Raul Bassi, Sydney
At a press conference on July 9, Guantanamo Bay detainee David Hick's father Terry and former detainee and torture victim Mamdouh Habib met for the first time. Following this emotional meeting, 150 people attended a public forum
Issue 634
News
CANBERRA — Unions ACT is planning an 8-10am protest on August 9, on the front lawns of Parliament House. The gathering, on the day of the first sitting of the new Senate, will protest the federal Coalition government's proposed anti-worker
Jim McIlroy, Brisbane
At dawn on July 12, 130 police officers invaded the site of Camp Platypus on the banks of the Obi Obi Creek, in the small Sunshine Coast hinterland town of Maleny, to evict 60 protesters who had occupied the area of a
Pip Hinman, Sydney
In the wake of the London bombings and the decision by Australia to send more troops to Afghanistan, a snap protest on July 15 called by Sydney's Stop the War Coalition drew some 60 people, who gathered to listen to community
"The Australian government has taken full advantage of East Timor's fragile financial position and gotten away with an act of thievery that would not have been tolerated by any Western country", businessperson Ian Melrose said on July 14.
Melrose
BRISBANE — Around 150 people attended the first Brisbane Latin America film festival at the Activist Centre in Fortitude Valley on July 7-9.
A fundraiser for Green Left Weekly, the new Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network, and Australian
MELBOURNE — Around 500 student activists gathered at Monash University from July 11 to 15 for the Students of Sustainability (SOS) conference.
The conference opening was addressed by representatives of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, Aboriginal
BRISBANE — A group of residents at Esk in the Brisbane valley, 80 km west of the city, are fighting to prevent the establishment of large-scale poultry farms in the area. Several farms are already operational, having been approved by local
Selena Black, Melbourne
Australia Post has taken disciplinary action against more than 185 workers and docked their pay for taking part in the June 30 mass protest against PM John Howard's industrial relations changes. The workers defied an
On June 12, Zely Ariane from the Indonesian People's Democratic Party thanked contributors to Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific's People Power Fighting Fund, for raising $3900 towards her participation in the Australia-Venezuela
PERTH — Queer Collaborations is an annual conference for queer student activists, and the only regular national queer activist conference in Australia. This year's conference took place on July 3-8 at the University of Western Australia, and was
BRISBANE — The 16th annual Ecopolitics Conference was held at Griffith University on July 4-6, on the theme of "transforming environmental governance for the 21st century". More than 100 participants from the activist community, academia and
Kerry Vernon, Newcastle
The Newcastle University council voted by a 75% majority on July 12 for a proposal to cut 250 general staff jobs, for an estimated saving of $15 million a year, and 162 academic staff jobs to save $16 million a year.
DARWIN — There has been widespread opposition to federal science minister Brendan Nelson's July 15 announcement of plans for a nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory.
The plans involve storing nuclear waste from Sydney's Lucas Heights
Graham Matthews, Sydney
"I was inspired by the July 1 [Unions NSW organised Sky Channel] meetings because of the people around me", John Kaye, former Greens Senate candidate and National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) activist told a July 12 Green
Back in March, the Green Left Weekly email discussion list had touched 500 subscribers, The list is now approaching 700 subscribers.
While all subscribers don't necessarily read all posts and attention to the exchanges varies, this nonetheless
Back in March, the Green Left Weekly email discussion list had touched 500 subscribers, The list is now approaching 700 subscribers.
World
Yara International, the world's biggest fertiliser corporation, has ceased its operations in Western Sahara, after its purchase of large quantities of phosphates from the occupied country was publicly revealed. The Norwegian Support Committee for
Mobil Oil Micronesia, the sole fuel supplier in Majuro, has been accused of trying to blackmail the local utility company to agree to unreasonable profit margins for Mobil. A diesel supply contract expired late last year, and negotiations for a new
Venezuela's National Union of Workers (UNT) is a relatively new union federation, formed just over two years ago to replace the CTV, the old corrupt and right-wing union federation. Inspired by the pro-poor policies of the government of President
Stuart Munckton
A Venezuelan court ruled on July 7 that four leaders of the opposition to the left-wing government of Hugo Chavez will stand trial over charges of "conspiring against the republican form of the nation".
