More than 80 people packed out the Aboriginal Cultural Centre on June 23 for a public “people’s trial” of US President George Bush. The meeting, organised by the Wollongong Stop Bush committee, heard testimony from Saeb Ali from Peace for Lebanon, Maritime Union of Australia Port Kembla branch secretary Gary Keane and Walk against Warming initiator and Resistance member Paola Harvey.
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After several days of intensive, sometimes heated, discussions and membership consultations, public-service unions voted on June 28 to end their national strike and accept the South African government’s “settlement offer”. The strike, which began on June 1, was the longest and largest public-sector strike in South Africa’s history, with more than 700,000 workers on strike and another 300,000, for whom it was illegal to strike, taking part in militant marches, pickets and other forms of protest.
Leaders of the Mutitjulu community have questioned the need for a military occupation of their small community. Below is an abridged version of their June 27 statement.
On June 28, the Unions NSW council meeting adopted a motion expressing “support and solidarity with the Saharawi people in their struggle for freedom and independence. Unions NSW strongly condemns the gross violations of human rights carried out by the Moroccan regime against Saharawis, including students, workers and human rights activists in the occupied areas.”
According to a June 25 Venezuelanalysis.com report, the formation of the new United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) has entered a new phase. Officials and party militants had met in Caracas the previous weekend at the “National Meeting of Candidates for PSUV Militants in Caracas”. According to the report, “Record numbers of Venezuelans have registered to be members of the new party” and the grassroots process of forming the PSUV “continues with wide participation”.
Renowned left-wing author Tariq Ali told a packed public lecture at the Seymour Centre on June 26 that claims that we had reached the “end of history” had been well and truly disproven by the revolutions now sweeping Latin America.
Shoalwater Wilderness Awareness Group (SWAG) spokesperson Steve Bishopric expressed concern on June 27 that the small community of Capricorn Coast on QueenslandÂ’s central coast faced potential pollution from undisclosed military toxins as a result of the Talisman Sabre 2007 US-Australian war games at Shoalwater Bay.
In a move reminiscent to the 1947-89 Cold War, on June 15 Washington imposed a series of restrictions on the export to China of high-tech goods, including aircraft engines, high-performance computers and other technologies that might have military applications.
Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly will be taking a one-week break. Our next issue will be dated July 18.
Striking workers at the Esselte Australia warehouse in Minto have described as “unrelenting” their employer’s tactics in attempting to force them to sign individual contracts (AWAs).
Renewed Israeli airstrikes and ground incursion into the densely populated Gaza Strip have resulted in at least 13 Palestinians, including three children, being killed and more than 44 injured.
Condolence and commendation
For many years I worked in the Hunter Valley and Central Coast, and secured a modest livelihood from the splendid people who ran small businesses there. I was extremely upset at the loss of life that came about from the
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