2011

Scores of Hazara refugee applications are being rejected because of Australian government claims that one or other part of Afghanistan is safe. One Hazara asylum seeker was recently deported...

War crimes evidence shows Tamils not safe in Sri Lanka

Evidence of Sri Lankan government war crimes during the civil war in 2009 continues to grow. An initial UN report in April held that there were credible reports that...

Political challenges for the Occupy movement

For the past two months, the Occupy movement has electrified US politics and inspired movements in its image around the world. The occupations themselves have been relatively small, but...

Punitive school attendance plan centrepiece of second Intervention

The federal government has moved to extend most major NT Intervention powers for 10 years beyond their July 2012 expiry, with new laws introduced into parliament in November. The...

They all admit it: the carbon tax means gas

The carbon tax is law. This is Gillard Labor’s “historic reform”. Their “dollar float”. According to Treasurer Wayne Swan it is “Labor to the bootstraps”. As soon as the...

Funding a clean energy future?

Labor's carbon price legislation includes the establishment of a Clean Energy Finance Corporation (CEFC). The government claims this means $10 billion in funding for renewables, but a quick look...

Baiada workers win victory over bullying bosses

Baiada Poultry workers in Melbourne have won a major victory for fair pay and job security after 13 days on strike. These 300 mostly migrant workers stuck together in...

NSW teachers willing to fight, but strike called off

On November 19, the State Council of the NSW Teachers Federation carried a branch executive resolution to “defer” a planned strike for November 29—a strike that had been endorsed...

Bus drivers’ trade-offs set bad precedent

Not long ago, NSW unions were talking about breaking O’Farrell’s 2.5 per cent pay cap. Then the PSA settled for 2.5 per cent. Disgracefully RBTU officials are crowing about their...

Lively protest at Sensis for a union agreement

Over fifty Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) members held a lunchtime protest to stop Sensis undermining their union agreement (the Advertising and Design Agreement), by rolling it into a...

Joyce declares war on Qantas workers, but Victoria’s defiant nurses show the way

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce got what he always wanted when he grounded the Qantas fleet on October 29. After being sent back to work for 21 days of negotiations...

Nurses defy FairWork to fight for jobs

Victorian nurses have shown how to stand up to Fair Work Australia and a nasty Liberal state government. Thousands at a packed mass meeting on 21 November voted to defy...

Euro crisis tipping the world back into recession

Political and economic turmoil is engulfing Europe. In the space of a few days in November the governments of Greece and Italy fell after the financial markets judged them...

Mixed feelings as Tunisia goes to the polls

Unprecedented numbers of voters queued in Tunisian streets in October for the first democratic elections of the Arab Spring.The world watched, hailing Tunisia an “example” to the region...

Textile workers strike for jobs and wages in Tunisia

In Solidarity Issue 35, we interviewed textile workers in Soliman, 40 kilometers south west of Tunis, about their terrible conditions at work. Here, the workers explain how they have...

Three month strike hits Freeport’s West Papua mine

Over 8000 workers have been on strike for three months at the giant Freeport mine in West Papua. Five strikers have been shot and killed by Indonesian police, who...

Where do profits come from?

Jean Parker continues our series on economics by looking at labour and surplus valueProfit is the motor of capitalist production, the sole reason why any commodity is produced. Without...

Four years of Labor: what went wrong?

The smell of death is hanging over Labor. Mark Gillespie looks at how they got themselves into such a messFederally Labor’s popularity has slumped to record lows. At the...

Marxism and anarchism

Anarchist and autonomist ideas have influenced many recent movements, including Occupy. Lachlan Marshall takes a look at a new booklet that weighs up their merits. Review: Anarchism: A Marxist Criticism,...

Dissecting Murdoch’s hold on the news

Review: Quarterly Essay 43 “Bad News”, by Robert Manne, Black Inc, $19.95Academic Robert Manne believes that Rupert Murdoch’s Australian media empire should be broken up, with the mogul’s control of...

Qantas unions battle job cuts and outsourcing

Qantas unions are fighting for job security against the airline’s efforts at outsourcing and cutting wages.The pilots and engineers oppose Qantas’ plans to set up new Asian-based airlines...

Labor rules for the 1 per cent—time to build an alternative

As the world economy again teeters on the edge of crisis, the Occupy protests that have spread across the globe has inspired people to fight against the priorities of...

Occupy Australia: reaching out to the rest of the 99 per cent

The Occupy movement, rallying against a world run in the interests of the wealthy 1 per cent, has burst onto the scene in Australia.Vibrant demonstrations on October 15...

‘The whole world is marching’

More than a million people have taken to the streets around the globe as part of the Occupy movement. From Seoul to Santa Fe, in so many different languages,...

Eyewitness: Spain’s ‘indignados’ spirit spreads to the workplace

There were beautiful scenes on October 15 when more than a million people took to the streets across Spain, reports Daisy Farnham.One protester in Seville described it as “a...

Bankstown builds links with the NT Intervention campaign

The Bankstown campaign against income management and the campaign against the Northern Territory Intervention exchanged delegations in October, building strength in the campaign against the Intervention.Activists have united to...

Consultations whitewash Intervention’s failure

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has used sham consultations with Aboriginal communities to announce an extension of the failed NT Intervention beyond the current legislation’s “sunset clause” of July...

Say no to free speech for the likes of Andrew Bolt

There is no real freedom of speech in our society, argues James SuppleThe mainstream media has overwhelming control of the views and opinions that we read. Australia is one...

Malaysia agreement stalled, now end mandatory detention and free the refugees

Not with a bang but a whimper. Rather than have the legislation defeated on the floor of parliament, Julia Gillard withdrew the Migration Act amendments that would have allowed...

Discriminatory offshore processing continues at Christmas Island

The demise of third country offshore processing, and the government’s efforts to send refugees to Malaysia or the Pacific, does not mean the end of all offshore processing.The...

