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Industrial action planned at Sydney university

SYDNEY— University of Sydney members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) have voted overwhelmingly for strike action in pursuit of a decent agreement with the university’s administration.

Australia and the sunset on coal

“Quarry Vision: Coal, Climate Change and the end of the Resources Boom”
By Guy Pearse
Quarterly Essay, Issue 33
Black Inc, 2009
129 pages, $16.95

ALP & Greens rule out free public transport

Blacktown ALP NSW MP Paul Gibson has openly urged Premier Nathan Rees to make public transport free.

Vanuatu: Land fight intensifies

Australian property developers are pushing the Indigenous people of Vanuatu, the Ni-Van, off their land.

Yarrabah protests CDEP scrapping

CAIRNS— Residents of the Indigenous community at Yarrabah held a public meeting on April 22 to discuss the Rudd government’s proposal to scrap the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) on July 1.

More jobs or higher profits?

Telstra has once again started to sack staff. The communications union fears up to 2000 workers will be “let go” by mid-year. This makes a total of close to 12,000 job losses over the four years since CEO Sol Trujillo took the helm.

Let's hope this gift keeps on giving

Open Veins of Latin America: Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent
By Eduardo Galeano
25th anniversary edition, Monthly Review Press, 1997
317 pages, $40 (pb)
Available from

Wesfarmers did it again

A bulk carrier with the name Ipanema arrived at Port Fremantle, Western Australia, on April 15. The ship carried phosphates from occupied Western Sahara, in violation of international law.

Power to the people campaign builds

The successful April 18 “Stop the Sell-Offs!” public meeting of the Sydney Power to the People coalition (pictured) gave the campaign against the privatisation of NSW public services a strong boost.

On the box

Spinifex Man — The life of the Indigenous theatre and film actor, Trevor Jamieson. ABC, Friday, May 1, 6pm. Guests of the Ayatollah — In the Iran hostage crisis, the military was authorised to rescue the hostages by force. The mission failed

Summit of the Americas: Left governments condemn capitalism, back Cuba

The fifth Summit of the Americas, bringing together all the nations of the Americas except Cuba, occurred in Trinidad and Tobago over April 17-19. In the lead up, a meeting was held in Caracas of the nations that make up the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas (ALBA — Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Honduras and Dominica).

Who pays for the recession?

On April 21, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd finally conceded that “it’s inevitable that Australia … will be dragged into recession”.