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.
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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.
麻豆传媒 Weekly is taking a break. Our next printed edition will be dated June 23. Stay tuned to this website for breaking news and analysis.
The most serious controversy that has emerged in the climate movement this year is probably about the role of natural gas in a transition to a zero-emissions society.
The national climate summit in March did not debate gas, but decisions taken there have influenced the debate. A decision of that summit was to campaign to 鈥渞eplace Australia's dirtiest coal-fired power station, Hazelwood, with clean energy by 2012鈥.
The Rudd ALP government was elected on a promise to take serious action on climate change. Yet it hasn鈥檛 acted and Australia鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions 鈥 already the developed world鈥檚 worst per person 鈥 are on the rise again.
In late May, the Department of Climate Change announced emissions had risen in the December 2009 quarter, rebounding from a dip caused by the global economic crisis. Most of the rise came from the energy sector, said the May 28 Sydney Morning Herald.
BRISBANE 鈥 "You know that we are rising, our day is surely coming鈥, were the words of a new song featured in Lebanese-Australian activist and musician Phil Monsour's benefit concert for Palestine on May 29.
Monsour, who recently returned from a trip to Palestine and Lebanon, recounted his experiences with songs and video images taken during his participation in the Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA Middle East study tour in March.
In recent weeks, the big mining companies have spent millions on propaganda against plans to make them pay more tax. But the results of a June 1 Newspoll showed they have hardly made a dent on public opinion.
Both big parties are losing ground, the poll said. Labor鈥檚 primary vote dropped two points, to 35%. The Coalition went down by the same margin, from 43% to 41%. But the bombshell was the record Greens vote 鈥 up four points to 16%.
This is not a new trend. Support for the Greens has risen steadily over the past decade.
The world was shocked by Israel鈥檚 latest act of barbarism 鈥 an act of high-seas piracy that ended in slaughter. Israel鈥檚 excuse of 鈥渟elf-defence鈥 is so ludicrous it is hard to believe anyone is expected to take it seriously.
On May 31, Israel raided the six boats of the Freedom Flotilla bringing humanitarian aid to the Palestinian Gaza Strip. The Gaza Strip has been subjected to a siege of growing intensity by Israel since 2006. The flotilla contained people from more than 37 nations.
The movement for Australian union action against Israel is gaining strength after the apartheid state鈥檚 latest murderous attack on the unarmed aid flotilla to Gaza.
The South Coast Labour Council (SCLC) and the New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory branches of the Australian Services Union have joined the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union in committing to the international boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) campaign against the aggressive Israeli state.
Australian unions and peak bodies have also called on members to attend the many protest actions.
This must be a momentous occasion. According to the May 22 Sydney Morning Herald, the Dalai Lama 鈥 a major leader of a major religion 鈥 has declared himself 鈥渉alf Marxist half Buddhist鈥.
First we must ask questions about Buddhism itself. Is Buddhism a single religion, or even a religion? Would the two main streams constitute a schism? The Dalai Lama is the largely undisputed global figurehead of Mahayana Buddhism. There is no equivalent figurehead in the other dominant stream, Theravada, which stretches from South Asia to South-East Asia.
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