Hands off Sydney Uni Political Economy!

Two hundred students rallied and staged at sit-in at Sydney University in October to oppose the possible merger of the Department of Political Economy into the Department of Government...

Teachers’ strikes can sink O’Farrell’s laws

NSW teachers were gearing up for two-hour stop work meetings on November 2 as Solidarity went to press. The meetings are to map out a strategy to win our...

Afghanistan, an unwinnable war with no end in sight

After ten long years of war, Afghanistan is no safer, nor is an end date for the conflict any more certain.The deteriorating security situation and the failure of the...

Interview with Greek activist: “workers can take us out of the crisis”

Kyriacos Banos is a member of Solidarity’s sister organisation in Greece, the Socialist Workers Party (or SEK). He spoke to us about the escalation of workers’ struggle in Greece.Can...

Eyewitness: Greek strikes a show of workers’ power

Hundreds of thousands of angry Greek trade unionists marched through central Athens on October 19 in the biggest workers’ demonstration since the toppling of the military dictatorship in 1974,...

The Greens: between parliament and principles

Amy Thomas analyses the The Greens’ role in left politics since the federal electionThe only bright side to the federal election one year ago was the breakthrough of The...

Class and the carbon tax

Confusion about class and the class divide in society lies behind the argument among climate campaigners about who exactly should bear the burden of making the transition to a...

Understanding the class divide: the 99 per cent versus the 1 per cent in Australia

For weeks world attention has focussed on the Occupy movement that spread from Occupy Wall Street. Across the world placards have proclaimed “we are the 99 per cent”. Every...

Bad banks, credit and the capitalist economy

Jean Parker begins a series on issues in economics by looking at credit and bankingThe collapse of investment bank Lehman Brothers in September 2008 was the event that triggered...

The police: armed guards for the rich and powerful

The actions of the police at the Occupy protests say a lot about their role in our society, argues James SuppleAFTER A week of peaceful occupation, police in Melbourne...

Things they say

They told me they would be there until capitalism ended, well, that is going to be a very long time away.NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell, after a conversation with Occupy...

NSW workers show power to beat O’Farrell

At least 35,000 public sector workers took to the streets of Sydney on September 8 in NSW’s largest union rally in 20 years.Thousands of teachers joined public servants, nurses...

After Malaysia: smash Labor’s pro-business model

Labor has hit rock bottom. Julia Gillard has thrown human rights overboard in her bid to outflank Abbott from the right over refugees. Incredibly, her efforts have allowed Tony Abbott...

Left and right battle in student elections

After a year fighting Liberal attacks on left wing campaigning, the left gained the majority vote in Sydney University’s SRC elections in September. Labor Left won president and the...

People smugglers: refugees’ ticket to freedom

“Breaking the people smugglers’ business model” is the tired refrain Julia Gillard and Chris Bowen use to justify every inhumane aspect of their policy on asylum seekers—from their...

Malaysia solution scuttled, now let’s end mandatory detention

The last month has been one of the most dramatic in the history of the refugee movement. There was euphoria at the High Court decision that found the Malaysia...

Guy Pearse’s demolition of carbon tax apologetics

Guy Pearse, a former Liberal staffer turned critic of the influence of big fossil fuel companies, has written a searing critique of the climate movement’s slavish support for the...

Coal seam gas: climate disaster brought to you by the carbon tax

The coal seam gas (CSG) industry is rapidly expanding across the country. There are even efforts to drill for CSG in central Sydney. Labor’s carbon tax is encouraging the...

Carbon tax: offsetting our way to more emissions

Buried in the fine print of Labor’s carbon tax package is the admission that greenhouse gas emissions will keep rising for decades into the future. Treasury modelling indicates emissions...

More attacks on construction unions

Construction unions are facing renewed attack, with Ted Baillieu’s Victorian Liberal government announcing a new squad of investigators to spy on building sites. The new investigators will work on state...

Knocking some sense into Sensis

Enterprise bargaining has commenced at Sensis for the first time in years, as a result of growing union membership. Sensis is 100 per cent owned by Telstra, which produces...

Aboriginal people take Intervention protests to consultations

The federal government has just concluded a round of “consultations” with Aboriginal communities in the NT about the future of the Intervention. Labor is committed to the key features of the Intervention....

Boycotting Israel is not anti-Semitic

An unholy alliance of Labor and Liberal politicians together with the media are running a nasty smear campaign against pro-Palestinian protesters targeting Max Brenner stores. Newspapers like The Australian accuse...

Panic and protest as Eurozone crisis deepens

The crisis in the eurozone is again reaching panic levels. The world economy was “entering a dangerous phase”, IMF chief Christine Lagarde told the world’s finance ministers in Washington...

Chile’s students spread resistance in the neo-liberal laboratory

A mass, student-led movement has emerged in Chile, fighting for free education. In late September, 180,000 students and teachers marched on the streets in the latest mass demonstration. This followed...

Fiji’s unions face vicious government crackdown

In recent months Fiji’s Interim Government under Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama has launched a new crackdown on unions.In mid-July, following a decree prohibiting full-time union leaders from representing workers...

1971 Springbok tour: When campaigners scored a victory against racism

The campaign against the South African Springboks tour in 1971 is full of lessons for our campaigns against racism today, argues Tom Orsag

How do ideas change?

Involvement in struggle can shift ideas about the world, argues James SuppleOften, being an activist means standing against the tide of public opinion. It can sometimes seem that the...

Raising genderless kids: can it be done?

Earlier this year, a Canadian couple announced their decision to raise a genderless child, Storm. Their announcement that they would keep their child’s gender a secret to the outside...

Why boosting productivity means working harder

The call for greater efforts to boost productivity has become a constant refrain from business and government. Reserve Bank Governor Glenn Stevens added his voice to the chorus during...

