MELBOURNE 聴 On March 5, the Melbourne-based Women for Palestine group endorsed the call issued on January 31 by the International Coordination Network on Palestine and the Palestinian Grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign for global protests on June 9-11 under the slogan 聯The world says no to Israeli occupation聰.
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聯Kevin Rudd made a point of letting everyone know which side the Labor Party is on when he went and had a friendly meeting with war criminal Dick Cheney while slandering the peaceful protesters outside as 聭violent ferals聮聰, student anti-war activist Simon Cunich told 麻豆传媒 Weekly.
SYDNEY 鈥 More than 50 people joined the Socialist Alliance contingent in the Mardi Gras parade on March 3, chanting 鈥淲hat do we want? Marriage rights! When do we want it? Now!鈥 For more photos visit .
A ban on political content took place during the March 1 orientation day at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, rural NSW. The Student Representative Council (SRC) fought this censorship and successfully negotiated with university management to hold a 鈥減olitical market day鈥 forum the following week.
@9point non = CAIRNS 聴 The Time聮s Up campaign, seeking to throw out the Howard government and its anti-worker laws, held a rally and public meeting on March 5. More than 80 people protested at the office of federal Liberal MP Warren Entsch, while that evening 30 people heard from Andrew Dettmer, state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union; Michael Ravbar, the state secretary of the construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union; and Peter Simpson, assistant state secretary of the Electrical Trades Union.
On March 7, 60 people joined with three 聯comfort women聰 survivors 聴 Jan Ruff O聮Herne AO, Hsie Mei Wu and Gil Won Ok, from Australia, Taiwan and Korea 聴 outside the Japanese Consulate in Martin Place.
With global warming increasingly dominating mainstream political discussion, the debate about solutions has intensified. While PM John Howard has thrown his weight behind the lie of 鈥渃lean, green鈥 nuclear power, the ALP has maintained its opposition to this deeply unpopular option.
Adelaide backpacker David Hicks will be arraigned before an illegally constituted military tribunal at the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp on March 20 and face the retrospective and ill-defined charge of 鈥渕aterial support for terrorism鈥.
Rallies and other events took place around Australia on March 8-10 to mark International Women's Day. Pictured is Brisbane's rally. In Melbourne, around 300 people gathered on March 8 for a rally initiated by the Victorian Trades Hall Council under the theme of "women and work". Delegations from a wide range of unions and community groups protested the Howard government's vicious anti-union and anti-worker laws, which are having a disproportionately negative impact on women.
The vice-president of Geelong Trades Hall, Christine Couzens, has been awarded the Jenny George Award for the advancement of women in unions. Couzens was presented with the award by Australian Council of Trade Unions president Sharan Burrow on March 7.
In the run-up to the NSW elections both major parties are claiming to be able to run the economy better. But the release of the Australian Bureau of Statistics聮 December quarter figures on March 7, which revealed that NSW is not technically in a recession, is likely to help the state ALP government聮s lead over Peter Debnam聮s Liberals on March 24.
On March 8 at the Brisbane Activist Centre, 30 people attended a forum to discuss the Aboriginal movement in Australia and indigenous struggles in Bolivia and Venezuela. Sam Watson, Aboriginal rights activist and Socialist Alliance member, spoke about recent developments over the Palm Island killing of Mulrunji and how the case has galvanised the whole of Aboriginal Australia. He said it has renewed activism within the community and made Aboriginal people aware of the broader support for their struggle.
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