Tamil refugees running from genocide
In the clamor to prove himself tough on refugee boats, Kevin Rudd has failed to even mention the persecution faced by the Tamil people currently fleeing Sri Lanka by...
Twelve more drown: Rudd’s Indonesian Solution hypocrisy
As Solidarity goes to press, the Rudd government and the Opposition continue to play political football with refugees, and the lives of Tamil asylum seekers in particular.
Kevin Rudd...
Macklin’s whitewash: special measures and the RDA
The suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975 (RDA), stands as a blatant testament to the racism of the NT Intervention.
Minister Jenny Macklin had made commitments Labor would reinstate the...
Speaking tour wins union support for Ampilatwatja
A national speaking tour has generated growing public and union support for the Ampilatwatja community walk-off, an ongoing protest camp against the NT Intervention involving hundreds of Aboriginal people.
Richard Downs,...
Intervention motives more serious than mining
Opponents of the NT Intervention have long maintained that its initial, stated aim—to protect Aboriginal children from sexual abuse—was an emotive smokescreen. So what is the real agenda, asks...
Australia helps undermine international climate deal
The Rudd government claims to be serious about reaching a deal at international climate change negotiations at Copenhagen in December. In late October Rudd agreed to become one of...
Greens bill lacks alternative to market solutions
The Greens have gained support for their principled stand on climate change. Their attempt to focus this into a concrete alterative came last month with the release of 22 amendments...
Obsession with market policies dooms renewables
The recent collapse of Solar Systems, the only company in Australia capable of building large-scale solar power stations, has exposed Rudd’s failure to support renewables. Central to this is the...
Lessons to learn from local response to Helensburgh climate camp
This year’s NSW Climate Camp provided an important chance for the climate movement to come together to take action and discuss how to strengthen the campaign. But the choice...
Terror laws see Sydney men convicted on thought crimes
ON FRIDAY October 16 five Sydney men were convicted of plotting a terrorist act. First arrested in November 2005, along with four others in Sydney and 13 men in...
Bligh’s lies block move to decriminalise abortion
A public meeting organised by the Kelvin Grove Labor Party branch has revealed that a majority of the Queensland Parliament is now in favour of legalising abortion. The revelation...
Union fight over privatisation still live in Queensland
Eighty per cent or more of the Queensland electorate remains solidly opposed to the state government’s privatisation agenda in spite of an expensive publicity campaign to convince them otherwise,...
Huge US march for LGBT equality hits Washington
On October 11 in a sunny Washington DC park I waited with fellow early arrivals to see if the call for a national lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender march...
Afghan election farce exposes Karzai’s corruption
Foreign affairs Minister Stephen Smith claimed the elections in Afghanistan would be “an important step for Afghanistan’s developing democracy”. Instead they have seen the credibility of the US-led occupation...
Polarisation in German election sees Left advance
Angela Merkel’s conservative CDU party was re-elected in the recent German elections—but the main outcome was polarisation to the left and right. Among the major beneficiaries was Die Linke—the...
Nazis don’t deserve free speech
After its recent electoral breakthrough, the British National Party (BNP), a fascist organisation that wants to institute a Nazi dictatorship and a whites-only Britain, is trying to establish itself as...
Climate change: Why population is not to blame
Amy Thomas traces the history of arguments for population control, and shows why they have no place in the movement to combat climate changeThe threat of runaway climate change...
1989—Revolution and the fall of the Berlin wall
The popular revolutions that brought down Stalinism were a rebellion against the ruling class in the East, not against socialism, argues Mark Gillespie
In the last months of 1989, a...
Academic gloss for the new assimilation
Review: The Politics of Suffering
By Peter Sutton, Melbourne University Press, $34.95
Peter Sutton has a substantial pedigree in anthropology. He is the author of 40 academic papers, has lived at...
Plan to resist competitive model needed in Victorian schools
Recent elections in the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU) have taken place at a challenging time for public schools and teachers.
State education minister Bronwyn Pike has...
NSW TAFE teachers walk out over savage attack on conditions
TAFE Teachers across NSW have walked off the job in protest at the combined attack on their working conditions from the NSW government and the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC).
As...
Rudd’s IR streamlining cuts rights and conditions
A generation of neo-liberal attacks dressed up as reform or restructuring have created deep suspicion among many workers about anything that’s described as “streamlining” conditions.
And people are right to be...
Moore’s condemnation of capitalism falls flat
Review: Capitalism: A love story
Directed by Michael Moore, In cinemas now
Revolutionaries steeped in Marxist theory and the history of class struggle play an important part in fomenting revolution. But...
The Brisbane Bolshevik and the Russian Revolution
Review: The People’s Train
By Tom Keneally, Vintage Books, $32.95
TOM KENEALLY’S The People’s Train is an exhilarating story of early 20th century radicalism, friendship and love that traverses three continents,...
Rudd negotiates more handouts to polluters
The Rudd government is considering amendments from the Liberals that would further increase handouts to big business under its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS).
The government has pilloried the Liberals...