Tony Cliff: a revolutionary thinker

Tony Cliff A Marxist For His Time Bookmarks, $30, available from SolidarityTONY CLIFF was born in 1917, five months before the October revolution in Russia that toppled the provisional government and...

Gurindji want freedom from NT Intervention

Gurindji Freedom day, August 26, was marked by protests against the NT Intervention. Freedom Day commemorates the famous Gurundji walk-off from Wave Hall station in 1966, immortalised in the...

Things they say

“The light on the hill now shines from a lamp on the desk.” Julia Gillard celebrates her scaled back version of Labor’s promise to improve people’s lives “The elegance...

Jobs and living standards cut so bosses can profit

Renewed panic on global stockmarkets shows that the economic crisis that began in 2008 is entering a new stage. This time in addition to debt problems in Europe that...

Qantas job cuts need to be fought, and fast

IN MID-AUGUST, Qantas announced plans to restructure its international arm, or Mainline, into Asia with a hub in Japan and a second Asian airport, at a cost of 1000...

New evidence damns Income Management

A NEW report has damned Labor’s income management policy. The report is from the Equal Rights Alliance (ERA), representing more than 50 groups advocating for women’s rights.Income management “quarantines”...

Why the refugee movement must relate to Labor

HOW THE refugee movement relates to members of the Labor Party is again assuming strategic importance for the campaign. The question will become even more crucial in the lead...

Debate: should we defend the carbon tax?

The carbon tax has been a subject of much debate on the left and in the trade union movement. We asked NSW Greens MP John Kaye why he thinks...

Liberal porkies on budget hole

The NSW Liberal government is gearing up for severe budget cuts, with reports that some departments are facing spending cuts of 25 per cent.According to The Daily Telegraph, 400...

All out to beat O’Farrell—break the wage cap, back the teachers

TENS OF thousands of teachers, nurses, firefighters and public servants are expected to rally on September 8 to launch the campaign against NSW Liberal Premier Barry O’Farrell’s attempt to...

NSW teachers face new push for market reforms

NSW PUBLIC school teachers, already fighting to protect public service pay and jobs, now have another reason to take action against the new Liberal government. In early August NSW...

Public service sees red over pay cap

THE NEW federal Department of Community Services (DHS) is moving to ballot workers on a new agreement based on the 3 per cent pay cap being imposed across the...

Somalia’s famine: how world leaders let people starve

ON JULY 20, the UN declared a famine in southern Somalia. This is the first official famine in 25 years. It is estimated that some 10,000 children had already died...

Eyewitness: UK rioters’ rage at a criminal system

Carl Taylor gives an eyewitness account of the London riots and the moral hysteria that's followedFOR FOUR days in early August angry crowds gathered in poor, inner city areas...

Gaddafi’s gone—but West now wants to rule

The 42-year old Gaddafi dictatorship is over. Rebel forces have seized Tripoli, the capital of Libya and Gaddafi’s stronghold. The end of Gaddafi himself, the perpetrator of brutal repression,...

Chaos and carnage in the world economy

The economic crisis is back with a vengeance, argues James SuppleCHAOS ON global stockmarkets in recent weeks has revived fears that the world economy is heading back into meltdown....

Norway massacre: the ugly face of Islamophobia

The anti-Muslim ideas behind Anders Behring Breivik’s mass murder in Norway start with the political mainstream, argues Amy ThomasTHE MEDIA and the political establishment tied themselves in knots to...

Storming heaven: the Paris Commune of 1871

More than a century ago, workers in Paris demonstrated how to build a new society, explains Lachlan MarshallSEVERAL TIMES throughout the past century workers have struggled against the state...

The unknown Mozart

Mozart’s Sister Directed by Rene Feret In cinemas now Mozart’s Sister is a French film that tells the overlooked story of Maria Anna Walburga Ignatius Mozart, or Nannerl, as she is referred...

Telling glimpse into Tamil Tigers’ doomed route to national liberation

Tamil Tigress By Niromi de Soyza Allen & Unwin, $32.99Tamil Tigress is the memoir of Niromi de Soyza, who in 1987, at the age of 17, left her middle-class family to...

Nationalist myths of Australia’s war in the Pacific

Australia’s Pacific War: Challenging a National Myth By Tom O’Lincoln, Interventions $20.00As Tom O’Lincoln’s new book points out, WWII is held up as a “good war”, when Australia fought alongside...

Things they say

“Karl Marx said it right. At some point capitalism can self-destruct itself because you cannot keep on shifting income from labor to capital without having excess capacity and a...

Gillard reinvents the Pacific solution

As Solidarity goes to press, the High Court has announced it will hand down a decision on the challenge to the Malaysia refugee deal on Wednesday August 31. Whether...

Things they say

"We know we can’t be in Afghanistan forever". Maybe the penny has dropped for Defence Minister Stephen Smith "A carbon tax could have united fervent environmentalists and economic rationalists, whatever...

Higher bills not something everyone can afford

Some supporters of the carbon tax have rubbished claims that people can’t afford to pay more for power and other goods. One widely circulated blog post bellowed, “Let’s get...

Defending carbon tax just helps Abbott

The unveiling of the carbon tax package has produced only the slightest improvement in the government’s support. Labor’s primary vote crept up to 29 per cent from 27 per...

Is the carbon tax the end of dirty coal power?

Labor and the Greens claim the carbon price means the beginning of the end for coal-fired power. But at best we will see a large expansion of gas-fired power,...

Big polluters grab billions in handouts—again

As under the CPRS, the carbon tax contains billions in compensation for business. In total there is $10.3 billion for business over the first three years, with compensation guaranteed...

Claims of billions for renewables are hollow

Labor and The Greens have held up a “massive $13 billion investment in renewable energy” as a key benefit of the carbon tax package. It is one of the...

Go Back: the series that set people talking

SBS TV’s Go Back To Where You Came From has generated a huge amount of public debate about refugees. It was the highest-rating program for SBS so far this...

