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BY KAREN FREDERICKS BRISBANE — The fight for refugees' rights was given a boost on January 31 when 50 people picketed a meeting attended by immigration minister Philip Ruddock at Brisbane's main immigration department offices. Organised in 24
BY NADEEM ANSARI & KERRYN WILLIAMS CANBERRA — At a January 31 public meeting, Lionel Bopage from Friends for Peace in Sri Lanka appealed to the new Sri Lankan government to begin peace negotiations with the Tamil population. Bopage recently
BY KIM LINDEN NEWCASTLE — On January 31, a meeting at the Joy Cummins centre decided to set up Newcastle Action for Refugee Rights (NARR). Attended by 20 people, the meeting was called to organise a Newcastle contingent to the February 12
BY GILLIAN DAVY MELBOURNE — In the largest demonstration for refugees' rights held here so far, 4000 people rallied on February 2 in City Square to demand that immigration detention centres be closed and that the refugees be freed. The
REVIEW BY PHIL SHANNON A People's History of the American Revolution: How Common People Shaped the Fight for IndependenceBy Ray RaphaelPart of the New Press People's History series, edited by Howard ZinnThe New Press, 2001386 pages, $55.90 (hb)
BY ADAM HANIEH RAMALLAH — Over the last week one topic has dominated conversation in the West Bank town of Ramallah: will tonight be the night? A general consensus holds that it is only a matter of time before Israeli tanks and troops take over
BY JESS MELVIN MELBOURNE — It is the day before Australia Day. Matt Rich, Tim Doughney, Rachel Evans, Kim Halpin, James Crafti and myself — all members of the socialist youth group Resistance — are standing on the doorstep of the Maribyrnong
BY DICK NICHOLS CHICAGO — Inevitably, the annual convention of the US International Socialist Organization, which took place in this freezing "windy city" between January 18 and 20, was dominated by two questions. How invulnerable is the US
BY TERRICA STRUDWICK ROCKHAMPTON — The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (AMIEU) has spent the last week in unsuccessful negotiations with Consolidated Meat Group management in an attempt to reopen the Lakes Creek meatworks. CMG
In a statement released on January 16, the International Socialist Organisation of Zimbabwe — the country's only organised Marxist current — reminded Zimbabweans that "none but ourselves will liberate ourselves". The European Union is
BY KEEANGA-YAHMATTA TAYLOR Jamil al Amin, the former 1960s Black Power leader known as H. Rap Brown, is on trial for his life in Atlanta. Al Amin is accused of shooting two Fulton County sheriff's deputies, killing one. Prosecutors claim that al
BY SARAH STEPHEN As international outrage and Australian protests grow, the federal Coalition government is increasingly defensive about the horrific impact of it's refugee policy. The more people who join protests now, the greater the possibility