The four are leaders of the
Tom Crumpacker, Miami
The administration led by US President George Bush has done an excellent job of confusing the public about its plans regarding Luis Posada Carriles, the former CIA operative who blew up a civilian Cubana airliner in 1976,
Rohan Pearce
The response of US President George Bush and the other leaders of the "coalition of the willing" to the horrific July 7 bombings in London was never in doubt — they confirmed the need to "stay the course" in Iraq, allegedly because
As the government and business lobby for an increased US military presence on Guam, indigenous Chamorro activists have escalated their anti-bases campaign, condemning the government's lack of consultation with the people. "It's a shameful act on the
Coca-Cola is establishing operations in the Tirunelveli district and intends to draw 9000 litres of water per day from the Tamirabarani river, which is the main water source for Tirunelveli, Kovilpatti and Sattur. In addition to massive water
An Iraqi humanitarian organisation has calculated that 128,000 Iraqis have been killed since the US-led invasion began in March 2003, United Press International reported on July 12. Dr Hatim al Alwani, chairperson of the Baghdad-based Iraqiyun, said
Reihana Mohideen, Manila
Around 65,000 people filled the streets of the business district in Makati on July 13, demanding that Philippines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) step down. The protesters also rejected her constitutional successor,
Castro: 'Never before has inequality been so great'
On June 15-16, heads of government and foreign ministers from the Group of 77 (G77) member-countries and China met in Doha, Qatar, for the Second South Summit. The G77, the largest coalition of
Socialist Party of Timor (PST) general secretary Avelino da Silva recently visited Sydney and spoke to Green Left Weekly's Max Lane about East Timor's local elections, which began in December and will continue through to August.
Elections are held
On July 14, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez revealed the results of a new survey, in which 47.9% of people polled favoured a socialist government; 25.7% supported capitalism and 24.6% did not answer. The poll was conducted between May 26 and June 9
John Pilger, London
In all the coverage of the July 7 bombings in London, a basic truth is struggling to be heard. It is this: No-one doubts the atrocious inhumanity of those who planted the bombs, but no-one should also doubt that this has been
Marce Cameron
Cuba was hit hard by Hurricane Dennis, the most ferocious storm to lash the Caribbean island nation in four decades. It caused the deaths of 16 Cubans and left a swathe of wreckage in its wake. The death toll would have been far
On July 12, two busloads of retrenched workers and their families went to Putra Jaya to deliver a memorandum to the prime minister, requesting intervention in their dispute with plantation giant Guthrie. The workers were retrenched in December 1999,
On July 12, police brutally attacked and opened fire on a peaceful protest at the Frontier Hospital in Queenstown, Eastern Cape. The 700-strong protest, organised by the Treatment Action Campaign, was demanding anti-retroviral treatment for people
Kim Bullimore
Five Israelis were killed in the seaside town of Netanya on July 11, along with a Palestinian militant from Islamic Jihad, who detonated a suicide bomb. Eighty other Israelis were wounded in the blast.
According to a statement
Alex Bainbridge, London
Marxism 2005, the annual public conference organised by the British Socialist Workers Party (SWP), was scheduled to begin July 7 — the day of the London terrorist bombings — at a venue close to one of the explosions. The
Raul Bassi
Green Left Weekly 630 carried an article by Stuart Munckton titled "Kirchner's way out of crisis". Although I do not dispute his conclusions, I believe the article presented a partial view of the Argentine government led by Nestor
Michael Karadjis
The massacre of 8000 defenceless Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in July 1995 stands as the most horrific crime in a long line of crimes in the Balkans during the 1990s. The prime responsibility for this
Culture
The Profits of Extermination: How US Corporate Power is Destroying ColombiaBy Francisco Ramierez CuellarIntroduction and translation by Aviva ChomskyCommon Courage Press141 pages, $20Order via <info@commoncouragepress.com>
REVIEW BY BARRY
Sit Down and SingRoy Bailey with Martin Simpson & John KirkpatrickFuse Records, 2005Available from <http://www.roybailey.net>
REVIEW BY ALEX MILLER
Roy Bailey is based in Sheffield, England, and is described by veteran British
Compass: The Artist, the QC and the RefugeeProduced by Marcus GillezeauScreening on ABC, Sunday, July 24, 10.05pm
The Artist, the QC and the Refugee tells the story of an apparently conservative QC, Julian Burnside, and artist Kate Durham, who
September 11: The Intelligence Failures — Claims to provide irrefutable proof that the German and US secret services could have prevented the 9/11 terror attacks. SBS, Friday, July 22, 2pm.
Message Stick: The Long Grasses — About the Indigenous
Fidel: My Early YearsBy Fidel CastroOcean Press, 2005198 pages, $16.95 (pb)
REVIEW BY OWEN RICHARDS
Cuba supporters everywhere were heartened by the immense success of the Walter Salles film adaptation of Che Guevara's The Motorcycle Diaries,