Say no to Labor’s shameful Malaysia deal

Asylum seekers who arrive by boat after midnight July 25 will be deported to Malaysia, under the deal signed by Immigration Minister Chris Bowen and Malaysian Home Minister Hishamuddin...

How the refugee movement changed public opinion last time

John Howard’s election in 1996 brought with it Pauline Hanson and a steep rise in efforts to whip up racism—first against Aborigines and Asians but then quickly at Muslim...

What does O’Farrell’s attack on the IRC mean?

Union leaders have denounced the NSW Liberals new public sector law as “worse than WorkChoices”. Their new law requires the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) to enforce any government decisions about...

Out all for massive rally in September against O’Farrell

As Solidarity went to press, NSW Liberal Premier Barry O’Farrell’s assault on public sector workers had hit a minor snag, with the Shooters and Fishers Party joining Fred Nile...

Time to fight pay cap in federal public service

Federal public servants in a number of agencies, including the ATO, Defence, Customs, Immigration and the Bureau of Meteorology have now voted down enterprise agreements. Three out of four...

Aboriginal people stand up to sham Intervention consultations

The federal government is currently in the middle of a six week round of “consultations” with Aboriginal people on the future of the NT Intervention. This process is a...

Malaysian government cracks down on democracy movement

On July 9, up to 50,000 people took to the streets of Kuala Lumpur in a mass rally called by the Bersih 2.0 (Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections)...

The corrupt heart of Murdoch’s empire

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch’s motto is “Expand or die”—and it seems to have served him well. Murdoch is one of the most powerful men in the world. His News Corporation...

Murdoch, politicians, cops: They’re all in it together

The Murdoch crisis has opened a window onto the moral, political and economic corruption that permeates establishment circles. The pundits, police and politicians who preach the rule of law—the...

Demands for end of military rule grow in Egypt

Millions of people continue to radicalise as Egypt’s revolution moves left. Activists occupied Tahrir Square in central Cairo in July and similar public squares across Egypt, pledging to stay...

The last wave of Arab revolt: Iraq’s 1958 revolution

Our of the last wave of Arab revolutions, Iraq developed the most powerful left in the region. Mark Gillepsie examines the lessons of that revolt for today’s upheavalsThis year...

Racism, immigration and border controls

Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott promote the myth that we must ‘secure our borders’ against refugees. James Supple makes the case for open borders—for everyoneBehind the Gillard government’s slide...

Revolution and civil war in spain

Last month marked 75 years since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War. Solidarity explores the lessons of the events of 1936.On July 17, 1936 General Franco’s fascist...

Nagasaki bombing: a war crime to boost US power

Nagasaki: the massacre of the innocent and unknowing, by Craig Collie, Allen and Unwin, $32.99Hiroshima Day, August 4, is an established part of the activist’s political calendar. Anti-war and...

Sexism, psychology and pseudo-science

Review: Delusions of Gender By Cordelia Fine, Allen and Unwin, $29.99In Delusions of Gender, neuro-scientist Cordelia Fine takes an axe to the drivel of biological determinism that self-help books...

Gillard dragged down with the carbon tax

Julia Gillard’s political fortunes are going from bad to worse. Opposition to the carbon tax is clearly a key factor.In late July, Newspoll reported that she had slipped...

Greek workers show how to fight

Greece is in turmoil (see here). Workers are escalating resistance, staging their first 48-hour general strike as the government passed through vicious new austerity measures. But the Greek crisis...

Nuclear contamination at Fukushima still growing

Three months on from the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the situation is still worsening. But growing anti-nuclear sentiment worldwide has seen both Germany and Italy forced to announce they are...

Things they say

“The effects of radiation do not come to people that are happy and laughing. They come to people that are weak-spirited, that brood and fret.” Dr. Shunichi Yamashita, newly appointed...

United strike action can beat back O’Farrell in NSW

Twelve thousand unionists rallied against the NSW Liberals’ attack on public sector workers on June 15. Nurses and health workers from 40 hospitals, firefighters and many other government workers all...

Carbon price—a cheap way to do nothing on climate change

Labor has used a Productivity Commission report to bolster its push for a carbon price as the best way to cut carbon emissions. But the only thing it proves...

Campaign demands Sydney Uni SRC oppose library cuts

In early June, Sydney University announced that Fisher library was to undergo a “redevelopment” that involved 30 job losses and the removal of over 500,000 books. Following a protest...

Nauru a ‘hare-brained idea’

Liberal Immigration spokesperson Scott Morrison has made his career out of bashing asylum seekers and stoking Islamophobia in Australia. It was therefore revolting to see him use his trip...

No need for any refugee detention at all

Ending mandatory detention has long been a demand of the refugee movement. The recent Refugee Day rallies all had “End Mandatory Detention” as their central slogan. But the question...

Protests say: Alternative to Intervention needed

On June 21, hundreds of Aboriginal people and supporters marched in the biggest Aboriginal rights demonstration seen in Darwin since John Howard announced the Intervention in 2007. The demonstration...

Bankstown says no to Income Management

Local Aboriginal groups, migrant organisations and community workers are coming together in Bankstown to stand up against Income Management (IM), set to be introduced in the Western Sydney suburb...

‘They should not be able to have that power over us’

Aunty Carol Carter from the Bankstown area spoke to Solidarity about the decision to make it one of the new trial sites for Income ManagementWhat are some of your...

Egypt: the revolution continues

Egypt’s “second day of rage” on May 27 showed that the revolution is far from over. Over a million people across Egypt rallied and Tahrir Square was once again...

Greek workers rise up as government faces default

Europe’s leaders spent June playing a giant game of poker, as they bluffed each other over who would contribute most towards bailing out Greece from bankruptcy. But all the...

Why climate action means challenging capitalism

Amy Thomas looks at why the system is unable to effectively address climate changeIn 2010, after two decades of scientific consensus that climate change is real and human-induced, global...

