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Write on: Letters to the editor

German Greens Since your paper didn't get much feedback on your provocative April 11 front page headline “German Greens betray anti-nuclear movement”, and the accompanying article, I better let you know what I thought of it. As an

Media tour backfires on Ruddock

BY SARAH STEPHEN The Curtin Immigration Detention Centre was on show to the media for the first time on June 10, a move the immigration department described as being part of an effort to change public perceptions, created by three riots in close

Emergency demonstrations helped free detainees

BY SUE BOLAND Once the news broke in Australia about the police and militia attack on the Asia Pacific People's Solidarity conference in Indonesia on June 8 and the detention of conference participants, friends and relatives of the detainees in

JAPAN: Activists to ATTAC capital

BY AARON BENEDEK TOKYO — Activists here are preparing to launch a Japanese chapter of ATTAC, Action for a Tobin Tax to Assist the Citizen, which calls for a tax on speculative capital flows. Thirty socialists, unionists and non-government

IRELAND: Voter revolt stuns Europe's rulers

BY SEAN HEALY The architects of an integrated, capitalist Europe were dealt a stunning blow on June 7 when a clear majority in Ireland voted to reject the Treaty of Nice, the blueprint for the European Union's expansion. The "yes" case in the

COLOMBIA: Huge protests against IMF

Tens of thousands of teachers, public sector workers and students protested in the capital, Bogota, and most major cities on June 7 against budget measures agreed between the Colombian government and the International Monetary Fund. The

Refugees condemn government policy

BY LYNDA HANSEN BRISBANE — "I would like to ask immigration minister Philip Ruddock, do you know what it is like to be a refugee? No, of course you don't, you do not care about refugees!", Latin American solidarity activist Rafael Pacheco told a

Southwood activists score a victory

BY GEOFF FRANCIS HOBART — Environmental activists have chalked up a significant victory by forcing the state government to announce on June 5 that it is “shelving its plans for a deep water port at Electrona in south-east Tasmania”. The

3CR: uncensored and outspoken

BY FRED FUENTES MELBOURNE — In Australia, with the most monopolised media in the world, there is a growing need to support alternative media. For the past 25 years, 3CR has been broadcasting on a volunteer basis, providing alternative coverage of

Leap forward for freedom struggle

BY SARAH STEPHEN The movement for refugee rights took a great leap forward on June 3, Australia's first ever nationally coordinated day of protest in defence of the rights of detained asylum seekers. Rallying to the cry "Free the refugees",

Asia Pacific conference offers solidarity to Nike picket

[The following motion was passed unanimously by the Asia Pacific Peoples Solidarity Conference in Jakarta on June 7.] For the past 10 weeks workers and students in Melbourne have blockaded the Nike superstore in the central business district

For a politically effective, mass protest action at CHOGM

BY SIMON BUTLER BRISBANE — Activists are preparing the ground for dynamic protests directed at the October 6-8 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Brisbane. At a city-wide meeting on June 14 it became clear that a number of different