‘Defending Australia’ in a time of economic crisis
In early May the Rudd government released Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030, a White Paper detailing their defence plans for the coming years. The paper...
Campaigners oppose Queensland charges and call for repeal of anti-abortion laws
Pro-abortion activists are rallying in Queensland to defend a Cairns couple, Tegan Leach and Sergie Brennan, who have been charged under Queensland’s Criminal Code with attempting to procure an...
Rudd budget won’t shield us from recession
Rudd tried to dress up his first recession budget by announcing a small increase in the aged pension and more money for building infrastructure. But underneath that plenty of...
Labor for Refugees: how campaigners shifted policy
As boatloads of asylum seekers began to arrive in Australian waters in 1999, John Howard cranked up the repression and the anti-refugee rhetoric. Tragically, but perhaps predictably given their...
Macklin unleashes Intervention’s second wave
On Thursday May 21 Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin announced her intention to use Intervention powers to permanently acquire the Alice Springs town camps. Her move unleashed an avalanche...
NRL scandal: why will no one call it rape?
On May 11, the ABC’s Four Corners ran a program exposing numerous cases of sexual abuse by National Rugby League (NRL) football players. The ensuing media frenzy unleashed a...
After war, brutality against Tamils not over
The Sri Lankan army has now completed its brutal conquest of the areas of the island previously controlled by the Tamil Tigers. In the process the military hemmed hundreds...
After the saucepan revolution, Iceland steers left
In January, the government of Iceland was the first to be brought down by the global recession. Now, Iceland has moved sharply to the left following its general election...
Fiji democracy not Rudd’s real concern
On May 2, Fiji was suspended from the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF)—the first time ever for a member state. The PIF comprises leaders of 16 Pacific countries dominated by...
The 1970s anti-uranium campaign
In the face of the failure to take serious action on climate change, we face the challenge of building the kind of movement that can force the government to shift. The 1970s anti-uranium movement provides rich lessons in how to build one.
Keynes or Marx?
Political leaders across the world are embracing Keynesian economic policies. But they are incapable of escaping capitalist crisis, writes Feiyi Zhang“The ghost of John Maynard Keynes, the father of...
Recovering Marx’s theory of economic crisis
The recession has brought a renewed interest in Marxist explanations of economic crisis. Rick Kuhn’s book is timely in this context. Published last year, it is the product of...
Is Australia a racist country?
Recent comments by Sol Trujillo, former boss of Telstra, that Australia is a racist country have caused a storm.Most media commentators and politicians expressed outrage at the suggestion....
University workers on the move in Melbourne
WORKERS AT five universities in Melbourne—Melbourne, Monash, Swinburne, RMIT and Deakin, plus a Hawthorn college —went out on strike on Thursday, May 21.
Staff at the University of Tasmania also...
As new charges laid, time to scrap ABCC
On April 28, over 10,000 building workers in Melbourne and 3000 in Brisbane took illegal strike action against the Howard-era anti-union Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC). The Rudd government still gives $33 million to the ABCC to police union activities on building sites.
Brisbane Casino workers vote to strike
As Solidarity went to press the results of the Brisbane Treasury Casino strike ballot were released.
The postal ballot, conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission, asked members of the...
Campaign saves Cessnock prison, but NSW privatisation drive goes on
With Cessnock jail off the privatisation list, union activists including prison guards (PSA), teachers (NSWTF), nurses, AMWU and NTEU are seeking to extend the campaign across the state.
“This was a...
The Red Army Faction—flawed product of 1960s radicalism
Review: The Baader-Meinhof Complex Directed by Uli Edel
In selected cinemas nowWhen the state uses violence to repress dissent, is it permissible to use violence in reply? When a mass...
Cannes winner an indictment of Australian racism
Review: Samson and Delilah, Directed by Warwick Thornton
In selected cinemas nowSAMSON AND Delilah, written, directed and shot by Aboriginal film maker Warwick Thornton, tells the story of two young...
Climate change–it’s enough to make you sick
Review: Global Warming and the Political Ecology of Health , By Hans Baer and Merrill Singer
Left coast press, $49.95This book traces the likely effects of climate change on human...
Hands off Tangentyere
On Sunday May 24 Jenny Macklin, the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs put a gun to the head of the Tangentyere council, which represents town camp residents in Alice Springs....