Are First World workers to blame for climate change?

Some see workers in developed countries like Australia as too bought off to be allies in the fight for climate action. Jasmine Ali shows why this isn’t the caseMany...

Is China headed for world domination?

The rise of China has produced tensions with the US, and shows how imperialist patterns of great power competition still define our world, writes Feiyi Zhang In the last few...

Green consumerism not what it claims

Review: Green gone wrong By Heather Rodgers, Verso, $39 As concern about environmental problems has become mainstream, a new market niche has emerged. Businesses are now well aware that consumers are increasingly...

Tanner’s self-serving diagnosis on our political culture

Review: Sideshow: Dumbing down democracy By Lindsay Tanner, Scribe, $32.95.The “sideshow syndrome” is Lindsay Tanner’s label for what he sees as the current malaise of participatory democracy in Australia and...

Stop Gillard ‘people trading’ with Malaysia

Julia Gillard’s asylum seeker swap with Malaysia is facing mounting opposition. Both houses of parliament have condemned it, a High Court challenge is underway, and dissent has emerged within...

Labor’s useless policies feed Abbott’s rise

Just when you think Julia Gillard could not get any worse, she gets worse. Labor is lurching from crisis to crisis as it tries to sell an unsaleable carbon tax...

Gillard’s Malaysia Solution—worse than Howard

Julia Gillard’s announcement of the Malaysia Solution has horrified refugee supporters in Australia, and in Malaysia.Under the deal 800 asylum seekers intercepted by Australia will be returned to Malaysia...

Howard’s Pacific Solution didn’t stop the boats

Throughout the 2010 federal election, Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison proclaimed that, “We stopped the boats before, we can stop the boats again.” But a closer look at...

Dump the cuts, not the books at Sydney Uni library

A PLAN to cull half a million books from Sydney Uni’s Fisher Library and make thirty staff redundant has met with a student outcry.Anger brewed when the Head Librarian,...

Four years too long—time to scrap Intervention laws

In July 2012, NT Intervention powers, such as compulsory 5-year leases and management powers over all assets and organisations within Aboriginal communities, will reach their sunset clause. Federal funding...

Welfare Quarantine spreads

Income Management (IM), first applied to Aboriginal communities through the NT Intervention, will be extended to five “disadvantaged areas” from July 2012 following an announcement in the May budget.The...

European emissions trading scam should be a lesson

LABOR IS poised to introduce a carbon price, starting with a tax that will morph into an emissions trading scheme (ETS) within three to five years. The model for...

‘SlutWalk’: Women refuse to take the blame for rape

Protests, billed as “SlutWalks”, are spreading after a cop’s sexist comment to Toronto students. Our society promotes and constantly reinforces the idea that women are to blame if they...

Qantas plans to undercut wages exposed

The battlelines are being drawn at Qantas, with management maintaining its belligerence against unions in Enterprise Bargaining negotiations. While the engineers union has postponed any strike action, there is...

NSW Liberals attack on public sector ‘worse than WorkChoices’

The NSW Public Service Association (PSA) has imposed bans on public servant overtime in response to the NSW Liberal government’s announcement of a 2.5 per cent pay cap and...

Vale Bob Gould—left and labour activist over six decades

Almost anyone who has been serious about left-wing politics of any kind in Australia has a story about Bob Gould, whether it be trawling the shelves of one of...

Eyewitness: Spain’s indignant take democracy into their own hands

An atmosphere of rebellion has swept across Spain. On May 15, tens of thousands of people took to the streets for statewide demonstrations calling for “real democracy now” under...

Facing down the regime’s crackdown in Syria

The wave of Arab revolutions appears to have stalled in Syria in the face of a massive crackdown by the regime.Opposition to the regime is united in its...

As the Arab spring jumps borders, Palestinian leaders play catch up

“THE PEOPLE want Tahrir in Palestine”—this was the chant unifying the thousands attempting to march on Israel’s borders from Lebanon and Syria and protesting in the Palestinian Occupied Territories...

Libya: the west wants a client regime

THE REAL political agenda behind the West’s so-called humanitarian intervention in Libya becomes clearer by the day. NATO’s bombing campaign has been relentless. More than 2700 bombs were dropped...

UN report confirms horror of Sri Lanka’s war on Tamils

A UN report released in March gives horrific confirmation of the terror that is forcing Tamils to flee Sri Lanka and seek asylum in Australia.It comes at the end...

Eyewitness to Tunisia’s unfinished revolution

Olivia Nigro reports from Tunisia on the challenges still facing workers in Tunisia after they toppled dictator Ben AliHistoric May Day as workers fight in the unionsMAY DAY in...

Keynes and recovery: Labor’s mixed up economics

Jean Parker looks at Labor’s muddled defence of its neo-liberal budget, and its abandonment of social democratic policies “Keynesians in the recovery”, written for the Australian Fabian News (May 2011)...

Osama’s dead, but the real terrorists are still on the loose

As the killing of Osama Bin Laden is met with patriotic zeal, James Supple takes a look at what it’s going to take to fight the world’s biggest terrorist—the...

Smoke bombs, sit-ins and sixties’ student radicalism at Monash

Review: All Along the Watchtower, by Michael Hyde, The Vulgar Press, $32.95.With this memoir, Michael Hyde opens us up to the world of 1960s revolutionary activists and gives a...

Carbon tax won’t stop new coal power

Intensive negotiations to determine the final shape of the government’s carbon tax are underway. But it is already clear that the fight to stop new coal power stations and to demand...

Things they say

I’d take the oil, I’d give them plenty so they can live very happily. I would take the oil. You know, in the old days when you have a...

Can Labor hang on in Queensland?

After Labor’s crushing defeat in the NSW March election, all eyes have turned to Queensland to see if it will be the next Labor domino to fall.Following Labor’s...

