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Reject the international 'fake news' attack on Venezuela

A coordinated, virulent and sustained campaign for "regime change" against the government and people of Venezuela is occurring around the world right now.

Led by the US, the campaign involves a systematic stream of "fake news" in the international media, backed by an unholy alliance of right-wing and "liberal" politicians and commentators, all singing from the same song sheet 鈥 that Venezuela is a "socialist dictatorship" with a collapsing economy and the unfortunate people of that country are yearning to be free of that regime.

Drug testing welfare recipients is about money not love

The federal government has proposed a drug testing trial for new welfare recipients.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described the proposed policy as being 鈥渁ll about love鈥, saying: 鈥淚f you鈥檝e got a friend who is on drugs, what do you want to do? You desperately want to get them off it.鈥

This needs to be examined.

Summits set agenda to Stop Adani

More than 350 activists participated in the Sydney Stop Adani Summit on September 2.

Participants came from a range of organisations. Some were part of the Stop Adani Alliance, which includes the Bob Brown Foundation, the Australian Conservation Foundation,聽, GetUp!, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, the Seed Indigenous Youth Climate Network, Sea Shepherd and the Australian Marine Conservation Society.

Connecting culture to history and community

Mark Munk Ross is hip-hop guru Munkimuk 鈥 whose beats, rhythm, sense of humour and hard hitting themes have earned him the coveted title of 鈥淕randfather of Indigenous hip hop鈥.

Mark has been working in a remote Aboriginal community at Brewarrina in north-western New South Wales, regenerating age-old fish traps that are the oldest known human-made structures, dating back farther than the pyramids of Egypt.聽聽

He spoke to 麻豆传媒 Weekly about his recent projects.

NSW government is 鈥榙estroying鈥 TAFE

New South Wales鈥 world-class public TAFE system is on its knees. The state government鈥檚 savage funding cuts and ongoing neglect has seen enrolments plummet and TAFE campuses, particularly in regional areas, fall into disrepair.

But the Coalition government鈥檚 鈥渟olution鈥 is to further cut funding and replace practical learning with glorified internet cafes in already isolated regional areas.

Canberra early childhood educators

Early education workers walk off for equal pay

Early childhood educators, from Cairns to Hobart and from Perth to Townsville; from big cities like Sydney to the聽smallest like Launceston, walked off the job on September 7 to demand equal pay.

Trump鈥檚 war on immigrants

At the press conference to announce his run for president last year, Donald Trump referred to Mexican immigrants as 鈥渄rug dealers, criminals, rapists鈥 who must be stopped by 鈥渂uilding a wall鈥.

Since taking office, Trump has continued to reiterate that message through policy initiatives designed to further degrade the quality of life for undocumented workers and their families. The overtly racist targeting of migrant and immigrant people by Trump has excited the far-right, and emboldened their efforts to organise, mobilise on a national scale, and terrorise working class communities of colour.聽

But Trump and a re-energised far right did not appear in a vacuum.

'Asset recycling': Another giant privatisation scam

The NSW Coalition government has sold off more than $9 billion in publicly-owned property since it took power six years ago, a state parliamentary inquiry was told on September 4.

"Over the last six years ... approximately $9.14 billion of real property assets have been recycled [sold or leased] by government agencies," the CEO of Property NSW Brett Newman told a Budget Estimates hearing.

Argentina: Campaign grows for Santiago Maldonado鈥檚 reappearance with life

More than 100,000 people filled the Plaza de Mayo in the country鈥檚 capital, Buenos Aires, on September 1 to demand the reappearance with life of indigenous rights activist Santiago Maldonado. The rally was held to mark a month since 28-year-old Maldonado was last seen.

Maldonado had been participating in a protest with a group of indigenous Mapuche people on August 1 in Chubut province, in Argentina鈥檚 iconic Patagonia region. The protest was repressed by Border Force officers, who witnesses allege were seen dragging Maldonado into a van.

On hurricanes, global warming, environmental racism and anti-immigrant laws

The huge devastation, death and misery that Hurricane Harvey wreaked upon Texas and Louisiana has been seen around the world.

Meanwhile, fresh havoc is being wreaked upon the Caribbean and the US鈥檚 south-east by Hurricane Irma. In less reported news, more than 1400 people have been killed in recent weeks by horrific flooding in South Asia. The consequences of such disasters caused by extreme weather reveal the intersection of crises caused by the capitalist system.

Colombia: From guns to the ballot box 鈥 the FARC transforms itself into political party

Colombia鈥檚 communist army, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), relaunched itself as a political party on September 1 at a concert for 鈥渞econciliation and peace鈥 in Bolivar Square, Bogota.

The guerrilla movement, which fought one of the longest civil wars in history until agreeing to a ceasefire with the government last year, confirmed its new name the day before at the end of its five-day congress.

It is now known as the Revolutionary Alternative Forces of the Commons, which will allow it to retain the FARC acronym.

Who are the Rohingya?

Rohingya are an ethnic Muslim group who have lived for centuries in the majority Buddhist Myanmar.

Many Rohingya came to Myanmar from what is now Bangladesh during the British colonial period (1820s to 1940s) to expand rice cultivation in Rakhine State.

About 1 million Rohingya live in Myanmar, mostly in Rakhine State, making up some 2% of the country鈥檚 population and about 30% of the state鈥檚 population.