Brisbane, June 18, 2010 - 鈥淭he only way to find out the truth about the behavior of the Queensland police hierarchy in the cover-ups that followed the November 2004 killing of Mulrunji on Palm Island is to institute an independent commission of inquiry run by a respected interstate figure,鈥 Sam Watson, well-known Murri rights activist and lead Senate candidate for Queensland said today.
鈥淚n the meantime the Queensland Police Service (QPS) hierarchy, beginning with commissioner Robert Atkinson, must be sacked.鈥
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Thousands of people are expected to join the World Refugee Day rallies around Australia between June 19 and June 26. In Melbourne, the rally - to be held on Sunday June 20 - has the theme 鈥淣ot another Tampa election鈥. Patrick McGorry, Australian of the Year will speak at the Museum Square to refugees, asylum seekers, human rights agency staff and volunteers, refugee advocates and activists before the marchers move off to the EMERGE FESTIVAL at Fitzroy Town Hall.
June 15, 2010 - Thousands rallied and marched around Australia in support of Ark Tribe, a construction worker possibly facing jail for simply failing to attend an interrogation by the construction industry police 鈥淪tar Chamber鈥 - the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
Workers held an overnight vigil outside the ABCC offices in Melbourne, 500 rallied and marched in Sydney and up to 1,500 rallied outside the Adelaide Magistrate's court. Trade unionists from other parts of the country have gone to Adelaide to show their solidarity.
SYDNEY - Such is the groundswell of community anger against the Israeli commando attack on the peace flotilla to Gaza that the Campbelltown branch of the ALP passed a strongly-worded motion on June 7 including calling on the Rudd government to cut ties with Israel.
The motion also condemned the attack and the blockade of Gaza, and called for support for the solidarity protests being organised by the Palestinian community and their supporters.
The Secretariat of the World Federation of Trade Unions has today decided to call a strike for three days at all ports of the world against Israel commercial vessels to or from Israel.
By Rosamund Dallow-Smith and Pip Hinman
SYDNEY 鈥 Conservation and other groups are opposed to the NSW environment minister Frank Sartor鈥檚 National Park development bill, introduced into the NSW parliament on June 2. The plan will shift the focus of National Parks away from conservation toward development. It will also allow tourism to be formally recognised as a purpose of national parks, contravening the long-held principle that national parks were only for nature conservation and visitation.
The Idea of Communism
By Tariq Ali
Seagull Press 2009, 126 pages
This short book is the first in a series called 鈥淲hat Was Communism鈥, which aims to explore the practice of Communism in the 20th century.
Tariq Ali鈥檚 main thesis is that 鈥淭he failure of official Communism in the 20th century and the restoration of capitalism in Russia and China 鈥 far from negating some of the premises that underlined the project in the first place, emphasises their continuing importance鈥.
Thousands of workers across France protested on May 27 against President Nicholas Sarkozy鈥檚 planned attacked on the French pension system.
The protests were called by a coalition of union confederations, including the General Confederation of Labour (CGT); French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT); United Union Federation (FSU); National Union of Autonomous Unions and Solidaires. They came after the government failed to withdraw or modify the planned changes to the pension system following protests on March 23 and May 1.
Hundreds of Aboriginal workers in the Northern Territory are demanding real wages for construction work that they are compelled to do under 鈥淲ork for the dole鈥 schemes.
Eighty rallied on June 2 outside state parliament house in Darwin to demand jobs with justice.
Elders from Kalkaringi community say people in their community are being forced to work for up to 30 hours a week on construction sites or they will have their Centrelink payments cut.
The struggle against inflation, corruption, and destabilisation in Venezuela鈥檚 economy is continuing.
In the last week of May, workers from nationalised companies marched to protest hoarding and price speculation and call for worker-run management, while national investigators arrested the former president of the state-run food company PDVAL for alleged involvement in the diversion of food from the market.
The following statement was released by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee on June 1. For more information visit .
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The government of German Chancellor Angela Merkel is in crisis, following the resignation of Germany鈥檚 president Horst Koehler on May 31.
Koehler 鈥 a former head of the International Monetary Fund, and German president since 2004 鈥 resigned after a public backlash against comments he made connecting the German economy with increased overseas military deployments.
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