Budget cuts continue Labor’s rule from the right

Labor is set to bring down cutbacks, job losses and attacks on the unemployed in its federal budget on May 10. “We’ll be doing things in this budget that...

Refugees punished with return of temporary visas

In a disgraceful political stunt, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen has announced new laws to strip asylum seekers of visa rights. This is a further effort to blame asylum seekers...

Refugees speak: ‘There’s no explanation why I got accepted and Majid was rejected’

Solidarity’s Mark Goudkamp spoke to two Iranian refugees who maintained a 24-hour vigil outside Villawood detention centre during the recent rooftop protests. Hadi Parhizkar is the brother of Majid,...

Deadline set for HRL plant assessment

Victoria’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has begun assessing HRL’s plan for a new coal power plant in the state. A decision is expected by May 27, according to The...

Unions and the carbon price: trying to sell the unsaleable

“If one job is lost, our support is gone.” This was the condition placed on a carbon tax by right-wing Labor heavyweight and Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) Secretary Paul...

Climate movement debates carbon price and strategies for fighting Abbott

This year’s annual Climate Summit, a decision-making conference of Australian climate activists, was split 50/50 over whether to support a carbon price.The final session was dominated by a...

More Aboriginal people forced to work for BasicsCard

Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin has announced that more Aboriginal people will be forced to work for the BasicsCard as part of the government’s response to the growing social...

Miner’s bullying exposes contempt for Aboriginal people

Billionaire Andrew Forrest is in damage control after trying to bully Aboriginal native title holders into giving him control of their land. Solidarity spoke with Michael Woodley, CEO of...

A victory over the Sydney Uni Liberals—let’s keep up the fight

Student Liberal Chad Sidler abused his position as General Secretary of the Sydney University Student Representative Council (SRC) in an attempt to shut down student activism in March. Chad...

Murdoch’s attack on Greens and BDS could have been beaten

The NSW Greens and Marrickville council’s support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel has faced a vicious right-wing onslaught led by the Murdoch press. During...

Fight over job security brewing at Qantas

Three key unions at Qantas are pressing demands for job security and above-inflation pay rises.Pilots, aircraft engineers and ground staff, like baggage handlers, catering staff, ramp handlers and...

Revolt threatens Palestine’s own collaborator regime

For Palestinians, who are every day humiliated both by Israel and by their own “regime”, the reassertion of dignity by the Tunisian, Egyptian and Middle Eastern masses continues to...

West wants a Libyan revolution under its control

Western forces are tightening their grip on the conduct of the fighting against the Gaddafi regime in Libya, with Britain, France and Italy committing advisors to help rebel forces.When...

Truth about Fukushima contamination leaks out

There is growing anger in Japan at misinformation and efforts to downplay the seriousness of the nuclear crisis at Fukushima. A full month after the crisis began, authorities finally...

Why do world leaders love nuclear power?

In the wake of the nuclear disaster in Japan, Amy Thomas argues that the drive for nuclear power is tied to the nuclear arms raceThe disaster at Fukushima underscores...

Army’s rotten sexism: a product of training killers

New scandals have again exposed the extreme sexism in the Australian military. Jasmine Ali looks at whether promoting more women into combat roles will make any differenceDefence minister Stephen...

Sylvia Pankhurst—socialism, suffrage and the sisterhood?

Lucy Honan concludes our series on revolutionary women with a look at the politics of feminism’s most famous familyJust how powerful is the feminist sisterhood? Nothing captures the confusion...

Islam, imperialism and resistance

Political Islam is regularly derided by establishment commentators in the West. Tony Bozdagci takes a closer look at the role of Islamic groups inside resistance movements in the Arab...

Exploring Stephen Jay Gould’s ideas on science and evolution

The Science and Humanism of Stephen Jay Gould By Richard York and Brett Clark, Monthly Review Press $16.95Stephen Jay Gould was one of the most important evolutionary theorists since Charles Darwin....

A proud history of Aboriginal struggle on display

From Little Things Big Things Grow Exhibtion developed by National Museum of Australia, touring nationally see website for details From Little Things Big Things Grow gives a useful and engaging overview...

Egypt’s revolution takes fight to the army

Not content with overthrowing the figurehead of a repressive regime, the Egyptian working class is targeting Mubarak-era officials still running the military and public institutions. Workers at the Shebin...

Disaster in Japan shows nuclear is never safe

The threat of the disaster escalating at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power complex appeared to be passing as Solidarity went to press. But a fortnight of explosions and releases of radioactive...

Things they say

The human toll here looks to be much worse than the economic toll, and we can be grateful for that. CNBC TV host Larry Kudlow on the Japanese earthquake disasterBuilding...

Backing tax on workers no way to stop Abbott

Tony Abbott, backed by radio shock jocks, climate deniers and the big polluters lobby, has called for a “people’s revolt” against a carbon tax.About 1500 even turned out...

Don’t let HRL and the Liberals get away with new coal power in Victoria

The Environmental Protection Agency is set to decide in mid-April if a proposed HRL coal-fired power station in the Latrobe Valley can go ahead. HRL wants to burn a...

Carbon pricing, unions and climate change

Solidarity spoke to James Goodman, National Tertiary Education Union member at UTS, about unions and climate change policyThe ACTU had a position where it supported first the CPRS and...

Demanding climate solutions that will work

The Beyond Zero Emissions 2020 Stationary Energy Plan shows one possible plan to transition to 100 per cent renewable energy in Australia. Using only currently commercially available technology, the plan...

Detention crisis: federal police run riot at Christmas Island

A fantastic breakout on Christmas Island, and dramatic scenes of fires and tear gas rounds as the Immigration Department, Serco and the Federal Police restored “order”, have pushed asylum...

Speaking tour a boost for Jobs with Justice campaign

John Leemans, a Gurindji man and LHMU delegate from Kalkarindji, Northern Territory, travelled to Sydney and Brisbane to speak at worksites, union and community meetings in March.John is an...

