Three members of Iraqs Olympic soccer team and one of the teams assistant coaches announced their intention to apply for asylum in Australia after an international game in Gosford on November 17. They are currently on three-month temporary visas as athletes, and as such are not being sought by the immigration department.
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Rail workers from the German train drivers union, the Gewerkschaft Deutscher Lokomotivführer (GDL), have repeatedly brought the country to a standstill in recent weeks, with rolling strikes against the state-owned rail company Deutsche Bahn AG.
In a May 1 statement, Socialist Worker-New Zealand hailed the developing revolution in Venezuela, arguing it would have a profound impact on not just world politics, but on the international socialist movement. It urged all socialists to relate to the mass revolutionary movement headed by President Hugo Chavez, and in particular expressed solidarity with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), a party of revolutionary militants being constructed to advance the revolution. SW-NZ urged socialists around the world to build solidarity with the revolution and seek to use the inspiration and example of the gains in Venezuela to advance the global struggle for “socialism of the 21st Century”.
Late on November 21, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe put an end to the efforts of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to achieve a humanitarian agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for the release of FARC-held hostages in exchange for the freeing of FARC prisoners, Ingrid Betancourt, Senator Cordoba Piedad, Manuel Marulanda,
The Wilderness Society (TWS) has lost its Federal Court appeal, in which it argued that then-federal environment minister Malcolm Turnbull’s assessment of the Tamar Valley pulp mill was inadequate. The appeal was dismissed by three judges on November 22, but TWS spokesperson Greg Ogle said the it would not give up campaigning. “The pulp mill is no closer to being built today than it was yesterday”, he said.
The dismissal on November 12 of the charges against alleged terrorist Izhar Ul-Haque after NSW Supreme Court judge Michael Adams ruled on November 2 that ASIO officers had committed the criminal offences of false imprisonment and kidnapping at common law, have led to calls for increased oversight over ASIO.
Iran has provided sufficient access to individuals and has responded in a timely manner to questions, and provided clarifications and amplifications about its past nuclear activities that are consistent with
information available to the agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the UNs International Atomic Energy Agency, stated in a 10-page report distributed to the IAEAs 35-member governing board on November 15.
Members of grassroots climate change action group Rising Tide chained themselves to a coal train on November 19 to stop the train reaching the port of Newcastle, the worlds largest coal export port, with a record 80.8 million tonnes being shipped in the 2006-07 financial year.
The split in the English anti-war party, Respect — The Unity Coalition, which has scored the most successful electoral results for forces to the left of Labour since World War II, saw two conferences by the different sides of the split held simultaneously on November 17. One side are those backing Respect MP George Galloway, including some left-wing Muslim leaders and other independent socialists. On the other is mainly the Socialist Workers Party (SWP), the largest socialist group in England, which has played a leading role in the anti-war movement and been a key component of Respect from its inception.
On November 18, PM John Howard announced that the federal government would consider extending the welfare quarantine currently in place for all Aboriginals on welfare in the NT to all welfare recipients convicted of drug offences. Its not right that people should have control of taxpayer money when they have been convicted of such offences, he told ABC News. This will mean that they will not be able to spend the money on those sorts of drugs, or indeed, for that matter, on alcohol and tobacco.
Protesting journalists in Pakistan were beaten by police on November 21. I travelled to Pakistan earlier this year, and I wish to show my solidarity with the brave struggle for justice being waged against General Pervez Musharraf’s dictatorship.
Two conferences of the English anti-war party, Respect — The Unity Coalition, were convened on November 17 in London. Both were attended by around 350 people. The “Respect Renewal” forces were led by MP George Galloway and 19 other non-Socialist Workers Party members of Respect’s national council. The SWP convened its own conference across town.
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