Alex Bainbridge, Hobart
More than 10,000 forest campaigners took to the streets of Hobart on March 13 in a decisive display of support for preserving old-growth forests. The timber industry countered with a large mobilisation on March 16 — the
Issue 576
News
1
Unions defend Age jobs
MELBOURNE — The sacking of 86 printers and maintenance workers at the Age's Spencer Street plant has been stalled by a combination of industrial pressure and legal defence.
In an industrial relations commission
Alison Thorne
Activists in the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) are mobilising to back a number of proposals to go before the union's 26-28 March National Council.
Most motions were developed by activists from around the country aligned
Leigh Hughes, Adelaide
Thirty years after the month-long occupation of Flinders University in 1974, students have used the tactic to force their administration to consult better over fee increases.
Vice Chancellor Anne Edwards is planning to
Norman Brewer, Sydney
On the first day of an Aboriginal youth summit, held March 17-18 in Redfern, a new group, called One Voice for Inner City Aboriginal Youth, was founded.
Although the Aboriginal Dance Theatre had planned to hold the summit in
Socialist Alliance candidates in the March 27 NSW local government elections:
Auburn: Lisa Macdonald (councillor, First Ward).
Bankstown: Raul Bassi, Rihab Charida, Maurice Shaya (councillors, East Ward).
Canterbury: Susan Mullan (mayor).
2
Bougainville liberators tour Australia
SYDNEY — Bougainville Women for Peace and Freedom (BWPF) representative Josephine Takunani Sirivi, and former Bougainville Revolutionary Army commander Sam Kauona addressed a gathering and film
Norm Dixon, Sydney
US President George Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australian PM John Howard — "politicians with blood on their hands" — should be "punished" at the ballot box for invading and occupying Iraq, renowned political
Jenny Long, Sydney
Chris Cain, the new, militant, secretary of the Western Australian branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, spoke to 80 people at a public meeting in Sydney on March 18. He discussed the recent successes of the WA MUA branch in
Paul Benedek, Sydney
The Socialist Alliance is running 24 candidates across 10 councils in the March 27 NSW local government elections. The alliance is also fielding candidates for mayor in Newcastle City, Wollongong, Canterbury and City of
Simon Tayler, Sydney
Supporters of Sydney's only community television station - Channel 31 - were shocked to hear on March 18 that the station would be forced off the air as a result of a decision by the Australian Broadcasting Authority (ABA) to
World
Doug Lorimer
While Washington is scrambling to keep Spain from withdrawing its contingent of 1300 troops from Iraq, it is threatened by a serious rift with another NATO ally, Turkey. Turkey is objecting to the interim constitution that the US has
Lee Yu-kyung& Iggy Kim
A move by conservative opposition parties in the Kukhoe, South Korea's single-chamber parliament, to impeach President Roh Moo-hyun are galvanising a pro-democracy backlash, leading to mass protests against the attempted
Gloria La Riva, Miami
On March 10, lawyers for five Cuban citizens who have been in prison in the US since 2001 on frame-up charges of conspiracy to commit espionage presented oral arguments to a three-judge federal appeals court in Miami.
The
Karen Fredericks, Port Moresby
A violent raid by Port Moresby police on an alleged brothel on March 11 has galvanised women's groups, community and church organisations and aid workers in a new coalition to call for a public and independent
Hanan Ashrawi, Ramallah
The oppressive nature of a military occupation eventually victimises the occupier much like it does the occupied. Gradually, the stench of moral decay overwhelms, internalizing a warped system of "values" that erodes the
Norm Dixon
"Every civilised nation has a stake in preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction... We're determined to confront those threats at the source", US President George Bush declared in a February 11 speech.
"We will stop these
Family members of soldiers now in Iraq have become a central pillar of the US movement against war and occupation. Military families and veterans groups mobilised for a protest on March 20 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, the home of Fort Bragg.
Nick Fredman, Bangkok
In the latest of a series of actions against the privatisation of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, 6000 public sector workers and supporters rallied on March 13. After widening opposition to the privatisation,
Eva Cheng
After achieving an average annual GDP growth of about 8% over the last decade under Beijing's push to restore capitalism, the Chinese economy grew at an even more back-breaking pace of 9.1% last year.
But during the March 5-14 annual
Alex Miller
The refusal of the Labour Party-dominated local authorities in Scotland to pay their childcare workers a living wage has caused chaos for parents across Scotland. Childcare workers ("nursery nurses" in Scotland) have been strike since
Doug Lorimer
US Army Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia became the first US soldier to turn himself in after refusing to return to Iraq when he turned himself in to military authorities in Boston on March 15, saying he would seek conscientious objector
In January, New Zealand National Party leader Don Brash gave a speech viciously attacking affirmative action for Maoris. In the uproar that followed, New Zealand's Labour government made significant concessions to Brash, agreeing that a "new balance"
Culture
REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON
The Fate of the RomanovsGreg King and Penny WilsonJohn Wiley & Sons, 2003657 pages, $49.95 (hb)
The telegrams from Ekaterinburg to Moscow were brief and to the point — the former Tsar of Russia (Nicholas II) had been
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 9564 1277. Visit
Sarah Stephen
After almost three years of imprisonment, those asylum seekers remaining on the Pacific island of Nauru are trapped in a living hell. They have seen some of their fellow prisoners granted refugee status and taken to New Zealand,