narrabundah College have formed a new anti-war student group called Students Protesting Against Needless Killing, SPANK. The group
-
PERTH — The variety of backgrounds of the 30 activists who gathered for Socialist Alliance's first "politics in the pub" forum on October 19 — refugee rights and anti-war campaigners, candidates from different left-wing
-
BRISBANE — "No to war! No to racism! Tax the rich!" were the main themes of the October 24 campaign launch of the Queensland Socialist Alliance team, attended by around 90 supporters. Karen Fletcher, one of the two Socialist
-
SYDNEY — Banging on drums, blowing whistles and shouting anti-war and anti-violence chants, one thousand women participated in this year's Reclaim the Night march. The march began with a rally early in the evening of October 26
-
The struggle for socialism lost a true friend with the untimely death on October 22 of Bruce Heckinger, aged 50. He died pursuing the sport he loved, paragliding, at Manilla in NSW. Bruce touched many people's lives, not only in
-
SYDNEY — Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) Senate candidates Michael Denborough and Yvonne Francis were arrested at Sydney University on October 25 for handing out anti-war information on campus. Francis told Green Left Weekly
-
HOBART — The Hobart City Council is considering banning the distribution of Green Left Weekly in Elizabeth Mall, one of the city's main public spaces. Council referred a motion banning the newspaper's distribution back to
-
BRISBANE — The left-wing Activist Left ticket failed to win any major office-bearer positions in the October 8-12 Griffith University Student Association election. The left lost despite the fact that the right wing ALP-Liberal
-
A 19-metre, rotting, leaky Indonesian fishing boat, with a capacity for 150 passengers, picked up more than 400 asylum seekers from Lampung on October 18 to make the journey to Christmas Island. A few hours out to sea, the boat
-
MELBOURNE — The eighth anti-war rally in the six weeks since the September 11 terrorist attacks attracted 400 protesters on October 21, including strong contingents from the Turkish and Kurdish communities. Speaking to the crowd
-
ADELAIDE — It is a received wisdom that a week is a long time in politics. If your idea of politics is bounded by parliament, boardrooms and the editor's office, it would certainly seem so. In South Australia in October the
-
CANBERRA — "Change happens on the street, not in parliament", said James Vassilopoulos, Socialist Alliance candidate for the seat of Fraser, during an interview for the local ABC drivetime radio program. "Choosing between Labor
-
WOLLONGONG — On October 26, Naomi Arrowsmith cut up her ALP membership card and put a Socialist Alliance poster in support of Margaret Perrott's campaign for the seat of Throsby in her front yard. "This is what I think of Kim
Analysis
-
Labor won't guarantee job security On November 1, unionists will gather across Australia to rally for job security. Such demonstrations are badly needed the collapse of Ansett, Qantas' threatened job losses, Coles Myer's mass
World
-
GHENT — As participants in the first major "anti-globalisation" protest since the beginning of the war against Afghanistan, those who gathered in this north Belgian city on October 19 knew they had a great responsibility on their
-
In a rare win for environmental issues within the World Trade Organisation, the WTO's Appellate Body on October 22 upheld the legality of a United States ban on fishing practices which endanger the sea turtle. Malaysia had sought to
-
BY ALEJANDRO RODRIGUEZ & ROQUE GRILLO On October 14, in the midst of the worst economic crisis in the country's history, Argentinians went to the polls to elect representatives to the Congress and Senate and gave the government of
-
RAMALLAH, Palestine — The October 17 assassination of tourism minister Rehevem Ze'evi, a hated leader of Israel's racist right, was greeted with huge public approval from the Palestinian street, but has since then provided a
-
If US President George Bush hadn't dominated this year's October 17-21 summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) in Shanghai, China, with his "anti-terrorist" war drive, the peak regional body of 21 economies would have
-
To the people of Britain and the USA: I write from Mauritius. You may not remember quite where that is.
-
CHICAGO — Well-paid academic experts and media pundits are lining up to give Washington an intellectual justification for war. Basically, the justification is that "they hate us". In a Newsweek magazine cover story, Fareed Zakaria
Culture
-
REVIEW BY MARGARET ALLUM Links issue 19: "The Future of Revolution"128 pages, $8New Course Publications 2001 In the wake of the terrorist attacks on the United States, President George Bush's edict that "if you are not with us, then you are with
-
Is it true they were ploughing the soldiersinto the ground? An arm, bearing a watchtelling all the time in the world; a faceand a boot indistinguishable in theirhardness; a mathematician movingtowards infinity; a weaver soon lostin the intricate
-
The following selection of books on the history of the Middle East, Central Asia and the US imperialism's bloody record around the globe provide essential background information for anti-war activists. They are available from most internet
-
Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 9pm. Ph 9565 5522. Visit for program details. Lessons of
-
MELBOURNE — More than 170 people enjoyed a lively night of fun and socialist politics at the Socialist Alliance's anti-corporate festival at Daniher Hall, Carlton, on October 20. The festival raised $3000. Comedian and