564

ACT introduces industrial manslaughter laws

BY PAUL OBOOHOV CANBERRA — The ACT Legislative Assembly passed the first industrial manslaughter laws in Australia on November 27. The legislation, introduced by the ACT Labor government, was supported by two independent MLAs and Greens MLA

IRAQ: US arrests unemployed activists

BY ROHAN PEARCE On November 23, US soldiers in Baghdad arrested Kasim Hadi and Adil Salih. Hadi and Salih are activists with the Union of the Unemployed in Iraq (UUI). It was not the first time that UUI members have been arrested by US forces. In

Save the Ridge activists step up campaign

BY PAUL OBOOHOV CANBERRA — The Save The Ridge campaign group is intensifying its campaign to defend the area of bushland threatened by the Gungahlin Drive road extension. Save the Ridge activists have begun marking endangered trees throughout

Loose cannons

Executive action "Six former Kmart executives charged the company for nannies, luxury cars and private chauffeurs even as the discount retailer fought a losing battle against bankruptcy, creditors said in a lawsuit... [f]ormer chief executive and

Iraq and Vietnam: Lessons from two wars

BY BILL MASON BRISBANE — The current US occupation of Iraq has "great parallels with the US war on Vietnam" in the 1960s and 1970s, Gary MacLennan, Queensland University of Technology lecturer and radical scholar, told a forum held at the

Glenn Hodgman: A socialist and leading shop steward

BY TIM GOODEN GEELONG — On November 26, leading building union activist Glenn Hodgman was tragically killed in a motor accident at Newport. He was 47 years old. Originally from Tasmania, Glenn came to Melbourne in the mid-1980s, a carpenter by

CATALONIA: Left vote jumps as regime holds on

BY DICK NICHOLS The biggest loser in the November 13 Catalan regional election was the Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSC), the Catalan sister organisation of the social-democratic Socialist Workers Party of Spain (PSOE). For two decades, the PSC

CANADA: University bans Palestine conference

BY AHMAD NIMER TORONTO — In a significant victory for the right to organise on Canadian campuses, protests by Palestinian solidarity activists forced the University of Toronto (UT) administration to allow a planned conference to go ahead. The

ACTU branch of Reserve Bank launches 'wage claim'

Ian Macfarlane, the head of the Reserve Bank, must be really pleased with the work of his Australian Council of Trade Unions office. With unemployment falling to 5.6% and construction booming, the ACTU has submitted to the Australian Industrial

'Don't vilify our community'

BY DUROYAN FERTL SYDNEY — In response to continuous media and government vilification of Muslims in south-west Sydney, 50 people attended a meeting in Bankstown on November 26 organised by the Canterbury-Bankstown Peace Group entitled "Don't

Supporting student activism

In October, MICHAEL WHITBREAD won the position of 2004 president of Newcastle University Student Association (NUSA). The Activate ticket he was part of campaigned for free, accessible education, a commitment to progressive campaigns and student

ZIMBABWE: Workers' resistance 'on the rise'

BY NORM DIXON Thousands of workers across Zimbabwe joined anti-government protests on November 18, despite threats of police repression prior to the marches and the arrest of scores of trade unionists on the day. Police brutally beat hundreds of