鈥淣o powerlines through koala habitat鈥, was the main slogan of a protest rally of people from the Logan area, the Gold Coast and the Sunshine Coast outside the Queensland parliament on October 7. The protesters had gathered to present a 2000-strong petition opposing electricity company, Energex, plans to upgrade powerline infrastructure near their homes.
Veto Energex Towers Organisation (VETO) spokesperson Laurie Koranski said they did not believe the impacts of the plan had been fully investigated. VETO has already lobbied successfully to have some powerlines placed underground.
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With great power comes great responsibility. But Apostle Boyd K. Packer of the Church of Latter Day Saints (LDS, also known as the Mormons) is using his power to hurt the vulnerable by publicly condemning homosexuality after several highly publicised suicides of LGBTI youth in the United States.
The media have revealed these suicides were triggered by bullying. This new round of bullying by a leader of the LDS church is one of the most severe kinds: institutionally approved, ideologically enforced, perpetrated by a person in power and aimed at the young.
WAVE HILL 鈥 Aboriginal workers in the community of Kalkaringi 鈥 site of the famous 1966 Gurindji walk-off 鈥 will stage a protest on October 20 against what they call 鈥渁 return to the ration days鈥.
Under the NT intervention introduced in 2007, Aboriginal workers on Community Development Employment Projects have been pushed onto work-for-the-dole. They now work for welfare payments only, half of which they receive on a Basics Card that can only be spent on food, clothing and medical supplies.
Over October 8-9, about 70 people attended the Latin America Solidarity Conference, organised by the Latin America Forum in Melbourne, under the theme 鈥淐hallenging corporate globalisation: people鈥檚 power is changing the world鈥.
Feature sessions looked at various issues affecting Latin America today, including 鈥淚mperialism, war and resistance鈥, 鈥淧opular power and people鈥檚 governments鈥, and 鈥淭he battle for environmental justice and survival鈥.
Cuban band JJ Son con Idabelis is touring NSW until the end of November. The quartet is playing at construction sites, organised by the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU), cultural festivals and solidarity concerts supporting the trapped Chilean miners, political prisoners in Colombia and against the Cuban blockade.
West Papuan leaders have rejected the possibility of talks with the Indonesian government until it acknowledges human rights abuses and ensures economic development, the October 5 Jakarta Globe said.
Indonesia has claimed West Papua as its territory since a fraudulent vote by handpicked Papuans in 1969. It continues to deny Papuans the right to self-determination, repressing expressions of support for Papuan independence.
Herman Awom of the Papuan People鈥檚 Council told the Globe: 鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to talk to Jakarta because Jakarta never wants to talk to us.
Malaysian Socialist Party (PSM) secretary-general S. Arutchelvan called the proposed labour law review by the human resources Ministry was 鈥渄raconian鈥, klick4Malaysia.com said on October 1.
Andres Pelaez is the first secretary of the Uruguayan embassy in Australia. He will be speaking at the Sydney Latin America Solidarity Conference over October 16-17 (visit www.latinamericasolidarity.org for details). Below, he provides a theoretical look at the nature of the capitalist state and its relation to the struggle for socialism.
The issues he raises are being debated by the Latin American left. Throughout the region, popular struggles have given rise to a number of governments led by new or traditional left parties.
Despite pre-election poll predictions, the centre-left Workers Party (PT) presidential candidate failed to win outright in the first round of Brazil鈥檚 October 3 presidential elections.
PT candidate Dilma Rousseff, who won 46.7% of the vote, is seeking to succeed President Ignacio 鈥淟ula鈥 da Silva. Lula was the first PT president and was elected in 2002. He still enjoys a record-high 80% popularity rating.
Dilma, a former guerrilla and Lula鈥檚 cabinet chief, will face off on October 31 against right-wing Brazilian Social Democratic Party candidate, Jose Serra who scored 33%.
The marvellous part about a transport strike, such as the one on the London Underground on October 4, is the reports on the news afterwards.
This is where we鈥檙e told: 鈥淥ne plucky commuter beat the strike by breaking into the Imperial War Museum and stealing a Spitfire, which he used to ferry grateful passengers who鈥檇 been left stranded by the union in a swamp with little hope of ever seeing their children again.
Popular Thai newspaper Prachatai has reported that, a woman was arrested on October 3 at a freedom bike ride by United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship supporters (popularly known as the Red Shirts) in Ayutthaya for selling slippers with Thailand鈥檚 military-installed Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva鈥檚 face on them.
The slippers were printed with the message, 鈥淧eople died at Ratchaprasong鈥 鈥 referring to the May 19 military massacre against the Red Shirts鈥 mass protest camp in Bangkok.
Sombat Boonngamanong, a cultural activist and NGO organiser, was not a central leader of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (popularly known as the Red Shirts) when their mass protest camp at the Ratchaprasong intersection in the heart of Bangkok was bloodily dispersed by the Thai military on May 19.
Thousands were injured and 91 killed in the crackdown. Hundreds remain political prisoners.
But Sombat has since emerged as a popular figure in the dramatic Red Shirts' resurgence over the last month.
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