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M1 to take over Sydney's streets

BY SEAN HEALY SYDNEY — M1 2002 is up and running. On February 14, activists met to begin planning May 1 actions which will include protests across the city in the morning, a "unity rally" at midday in Martin Place and a festival or street party

'I feel ashamed to be Australian'

BY SARAH STEPHEN "I feel ashamed to be Australian", is the most frequently appearing comment on the online petition calling for a royal commission into the Australian government's treatment of refugees. More than 7000 people have signed on to the

Why they have to lie about refugees

BY SARAH STEPHEN It's now common knowledge: the federal Coalition government lied to win the November 10 election. Prime Minister John Howard and his ministers continued to maintain, long after they knew it wasn't true, that in October some

Royal commission targets militants

BY SUE BULL — The royal commission into the building industry has returned to Melbourne amid a barrage of controversy. There have been sensational allegations about breaches of its security and lack of independence. Unions have continued to

News Briefs

Barns: "prejudice" claims proven HOBART — Disendorsed Liberal candidate Greg Barns appealed to the Liberal Party on February 14 to have his disendorsement overturned. Barns had accused the Howard government of playing the "fear and prejudice

Loose cannons

The Ronald Reagan defence "I have no memory of that." — Former defence minister Peter Reith commenting on Prime Menzies John Howard's claim that he had asked Reith on November 7 if the claims made by government ministers a month earlier about

Why protest at CHOGM

BY TIMOTHY KERSWELL BRISBANE — Premier Peter Beattie's February 12 media statement, entitled "50 reasons not to protest this years' Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting" (CHOGM) is a deceptive attempt to prevent people from joining the March

Socialist Alliance

Lord Mayor campaign launched DARWIN — Members and supporters of Socialist Alliance gathered in the Resistance Bookshop on February 13 to launch the campaign for Lord Mayor. The candidate, Ruth Ratcliffe, told those assembled that, “now, more

Little choice in SA election

BY LESLIE RICHMOND ADELAIDE — Despite an (unofficial) election campaign that had dragged on for nearly six months, on the night before polling day in the South Australian elections, 10% of voters had not decided who they would vote for. This was

The Liberal Warp

[To the tune of "The Time Warp" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show.] It's astounding, how prejudice is growingand xenophobia takes its tollListen closely for it's about time you did soRacism is taking controlIt's just a jump to the rightAnd then a

Urgent message for NSW Socialist Alliance members

If you have received a letter from the NSW State Electoral Office in the last six weeks requesting confirmation of your membership of Socialist Alliance, please reply NOW! To succeed, the alliance's application for electoral registration in NSW

Write on: Letters to the editor

Who owns Palm Sunday? On February 11, for the second time in two weeks, I found myself excluded from a meeting of the Working Group to Stop War and Terrorism (the committee organising the 2002 Sydney Palm Sunday peace rally). I attended the