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NT teachers strike for better deal

Jon Lamb, Darwin Hundreds of teachers participated in a series of rolling 24-hour strikes across the Northern Territory from March 21 to March 30, demanding better pay and conditions as well as more funding for the NT's ailing education system.

Protesters vow to close Baxter detention centre

Tim Daughney Refugee-rights supporters came from all over Australia. Packed into crowded buses, cars and mini-vans, we travelled for up to 48 hours to spend the Easter weekend camping in the desert. The Baxter '05 convergence numbered about 450

Students protest Nelson

MELBOURNE — On March 31, 200 students from university campuses across Melbourne rallied at the University of Melbourne to protest federal education minister Brendan Nelson and the introduction of "voluntary student unionism" (VSU) legislation.

SWAZILAND: 1000 demand reform

More than 1000 members of the Young Communist League and the Swaziland Solidarity Movement protested outside the Swaziland embassy in Pretoria on March 30, calling for democratic reform of the monarchy and condemning the current constitutional reform

Construction unionists stop work over VSU

Brianna Pike, Melbourne Students campaigning against "voluntary student unionism" at Deakin University won a victory against the university administration on March 25. The university's attempts to use security guards and police to forcefully remove

This week in history

April 6 1998: Patrick Stevedores launches its "war on the waterfront" by sacking its work force at night using security guards and dogs. April 9 1981: IRA prisoner Bobby Sands is elected MP while on hunger strike. April 10 1919: Mexican

Newcastle students oppose VSU

NEWCASTLE — On March 23, 170 students braved the rain and cold at the University of Newcastle to protest the federal Coalition government's assault on student unions. The university's vice-chancellor, professor Nick Saunders, stated his

Bay dredging to cause major environmental damage

Helen Smith spoke to Neil Blake, coordinator of the Port Phillip EcoCentre — a resource and support centre for community groups undertaking environment initiatives in the coastal area of Melbourne — about the Port Phillip Bay channel deepening

Our Common Cause: Unity needed to reawaken the sleeping giant

While in London and Brussels some 100,000 people took part in rallies to mark the second anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, only 7000 people took to the streets across Australia on March 18-20. What has happened to the million Australians

UNITED STATES: Feeding frenzy over a feeding tube

Towards the end of March, the US media was consumed with an issue that even squeezed out Michael Jackson: the attempts by US President George Bush to intervene to "save the life" of Terri Schiavo, who has been in a vegatative state for the last 15

IRAQ: Child malnutrition doubles under occupation

Doug Lorimer Acute malnutrition among Iraqi children under five years of ago had doubled since the US invasion and occupation two years ago, Jean Ziegler, the UN Human Rights Commission's special expert on the right to food, told a session of the

Stolen wages compo deal 'an insult'

Bill Mason, Brisbane Townsville "stolen wages" campaigner Yvonne Butler has described the offer by the Queensland government of compensation for the theft of Aboriginal workers' wages and entitlements over decades — amounting to fixed payments of