Kurdish fighters in the northern-Syrian city of Kobani have been fighting an armed struggle against Islamic State (IS) fighters for the past month. The Kurdish fighters are resisting IS attempts to take their city, which would result in a massacre.
There has been some debate among left activists about whether the Kurdish struggle is anti-imperialist, whether the people鈥檚 militia groups in Kobani have been calling for imperialist military intervention, and what issue Australian anti-war activists should focus on.
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Something fishy was going on outside Westpac headquarters in Melbourne on October 11, as colourfully dressed protesters came together to reveal the true cost of potential investment in the Great Barrier Reef coal port expansion.
Protests took place across Australia against controversial new plans to increase coal shipping through the World Heritage Area.
Though Westpac released its own promising report on climate change in 2009, Market Forces estimates it has since lent more than $900 million to fossil fuel export projects within the marine park.
The City of Moreland became the first council in Victoria to rule out direct investments in fossil fuels and the first council in Australia to start developing a strategy to move investments away from financial institutions that fund fossil fuel developments, after a vote at its October 8 meeting.
Woolworths was caught out this month selling T-shirts with the slogan 鈥淚f you don鈥檛 love it, leave鈥 emblazoned over an Australian flag.
After George Craig posted a photo of the shirt on Twitter with the caption: 鈥淍woolworths cairns, selling racist singlets for everyday low prices! #racist鈥, the T-shirt was quickly and widely condemned. Woolworths immediately pulled the stock from its shelves and apologised.
University of Sydney professor Barry Spurr has been suspended following a protest at the university on October 17.
Students and staff rallied to express their disgust over the professor had vilified minority groups in emails to his colleagues by using terms such as 鈥渁bos, mussies, chinky-poos鈥 and referred to a woman as a 鈥渨orthless slut鈥.
The article below was is taken from a longer message released by Malalai Joya, the renowned Afghan feminist who has resisted the Taliban and US-led occupation of her nation, on October 12. It is abridged from .
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Paul Verhaeghe, senior professor of clinical psychology and psychoanalysis at Ghent University in Belgium, has argued in that neoliberal economics brings out the worst in human beings.
He finds that thirty years of neoliberalism, and the privatisation and free-market misery that comes with it, have taken their toll on people鈥檚 values and even their personalities.
The ebola outbreak in West Africa is "unquestionably the most severe acute public health emergency in modern times", World Health Organisation (WHO) director general Dr Margaret Chan said on October 14.
The Queensland capital is getting ready to lock down for a two-day meeting of world leaders in mid-November. More than $171 million has been allocated to 鈥渃ity improvement works鈥 in an effort by the government 鈥渢o help Brisbane shine鈥 in time for the G20 summit.
Homeless people will be offered hotel rooms, bins will be sealed to prevent bomb concealment, public transport will be affected and roads will be closed.
The G20 鈥渞ed zone鈥 will encompass the central business district and Spring Hill along with much of Kangaroo Point, Fortitude Valley and South Brisbane.
Steve O'Brien, Socialist Alliance candidate for the byelection in the NSW state seat of Newcastle, slammed the NSW government鈥檚 decision to close the heavy rail line to Newcastle at Broadmeadow, cutting the city centre from rail traffic from December 26. "This move is wrong and completely unacceptable for the people of Newcastle," O'Brien said. O'Brien was speaking at the campaign launch at the Rail Sheds, Newcastle East Foreshore Park, on October 12. The by-election will be held on October 25.
Hundreds of Kurds gathered in a Turkish border town on October 7 for the funerals of four women killed fighting the Islamic State (IS) group. Across the border, a Kurdish female militia is playing a leading role in defending Kobani (also known as Kobane).
About 1000 people rallied in Melbourne for refugee rights on October 11. The date marked the one year anniversary of Operation Sovereign Borders.
About 300 protesters from the Kurdish community, marching to defend Kobani, joined the rally.
Former detainee Reza Yarahmadi spoke against Temporary Protection Visas. He said: "You know what TPV stands for? I call it Toilet Paper Visa. It is not worth more than that."
Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney condemned Operation Sovereign Borders. She said: "It is steeped in such lies, a crisis that does not exist."
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