From little things, big things grow: the first Gurundji strike

The 1966 Gurindji Strike (also known as the Wave Hill Walk-Off) was a defining moment in the struggle for Aboriginal rights. A protest that started demanding equal wages and...

Intervention’s strongest supporters abandon a failing policy

Like rats fleeing a sinking ship, many of the NT Intervention’s staunchest supporters are now admitting it has failed and distancing themselves from Aboriginal Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin and...

Labor embraces the talk of multiculturalism, but not the practice

In a dramatic about-face for the Gillard government, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen used a February speech to announce a renewed commitment from Labor to multiculturalism.Bowen announced the formation...

Union fight the key to stopping Liberals in NSW

Popular disgust at Labor was set to deliver another state election to the Liberals as Solidarity went to press. Labor was facing electoral annihilation on the eve of the...

Labor’s juggling act: move to the right but keep the unions happy

After Labor's appalling result at last year’s Federal election it was close to becoming the first one-term Federal government since Scullin’s in the 1930s Depression. An official review by party...

Wisconsin: class struggle in the belly of the beast

The eruption of class struggle in Wisconsin, that saw workers occupy the State Capitol Building for 17 days, has swept away two ideas that have been a mainstay of American...

One million protest sexism in Berlusconi’s “bunga bunga” Italy

In early February, over one million people rallied across Italy asking “se non ora quando?” (if not now, when?), demanding an end to the rampant sexism characterising Italian politics...

Greek workers: “Let’s have Cairo everywhere!”

Greek workers held their first general strike of the year in February—their eighth in just 12 months. Work stoppages and nearly 60 demonstrations demanded an end to the government’s three-year...

Egypt’s revolution takes on the ‘little Mubaraks’

“IT IS our opinion that if this revolution does not lead to the fair distribution of wealth it is not worth anything. Freedoms are not complete without social freedoms....

Irish election: “a riot at the ballot box”

“A riot at the ballot box”—that is how a Fianna Fail (FF) spokesperson described their historical demolition in Ireland’s February general election. For most of the Southern Irish state’s existence,...

From Petrograd to Cairo: revolution and mass strikes

Chris Bambery from Socialist Worker UK takes a look at German revolutionary Rosa Luxemburg’s classic The Mass Strike in the wake of Egypt’s revolutionThe strike wave detonated by Egypt’s revolution...

Lessons from last time: national liberation in the Arab world

Many Arab leaders now facing revolts against their rule were themselves a product of the revolutionary wave in the Arab world in the 1950s and 1960s that ended colonial...

Balkan war proves the myth of “humanitarian intervention”

Many people who are horrified by what Western intervention has done in Iraq or Afghanistan still see no alternative to supporting a no-fly zone over Libya.Western governments encourage this—and...

Construction unions can’t just cop these unjust fines

Fines against the construction unions have continued to mount under the draconian special laws for the industry established to crack down on the unions. In cases through January, February...

Workers stage first national strike in CSIRO’s history

More than 2000 staff across the country at CSIRO took part in a two-hour strike in late March over pay and conditions.It is the first time in the 80-year history...

Immigration Nation: Probing Australia’s racist roots

Mark Goudkamp takes a look at the SBS series Immigration Nation and its history of the White Australia policySBS’s Immigration Nation is an informative and timely three-part documentary that...

Western bombs won’t free Libya

As Solidarity goes to press the Western powers, under the banner of the UN, have started a massive bombing campaign on Libya. More than 110 Tomahawk cruise missiles were...

Witnessing ‘a festival of the oppressed’

Anne Alexander visited Cairo for Socialist Worker (UK) during the struggle to get rid of Mubarak and described the scene in Tahrir square It is a seedbed for new kinds...

People power revolutions sweep the Middle East

People power revolutions are shaking the Middle East. Together with the revolution in Tunisia, Egypt’s revolt has shown the power of ordinary people to bring down even the most...

After the flood—an outbreak of insurance anger

Anna Bligh might talk about all Queenslanders being in the same boat, but in the aftermath of the January flood, and now the cyclone, the insurance companies are hanging...

Community solidarity shows another world is possible

Community actions in the aftermath of the floods have shown the potential for human solidarity in the face of disaster. As the flood waters began to roll across the...

Queensland flood aftermath brings a rising tide of nationalism

Politicians flogged the nationalist drum hard during the recent flood crisis. “We will hang on to our Aussie mateship and our Aussie fair go in the worst times and...

Floods and extreme weather send message on climate

This summer has seen extreme weather events across Australia. Queensland’s devastating floods were followed closely by Cyclone Yasi. Widespread flooding also occurred in Victoria, while the region around Perth...

Bowen releases Seena—now free them all

A groundswell of community concern has forced Immigration Minister Chris Bowen to back down and announce that Seena, the nine-year old Iranian orphaned in the Christmas Island disaster, will...

Unions take up fight against Indigenous housing rort

The CFMEU, Unions NT and the Intervention Rollback Action Group have launched a joint petition demanding justice for Indigenous workers ripped off under the Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure...

Obituary: Vale Mark Fordham, a fighter for Aboriginal workers

The trade union and Aboriginal rights movements have been shocked by news of Mark Fordham’s death on February 2. Mark, the proud father of two young sons, died of...

Racism widens the gap in Aboriginal education

Julia Gillard's annual speech on the progress of Labor’s “Close the Gap” policy demonstrated the poisonous growth of blame the victim politics in Aboriginal Affairs.“I see Closing the Gap as...

Liberals begin their attacks on the Sydney Uni SRC

As the academic year begins, the Sydney University Student Representative Council (SRC) is under attack from the Liberals. The SRC is the student union on campus at Sydney University.While...

Gillard’s ‘solution’ to dump refugees on Timor

Leakd plans have exposed the unfair burden Julia Gillard’s “East Timor solution” would put on the tiny impoverished nation. They have confirmed that the proposal is all about Australia...

