Fabian Loschiavo & Bea Brear, Sydney
The waves crash onto the base of sheer cliffs on the ocean side. In the bay they are more gentle. The coloured sandstone — golden, purple and orange — shows itself among the native heath and shrubs. Old
Issue 584
News
Kathleen Scott, Sydney
More than 500 local community groups, activists, councillors and state members of parliament marched along the City West Link on May 23 to protest the planned M4 East tunnel options. The protest was organised by the
John Tognolini, Sydney
Tens of thousands of teachers rallied outside the NSW parliament on May 27 to protest Labor Premier Bob Carr's interference in the public school teachers' pay case before the NSW Industrial Relations Commission (IRC).
The
Shua Garfield, Hobart
Since the Coalition's federal budget was launched, the Socialist Alliance has waged a campaign to raise support for its demands to tax the rich more and the poor less.
A tax tug-of-war has emerged in the local newspaper,
Stuart Munckton, Sydney
Waving placards declaring "Free Izhar now!", "ASIO — Australia's System of Injustice and Oppression" and "Guilty until proven innocent!", supporters of University of New South Wales medical student Izhar Ul Haque gathered
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Council gives voice to Hicks and Habib
MELBOURNE — The Moreland City Council will push ahead with a controversial public meeting on July 11 titled "Aussies out of American cages". The forum will feature David Hicks' father Terry Hicks and
Mamdouh Habib's wife Maha Habib, David Hicks' father Terry Hicks and their solicitor Stephen Hopper addressed a public forum at the Granville Youth and Community Recreation Centre on May 29, on the topic: "Justice for Hicks and Habib".From Green Left
World
The Colombian government is attempting to break the month-long strike at Ecopetrol, the national oil company, by using military force.
The strike began on April 7, after 17 months of negotiations. The strikers are trying to stop the privatisation
Ali Abunimah
Things must be bad in Palestine, when the United States allows a resolution to pass in the UN Security Council condemning Israeli actions, as it did late on May 19.
By 14-0, with the United States abstaining, the council adopted
Alex Miller
On June 10, Scottish voters will go to the polls to elect seven new members of the European Parliament. The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP), which has six members in the Scottish Parliament, launched its MEP election campaign on May 17.
Daya Varma& Vinod Mubayi
May 13, 2004, will be remembered as a memorable day in the history of independent India. Belying the predictions of media "experts", pre-election polls, exit polls and commentators of all shades, the voters of India threw
Eva Cheng
In the May 13 Indian parliamentary elections, the Hindu chauvinist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, Indian Peoples Party) won 138 seats — 42 less than in the previous election in 1999 — in the 545-member lower house of India's
CARACAS â According to Venezuelan vice-president Jose Vicente Rangel, 130 individuals have been detained after a group of 70 Colombian paramilitary on May 9. Several dozen people have been presented before military judges, including 13 men captured
Doug Lorimer
On June 30, the US-British Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) that currently rules Iraq will hand over governance of the country to a new US embassy headed by John Negroponte. This embassy will be staffed by 1200 US officials and
Doug Lorimer
Ahmad Chalabi, who up until a few months ago had been the Bush administration's favourite to head Washington's puppet regime in Iraq, now stands accused of duping the US into invading Iraq.
On May 18, US deputy defence secretary Paul
Raul Bassi
Because it is so directly dominated by US imperialism, it's in Latin America that the struggle against global neoliberalism has developed to the maximum. The dismal failure of neoliberal policies across the continent has left country
Robyn Marshall, Caracas
The peasants of the Venezuelan countryside are being terrorised. Three peasant leaders were assassinated on April 23, in the state of Portuguesa.
All of the leaders — Jose Rodriguez, Gabriel Paredes and Juan Baptista —
Sam Pillay
Seven days after India's voters ditched the Hindu chauvinist BJP-led government of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Manmohan Singh was shown in as India's 14th prime minister, at the head of a new Congress Party-led government.
The
Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia, the first US soldier to go public with his refusal to fight Bush's war in Iraq, was convicted of desertion on May 21 and sentenced to a bad conduct discharge and one year of hard labor. Tod Ensign, the director of GI
Roberto Jorquera
On May 6, US President George Bush announced new measures to tighten the 43-year US economic embargo against Cuba, based on recommendations made in a 450-page report to Bush from the presidential Commission for Assistance to a Free
Culture
Steps for the Future: Sincerely Yours — Acclaimed South African filmmaker Dumisani Phakathi returns to his old neighbourhood of Phiri and its social problems, in the black township of Soweto. SBS, Tuesday, June 8, 12.40am.
Cutting Edge:
James Vassilopoulos, Canberra
The Australian Capital Territory branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU) organised three days of rolling stoppages at public schools on May 26-28 to press teachers' demand for pay parity with their colleagues
BY KERRYN WILLIAMS
Michael Moore's anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 won the Palme d'Or award for best film at the Cannes film festival on May 22.
On May 23, Moore posted on his website: "I fully expect the right wing and the Republican Party
One China, Many PathsEdited by Wang ChaohuaVerso, 2003368 pages, $46 (hb)
REVIEW BY EVA CHENG
Two fundamental questions about China over the last decade confront the left: Is the country heading definitively towards capitalism, and are there
Jim McIlroy, Brisbane
"We sailors who go to sea are all 'boat people'", the captain of the Eureka, one of two yachts making up the Flotillas of Hope, told a crowd of around 250 people on May 23.
The send-off was held on the banks of the Brisbane
Jenny Long, Sydney
The Council of Social Service of New South Wales (NCOSS) has condemned the decision of the NSW Labor government to close two important employment and training programs that assist skilled migrants and mature workers. A
Super Size Me: A Film of Epic PortionsWritten, directed by and starring Morgan SpurlockScreening nationally at Dendy cinemas. REVIEWED BY LACHLAN MALLOCH.
Fat Land: How Americans Became the Fattest People in the WorldBy Greg CritserAllen Lane, London, 2003232 pages, $29.95 (pb)
REVIEW BY ALEX MILLER
In a gruesome passage in chapter 10 of the first volume of Capital, Marx wrote of the "incredible
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World Refugee Day launched
CANBERRA â Banners supporting refugee rights and a field of 500 hearts surrounded speakers launching World Refugee Day on the ACT Legislative Assembly lawns on May 24.
The "Field of Hearts" installation for
Editorial
In the wake of the still unfolding Abu Ghraib prisoner torture scandal, a voter backlash against Australia's participation in the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq appears to be burying the Coalition government's re-election prospects.
An AC