麻豆传媒 Weekly supporters packed out a global solidarity dinner and cultural night in Footscray on July 28. Special guest Malainin Lakhal, secretary-general of the Union of Saharawi Writers and Journalists, addressed the crowd. Singer/songwriter Anthea Sidiropoulos got everyone dancing and singing to the Greek blues (Rembetika) and Greek love songs (Kantathes).
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On July 31, ALP environment spokesperson Peter Garrett and Labor leader Kevin Rudd 鈥 or at least larger-than-life puppets of them 鈥 lead a march of 150 people in Newcastle against the coal industry.
The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting will be held in Sydney in September. Twenty-one nations are represented, from both the First and Third Worlds. It describes itself as the 鈥減remier forum for facilitating economic growth, cooperation, trade and investment in the Asia-Pacific region鈥. In reality, it works to ensure that the Third World nations attending further open their markets. This makes it easier for multinational corporations, along with First World nations, to strip the poorer countries鈥 natural resources with no regard for the environment and to further exploit their work forces.
In an August 2 media release, Sydney branch of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) announced that it rejects 聯any suggested implication that demonstrating against the injustices of globalisation and war means support for violence聰. The MUA statement was made in response to a NSW police training video for the September APEC summit that featured footage of MUA officials participating in legal non-violent protests.
#151; A report in the August 2 Herald Sun has Rail, Tram and Bus Union state secretary Trevor Dobbyn calling for ticket inspectors to be issued with handcuffs, because he says, 聯Our officers get publicly vilified for what looks like an assault on someone, but in fact they are trying to restrain them after they聮ve been arrested聰.
Imagine a world where international trade was fair. Where, instead of sending troops and police overseas, the Australian government sent thousands of doctors and teachers to poor countries to provide free medical care and education to help the people there improve their lives. The Australian government is not doing this. It has sent hundreds of troops to help steal Iraq聮s oil and sends police to the Solomon Islands and other places in the Pacific to guard the theft of these countries聮 natural resources.
The following is abridged from a July 29 report by the Residents Action Movement (RAM).
#151; The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) is on the verge of formal affiliation to the ALP despite many members expressing their opposition. The proposed affiliation was endorsed in March by the union聮s governing council, reversing a decision two years ago not to affiliate to the ALP.
When US President George Bush comes to Sydney this year, it will be vital that we use his visit to draw attention to the ongoing struggle for same-sex marriage rights and an end to all homophobic policies. PM John Howard and Bush top the list of threats to civil liberties, including some of the most basic rights queers are still fighting for.
About 1400 nurses in Fiji, who began a strike on July 25, were joined on August 2 by thousands of teachers and other public servants, resulting in at least half of Fiji聮s 20,000 public sector workers being on strike.
On July 29, Queensland University of Technology staged a protest on QUT聮s 聯open day聰 to symbolically 聯lay to rest聰 the school of humanities and human services, and mark 聯the death of critical thinking and freedom of speech聰 at QUT.
US President George Bush and PM John Howard are the world聮s biggest climate criminals. The United States emits 25% of the world聮s carbon emissions, and Australia is the largest carbon polluter per person in the world. Both countries are the only two developed nations that haven聮t signed on to the Kyoto Protocol. For their entire political lives Bush and Howard denied climate change was even happening, but when people all around the world started to see the climate chaos taking place and put pressure on them, they grudgingly acknowledged that it is a reality.
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