Tanya Reinhart, the Israeli linguistics professor and champion of Palestinian rights, died of a stroke in her sleep on March 17 in New York at the age of 63. Palestinian organisations issued a statement from Gaza on March 19, describing Reinhart as 鈥渁 great indefatigable activist against the policy of the Zionist government of apartheid Israel towards us Palestinians鈥.
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An Esperance Port Authority (EPA) safety worker has been sacked for 聯asking too many questions聰 and a blood specialist has been dispatched to the area as WA authorities scramble to cope with a widening heavy-metal contamination crisis.
On March 8, Greenpeace announced that a community campaign had stopped the construction of Mighty River Power聮s Marsden B coal-fired power station, which would have been the first coal-fired power station to be built in New Zealand in 30 years. The campaign, launched in 2004, involved the local community, indigenous people and environmental organisations.
As the ALP鈥檚 electoral fortunes lift with each new poll, unionists want to know exactly how a federal Labor government would carry out its promise to 鈥渢ear up鈥 the Coalition鈥檚 anti-worker Work Choices laws.
The University of Western Sydney decided to sell off 鈥渢he Swamp鈥 and student residences at Kingswood and Werrington South campuses. A mass of degrees were merged into the Bachelor of Business and Commerce. Half the majors for the Bachelor of Economics were axed. These are just some of the many changes that happened to UWS in the first few weeks of semester.
Below is an abridged account by Tim Davis-Frank of the police raid on his home and his arrest in Sydney on March 14. His 鈥渃rime鈥 was to take part in the protests outside the G20 meeting in Melbourne last November. Davis-Frank is the University of Sydney student representative council鈥檚 global solidarity officer. Four G20 protesters from Sydney went to court on March 19, and will face court again in Melbourne on May 11.
Lawyers acting for 12 of the 聯Melbourne 13聰, a group of Muslim men who have been held in Barwon聮s Maximum Security Prison for more than a year, argued on March 20 that the possibility of a fair trial had been jeopardised and applied for a stay in proceedings.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has declared it will go ahead with an April 3-4 鈥渟tay away鈥 by workers despite the wave of repression suffered by opponents of President Robert Mugabe鈥檚 regime and authorities鈥 threats to crush the ZCTU strike. Already ZCTU members have been arrested, their offices raided and material relating to the stay away confiscated.
On march 19, the Madhya Pradesh government agreed to meet some of the demands of the survivors of the 1984 chemical explosion and deadly gas leaks at the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, which killed thousands of people and left tens of thousands with severe health problems. After hunger strikes by survivors and an international solidarity campaign, the government agreed to provide clean water, medical care and rehabilitation to victims, as well as to release information about the water and soil contamination around the abandoned factory site and to construct a wall to contain it. Pragya, a Bhopal activist, said following the decision, 聯Thanks to all who sent their prayers and faxes and other good vibes. Bhopal remains not only ground zero of the chemical industry聮s global wounding, but also ground zero for the fight for people聮s basic human rights to live in a poison-free environment, to drink water that is free of toxic chemicals, and receive basic medical care for their injuries.聰 If the government fails to implement its promises, protests will take place in India and around the world during April and May. For more information visit .
If the Howard government thought that it鈥檚 battery of anti-unions laws had completely intimidated workers not to take so-called 鈥渋llegal鈥 industrial action then they must be disappointed. For the first time in more than a decade all work on the nation鈥檚 waterfront came to a halt on March 23 when more than 11,000 wharfies walked off the job. The stop work coincided with the Melbourne funeral of Bobby Cumberlidge, who died in an industrial accident at Toll鈥檚 Westernport wharf on March 16.
The most important elections for many years in the Victorian branch of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) are set for mid-April. This election will be a showdown between the incumbent unified Victorian branch leadership and the conservative vehicle division of the union and its supporters.
#147;In the US, we are living on borrowed time in terms of a nuclear accident聰, Kevin Kamps from the US-based non-government Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) told a March 21 public forum organised by The Wilderness Society.
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