Opposition to Afghan deportation agreement grows

On January 17, Immigration Minister Chris Bowen announced that a Memorandum of Understanding allowing the Australian government to forcibly return asylum seekers had been signed by Afghanistan, Australia and...

School autonomy another market measure

Just before Christmas, Julia Gillard announced the next step in her free market vision for schools. Her proposal for “school autonomy” would give school principals and parent representatives at individual schools...

NSW power privatisation: selling our services at any cost

The NSW government’s power sell-off has descended into farce. The second round of “partial privatisation”, expected to raise $2 billion, has fallen through due to a lack of bidders....

Strike movement finished Mubarak—and isn’t over yet

Hosni Mubarak's fate was sealed by the entrance of the Egyptian working class into the struggle against the regime.Strikes by property tax collectors and Mahalla textile workers in 2006-2008...

New protests fight Tunisian regime

A new wave of protests erupted in Tunisia in early February, following the revolution that brought down Ben Ali on January 14. Despite the downfall of the brutal 23-year...

Economic crisis sends Irish politics in chaos

Official politics in Ireland descended into chaos in January. The ruling Fianna Fail/Green Party coalition has collapsed and prime minister Brian Cowen is no longer leader of his own...

Fight for democracy in Haiti as butcher returns to the scene

The return of Haiti’s former dictator, Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, has raised questions about continued US interference in the disaster-ravaged country.Baby Doc inherited the presidency from his father in...

Spain’s workers take on cuts—and their union leaders

January 27 marked yet another day of strikes and demonstrations in Spain. This time, workers were not only calling for an end to the Spanish government’s cuts: they were...

Egypt: from people power to workers’ power

Solidarity looks at the way forward for the revolution that toppled a dictatorThe beginning of 2011 saw revolutions unfolding across the Middle East. Masses of people, suffering decades of...

Muslim Brotherhood is a far from radical force

Western leaders could not publicly reject the call for democracy in Egypt, but as the Mubarak regime teetered and fell they reached for the one ideological weapon they could...

From Algeria to Iran, a mood of defiance is spreading

The invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan were justified by Western leaders with rhetoric about bringing “democracy” and “liberation” to the Middle East. But the revolts shaking the Arab world...

The hidden history of International Women’s Day

As we celebrate 100 years of International Women’s Day, Solidarity looks at the radical history of women workers that it representsMarch 8 marks 100 years since the first celebration...

Elizabeth Gurley Flynn: rebel women and radical unionism

Erima Dall continues our series on revolutionary women with a look at the life of a US union radical and her struggle to help organise women workersWhen Elizabeth Gurley...

Can WikiLeaks change the world?

As Julian Assange faces his extradition trial, James Supple takes a look at the role of information in the fight for social changeWikiLeaks' release of thousands of US diplomatic...

Fighting Patrick again on the waterfront

Waterside workers employed by Patrick, members of the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA), began rolling strike action in WA and Victoria in December to win more secure employment and...

Disputes rage on at UNSW and Macquarie unis

The campaign for a decent agreement is continuing at UNSW after more than two years of negotiations.About 40 staff were stood down for almost two months over the end...

Percy Brookfield: MP who used parliament to agitate and organise

The Best Hated Man in Australia: The Life and Death of Percy Brookfield 1875-1921 By Paul Robert Adams, Puncher and Wattmann, $34In a country where heroism is commonly deemed present...

Gillard’s carbon price proposal: shovel billions to business

Julia Gillard's embrace of pro-business policies seems to know no bounds. It was revealed in early February Labor wants to introduce a carbon price laden with compensation for coal...

Fight to hold the powerful to account has just begun

THE CAMPAIGN to shut down WikiLeaks and discredit Julian Assange reached fever pitch with the latest release of US diplomatic cables. Though Assange has been released on bail, he...

US tortures WikiLeaks source Bradley Manning

The treatment of Bradley Manning, the 23-year old US soldier accused of leaking information to Wikileaks, shows the ruthlessness with which the US defends its global power. Yet to be...

It’s official: rampant corruption and hatred of the US plagues Afghanistan

WIKILEAKS HAS given us an insight into what Western officials really think about Afghanistan. The picture that emerges is of a country run by a government corrupt from top...

Anti-Iran rhetoric exposes corrupt US allies

hawkish attitude toward Iran by many Arab leaders. Right wing commentators have used these reports to argue there is a new “international consensus” for a hard line against Iran.King...

Assange’s persecution is not about women’s rights

Julian Assange is now out of jail and faces his full extradition hearing on February 7 and 8. Shamefully, the Swedish government have used allegations of rape and sexual assault...

The real face of US power

WikiLeaks’ US embassy cables paint an unflattering portrait of the world’s sole superpower, argues James SuppleWIKILEAKS’ RELEASE of thousands of US diplomatic cables has enraged the American government. They...

Christmas Island tragedy—Australian government policies are to blame

Graphic footage of the wooden boat carrying up to 100 Iranian, Iraqi and Kurdish asylum seekers smashing onto the cliffs of Christmas Island on December 15 went around the...

Queensland floods: why will nobody talk about climate change?

JULIA GILLARD, Tony Abbott and Anna Bligh spent much of the Christmas period posing for the cameras in flood-ravaged Queensland. There was plenty of talk about tragedy, the need for...

Exposed by WikiLeaks

Solidarity lists some more of the most damning leaks from the diplomatic cables released so farUS bombings covered up in YemenYemen’s president Ali Abdullah Saleh admitted covering up for...

British student protests: a generation in revolt

Dave Sewell, a student activist from Britain, takes a look at the burgeoning movement of students against the education cutsIf I forget everything else, I’ll always remember November 10...

Australia in lockstep with the US in war on Wikileaks

Julia Gillard has mounted a vicious attack on WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, echoing the line of the US administration that he is a criminal. Both Gillard and her Attorney...