The following statement was issued by national co-convenors of the Socialist Alliance on January 6.
There is an obvious, simple and humane solution to the tragedy unfolding on Nauru — grant Australian citizenship to the 248 refugees who have been
-
-
"Any kind of discrimination and privilege between the citizens of Afghanistan are prohibited. The citizens of Afghanistan — whether man or woman — have equal rights and duties before the law." This statement was enshrined in Afghanistan's new
-
Rohan Pearce On January 6, the US Army's news service reported that the defence department intended to extend its "stop loss" orders covering active-duty soldiers deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, preventing some 7000 soldiers from either retiring
-
Sarah Stephen Asylum seekers held in the Australian-funded detention centre on the Pacific island state of Nauru suspended their hunger strike on January 8, due in part to news of the Nauru government's request for an independent Australian
-
Dot Tumney I have no idea what triggered the mental processes that caused me to take up political activity in 1971 or why I have kept the habit to one degree or another ever since. I can, however, describe the circumstances the caused me to join
-
Alan Maass, Chicago The US administration claims that it wants to see Saddam Hussein put on trial for his many crimes. But what about his co-conspirators? Will those who helped Hussein rise to power, supplied his weapons and supported his
-
Pauline Rigby John Howard is doubly right. Earlier this year when Iraq's "weapons of mass destruction" were being touted as a reason to go to war, he said, we should be prepared to act when "we know that a country has weapons of mass destruction
-
John Percy & Graham Matthews Dot Tumney, a long-term member of the Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), passed away on December 25. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer a few weeks earlier. Dot was a committed activist and Marxist
-
The anti-war movement Sue Bolton (Write On #561), like Raul Bassi and Pip Hinman (Green Left Weekly #560), have missed the central point of my original contribution (GLW #560). That is, we as socialists have a responsibility to move the movement,
-
Max Lane, Perth All of those who were involved in working for East Timorese independence are terribly saddened by the sudden death of Dr Andrew McNaughtan. All the activists in Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor, and later Action
-
Tim Stewart Family, friends and East Timor solidarity activists were shocked to hear of the sudden death of Andrew McNaughtan, at the age of 49, on December 22. A tireless campaigner for human rights and justice in East Timor, the scope of
-
Doug Lorimer Immediately following the December 13 announcement that US troops had captured former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, the corporate media in the US, Britain and Australia was full of claims that the resistance movement had been
News
-
GLW wishes to clarify matters raised in an article by Andrew Sullivan published in GLW #558, titled "The battle for a canal-free Coogee". We would like to confirm that: 1) Australand was not involved in the Port Catherine development until 1998 and
-
At its 21st Congress, held December 27-30, the Democratic Socialist Party changed its name to the "Democratic Socialist Perspective" and reorganised itself as a political tendency in the Socialist Alliance. Only Socialist Alliance
-
Simon Butler, Newcastle & Amy McDonnell, Adelaide In response to the desperate, month-long protests of the refugees imprisoned on the pacific island nation of Nauru, protesters marched, picketed and spoke out in three Australian cities in early
-
Operation Iraqi Freedom "As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire. In Abu Hishma, encased in a razor-wire fence after repeated attacks on American troops,
-
Sarah Harris, Sydney On December 17, legislation was rushed through the NSW parliament by Labor Premier Bob Carr's government to allow the Collex company to set up a large domestic waste transfer station at Clyde, in the Sydney municipality of
-
On December 19, the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) granted public and private sector teachers a 5.5% interim pay rise. Two days earlier, the IRC had granted public hospital nurses a 3.5% pay rise from January 1. As part of its "What's a
-
Perry Brown, Newcastle Refugee rights activist Steve Georgopoulos is organising a flotilla of yachts to sail to the Pacific island state of Nauru as a gesture of solidarity with the remaining asylum seekers imprisoned there by the Howard
Analysis
-
On December 26, the city of Bam in south-eastern Iran was hit by a massive earthquake, destroying around 80% of the city's buildings. By January 2, Iranian authorities had estimated that the quake had claimed the lives of 26,500 people — a quarter
World
-
Barry Sheppard, San Francisco The Democratic Party nationally got a big scare when Green Party candidate Matt Gonzalez came close to winning the race for mayor of San Francisco on December 9. Gonzalez received 47% of the vote, while his
-
Jeff Shantz, Toronto On December 11, tens of thousands of workers across Quebec province took direct action against the newly elected government of Premier Jean Charest. Charest's Liberal Party government is taking its cue from other neoliberal
-
Boris Kagarlitsky, Moscow With more than 36% of votes the pro-Kremlin United Russia party looks like the only real winner in Russia's parliamentary elections, held on December 7. It also succeeded in getting a massive victory in single-member
-
Richie Venton, Glasgow In a monumental breakthrough for socialism and genuine political representation for working people, the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers union (RMT) in Scotland has voted to ditch the British Labour Party and affiliate to
-
Joel Beinin, Cairo As the Israeli army reimposed a nearly complete lock-down on the West Bank in the aftermath of the Christmas Day suicide bombing outside of Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has reportedly deputised a top general to
-
Igor O'Neill, Jakarta On January 7, riot police opened fire on local residents protesting against the environmental and social impacts of Melbourne-based mining company Newcrest's Toguraci goldmining operation on the Indonesian island of Halmahera.
-
Grant Brookes, Wellington "The Alliance is a broad inclusive party of the Left with policies based on socialist principles: democracy, equality and social ownership." This is the opening statement of a working manifesto adopted by around 70 party
-
Dieter Kursietis, Seoul A demonstration by more than 100 members and supporters of the Equality Trade Union Migrants Branch (ETU-MB), South Korea's only migrant workers' trade union, was held on December 31 at the Mok-dong immigration office. The
-
David Bacon, Baghdad US occupation forces have escalated their efforts to paralyse Iraq's new trade unions. On December 6, a convoy of 10 humvees and armoured personnel carriers descended on the old headquarters of the Transport and Communications
-
Jason MacLeod On December 3, Indonesian security forces detained four West Papuan students for their part, two days earlier, in releasing West Papuan flags — known as the Morning Star — attached to balloons in the central Java town of
-
Lisa Macdonald In December, the pro-US Patriotic Union of Kurdistan twice threatened to shut down the Suleimaniyiah office of the Organisation of Women's Freedom in Iraq. The PUK's security forces claim that the OWFI does not have a "licence" to
Culture
-
Slapping on the Writs: Defamation, Developers and Community ActivismBy Brian WaltersUNSW Press, 200396 pages, $16.95 REVIEW BY DALE MILLS Melbourne barrister Brian Walters has written a small but important book about the way that Australia's
-
Cast AwayDirected by Robert ZemeckisWith Tom Hanks and Helen HuntWritten by William Broyles JuniorReleased on Universal Pictures DVD REVIEW BY LOUIS PROYECT Director Robert Zemeckis' Cast Away, made in 2000 and starring Tom Hanks as an air-crash
-
REVIEW BY JOE ALLEN Master and Commander: the Far Side of WorldDirected by Peter WeirScreenplay by Peter Weir and John ColleeWith Russell Crowe and Paul BettanyAt major cinemas Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World has received
-
Tressell: The Real Story of the Ragged Trousered PhilanthropistsBy Dave HarkerZed Books, 2003282 pages, $33.95 (pb) REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON "It made me cry and made me bitter", recalled a socialist who read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists as
-
Will you please observe through the wire I am sewing my feet together They have walked about as far As they ever need to go Will you further observe Through the wire I am sewing my heart together It is now so full of The ashes of my days It