鈥淗istory was made early today on the other side of the world鈥, said Grant Morgan, an Auckland-based organiser of the Kia Ora Gaza convoy bringing humanitarian aid to Gaza in defiance of Israel鈥檚 siege. Kia Ora is a six-person New Zealand team that has joined the Viva Palestina covoy.
鈥淭he vicious Israeli siege of Gaza has been broken by an international aid convoy of 400 volunteers from 30 countries driving 150 vehicles carrying vital medical supplies worth NZ$7 million.鈥
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Out-of-favour Manchester United star Wayne Rooney must look in the papers every morning and think: 鈥淗ow does [Liberal Democrat MP and business secretary in the Tory-Lib Dem coalition] Vince Cable get away with it?
鈥淛ust like me, a year ago he was a national hero, the embodiment of hope, and now he鈥檚 a bumbling fool and revealed as a cheat. But he's allowed to carry on as he pleases and isn鈥檛 even substituted.
鈥淚 want a transfer to the Liberal Democrats.鈥
Ron Guy has been pre-selected by the Socialist Alliance to run for the seat of Melton in the Victorian state election in November.
Guy was born in Bacchus Marsh where he lives with his partner and son. He has been an Australia Workers Union (AWU) delegate for more than 15 years.
Guy was one of the main instigators of setting up the Arts co-operative Maribyrnong River Edge Artists Movement, believed to be one of the longest running arts co-operatives in Australia.
The Illawarra's peak union body, the South Coast Labour Council (SCLC), has called on the Australian government to pull troops out of Afghanistan and pursue an independent foreign policy.
On October 20, thousands of students and workers marched on Downing Street in London to protest against the savage cuts in social spending announced by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government, Counterfire.org reported that day.
The protest was organised by the Coalition of Resistance, Camden Trades Council and the People鈥檚 Charter.
The cuts in public spending announced by British chancellor George Osborne that day amount to 81 billion pounds.
The following statement was released by the Socialist Alliance in Australia. Visit www.socialist-alliance.org for more information.
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Socialist Alliance salutes the millions of French workers and students who have taken to the streets in a wave of sustained demonstrations and strikes against the Sarkozy governments鈥 attack on pensions.
On October 20, Wollongong Students Against War occupied the University of Wollongong鈥檚 Defence Materials Technology Centre (DMTC), bringing its operations to a halt for a few hours.
SAW is waging a campaign against military research on campus, such as the DMTC鈥檚 work on the Joint Strike Fighter project with the US. SAW also organises opposition to the occupation of Afghanistan.
For more information visit .
One hundred people gathered in Brisbane鈥檚 King George Square on October 22 to commemorate the tragedy of the SIEV X, an Indonesian fishing boat bound for Australia, which sank on October 19, 2001, drowning 353 asylum seekers 鈥 146 of them children.
Since October 12, France has been gripped by intensifying mass opposition by workers and students to proposed counter reforms to the country鈥檚 pensions system by the right-wing government of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Public opposition to the attack has been highlighted by three national strikes each involving millions of people, two national student strikes and a growing wave of indefinite strikes in a range of industries 鈥 most notably the crippling shutdown of the oil industry.
A survey of 8800 Australian teenagers, carried out over 10 years by La Trobe University, has found that the number of young people having sex has risen. The proportion of sexually active year 12 women who reported having had sex with three or more partners in the previous year more than doubled to 27% in the decade to 2008.
Meanwhile, the NSW health department said in September that sexually transmitted infections (STIs), particularly chlamydia, were on the rise.
During UN Disarmament Week (October 24-31), a bill to enact the UN Convention banning Cluster Munitions is to be tabled in the House of Representatives. However, it is unlikely to contain a provision prohibiting financial institutions from funding manufacturers of cluster bombs.
It has been found that the ANZ bank has provided loans of $136.5 million to producers of cluster bombs.
The federal Labor government has announced plans to move some children and families out of refugee detention, but will not change its policy of locking up unaccompanied children who arrive in Australia by boat.
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