In 麻豆传媒 Weekly #861, Solidarity鈥檚 Paddy Gibson addressed a debate that from time to time comes up among activists opposing the NT intervention: whether an assimilationist agenda or mining interests are behind the intervention.
862
The Australian National University鈥檚 (ANU) sexuality department not only provides an invaluable support service to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer students on campus (LGBTIQ), it is also unashamedly political.
For example, it has thrown its weight behind the campaign for equal marriage rights.
So perhaps it is not surprising that the department has been challenged by homophobia on campus.
In May during Pride Week, 500 posters were ripped down.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development鈥檚 (OECD) Economic Survey of Australia, released on November 15, called for an increase in the rate and scope of the goods and services tax (GST) and a cut in business taxes.
The rich countries鈥 economic club also called for higher road tolls, greater labour productivity and a price on carbon.
The OECD鈥檚 annual survey congratulated the Labor government for avoiding recession during the global financial crisis but also demanded it undertake further 鈥渟tructural reforms to strengthen productivity鈥.
The second suicide in little more than two months took place at Villawood detention centre on the night of November 15.
Ahmad Al Akabi, 41, was found by fellow detainees hanged in a bathroom.
After spending more than a year in the Christmas Island and Villawood detention centres, his asylum application had been rejected twice under the off-shore processing system that was found to be invalid in a recent High Court decision.
Two hundred people attended the launch of the National Museum of Labour on November 11, in the old government fitter鈥檚 workshop in Kingston, ACT. They heard from union officials, politicians and rank-and-file unionists.
Unions ACT secretary Kim Sattler introduced speakers including: Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney; Anna Booth from major sponsors, Slater & Gordon; historian Norman Abjorensen, and federal Labor MP for Eden Monaro, Mike Kelly.
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Western Australia鈥檚 proposed 鈥渟top-and-search鈥 laws look dead in the water after the National Party opposed the bill on November 11.
The proposed laws were to expand WA police powers to search people without having to provide grounds for suspicion. The laws would also allow the police minister to declare areas in which police had the power to arbitrarily stop and search people.
Forty people attended a meeting about the Northern Territory government's attack on bilingual education in remote Indigenous communities on November 18. The government has banned teaching in Indigenous languages during the first four hours of the school day.
The meeting began with a phone link to two people from the Yirrkala community, where the local school is defying the ban. They said teaching children in Yolngu language was vital to maintaining culture and producing better academic results.
鈥 "Queensland is now the world epicentre of pollution of our atmosphere", Greens leader Bob Brown told 200 people at a November 14 meeting sponsored by Friends of the Earth, 6 Degrees, the Wilderness Society and the Queensland Conservation Council.
"We know what is coming if we don't put a stop to the use of fossil fuels. This year is the hottest ever in human existence, and it's only going to get worse if we don't take urgent action to tackle climate change."
United States Republican representative from Ohio John Boehner is feeling pretty full of himself nowadays. Little wonder. With the Republicans winning back in control of the House of Representatives in the November 2 elections, Boehner looks set to be the next Speaker.
And like any pompous career politician who fancies himself cock-of-the-walk, he seldom lets facts get in the way.
Germany鈥檚 centre-right government is facing what many have dubbed a 鈥渉ot autumn鈥 of protests, as conflict over a range of social, political and environmental issues come to a head across the country.
As the governments of Europe attempt to offload the costs of the financial crisis onto working people, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has initiated a series of 鈥渁usterity鈥 measures aimed to undermine Germany鈥檚 social welfare system.
An 鈥渁rmy鈥 of European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials arrived in Dublin on November 18 鈥渟eeking to foist a large loan on Ireland in a bid to prop up the country鈥檚 embattled banking sector and save the European currency鈥, the Morning Star said that day.
Irish finance minister Brian Lenihan told MPs that Ireland, the EU and the IMF were exploring the prospect of forming 鈥渁 contingency capital fund that would stand behind the banks鈥, the article said.
鈥淪top Black deaths in custody now! Stop the Tasers now! and Charge and jail criminal cops now!" were the main demands of a rally against racist police violence on November 13.
One hundred people marched to Queensland parliament to present a petition calling for a new inquiry into the death of Mulrunji in police custody on Palm Island in November 2004.
Rally chair Sam Watson said the event also commemorated the murder in police hands of Daniel Yock in November 1993.
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