BY MELANIE SJOBERG
SYDNEY — The NSW state conference of the Socialist Alliance, held on November 8, brought together more that 110 members and to share ideas for election possibilities, exchange experiences about branch building and consider
Issue 562
News
BY CHRIS LATHAM
PERTH — On November 6, the Western Australian branch executive of the Australian Education Union (AEU) announced that a 24-hour strike would be held on November 18 to support the teachers union's campaign for a new certified
BY ALEX BAINBRIDGE
HOBART — Forest activist Neil Smith, known as "Hector the Protector", was jailed after turning himself in to Tasmanian police on November 13. He refused to pay a $5000 fine for sitting in a tree during a 1998 forest
Log-truck drivers paid illegal rates
HOBART — The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has begun a campaign to win improvements in pay for log-truck drivers in Tasmania after discovering a number of drivers had been illegally underpaid, some by as much
BY TONY ILTIS
MELBOURNE — On November 22, a noon protest rally will be held in the Footscray Mall to protest against police racism and violence against Muslim youth in the city's western suburbs. The protest is being organised by the Western
BY JESS MELVIN
MELBOURNE — "Redevelopment" has gone off the rails at Melbourne Central train station. As part of the "new evolving Melbourne Central", rail commuters have been diverted from their usual direct exit point to Swanston Street, which
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS
MELBOURNE — More than 10,000 people rallied in opposition to the federal coalition government's attacks on union, health and education on November 11. The protest was part of Victorian Trades Hall Council's Fair Go campaign.
BY SHUA GARFIELD
HOBART — "Contrary to yet another commitment" is how Phillip Baker, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union's Tasmanian branch secretary, described plans by Labor Premier Jim Bacon's government to privatise software company
BY GRAHAM MATTHEWS
MELBOURNE — "It's this period that gives me the greatest satisfaction", Socialist member of the scottish parliament (MSP) Colin Fox told the Socialist Alliance Victorian conference, titled Resisting the Empire, on November 15.
BY MARCELLE HOFF
SYDNEY — The NSW branch of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has announced that it will impose an interim ban on construction of a high-rise development at the former Water Police site at Pyrmont's
World
BY ELIZABETH SCHULTE
The Toledo Blade newspaper ran a four-part investigative series, beginning October 22, in which journalists Michael Sallah and Mitch Weiss exposed terrible war crimes committed during the Vietnam War by an elite US Army platoon
BY RICHIE VENTON
GLASGOW — A bit of working-class history has been made in the past few weeks. Two branches of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers (RMT) have voted to affiliate to the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP). After
BY ROHAN PEARCE
At midnight on November 8, an explosion rocked the al Muhaya complex in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital. Nearly 20 people were killed, and more than 100 were wounded by the car bomb blast.
The November 8 terrorist attack was the
BY EVA CHENG
Desperate to find a scapegoat for the loss of more than 2 million manufacturing jobs in the US over the last two years, US President George Bush's regime and the US Congress have been aggressively trying to put the blame on China,
BY NORM DIXON
Thousands of people mobilised in an attempt to stop the transport of tonnes of nuclear waste from La Hague in France to a "temporary" N-waste dump in Gorleben, northern Germany.
On November 9, 5000 people turned out in Dannenberg
BY NORM DIXON
US troops opened fire on Turkish Kurd rebels aligned to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), the BBC reported on November 11.
A US military spokesperson said "unknown forces" were "dispersed" near Iraq's border with Turkey with the
BY AHMAD NIMER
November 9 saw an international day of mobilisations against the construction of the Israeli apartheid wall. Actions and demonstrations were held in cities around the world to protest Israel's mass land-grab, aimed at building a
BY DEIRDRE GRISWOLD
The richest person in Russia, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has been arrested at gunpoint and sits in jail. Some US$14 billion worth of stocks he held in Yukos Oil — 44% of all shares in the company — were initially frozen by
BY MARCUS GREVILLE
LONDON — The Stop the War Coalition (STWC) is hoping for a turnout of more than 100,000 people for the November 19-21 demonstrations against the state visit of US President George Bush to London and in opposition to the US and
BY JOHN CATALINOTTO
Tens of thousands of employed and unemployed workers marched through downtown Berlin on November 1 to protest the German governments' plans to cut pensions, unemployment insurance payments and other social services, contained in
Culture
Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. Includes the Green Left news. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Sunday, 9pm. Phone (02) 9564 1277. Visit
BY NICOLE COLSON
Are gay men taking over television? That seems to be the recent buzz in the media, prompted primarily by two shows that premiered on the US Bravo cable network in July: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Boy Meets Boy.
A closer
US attorney-general John Ashcroft recently visited an elementary school. After speaking for 15 minutes, he said, "I will now answer any questions you have".
Bobby stood up and said, "I have four questions: 1. How did US President George Bush win
In This WorldDirected by Michael WinterbottomWith Jamal Udin, Torabi Enayatullah and Imran ParachaScreening nationally at Dendy cinemas
REVIEW BY TIM STEWART
In these times, when rich-country governments lock out or lock up refugees, In This
Bush in Babylon: the Recolonisation of IraqBy Tariq AliVerso 2003214 pages, $25
REVIEW BY NICK FREDMAN
"I see a horizon lit with bloodAnd many a starless night.A generation comes and another goesAnd the fire keeps burning." — Iraqi poet al