Kamala Emanuel

I was sitting in the waiting room when you flashed across the screen A heatwave smothered India and you were on the scene. As you tried to cross the street, your shoe stuck to the road So you ran on scorched bare feet, as the black tar slowly flowed. Where there once were straight white lines, a crazy pattern morphed and swirled, As if a giant with a paintbrush splashed out and dwarfed the world. You long for cooling rain, but the monsoon will be late. And this is how some people face their climate fate. You鈥檙e a woman of Maharashtra; farm life is what you know.
As South Asia swelters through a record-breaking heatwave 鈥 with reports of hundreds of lives lost in India on top of the hundreds of farmer suicides this year owing to crop failures due to drought 鈥 a May 20 Reuters report that Pakistanis were digging mass graves in preparation for heatwave-related deaths brings the grim situation we are in into sharp focus.
Police at Matagarup.

In a re-run of scenes at Matagarup (Heirisson Island) over the past four years, WA police raided the island camp early on April 5. The Nyoongar camp and and homeless people's refuge in the Swan River was then raided again later in the day and the following morning.

Cesar Chavez Directed by Diego Luna Written by Keir Pearson Australian release TBA The 1936 National Labor Relations Act in the United States recognised the rights of US workers to organise and collectively bargain -- but excluded farm workers. Cesar Chavez tells the story of the heroic struggle of super-expoited farm workers -- frequently immigrants -- and their leader Cesar Chavez for their rights to organise for a dignified living.
Everyone should be concerned about the June 30 US Supreme Court鈥檚 ruling in favour of retail arts and crafts company Hobby Lobby. Along with two other family-owned firms, it sued the federal government, saying they should not have to pay for health insurance plans covering four contraceptives to which they object on religious grounds. The decision represents an expansion of corporations鈥 rights at the expense of workers, health care provision and women鈥檚 reproductive health choice 鈥 all in the name of protecting religious freedom.
David Rovics.

So here it is, the latest album from prolific radical songwriter David Rovics All The News That's Fit to Sing.

Since Australian women rallied for 鈥渇ree, safe, accessible abortion on demand鈥 40 years ago, much has been achieved. Legal reform of some kind has taken place in most states and territories. There is Medicare funding for pregnancy termination, mifepristone is available on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and women no longer suffer the complications from illegal 鈥渂ackyard鈥 operations. Yet there are still obstacles for women to access affordable pregnancy termination services in a timely manner.
Socialist Alliance candidates Chris Jenkins (left) and Alex Bainbridge.

The High Court declared last year's senate election in Western Australia void on February 20. Western Australians will head to the polls as early as March 29 to re-elect six senators, because after 1300 ballots went missing during the count, it was impossible to determine the last two senate spots from the election.

David Rovics.

Fans of radical US singer-songwriter David Rovics will welcome his latest CD, If I had a Hammer, a compilation of three albums recorded last year and released in December.

About 150 people walked through Perth on November 16 to call for an end to blaming victims of sexual assault, in the city's third annual SlutWalk. Initiated in response to comments made by a Canadian police officer that women should avoid looking like sluts if they don't want to be raped, SlutWalk continues to attract global support.
Socialist Alliance WA co-convener Alex Bainbridge has hit out at legal threats issued by lawyers acting on behalf of Recall management. Recall is a document storage company whose workers have entered their fourth week on strike for an agreement that recognises union rights. 鈥淵esterday we received a letter indicating that Recall's lawyers are seeking to subpoena documents from the Socialist Alliance regarding the dispute,鈥 Bainbridge told 麻豆传媒 Weekly.
An article published by Socialist Alternative titled on November 22 said: 鈥淭he horrible rape and murder of Brunswick woman Jill Meagher has been successfully used by the media and authorities to promote a right wing political agenda.