Issue 552

BY SUE BOLTON MELBOURNE — Postal workers took their anger at the bullying tactics of Australia Post to the streets on August 24. It was a warning to AP that postal workers were ready to fight to reverse a policy that disallows workers in AP shops

BY JORGE JORQUERA Beginning in Perth on September 4, Venezuelan student activist Alvaro Guzman will start a speaking tour of Australia. Guzman is the national director of the Bolivarian Student Front. He will address public meetings in all capital

BY LUKE WEYLAND SYDNEY — The Socialist Alliance has established its newest branch in Auburn, covering the Western Sydney area from Granville to Strathfield to Yagoona. It has 13 members and a healthy number of supporters and contacts. The area

BY KERRYN WILLIAMS CANBERRA — According to an unnamed senior federal education department officer quoted in the August 11 Sydney Morning Herald, the government censored the National Report on Australia's Higher Education Sector (2001), because it

BY SARAH STEPHEN The concept of "temporary" protection was first introduced into Australia with the passing of legislation on October 20, 1999. Since then, 8400 people, 88% of those who have arrived in Australia by boat since July 1999, have been

Recharge team makes gains in CEPU election PERTH — Candidates for the Recharge team have won all major positions other than state secretary in the Western Australian Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union election. Incumbent state

BY KYLIE MOON In some of the largest university student demonstrations in five years, thousands of students rallied across the country on August 27 as part of a national day of action against the government's attempts to accelerate privatisation of

Scottish Socialist Party MP Tommy Sheridan on August 25 chose to go to jail rather than pay a fine imposed on him after his arrest at an anti-nuclear demonstration at the Faslane Naval Base on February 11, 2002. Nuclear-armed British submarines

BY JAMES BALOWSKI JAKARTA — Taking a leaf out of US President George Bush's cynical manipulation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the Indonesian military (TNI) is trying to take advantage of public fear and anger over

BY HYOSU KANG SEOUL — On August 27, police served a search and seizure warrant on the headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions to arrest 16 KCTU leaders. A large detachment of police surrounded the office, where 200 unionists had

On August 14, I was stranded on a virtually immobilised transit system as the largest blackout in North American history struck. The power outage affected almost 50 million people across the north-eastern United States, from New York to Detroit, and the Canadian province of Ontario.

BY BARRY SHEPPARD SAN FRANCISCO — The recall election of Governor Gray Davis in California continues to generate more interest than recent elections. People throughout the state are registering to vote in record numbers. There is a sense of

The following statement was issued by the International Act Now to Stop war and End Racism (ANSWER) coalition. It has been slightly abridged. There are times when a progressive demonstration, even a large activity, is little more than a symbolic

BY DON MONKERUD The Bush administration has admitted that it has found the chemical weapons it went to war in Iraq over. Unfortunately, those weapons reside in Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Oregon and Utah. "I don't

SYDNEY — An important exhibition of paintings which explore the nature of war, the demonisation of "enemies" and the concept of "collateral damage" employed by imperialist spin doctors. The exhibition, at the Harrington Street Gallery, 17