Mark Fordham, an Aboriginal activist from the Northern Territory and member of the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union, is touring the east coast to raise awareness about the jobs with justice campaign. The campaign aims to force the government to provide real jobs and services to remote Aboriginal communities in the NT (see article page 7).
In Sydney, Fordham spoke to waterside workers with Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) officials. He thanked maritime workers for their solidarity with the Gurindji workers who walked off Wave Hill station in 1966.
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Over October 16-17, 120 people participated in lively and informative discussions at the Latin America Solidarity Conference.
鈥淐hallenging corporate globalisation: people鈥檚 power is changing the world鈥 was organised by the Latin America Social Forum. LASF brings together the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN 鈥 Australia), Guatemala Human Rights Committee, Ibiray-Fondo Raul Sendic (Uruguay), Honduras鈥 National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP), Australia-Venezuela Solidarity Network and Socialist Alliance.
Venezuela鈥檚 representative in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), Alfredo Missair, spoke on October 18 about Venezuela鈥檚 achievements in the field. He said that 14 million citizens (about half of the population) now have access to food at fair prices.
On the TV show Desperto Venezuela, broadcast by VTV, Missair stressed the country is on track to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals of halving the proportion of the population that is undernourished.
Serge Rodriguez is a Perth-based singer-song writer. Originally from Uruguay, Rodriguez formed the band Gypsy Earth last year. Below are the lyrics of one song, 鈥楯udas鈥. Visit for more information and to buy his music.
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Young man don鈥檛 you follow, don鈥檛 you head the call.
Wars resolve nothing, only destroy.
Look around you and see what it鈥檚 done to your world.
What it鈥檚 done to our children before they are born.
High and mighty men profess with their words.
They鈥檒l try to incite you to march off to war.
All societies need some form of law and order. Over many years of political organising, police who agreed with my right to protest and assisted when political or industrial rallies were being organised earned my respect.
But throughout Australia鈥檚 history, there are many examples of how laws in our society tend to protect the rights and property of the wealthy at the expense of the working class.
Well known are massacres against Aboriginals and miners at Eureka. Less well publicised has been police violence during industrial disputes, acting on the side of employers.
Despite all the rhetoric on climate change, both the NSW and federal governments consider it acceptable to allow seismic testing and drilling to explore for gas and potentially oil off Australia's east coast.
Despite the potential to develop entire new industries in clean, renewable energy, governments will not or cannot break their addiction to fossil fuels. They have literally placed the entire offshore Sydney Basin on the market for fossil fuel extraction; an area of 6000km虏, extending from Wollongong to Port Stephens.
On October 19, at exactly 3.30pm, the Lib-Lab politicians suddenly went from smirk to sombre as the Afghanistan 鈥渄ebate鈥 finally started 鈥 nine years too late. It was a farce.
US teenage pop star Justin Bieber released a book on October 12. First Step 2 Forever: My Story is supposed to be his autobiography.
The notion that a 16-year-old has been through enough turmoil to merit an autobiography is bewildering, but then, I suppose only something his ghost-writer had to worry about.
The book comes on the heels of Bieber releasing his own line of nail polish. Yes, nail polish. At least the marketing team behind 鈥淭he Bieb鈥 knows the target audience.
Union pressure is building against Premier Mike Rann's ALP government of South Australia. Treasurer Kevin Foley and Rann have been targeted in a campaign by trade unions against the recent state budget.
A number of rallies have been called since the budget was handed down. The largest so far, on October 14, estimated at 10,000 by the Public Service Association (PSA).
Below are excerpts from the October 20 speech in the federal House of Representatives 鈥 part of the debate on the war in Afghanistan 鈥 by Greens member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt.
Sources in Victorian public housing say proposed changes to the system will increase rents for tenants and replace government-funded public housing with more expensive privatised housing.
Public housing in Victoria is being dismantled and privatised by stealth, without open and genuine public consultation.
In Tony Blair's new memoir, A Journey, the former British prime minister says one of his biggest regrets is introducing the Freedom of Information Act, because journalists have used it 鈥渁s a weapon鈥.
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