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Loose Cannons

Unpatriotic "My goddaughter's unit just arrived in Iraq this week, while those who call me unpatriotic have used their positions of privilege to avoid military service, while sending over 4000 American boys and girls of every race to die over a

Wiradjuri expose mine pit collapse at Lake Cowal

Wiradjuri traditional owner Neville “Chappy” Williams has helped expose a pit wall collapse at Barrick’s gold mine in Lake Cowal, 47 kilometres north-west of West Wyalong in central western NSW.

Australian unionists deliver greetings to Venezuelan workers

The Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network May Day brigade of 15 unionists attended a massive May Day march in Caracas along with an estimated 500,000-750,000 people, all in red T-shirts, from all over the country. Two of the participants, John Cleary and Coral Wynter, addressed the rally. “It was amazing and exciting. We gave greetings on behalf of Australian workers and received a loud cheer. You really feel the power of the working class”, Coral Wynter told Green Left Weekly. “We had a great banner and as I think we were the only organised group of foreigners we were interviewed by three television stations — Telesur, VTV and Vive — and had numerous radio interviews. We danced and skipped along the route from La Bandera to Puente Laguno. Unfortunately President Hugo Chavez didn’t speak, but the day before he announced another 30% increase in the minimum wage. It was a great day!”

Nuclear power and climate change

Nuclear analyst Mycle Schneider noted in “Climate Change and Nuclear Power”, published in April 2000 by the World Wide Fund for Nature, that countries and regions with a high reliance on nuclear power also tend to have high greenhouse gas emissions. Following is an extract from his findings.

United States: Anti-war strike shuts down ports

According to the May 2 New York Times, ports on the US west coast were shut down on May 1 by dockworkers calling for an end to the US-led occupation of Iraq.

Biofuels threaten global indigenous tribes

Below is an April 30 statement by Survival International (SI). Visit <http://survival-international.org>.

Unions call for troops to leave Afghanistan

The death of the fifth Australian solider in Afghanistan on April 27, followed a few days later by the wounding of another, has refocused attention on Australia’s involvement in the US-led occupation.

Bolivia: Civil war looms as oligarchy refuses negotiation

As I write this article, the situation in Bolivia seems to be heading toward a civil war provoked by the secessionist attitude of the oligarchies in Santa Cruz and the other departments of the Half Moon (Tarija, Pando and Beni — in resource-rich eastern Bolivia), the prefect of Cochabamba and maybe someone else who remains in the shadows.

Egypt rocked by class struggle, food crisis

One of the US government’s most important allies in the Middle East was shaken in early April by strikes and demonstrations over rising food prices.

Rudd Labor continues mandatory detention

On April 28, Labor PM Kevin Rudd’s government began to deport asylum seekers, beginning with a Chinese woman. The next day, two Indian men were placed in stage 1 of the Villawood immigration detention centre for preparation for deportation. One of the men has been held in detention for six years. He was also among the 61 long-term detainees whose cases Labor immigration minister Chris Evans had promised to review by the end of April.

Rudd continues mandatory detention

On April 28, Labor PM Kevin Rudd’s government began to deport asylum seekers, beginning with a Chinese woman. The next day, two Indian men were placed in stage 1 of the Villawood immigration detention centre for preparation for deportation.

Indonesian rally demands Venezuelan-style nationalisation

JAKARTA — Around 1000 workers, students and urban poor held a pre-May Day demonstration outside GKBI Towers, a flashy skyscraper that is the Indonesian headquarters of a number of multinational corporations, including ExxonMobil, ANZ Bank,