The debate over genetically modified (GM) food has flared up again recently, after Greenpeace destroyed an experimental CSIRO wheat crop in Canberra on July 14.
聽
The Australian Federal Police is now investigating Greenpeace over the incident, which CSIRO scientists claim has set their research back by up to a year.
聽
Greenpeace argued the crop posed a threat to the environment and human health. Plans are underway for human trials of the GM wheat before tests are conducted on animals.
聽
889
The euro will survive for now 鈥 but only because working people in Greece and other European countries face greater suffering. That鈥檚 the not-so-hidden agenda behind the new US$227 billion bailout of Greece organised by the most powerful countries of the European Union, mainly France and Germany.
Scenes were reported of people burying themselves in shallow graves in the Christmas Island detention centre on July 24, as refugees across the country continued defiant protests despite harsh crackdowns.
Hunger strikes and ongoing protests also took place in the Northern Immigration Detention Centre in Darwin and the Scherger military base detention centre in far-north Queensland.
At Christmas Island, after riot police assaulted refugees with tear gas and 鈥渂ean bag鈥 shootings, they raided rooms and rounded up supposed 鈥渞ingleaders鈥.
Of the 19 protesters arrested at a Palestine solidarity protest outside Israeli-owned store Max Brenner in Melbourne on July 1, 13 were issued with bail conditions preventing them from entering the QV shopping centre or Melbourne Central shopping centres in Melbourne.
The Melbourne Central shopping centre has a major city train station on its bottom floor.
The protest was part of the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against the apartheid state of Israel. It is modelled on the campaign to boycott South Africa in the 1970s and 鈥80s.
麻豆传媒 Weekly recently spoke to Gleny Rae, who took part in the Go Back To Where You Came From, which retraced the journeys of some asylum seekers to their country of origin.
Rae said she had realistic expectations of what she would see, but still found the experience a 鈥渞eality check鈥 that was moving and confronting.
Homeless crisis deplorable
I have been an active trade unionist for many years and that is why I realise your paper is the authentic voice of labour.
It is distressing and deplorable that many thousands of people are homeless and exposed to the cold weather and rain.
I am of the opinion that a sustained campaign should be launched to induce state governments to buy unoccupied units to provide accommodation to the homeless.
It is a matter of urgency as we have two more months of winter ahead of us.
A protest for refugee rights outside the offices of security company Serco, in Coronation Drive, on July 29 called for the end of mandatory detention of asylum seekers and criticised Serco鈥檚 management of Australia鈥檚 detention centres.
More than 40 people attended the protest, which was organised by the Brisbane Refugee Action Collective (RAC).
The shift to the right of the Labor Party has increasingly created a sense that there is little difference between the two major parties. Both are willing to implement the neoliberal policies pushed by corporate interests and differ only on the details.
On many issues, the shift to the right does not reflect public opinion. This is the context for the growth of support for the Australian Greens in recent years.
The Greens, with nine senators, now hold the balance of power in the Senate as well as one lower house seat.
NSW groups opposed to the rollout of coal seam gas mining in the state have said new rules for the industry fall far short of what is needed to protect water reserves, farmland and communities from toxic contamination.
The changes, announced on July 21, put a moratorium on fracking until the end of the year and ban the use of evaporation ponds to dispose of toxic wastewater from the coal seam gas mining process.
In recent weeks, something unprecedented has erupted in Israel. Protesting the high cost of living, especially of housing, predominantly young people have established protest camps.
The campaign was sparked by a young single mother who, in desperation over her housing situation, pitched her tent outside the Knesset (Israeli parliament). Now the tent protests have spread like wildfire all over Israel.
If you were sexually assaulted by a member of your school sporting team, would you want to cheer for them when they played? Would you expect your school to uphold your rights over those of your attacker? If the school failed to uphold your rights, would you then expect the courts to find in your favour if you sued?
The answers to these questions should be obvious, but this is not an exercise in rhetorical questioning.
Ballots on motions authorising industrial action have taken place among members of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) in three government departments.
In the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and the Customs Service, more than 80% of voters supported industrial action. However, the number of people that voted in each case fell slightly short of the 50% required for 鈥減rotected industrial action鈥 under federal industrial laws.
- Previous page
- Page 2
- Next page