Simon Butler, Newcastle
The mining division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has welcomed the August 9 conviction of the companies and individuals responsible for events that led to the tragic deaths of four coal
Issue 597
News
Chris Slee, Melbourne
Donna Mulhearn, an Australian volunteer aid worker who has lived and worked in Baghdad for six months, and who visited Fallujah while the city was under attack by US forces, spoke to 50 people at a public meeting organised by
Iggy Kim, Sydney
"Truth" and "lies" (and "rodents") are fast becoming hackneyed election buzz words. But the national "End the lies" rallies being held on the weekend before the elections will put back some of the real content.
Since the election
Chris Latham, Perth
On August 31, Australian Defence Industries informed the Western Australian Equal Opportunity Commission that it intends to apply for an exemption from the WA Equal Opportunity Act.
If upheld, the application would allow ADI
2
'Make refugee rights a political issue'
BRISBANE — "The best thing we can do to help the refugees is to make refugee rights a key political issue", Aladdin Sisalem, the last asylum seeker to be held on Manus Island, told a public meeting of
Jon Lamb, Darwin
On September 2, a cross-union meeting of academic and general staff at Charles Darwin University voted not to accept the university's offer of a 10% wage rise, and discussed taking industrial action.
Up to 1500 staff members may
Jim McIlroy, Brisbane
"Time for a change: Refugees; Iraq; Medicare; social services; education; Aboriginal rights. Join a range of community groups to say 'enough is enough'."
This call is featured on publicity for Brisbane's "Time for a change"
Jenny Long, Sydney
As part of its campaign against new job-threatening multi-year contracts to clean schools and other public buildings announced in June by the NSW Labor government, the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU) announced
BRISBANE — The Brisbane Timor Leste Goodwill Coalition for Justice in the Timor Sea has launched "A Fair Go for Timor Leste" campaign, with plans to distribute a brochure over the period September 4-14 outlining the case for East Timor.
World
Doug Lorimer
On August 30, rebel Shiite leader Moqtada al Sadr instructed his Mahdi Army militia to suspend attacks on US-led occupation troops and their puppet Iraqi security forces. The decision followed a three-week US-led assault on the Iraqi
Rohan Pearce & Alison Dellit
The appalling end to the hostage crisis in Beslan, Russia on September 4, which left more than 300 dead, had people all over the world horrified. The killing of so many children helped neither the Chechens fighting the
Doug Lorimer
In the wake of his victory in the August 15-16 presidential recall referendum in which he received the backing of 59% of voters, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called on the country's private business operators to work with his
Lance Selfa, Chicago
Officials in an administration that has gotten the US bogged down in an unpopular war and overseen a net loss of jobs and a net increase in poverty should be polishing their resumes for their inevitable defeat in November. Yet
Meredith Aby, Minneapolis
Colombia is the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade unionist. On average, right-wing paramilitary death squads or the military murder three Colombian trade unionists a week. Many more are threatened each day.
Eva Cheng
Just after midnight on August 18, five grassroots organisers of the Communist Party of India Marxist-Leninist (Liberation), retired after yet another busy day in the party's Paliganj local office, near Patna, the capital city of the
Michael Shaik
Deepening the rift between the United States and Europe, the US government led by President George Bush is supporting Israel's plans to build a further 533 settlement homes in THE West Bank on top of the 1000 construction tenders
Rohan Pearce
It was the biggest-ever protest against a political convention in the United States. The August 29 demonstration against the Republican National Convention was a resounding rejection of the White House and its "war on terror". The
Norman Brewer, Berlin
On August 30, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of eastern Germany's cities for the fourth Monday in a row to protest the plans of Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic-Greens coalition government
David Zirin
The modern Olympic games began in 1898 as a place for imperial rivals, in the process of carving up the world from Cuba to the Congo to the Philippines, to wave flags and use sports to whip up a nationalist frenzy. Since those times,
Norm Dixon
On August 30, United Nations secretary-general Kofi Annan reported to the Security Council's 15 members that, despite a failure to meet "some of the core commitments it has made", the government of Sudan had made "some progress" in
Fred Fuentes
Mass protests are shaking Bolivia, forcing interim President Carlos Mesa to back down from his threat not to authorise any new bills until his hydrocarbon law was passed, unamended and without discussion.
Mesa had claimed that the
UNITED STATES: DOJ drops subpoena on ISP worker
On September 1, the US Department of Justice abandoned an attempt to subpoena Nicholas Merrill, a worker at Calyx Internet Access, the internet service provider for New York City's Indymedia website,
Culture
I, RobotDirected by Alex ProyasStarring Will Smith, Bridget Moynahan and Alan TudykThe Stepford WivesDirected by Frank OzStarring Nicole Kidman, Matthew Broderick, Bette Midler, Glenn Close and Christopher Walken
REVIEW BY RJURIK DAVIDSON
The
Travels in American IraqBy John Martinkus
Black Inc books, 2004224 pages, $24.95 pb
REVIEW BY ANNA SAMSON
Smart bombs. Guided missiles. Minimal collateral damage. Attacks on high-value targets. All phrases designed to give the impression that
LondonTheir message:Two hundred thousand miscellaneous persons, surging streets.It was the arthritic knees ignored(Grandmother Edith's first march);It was the lunch missed,the school test - zero scorethe prioritisation of expressed disgust(red
Message Stick: Ankula Watjarira — Follows the Ernabella Choir — established in the Ernabella Mission in remote South Australia in the '50s — as it travels to the Adelaide Festival, blending Western hymns into Pitjantjatjara language. ABC,
Silent StormSBSSeptember 9, 8.30pm
REVIEW BY JIM GREEN
Silent Storm tells the fascinating story of CSIRO scientist Hedley Marston and his battle to alert the Australian public about radioactive contamination from the British atomic tests carried
Editorial
The August 27 Court of Appeal decision to jail militant unionist Craig Johnston is a sharp illustration of the class prejudices of Australia's legal system. While Johnston is locked up because of property damage sustained during an industrial