The following statement was released on June 27 by the group Palestinian Queers for BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions 鈥 an international campaign to isolate Israel in protest against its treatment of Palestinians). Support for the BDS campaign has grown significantly since Israel鈥檚 massacre of peace activists on a boat taking aid to Gaza on May 31.
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Palestinian Queers for BDS call upon all queer groups, organisations and individuals around the world to boycott the apartheid state of Israel.
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The statement below was released on July 2 by the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers鈥 Association (IUF), a global trade union federation. Visit for more information and to send the Coca Cola Company a message that violence, dismissals and pressure on workers to prevent trade union rights and recognition are criminal acts.
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The statement below was released by Asian left groups on June 25. To add your organisation鈥檚 name, email international@socialist-alliance.org.
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Israel stands increasingly isolated after its manufactured confrontation on May 31, 2010, with the peace flotilla, in which nine Turkish activists on the Mavi Marmara were murdered. So now is the time to increase the pressure on Israel to lift the siege of Gaza.
Leichhardt Friends of Hebron can be very proud of the Festival of Friendship for Hebron it held over June 25-26.
The event raised more than $5000 for a kindergarten in the impoverished village of Um al Khair in the South Hebron hills. It also won a significant political victory over the ban the previous Leichhardt Council administration placed on a Palestinian photo exhibition two years earlier.
How do wars begin? With a 鈥渕aster illusion鈥, according to Ralph McGehee, one of the CIA鈥檚 pioneers in 鈥渂lack propaganda鈥, known today as 鈥渘ews management鈥.
In 1983, he described to me how the CIA had faked an 鈥渋ncident鈥 that became the 鈥渃onclusive proof of North Vietnam鈥檚 aggression鈥.
This followed a claim, also fake, that North Vietnamese torpedo boats had attacked a US warship in the Gulf of Tonkin in August 1964.
Financial crisis? Rich get richer
鈥淭he rich grew richer last year, even as the world endured the worst recession in decades.
鈥淎 stock market rebound helped the world's ranks of millionaires climb 17 percent to 10 million, while their collective wealth surged 19 percent to $US 39 trillion, nearly recouping losses from the financial crisis, according to the latest Merrill Lynch-Capgemini world wealth report.
鈥淚n North America, the ranks of the rich rose 17 percent and their wealth grew 18 percent to $US 10.7 trillion.鈥
鈥 June 23 Reuters article.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is seeking to differentiate herself from ousted Kevin Rudd to show her promotion to PM is more than an attempt to re-badge a political party in crisis.
In this context, it is worth looking at her record in government. This is a look at the changes to and proposals for higher education launched by Gillard as education minister in Transforming Australia鈥檚 Higher Education System, the government鈥檚 proposed 10-year agenda for reforming the nation鈥檚 higher education system.
The Northern Territory intervention has reached its third year and, despite several government commissioned reports and outside expert analysis claiming that it has failed to achieve its aims, aspects of it look likely to be extended to other parts of the country.
On June 21, the Senate voted to extend one of the aspects of the intervention, welfare quarantining, to more people in the NT and allow the government the option to extend it to other parts of Australia after a year.
Mel Barnes, a well-known Tasmanian political activist, will contest the seat of Denison in the upcoming federal elections, for the Socialist Alliance. Barnes is a leading climate and renewable energy campaigner involved in Climate Action Hobart.
She has also campaigned for women鈥檚 rights, Palestine solidarity, refugee rights and Latin American solidarity. In 2006, Barnes went on a solidarity tour of Venezuela to learn about the revolutionary changes occurring there. Barnes stood for the Socialist Alliance in the recent state elections.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is enjoying a honeymoon in the polls since taking Kevin Rudd鈥檚 place. A July 2 Reuters Trend poll confirmed a series of polls since Gillard became PM on June 24, giving Labor the lead over the right-wing Coalition.
The June 26 Sydney Morning Herald said a Herald/Nielson poll found Greens support since Gillard took over had fallen from 15% to 8%.
But another crucial poll indicated the true nature of Gillard鈥檚 rise to power. As soon as she was installed as prime minister, the share price of the large mining corporations rose.
The Queensland Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC) recently released a report highly critical of the police investigation into the case of Palm Island Aboriginal man Mulrunji Doomadgee, who died in police custody in November 2004. The CMC gave police commissioner Bob Atkinson 14 days to take disciplinary action against six officers involved.
Atkinson was due to make his decision by July 2, but an injunction filed on behalf of the officers extended the deadline until July 6
New World of Indigenous Resistance
By Noam Chomsky and voices from North, South, and Central America
City Lights Open Media, 2010, 300 pages
Review by Mat Ward
This book bills itself as a 鈥渧irtual hemispheric conversation鈥 and claims to be the first book of its kind.
It is certainly an eye-opener.
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