麻豆传媒 Weekly spoke to some of the progressive candidates running in the November 27 Victorian state elections.
* * *
Stephen Jolly
Stephen Jolly is the Socialist Party candidate for Richmond. He was elected to the City of Yarra council in 2004. He first came to prominence in the campaign to reopen Richmond Secondary College. He spoke to GLW鈥檚 Narendra Mohan Kimmalapati.
What is your platform for the election?
862
The crackdown by Moroccan occupation forces on the protest camp at Gdeim Izik on November 8 may have brought more attention to the plight of Western Sahara than was intended.
The 20,000-strong camp at Gdeim Izik, 15 km from the Western Saharan capital, El Aaiun, was established on October 9 to protest against the discrimination and oppression experienced by Saharawi people living under Moroccan occupation.
The big 鈥済reenwash鈥 of gas as the new 鈥済reen energy鈥 isn鈥檛 going down well in inner-city Sydney.
On November 14, the Sydney Morning Herald revealed gas exploration would start within two months in the inner-city suburb of St Peters.
The article said said Macquarie Energy, which is owned by Apollo Gas, received state government permission for exploration in March. The community had been kept in the dark; even the Marrickville Council, which partly covers the area, knew nothing.
The Venezuelan government has begun distributing the first of 350,000 portable Canaima laptop computers to be provided to public elementary school children by the end of the year, Venezuelanalysis.com said on November 17.
Education minister Jennifer Gil said: 鈥淭he Canaima Plan is a milestone and a technological innovation. It allows us to keep deepening our integral and massive education system that does not involve just students, but the entire family environment, parents, representatives and teachers.鈥
鈥淎 structural revolution in the Northern Territory is dismantling the whole infrastructure of self-determination鈥, Australian Workers Union national legal officer Zoe Angus said on November 15.
Along with Sean Marshall from the Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU), Angus was reporting back on a recent trade union delegation to investigate working conditions for Aboriginal people living under the NT intervention. She spoke at a public meeting organised by the Stop the Intervention Collective, Sydney.
Remembrance Day, on November 11, was celebrated again this year in the Australian media with pictures of red poppies and flag-draped coffins and historic photos of Australian soldiers who gave 鈥渢he ultimate sacrifice鈥 from the human-made wasteland of Flanders to the stony deserts of Afghanistan.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development鈥檚 (OECD) Economic Survey of Australia, released on November 15, called for an increase in the rate and scope of the goods and services tax (GST) and a cut in business taxes.
The rich countries鈥 economic club also called for higher road tolls, greater labour productivity and a price on carbon.
The OECD鈥檚 annual survey congratulated the Labor government for avoiding recession during the global financial crisis but also demanded it undertake further 鈥渟tructural reforms to strengthen productivity鈥.
Leaked military documents have confirmed that Indonesia鈥檚 elite special forces unit Kopassus routinely engages in 鈥渕urder [and] abduction鈥. The documents also show Kopassus officially defines civilian dissidents as its 鈥渆nemy鈥 in its operations in West Papua.
The documents, posted by journalist Allan Nairn at Allannairn.com on November 9, identify Indonesia鈥檚 primary enemies in West Papua as unarmed civilians involved in the independence movement.
Germany鈥檚 centre-right government is facing what many have dubbed a 鈥渉ot autumn鈥 of protests, as conflict over a range of social, political and environmental issues come to a head across the country.
As the governments of Europe attempt to offload the costs of the financial crisis onto working people, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has initiated a series of 鈥渁usterity鈥 measures aimed to undermine Germany鈥檚 social welfare system.
An 鈥渁rmy鈥 of European Union (EU) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) officials arrived in Dublin on November 18 鈥渟eeking to foist a large loan on Ireland in a bid to prop up the country鈥檚 embattled banking sector and save the European currency鈥, the Morning Star said that day.
Irish finance minister Brian Lenihan told MPs that Ireland, the EU and the IMF were exploring the prospect of forming 鈥渁 contingency capital fund that would stand behind the banks鈥, the article said.
鈥淪top Black deaths in custody now! Stop the Tasers now! and Charge and jail criminal cops now!" were the main demands of a rally against racist police violence on November 13.
One hundred people marched to Queensland parliament to present a petition calling for a new inquiry into the death of Mulrunji in police custody on Palm Island in November 2004.
Rally chair Sam Watson said the event also commemorated the murder in police hands of Daniel Yock in November 1993.
- Previous page
- Page 5