Cairns Politics in the Pub has restarted after a year's break. These semi-monthly discussion forums at the Green Ant Cantina feature guest speakers, panels and discussion on topical issues proposed by various community groups and individual activists.
On May 23, 35 people took part in a lively debate of the question 鈥淲here to now after a Labor thrashing?鈥 The speakers included Jonathan Strauss for the Socialist Alliance, ALP activist Elida Faith and Steve Brech from the Greens.
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A large public forum was held in Victoria鈥檚 Goulburn Valley on May 16 to officially launch a community cooperative that local people hope will become an example for the rest of the country.
The launch came almost a year since Heinz announced it would shut down its tomato processing plant in the nearby town of Girgarre. The closure left 146 workers without a job and affected about 600 people whose livelihoods depended on the factory.
The Socialist Alliance Queensland state conference was held at the Brisbane Activist Centre on May 19, attended by more than 40 members and supporters. Themed "Towards a Socialist Australia", the conference discussed rebuilding the socialist movement in Australia and in Queensland, in the framework of a rise in international struggles for radical change.
Peter Boyle, SA national co-convenor, set the scene by challenging the movement to re-imagine socialism in the new period of international crisis, beginning with the polarisation in a Greece faced with economic disaster.
Refugee lawyer David Manne and a pro bono legal team will take the federal government and ASIO to the High Court to challenge the indefinite detention of refugees found to be 鈥渟ecurity threats鈥.
The case will argue that refugees should be told the full reasons for ASIO's decision, so they are able to appeal adverse findings.
Manne said the situation now is 鈥.
Qantas cuts 500 more jobs Qantas said on May 21 it would axe more than 500 engineering jobs from Tullamarine and Avalon in Victoria. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the company had to cut maintenance costs to match its competitors, and that newer aircraft 鈥渞equire less maintenance, less often鈥.
About 4000 unionists at six coal mines in Central Queensland have struck for a week from May 24 after enterprise bargaining talks with employers BHP Billiton and Mitsubishi again broke down. The 18-month-long dispute between the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) and mineowners the BHP-Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance (BMA) centres on a push by the company to replace union-appointed mine safety officers with management officials.
In Occupy-style, they are pop-up and pop-out protesters on Montreal's streets.
A jester threw juggling clubs high in the air, a masked face beamed 鈥 the sweat of the warm day glistening over her make-up 鈥 and the nose of a clown tilting up to figures on stilts, occasionally twisting round in a dance-trot.
An impromptu band shook beans in glass bottles and beat drumsticks, while an accordion played old favourites.
Whistles tried to organise the crowd. Dogs menaced one another, tying themselves up in their leashes as their owners passed by.
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Premier Campbell Newman'a Liberal National Party (LNP) government wasted no time launching an all-out attack on gay rights and on community services in Queensland.
The May 20 Courier Mail said the government was preparing to overturn the civil unions law passed under the previous Labor government earlier this year.
The released the statement below on May 24.
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The NATO announcement on May 21 that it will 鈥渨ithdraw鈥 troops from Afghanistan in 2013 is an admission of defeat.
But there are no victors in this war. The country is no closer to peace and security today than when the Taliban were forced out in 2001.
Greece's Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) sent a message of solidarity to the thousands of people who protested against the NATO summit in Chicago on May 20.
Australian supporters of WikiLeaks announced nationwide protests after news that Britain鈥檚 supreme court will decide on Julian Assange鈥檚 final appeal against extradition to Sweden on May 30. The protest rallies will take place in most capital cities the next day, May 31.
The rallies will take place regardless of the court鈥檚 decision. Even though Assange has spent , protest organisers say the campaign to defend Assange and WikiLeaks is only just beginning.
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