Saharawi refugee and preschool teacher Fetim Sellami is a central character in the Australian documentary Stolen, a film set in the refugee camps in south-west Algeria that have been home to 165,000 Saharawi refugees since their country, Western Sahara, was invaded by Morocco in 1975.
However, when she and her husband, Baba Hocine Mahfoud, attended its June 11 premiere at the Sydney Film Festival, they did not receive red carpet treatment, despite the long distance they had travelled.
Analysis
The Rudd government will send a 40-member delegation, led by deputy prime minister Julia Gillard, to an “Australia Israel Leadership Forum” in Jerusalem on June 25-26. The government’s decision is yet further confirmation of its desire to outdo the former Howard government in blind support for Israel.
In May, visiting US ecologist Bill McKibben spoke at a packed forum at the University of Sydney. He put a compelling case for emergency action on climate change. In short, we must act now and act decisively. Otherwise the planet will become uninhabitable.
We would have loved for them to be bigger, but the June 13 national climate rallies were an unmistakable step forward for the climate action movement. More than 11,000 rallied nationally, making them the largest climate actions yet in the era of PM Kevin Rudd.
Despite widespread opposition, forest giant Gunns Ltd is still pressing ahead with its proposed pulp mill in the pristine Tamar Valley in northern Tasmania. But the campaign against it shows no signs of going away.
“I would have been concerned if it was a dog or some other animal who died in those conditions, but since it was only a black-fella …”
At first glance, the climate change policy decided at the June 2-4 Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) national congress looks serious. Global warming is the policy challenge of our time, it declares.
The June 2-4 Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) congress passed a series of motions calling on the federal government to abandon plans to build a radioactive waste dump in the Northern Territory.
On May 31 in Melbourne, 5000 angry students marched against the increasing number of violent attacks on Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi students.
Marion Scrymgour — the highest ranking Aboriginal member of any government in Australia — quit the Northern Territory Labor Party over its Aboriginal policy on June 4. As an independent, she now holds the balance of power.
Say it loud, say it clear! Racists are not welcome here! chanted protesters at the steps of Federation Square in Melbourne on June 10.
Three months after wining a state election, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has been given the green light by the June 6-7 ALP state conference to push ahead with her $15 billion sell-off of state-owned assets.
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