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Carly Dawson is a volunteer with Peace Brigades International (PBI), a non-government organisation that 鈥減rotects human rights and promotes nonviolent transformation of conflicts鈥. The organisation was formed during the 1980s and its first mission was to help counter the war in Nicaragua that was waged by US-backed Contras against the left-wing Sandinista government Dawson recently returned to Australia after 12 months volunteer work with PBI in Colombia. She spoke to 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Aaron Roden. * * *
Burma鈥檚 November 7 elections 鈥 held under an undemocratic constitution in an atmosphere of repression and with the result crudely rigged 鈥 have been overshadowed by the release from house arrest of opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi on November 13. Thousands of supporters lined the streets to her house and flocked to NLD offices to hear her speak. Suu Kyi鈥檚 release has been compared to that of Nelson Mandela in 1990. However, unlike Mandela, Suu Kyi was not released from detention by a regime seeking negotiations.
In October, Kevin Harkins, a member of the Labor Left, won the ballot to become the new secretary of Unions Tasmania. Harkins was an electrician and then an organiser with the Electrical Trades Union in Victoria, before becoming ETU Tasmanian secretary in 2000. He spoke to 麻豆传媒 Weekly鈥檚 Linda Seaborn. * * * The recent Unions Tasmania election was the first contested ballot in years. Can you tell me about that?
In 麻豆传媒 Weekly #861, Solidarity鈥檚 Paddy Gibson addressed a debate that from time to time comes up among activists opposing the NT intervention: whether an assimilationist agenda or mining interests are behind the intervention.
鈥淭he National Front of Popular Resistance (FNRP) expresses its energetic condemnation of the massacre against the campesino community in El Tumbador, Trujillo, in which our companeros Ignacio Reyes, Teodoro Acosta, Siriaco Munozm Raul Castillo and Jose Luis Sauceda were assassinated鈥, the FNRP said in a November 16 statement. All of those killed were members of the Campesino Movement of Aguan (MCA). The campesino activists were killed by assassins hired by pro-US oligarch Miguel Facusse, who helped fund the coup that overthrew president Manuel Zelaya last year.
United States Republican representative from Ohio John Boehner is feeling pretty full of himself nowadays. Little wonder. With the Republicans winning back in control of the House of Representatives in the November 2 elections, Boehner looks set to be the next Speaker. And like any pompous career politician who fancies himself cock-of-the-walk, he seldom lets facts get in the way.
Triple J did a profile on youth unemployment in Wollongong that was posted on the ABC鈥檚 website on October 29. Five young people were interviewed about the difficulties in finding work, and the reasons for the high youth unemployment rate. These are the same problems faced by young people all over Australia: a reduction in the number of apprenticeships available, the effects of the financial crisis, the lack of experience young people have and how no-one is willing to give them a chance.
Two hundred people attended the launch of the National Museum of Labour on November 11, in the old government fitter鈥檚 workshop in Kingston, ACT. They heard from union officials, politicians and rank-and-file unionists. Unions ACT secretary Kim Sattler introduced speakers including: Australian Council of Trade Unions president Ged Kearney; Anna Booth from major sponsors, Slater & Gordon; historian Norman Abjorensen, and federal Labor MP for Eden Monaro, Mike Kelly. To find out more, visit .
Forty people attended a meeting about the Northern Territory government's attack on bilingual education in remote Indigenous communities on November 18. The government has banned teaching in Indigenous languages during the first four hours of the school day. The meeting began with a phone link to two people from the Yirrkala community, where the local school is defying the ban. They said teaching children in Yolngu language was vital to maintaining culture and producing better academic results.
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.