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A massive slap in the face for Howard The racist policies of John Howard's government took a big blow in Sydney on May 28. As Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly went to press, hundreds of thousands of people were walking across Sydney's Harbour Bridge in a massive
May Day in Iraqi Kurdistan On May Day, 10,000 workers gathered at the centre of Erbil city and were addressed by Nasik Ahmad, a leader of the Worker Communist Party of Iraq. In Sulaymaniyah, the WCPI May Day committee organised and led a
NORWAY: Strike ends in victory A six-day private sector strike in Norway by 85,000 workers (one-third of the private sector work force) has won most of the strikers' main demands. On May 25, almost 79% of the workers involved voted to accept the
Trade unions plan action on Fiji BY NORM DIXON Fiji's President Ratu Kamisese Mara formally sacked Labour Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry and his government on May 27. Parliament has been suspended for six months. A minister in the Fiji Labour
Rural workers: why unions should be concerned BY SUE BOLAND When politicians refer to people from the "bush", there is an implication that they only mean farmers. It wasn't until last December, when federal treasurer Peter Costello called for
The following is abridged from a speech on the situation in Mindanao presented by the chairperson of the Philippines Socialist Party of Labour (SPP), SONNY MELENCIO, at a public forum in Manila on May 18 organised by the SPP and sponsored by various
BY JIM GREEN The review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) concluded on May 20 after a gabfest in New York which lasted almost a month. The NPT explicitly allows five "declared" weapons states — the United States, Britain,
PAKISTAN: Military capitulates on blasphemy law On May 17, Pakistan's military ruler General Pervaiz Musharraf announced that he was withdrawing his plan to amend the controversial blasphemy law. His announcement came after conservative clerics
BY MATT LIVINGSTON BRISBANE — The University of Queensland Senate is poised to vote on a proposal to restructure the university's arts faculty. The pursuit of a "financially viable" education will see departments scrapped and general staff cuts
Behind the coup in Fiji is a retreat by Â鶹´«Ã½ of the Melanesian Fijian elite to the tried and tested divide-and-rule tactic of chauvinist scaremongering. Late on May 25, the Great Council of Chiefs (GCC) announced the result of three days of
Union centre teaches organising skills BY MERRILYN TREASURE SYDNEY — A new union centre in Indonesia, established with Australian trade union funds, has begun training workers in the textile, banking, hotel, tourism and teaching sectors in
On May 17, 24 Indonesian soldiers and one civilian were sentenced to between eight and a half and 10 years' jail for the murder of Islamic teacher Teungku Bantaqiahand and 56 members of an Islamic boarding school in western Aceh in July 1999.