BY ROBERT COX
SYDNEY — On August 24-25, just before the anniversary of the Tampa incident on August 26, a conference was held in Sydney titled, "The Tampa: one year on". Pax Christi Australia (NSW) and the Buddhist Peace Fellowship organised an
Issue 507
News
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS
MELBOURNE — The Socialist Alliance lodged its application for registration as a political party with the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) on August 29, submitting the details of its 763 Victorian members.
Success in the
BY SAM WAINWRIGHT
SYDNEY — On August 28, 5000 workers, chanting "Stop the bias, stop the lies, hands off the union!", marched down George Street before rallying outside the Family Court in Goulburn Street. High above the spirited rally, on the
BY ERIN CAROLAN
SYDNEY — On August 26, more than 130 students and teachers wore black armbands to mark Tampa Day at Fort Street High School. Fortians for Refugees hoped to promote increased awareness of the inhumane nature of mandatory detention
BY TIM STEWART
BRISBANE — To a packed Kurilpa Hall of 90 people, Craig Johnston, Victorian state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), gave a gripping account of union struggle Workers First-style.
Organised by the
Dinner raises $1500
PERTH — Around 150 people gathered at the State School Teachers Union hall to attend the a dinner to raise funds for Green Left Weekly on August 24. Greetings were heard from SSTU organiser Michelle White, Socialist Alliance
Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, Wollongong, WILL WILLIAMS, Brisbane">
Tampa Day across Australia
Tampa Day across Australia
Brisbane
BILL MASON reports that around 150 people rallied and marched in
inner
BY PIP HINMAN
In the early
hours of August 26, activists from the We Are All Boat People group decorated
statues around the city in barbed wire, Tampa sashes and black armbands.
Her Majesty Queen Victoria at the Queen Victoria Building
BY PAUL MILLER
MELBOURNE
The Melbourne West branch of the Socialist Alliance on August 27 selected
Justine Kamprad as its candidate for Footscray in the next Victorian election.
Kamprad is an activist in the Australian Manufacturing
BY NICOLE HILDER
WOLLONGONG On August 22 it was announced that Sandon Point was
named in the Australian Council of National Trusts' Endangered Places List
2002. ACNT chairperson Simon Molesworth said the key threats to these
23 places
BY JODY BETZEIN
MELBOURNE
Three thousand people turned out on August 30 for a rally outside the
State Library organised by the Melbourne Refugee Action Collective (RAC)
to demand freedom for refugees.
The very youthful crowd marched
BY TIM E STEWART
BRISBANE — A crowd of 1500 people packed City Hall on August 28 to commemorate one year since the Tampa refugee crisis. The public meeting, convened by Australians for Just Refugee Programs, heard from a panel of speakers who
Curtin University
JANE ARMANASCO & MARK HEWITT report that Curtin University Refugee Rights Action Network activists set up a mock detention centre and campaigning stall on August 26. More than 1000 leaflets were distributed to questioning students
BY SUE BULL
MELBOURNE As the picket line set up by Victorian Australian Manufacturing Workers Union officials and their supporters reached its 12th day on August 26, an emergency AMWU national council was meeting. The workers, striking
BY ANDREW PHILLIPS
BRISBANE — Five-hundred people took the water on August 14 to protest the Queensland Labor government's plan to allow the Sun Aqua company to build a multi-million dollar sea cages and fish farms in a pristine part of Morton
BY FARIDA IQBAL
From October 4 to 11, anti-nuclear campaigners around the world will be marking Keep Space for Peace Week. The week, an initiative of the Global Network against Nuclear Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, is an effort to stop the
World
BY MICHELLE BREAR
SUVA, Fiji As the South Pacific region's major imperialist power, Australia is in a strong position to influence regional political and economic decisions. At the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), held here on August 19-20,
BY ROBERT FISK
KABUL In Afghanistan, it is possible to go from hell to hell. The first circle of hell is the "waiting area", the faeces-encrusted dustbowl in which 60,000 Afghans rot along their frontier with Pakistan at Chaman a
Indian court upholds Bhopal charges
On August 28, an Indian court rejected the United States government's push to reduce culpable homicide charges against former Union Carbide chairperson, Warren Anderson. In 1984, a gas leak at the US company's
BY ROBERT JOHNSON
PORTLAND, Oregon There is a significant amount of dissenting noise regarding President George Bush's mad rush to war against Iraq coming from portions of the US right-wing. Brent Scowcroft, George Bush senior's national
BY DAVID GOSLING
YOGYAKARTA Indonesian workers are braving police repression to oppose President Megawati Sukarnoputri's IMF-inspired draft labour laws. So far strikes and protest rallies across the country have succeeded in pushing back the
BY EVA CHENG
Until July 31, the latest official statistics reported that the United States last year suffered only one quarter of negative GDP growth. But on that day, revised figures based on more comprehensive data revealed that the
BY VANNESSA HEARMAN
On August 15 an Indonesian court convicted Abilio Soares, the former Jakarta-appointed governor of East Timor, of failing to rein in subordinates in September 1999 as pro-Jakarta militias rampaged, killing at least 1000 East
BY NORM DIXON
The democracy movement in the tiny southern African country of Swaziland is celebrating the August 22 High Court acquittal of opposition leader Mario Masuku on a charge of sedition.
The charge against Masuku, leader of the
BY NICK FREDMAN
What should be the response of workers in the higher education sector towards the Israeli occupation of Palestine? This question has been posed over the last several months by a petition circulated by two Australian academics
BY JOHN PILGER
LONDON — The Blair government was told in January by the Americans that there was no justification for attacking Iraq in the "war on terrorism" and that their main aim was getting rid of Saddam Hussein, who stood in the way of the
Culture
JerusalemSteve EarleArtemis RecordsAvailable form <http://www.artemisrecords.com>
REVIEW BY BILL NEVINS
Steve Earle is unrepentant, as one of his toughest songs declares. He makes no apologies for his past dissent and rebellion, and he
Viet Nam VoicesAn exhibition of art, photos and videosQueensland Museum, South Bank, BrisbaneDeveloped and toured by the Casula Powerhouse Arts CentreUntil September 29
REVIEW BY JIM McILROY
The Viet Nam Voices exhibition is deeply moving,
WOLLONGONG — A refugee solidarity quilt was started earlier this year by the Illawarra Refugee Action Collective. Detained refugees and members of the community continue to contribute 30-centimetre square patches to be added to the quilt, which is
SYDNEY — The national and Victorian leaderships of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union are in dispute. The national leadership recently stood down the Victorian secretary Craig Johnston and, against the wishes of the Victorian branch,
The Rising
Bruce Springsteen
Sony Music
REVIEW BY
RICHARD PITHOUSE
Bruce Springsteen's new album, The Rising, has been marketed
as vigorously as his 1984 Born in the USA album and, as with that
album, has achieved massive
Editorial
As supporters of refugees' rights prepared to mark August 26, the anniversary of the rescue of 433 refugees by the MV Tampa, as Tampa Day to shame the federal government, immigration minister Philip Ruddock fought back.
On August 24, Ruddock had