Chris Slee, Melbourne
The August 3 meeting of Australia-Asia Worker Links discussed how unions should respond to "offshoring" — the transfer of work from Australia to other countries.
The feature speaker was Steve Cilia, a former IBM worker now
Issue 593
News
Sue Bolton
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) held its biennial conference in Sydney on July 26-30. Delegates to the conference report that it was quite different to the previous conference with a lot of guest speakers and not a lot
James Crafti, Melbourne
Zoe Kenny, Socialist Alliance candidate for the federal Seat of Melbourne, has welcomed the call by Richard Frankland, founder of the new pro-Indigenous Your Voice party, for a bill of rights.
"We hope to be able to work
3
Central Queensland protests US base
Over 10% of the population of Yepoon, central Queensland, rallied on August 1 against plans for a joint US-Australia military "training centre" in nearby Shoalwater Bay.
Hundreds of people took to the town
Amanda Zivcic, Wollongong
Wollongong Resistance and Illawarra Socialist Alliance have embarked on a joint campaign to lower the voting age to 16.
Raffaele Fantasia, a year-11 student at Edmund Rice College, told Green Left Weekly: "Young people
Susan Austin, Hobart
"The issue of old-growth forests has been dominating the political debate in Tasmania", the Wilderness Society's Geoff Law told 500 people who turned up to the University of Tasmania on August 3 to hear him debate Forestry
Sue Bull, Geelong
On July 31, militant unionists from Melbourne and Ballarat converged on Geelong for a day of discussions with local unionists about how to build unions that are fighting instruments in defence of their members' economic and
Kiraz Janicke, Perth
Two-hundred people heard Ali Kazak, head of the Palestinian delegation to Australia, speak at public forums in Perth, Fremantle, Darlington, Curtin University and the University of Western Australia (UWA) during the first week
Michael McDonald, Brisbane
On August 3, a public meeting at City Hall on the theme "Australia at the Crossroads" was attended by 800 people. The meeting called for "Howard out", but also for any new government to govern in the interests of all
Rachel Evans
At a National Marriage Coalition forum held in Canberra on August 4, federal Labor shadow attorney-general Nicola Roxon said the ALP would pass the Howard government's gay marriage ban during the current sitting of parliament.
The
Kathy Newnam
Over 10% of the population of Yepoon, in central Queensland, rallied on August 1 against plans for a joint US-Australia military "training centre" in nearby Shoalwater Bay.
Hundreds of people took to the town centre to demand that
SYDNEY — On August 3, University of Western Sydney students protested against the increasing course and subject cuts at the university's Bankstown campus. The cuts will affect at least 80% of Bankstown students, and are being implemented to
2
Rally marks Hiroshima Day
BRISBANE — Two-hundred people gathered in King George Square on August 6 to mark the anniversary of the US nuclear bombing of Hiroshima in 1945. The rally was followed by a candlelight procession on the theme
World
David Bacon, Los Angeles
On June 22, the national convention of the Service Employees International Union — with 1.7 million members, the largest union in the US — voted unanimously to oppose the occupation of Iraq.
A few days later, a
ZIMBABWE: Trade unionists arrested
On August 5, five union leaders were arrested under the Public Order and Security Act for "conducting a riot, disorder or intolerance". The four leaders were attending a Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions workshop
Doug Lorimer
In the wake of rebel Iraqi Shiite leader Sayed Moqtada al Sadr's refusal to collaborate with Washington's puppet Interim Government of Iraq (IGI), US occupation forces have violated their ceasefire agreement with Sadr's Madhi Army
Eva Cheng
If you believe the corporate media's spin, on July 31 the World Trade Organisation's 147 members agreed democratically on a "framework" that will help revive negotiations on world trade rules that were scuttled last September. Poor
Norman Brewer, Berlin
There is talk of an upcoming heisser herbst (hot autumn) in Germany at the moment. Already, Montagsdemonstrationen (Monday demonstrations) have resumed in East Germany.
The tradition goes back to 1989, when mass protests
Alison Dellit
Cuban President Fidel Castro Ruz used his July 26 speech commemorating the 1953 attack on the Moncada Barracks to refute US State Department allegations about prostitution in Cuba.
On July 16, US President George Bush described Cuba
Norm Dixon
For at least 18 months now, Western governments have quietly stood by as the non-Arabic-speaking black farmers of the Darfur region in western Sudan have borne the brunt of a vicious ethnic-cleansing campaign carried out by
Independent US presidential candidate Ralph Nader recently spoke with Joshua Frank, author of the forthcoming book Left Out! How Liberals Did Bush's Work for Him.
Given how worried the Democrats appear to be about your presidential run taking votes
Doug Lorimer
"I advise all countries that want to help Iraq not to send forces here. If such forces come to Iraq, they will be seen as collaborators of the occupation", Iraqi Shiite leader Sayed Moqtada al Sadr declared in a sermon in Kufa on July
Culture
The History WarsBy Stuart Macintyre and Anna ClarkMelbourne University Publishing 2003288 pages, $29.95
REVIEW BY BRONWYN POWELL & IGGY KIM
History, and the lessons that we derive from it, is a weapon in social struggle; all sides wield it as a
Indonesia: Art, Activism and Rock 'N' Roll — The members of Taring Padi use art as a medium for education and liberation to empower the working classes of Indonesia. SBS, Friday, August 13, 3.30pm.
Message Stick: Bob Maza — Profiles Bob Maza,
BY BUSTER SOUTHERLY
The Rio Rancho Public School District in New Mexico has settled the federal lawsuit brought against it on behalf of Bill Nevins, the Green Left Weekly writer and poetry teacher fired by the district in 2003. A settlement in
Bushwhacked: Life in George. W. Bush's AmericaBy Molly Ivins & Lou DuboseAllison and Busby & Wakefield Press, 2004$22.95(pb)
REVIEW BY ALEX MILLER
In a well-known passage of the Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Frederick Engels comment on how
WarWritten by Lars NorenDirected by Frank McNamaraNew Theatre, Newtown, SydneyUntil August 21Bookings (02) 9519 8958$25/$20
REVIEW BY RACHEL EVANS
War, written by one of Europe's most prolific playwrights, is a confronting, incisive portrayal of