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A specially commissioned federal government report and a one-sided Ord River Irrigation Area (ORIA) discussion paper are being used in a continued drive to force Australian states to introduce genetically modified crops, with dissenting voices shoved aside.
On August 15, 25 of the 43 West Papuan refugees who sought asylum in Australia in 2006 joined a protest outside federal parliament to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1962 New York Agreement 聴 the US-brokered agreement to transfer West Papua from Dutch to Indonesian control that included the guarantee of an 聯act of free choice聰 for West Papuans to decide whether to be incorporated into the Republic of Indonesia. However, instead of a genuine act of self-determination being held, a group of hand-picked West Papuan 聯representatives聰 were coerced into voting for Indonesian rule.
Popular resistance to neoliberal 鈥渞eform鈥 was the underlying cause of Peru鈥檚 July general strike. On July 5, public schoolteachers walked off the job over government plans to privatise education. Within days, discontented workers from other industries joined the embattled teachers. Before long, schools, mines, factories and construction sites were shut down as tens of thousands of striking protesters took to the streets of every major city demanding higher pay, improved conditions and revisions to the US-Peru free-trade agreement. Peasant farmers joined the mass mobilisation, closing roads and paralysing transport networks.
Tony Carvalho, an Australian Manufacturing Workers Union metal division shop steward sacked from the Altona Toyota plant, says that in the three months since he has been sacked, the use of outside contractors to work at the plant has increased dramatically. Speaking to 麻豆传媒 Weekly, Carvalho said the number of contractors who are being called in threatens full-time jobs at the plant.
More than 200 people gathered at the Arena on August 11 for the 聯Justice for the Innocent聰 benefit gig for the Doomadgee family of Palm Island. The gig raised funds for the civil case against the Queensland police and Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley, who admitted that his actions caused the death of Mulrunji Doomadgee in the Palm Island watchhouse in 2004.
The Worst Jobs in History
Presented by Tony Robinson
Sunday, ABC 7.30pm
Peaceful protest In response to Benjamen Standing (Write on, GLW #719): There is absolutely nothing sectarian about advertising a peaceful protest as "a peaceful protest". Further, there is no contradiction whatsoever between organising a peaceful
鈥淭he British have basically been defeated in the south [of Iraq]鈥, the August 8 Washington Post reported being told by a US intelligence official in Baghdad. In the first six months of this year, 37 British troops were killed in Iraq, the highest number for any six-month period of the war and 14 more than died in the whole of 2006.
On August 12, postal workers from the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) communications division and their supporters protested against the closure of the Fitzroy mail centre.
Kevin Rudd: An Unauthorised Political Biography
By Nicholas Stuart
Scribe Publications, 2007
288 pages, $32.95
Many working-class people in Western Australia are suffering the consequences of a 聯two-tier society聰 despite the state聮s booming economy, the Socialist Alliance candidate for Pearce, Annolies Truman, told the party聮s state conference on August 11.
For socialists, this August marks a significant anniversary. One hundred years ago, a congress of the Second 聴 or Socialist 聴 International took a bold stand in the struggle against capitalist war. The congress pointed the way toward the Russian Revolution of 1917 and provided an enduring guide for socialists聮 anti-war activity.