It seems no one bothers about 鈥渢hem鈥 in Sri Lanka. No lawyer or rights groups in the country dare to talk of 鈥渢heir鈥 basic rights. Do they deserve to be abandoned or 鈥渄isappeared鈥?
859
In Mexico, a war involving rival drug gangs, law enforcement agencies and the national army has officially claimed 23,000 lives since 2006.
This figure does not include the many thousands of innocent people who have been 鈥渄isappeared鈥 by police and army units.
The violence can be directly attributed to the corrosive impact of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
NAFTA was signed on January 1, 1994 between the United States, Canada and Mexico with the aim of removing trade and investment barriers between these nations.
Review by Graham Matthews
Capitalism and Workers鈥 Struggle in China
By Chris Slee
Resistance Books, Sydney, 2010, $5
www.resistancebooks.com
China enters the 21st century as something of an enigma.
On October 27 a public meeting at Brunswick Town Hall discussed "public space vs. market place".
University of Melbourne lecturer David Nichols discussed the design of modern shopping centres, which discouraged people from gathering in groups even for informal discussion.
Victorian branch secretary of the Rail Tram and Bus Union Trevor Dobbyn spoke of his experiences in the struggle for the right to march in Queensland in the 1970s 鈥 a struggle in which thousands were arrested.
An exciting new event will soon make its appearance on the calendar of the Australian workers movement. It's the first Union and Community Summer School, held in Melbourne over December 10-11.
Called 鈥淲inning Our Rights鈥, the school will bring together experienced labour activists from different generations and most left political traditions, to discuss the way forward for the union movement.
My Name is Rachel Corrie is a play based on the letters and diaries of the US peace activist killed by an Israeli military bulldozer in the Gaza Strip in 2003.
The play will run in Melbourne over November 3-14. This follows a sellout season at the 2010 Adelaide Fringe Festival.
In January 2003, Rachel Corrie travelled to Palestine as part of the International Solidarity Movement. She was part of a nonviolent protest against the State of Israel鈥檚 policy of demolishing Palestinian housing to expand Jewish settlement in the Occupied Territories.
"A Jewish majority in a solely Jewish state necessitates perpetual discrimination against the Palestinians鈥, Anna Baltzer, a Jewish-American award-winning speaker for human rights in the Middle East, told an audience of 100 at the Queensland Parliamentary Annexe on October 27.
Baltzer is an author, former Fulbright scholar and granddaughter of Holocaust refugees. She has lived and worked in the West Bank, and has contributed to four upcoming books on the Palestinian struggle.
Not so long ago, the polar ice sheet made it almost impossible to circle the North Pole by sea. But in June, two boats set off to do just that. By mid October, both returned to port successful 鈥 the first ships to sail around the pole in a single summer season.
"Is it fair that disability support workers earn less than workers who stack supermarkets shelves?" Australian Services Union NSW secretary Sally McManus asked 2000 protesters, including people with disabilities and disability sector workers.
"Is it fair disability workers are forced away from Sydney because they can't afford to pay the rent?"
About 50 people attended a meeting on October 27 to stop the sell-off of Gleniffer Brae, a historic, heritage-listed manor house in Wollongong. Organised by Reclaim Our City, the meeting discussed the need for Gleniffer Brae 鈥 owned by Wollongong City Council 鈥 to stay in public hands, and questioned the right of unelected administrators to decide the future of such a valuable community asset.
The seat of Brunswick is arguably the most hotly contested seat in the November 27 Victorian parliamentary elections. Based on results at the recent federal election, the new Labor candidate, Jane Garrett, is tipped to beat Greens candidate Cyndi Dawes by only 0.6% of the vote.
Learning from the criticism of Labor鈥檚 negative federal election campaign, Garrett has adopted the slogan 鈥渆quality, social justice and tackling climate change鈥 in a bid to win back voters from progressive parties.
Campaign groups against the NT intervention published a statement in the October 29 Australian that condemned its effects on Aboriginal working conditions in remote communities.
The statement was supported by Unions NT and by unions such as the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union; the Maritime Union of Australia; and the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers Union. It was also supported by several Aboriginal corporations, health services and rights groups involved from communities affected by the intervention, as well as support groups in the coastal cities.
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