Graham Matthews, Sydney
Workers employed at the Esselte stationary warehouse in Sydney's south-west suburb of Minto have been "offered" individual contracts (AWAs) that would give them a pay rise of $47, but cut 18 allowances they currently enjoy,
Issue 674
News
SYDNEY — On June 27, 57 owner-drivers who deliver beer for the Tooheys brewery company voted to accept a new contract negotiated by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) with Tooheys and transport company Linfox.
When it was announced that Linfox
In an earlier column, I wrote that capitalists, unlike earlier ruling classes, have no motive to preserve the environment because their exploitation is based on value rather than on physical products. Where the feudal lord sought grain or fine
Emma Clancy, Sydney
Radical young activists from around Australia will be converging on Sydney from July 8-10 for three days of political discussion and campaign planning at the 35th Resistance national conference, themed "Unfuck the world:
Pip Hinman
Human rights activists have welcomed the US Supreme Court's decision, on June 29, declaring the military commissions for Guantanamo Bay prisoners illegal. Raul Bassi from the Cantebury-Bankstown Peace Group, which has campaigned to free
SYDNEY — Twenty unionists picketed the George Street Optus shop on June 29, to protest the sacking via text messages of 70 Optus technicians. The workers were told in a subsequent meeting that they could reapply for their jobs as individual
Emma Clancy
These three young activists will be special guests at the July 8-10 Resistance national conference in Sydney.
Maria Rosa Jimenez, Venezuela
Maria Rosa Jimenez is the head of student affairs of the Venezuelan socialist youth
In George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman, Act 3, a group of brigands sit near a road high in the Sierra Nevada in Spain, discussing politics. Mendoza, their leader, presides over a discussion ranging from anarchism to social democracy. Suddenly the
John Vidovich & Rachel Evans
After campaigning for over a year, queer students at Western Australia's Edith Cowan University (ECU) have finally won a space for the use of queer students, — as exists on most campuses.
"Women's and indigenous
PERTH — On June 25, 50 people attended a rally organised by the Refugee Rights Action Network (RRAN) for World Refugee Day, to protest the Australian government's refugee policies and legislation that would send asylum seekers who arrive in
MELBOURNE — Civil-rights campaigners have welcomed the US Supreme Court ruling to scrap the Bush administration's military commissions. "These commissions were about finding people guilty without evidence or proper procedures", Civil Rights Defence
Green Left Weekly is taking a one-week break from publication. Our next issue will be dated July 19.From Green Left Weekly, July 5, 2006.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.
Commander-in-chief all at sea
"I think — tide turning — see, as I remember — I was raised in the desert, but tides kind of — it's easy to see a tide turn — did I say those words?" — Emperor George Bush II, June 14, responding to a
Emma Clancy
The Howard government's Higher Education Support Amendment (Abolition of Compulsory Up-front Student Union Fees) Act 2005 — also known as the "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) law — came into effect on July 1.
The most serious
SYDNEY — Up to 400 people marched from Wiley Park to Lakemba on July 2 in support of a free Palestine and against the latest Israeli offensive. Chants at the protest included "Israel, you will see — Palestine will be free" and "Israel must
Kerry Smith
Engineered nanoparticles are being used in virtually every type of personal care product on the market, from sunscreens and anti-aging creams to shampoos and toothpastes, despite preliminary scientific evidence that many types of
Sandy Whelan
In the lead-up to the June 28 union protests against the Work Choices laws, Australia Post issued a number of bulletins warning staff that taking industrial action under the current enterprise agreement was illegal and that
Rachel Evans
As the effects of climate change begin to be felt around the world and with the Howard government pushing for increased uranium mining in Australia, the need for a strong, grassroots environment movement has never been so urgent.
The
World
Eva Cheng
On June 16, Nepal's governing Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the rebel Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which has been waging an anti-monarchy, anti-landlord guerrilla war since 1996, reached agreement to form an interim government that
Jon Lamb
The political crisis in East Timor has deepened following the resignation of East Timorese Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri on June 26. As pro and anti-government protests and gang violence continue, a resolution of the present crisis has been
On July 2, elections for a constituent assembly and a referendum on regional autonomy were held in Bolivia. A week earlier, Pablo Stefanoni spoke with President Evo Morales about the new assembly and Morales's first five months in government. The
The following is an abridged version of a statement issued on June 23 by the Laban ng Masa (Struggle of the Masses) coalition of left-wing political and social movemen t activists. Under President Gloria Arroyo's government, at least 124 leftist
Alex Miller, London
Some 220 members of the University and College Union (UCU) met at the London Metropolitan University on June 24 to launch the UCU Left, an organised progressive platform within the 120,000-strong union, which was formed when the
Long-time activist and national secretary of the All India Progressive Women's Association Ajanta Lohit was diagnosed recently with liver cancer after suffering from breast cancer since 2001. Chemotherapy has begun with the support of impoverished
Tim Anderson
"We did not expect that the elected leader of a party with an overwhelming mandate could be forced to stand down in this way in a democracy." — Fretilin press release, June 26, 2006.
Backed by a foreign army, and with his country's
Jim McIlroy& Coral Wynter, Caracas
General Raul Isaias Baduel, commander-in-chief of the Venezuelan Armed Forces (FAN) and a key figure in restoring President Hugo Chavez to power after the April 2002 US-backed coup, warned that "One scenario that
Allen Myers, Phnom Penh
Several hundred members and supporters of the Women's Network for Unity (WNU), the union of sex workers, gathered on June 28 to celebrate the organisation's sixth anniversary.
The events began on the bank of the Tonle Sap
Zoe Kenny
The 20-year international moratorium on commercial whaling suffered a blow from the Japan-led campaign against it at this year's International Whaling Commission (IWC) meeting, which was held on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts on June
Coral Wynter & Jim McIlroy, Caracas
Hernan Durango is a Colombian journalist for the progressive Venezuelan daily newspaper Diario Vea, who was forced to flee his homeland eight months ago due to death threats from right-wing forces. In Colombia he
Eva Cheng
There has been a wave of support within India and internationally to an the appeal for solidarity by the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist Liberation) against the recent persecution of its general secretary, Dipankar
Coral Wynter & Jim McIlroy, Caracas
On the June 4 edition of his weekly television program Alo Presidente, President Hugo Chavez announced the formation of a new social mission — Mission Tree — commencing a major campaign to save Venezuela's
Doug Lorimer
On June 25, the US-backed Iraqi prime minister, Nuri al Maliki, announced before the Iraqi parliament a 24-point "national reconciliation" plan, ostensibly an "olive branch" to Iraqi resistance fighters. At a Baghdad press conference
Culture
'Honour': crimes, paradigms, and violence against womenEdited by Lyn Welchman and Sara HossainSpinifex Press, Melbourne, 2005$39.95 (pb)
REVIEW BY FRANCIE CAMPBELL
'Honour' is an informative collection of 16 essays on the theme of "honour
Message Stick: Broken Borders — What impact is urbanisation having on Indigenous Australians and what does this mean for the future of Aboriginality? ABC, Friday, July 7, 6pm.
Inside the Orange Revolution — Focuses on individuals' stories
Sex WarsBy Marge PiercyPiatkus, 2005411 pages, $32.95 (pb)
REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON
It is the last decades of the 19th century in the US and women are stirring. Elizabeth Cady Stanton lectures and writes on the right of women to vote. Her
Australian peace activist Ciaron O'Reilly is awaiting his third trial in Dublin in July, on charges arising from the disabling of a US warplane en route to Iraq at Shannon Airport in February 2003. He is one of five activists charged, the other four