Issue 646

Tim Doughney The next major anti-war protests, to be held on November 5 and 6 around Australia, will focus on the main aspects of the "war on terror", calling for the immediate withdrawal of foreign troops from Iraq, and also an end to the attacks

Barry Healy, Perth Venezuela is making great gains in health-care delivery, said local doctor Colin Hughes in an eyewitness account of his recent visit as part of an Australia-Venezuela solidarity brigade. At the public meeting in Darlington on

Pip Hinman, Sydney "It seems that the Howard government is happy to recognise same-sex partnerships to deny us our civil rights, but when it comes to extending rights, they exclude us", Community Action Against Homophobia (CAAH) spokesperson Rachel

Terry Costello, Melbourne At a Your Rights at Work forum on October 17, Community and Public Sector Union assistant national secretaries Margaret Gillespie and Stephen Jones signaled their intention not to mobilise members against the federal

Marie Martinez, Darwin Under public pressure about the cuts to more than 300 subjects at Charles Darwin University (CDU), Vice-Chancellor Helen Garnett told local ABC Radio on September 30 that there would be no courses lost. Since then, the CDU

Kathy Newnam, Darwin On October 19, social justice campaigner Stuart Highway was sentenced to eight months' jail, suspended after three months, for his involvement in a smoke-in on October 2002. The smoke-in, organised by the drug-law reform

SYDNEY — Anthony Albanese, the Labor MP for the federal electorate of Grayndler, opened a forum on public health care at Marrickville Town Hall on October 18. Attended by 260 people, the forum was also addressed by shadow health minister Julia

Simon Cunich, Sydney On October 18, an otherwise normal day in Newtown turned into an exercise in intimidation by the state as scores of police, some on horse-back, some with attack dogs in paddy waggons, stationed themselves outside the Newtown

Alex Bainbridge, Hobart Six months after they forced Forestry Tasmania to promise a six-month moratorium on logging and road construction in the Weld Valley, protesters have returned to make sure the forests are saved. The Weld Valley, a

SYDNEY — On October 20, the Australia Western Sahara Association held a protest outside NSW Parliament House, addressed by, among others, the Polisario representative in Australia and AWSA president Nick O'Neill. Unions NSW secretary John Robertson

Alex Bainbridge, Hobart After years of advocating for a bill to legalise brothels, the state government announced on October 5 that it would amend draft legislation to instead ban brothels outright. The new legislation was passed by Tasmania's

Since September 29, up to 1200 Sudanese refugees have been holding a sit-in near the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) regional office in Cairo, demanding protection from forced repatriation and protesting poor conditions and human-rights

Doug Lorimer While US President George Bush praised the October 15 referendum on the new Iraqi constitution as evidence of Iraq's "progress toward democracy", preliminary results of the voting released by the Independent Election Commission of Iraq

According to a new survey by Mossawa, the Advocacy Centre for Arab Citizens in Israel, 45% of Jewish Israelis oppose the decision to reopen the investigation into the October 2000 killing of 13 Israeli Arab citizens by Israeli police and military.

Reihana Mohideen, Manila Around 2000 delegates from factory unions and urban poor organisations attended a Working People's Summit organised by Laban ng Masa (Struggle of the Masses) on October 17. Laban ng Masa is a new left coalition that has

On October 20, Nigeria reached an agreement with the rich, creditor countries of the Paris Club for the cancellation of US$18 billion of Nigeria's US$35.9 billion debt. However, in return, Nigeria had to commit to paying the Paris Club $12.4 billion,

In Hidalgo, Mexico, a group of young, mostly female workers as young as 13 years of age have been illegally locked out for protesting their unsafe, unjust working conditions (including child labour violations, forced pregnancy testing and appalling

James Balowski, Jakarta Attending a ceremony to mark the 60th anniversary of the Indonesian military (TNI) on October 5, just days after the deadly bombing in Bali, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono instructed the TNI to "take part in effectively

Stuart Munckton The Venezuelan government has reacted to fresh allegations, originating from inside the US. According to an October 11 Venezuelanalysis.com article, the Miami-based Inter-American Press Association accused the left-wing government

Stuart Munckton Venezuela's poverty rate is expected to drop from 47% in 2004 to 35% by the end of 2005, according to figures from Venezuela's National Institute of Statistics (INE). The figure was calculated to be at 38.5% half-way through this

Federico Fuentes, Caracas Some 500 residents of the township of Cumanacoa, in the state of Sucre — mostly workers and cooperative members directly or indirectly employed by the local sugar processing plant, Central Azucarero Cumanacoa — turned

BY MAX WATTS Georgi Plekhanov, a Russian who translated Karl Marx's writings and introduced them to Lenin, wrote a lot about the role of the individual, or the accident, in history. He thought that at certain times when the "masses" moved,

Australian Rules — Tells the story of an adolescent boy struggling with family conflicts and inter-racial turmoil in the lonely fishing village where he lives. SBS, Sunday, October 30, 9.30pm. Living Black — Indigenous news and current affairs

Australian DreamPoetry by Mohsen SoltaniCD $30Available from <http://www.stickylabel.com.au> REVIEW BY SARAH STEPHEN Imagine life beginning as a young, idealistic poet in Iran, uncovering government corruption and trying to expose it,