If the last federal election promised the beginnings of a break from the two-parties-for-capitalism electoral system that has plagued Australian politics for the past century, the March 29, 2011 NSW election seems to be a lurch in the other direction.
The Liberal-National Coalition won dominance of the Legislative Assembly and (with small right-wing parties) control of the Legislative Council because a large number of working class voters punished the Labor party with a -13.5% swing.
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A crowd of 200 people marched on the US consulate in the Perth CBD on March 22 to protest the invasion of Bahrain by Saudi Arabian and United Arab Emirates (UAE) soldiers to suppress the democracy movement in the country.
Bahrain鈥檚 popular uprising threatens to follow the examples of Tunisia and Egypt, and topple its Western-backed authoritarian regime.
Chanting outside the US consulate, the protesters 鈥 many from the local Bahraini community 鈥 made clear the hypocrisy of the US.
The public forum 鈥淏reaking Australia's silence: WikiLeaks and freedom鈥 took place on March 16 at Sydney Town Hall. More than 2000 people attended. The event was staged by the Sydney Peace Foundation, Amnesty, the Sydney Stop the War Coalition, and supported by the City of Sydney. It featured speeches by journalist John Pilger, MP Andrew Wilkie (the only serving Western intelligence officer to expose the truth about the Iraq invasion) and human rights lawyer Julian Burnside, QC. Pilger鈥檚 speech to the meeting appears below. The video recording of the event also appears below.
The Socialist Alliance condemned the recent decision by federal environment minister Tony Burke to give final approval to Gunns' Tamar Valley pulp mill, located near Launceston, in a March 24 statement.
Socialist Alliance spokesperson Susan Austin said: 鈥淲e could never support the Gunns pulp mill in the Tamar Valley , due to the corrupt nature with which it was approved.
鈥淚n addition, we oppose it because of its likely toxic effects on the environment and the community.鈥
The statement below was published by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Working Group (South Africa) on March 23. It鈥檚 abridged from www.pacbi.org .
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Today, setting a worldwide precedent in the academic boycott of Israel, the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has effectively severed ties with Israel鈥檚 Ben-Gurion University (BGU).
This was after UJ鈥檚 Senate rejected a last ditch motion by pro-Israeli lobbyists to have two separate bilateral agreements 鈥 one with a Palestinian University and another with an Israeli University.
The courageous participants in the June 2010 Gaza Freedom Flotilla turned the world's attention to the plight of the Palestinian people. Yet Israel continues to defy international law, and thus the campaign to end the blockade of Gaza continues.
Responding to widespread international outrage at the attack on the freedom Flotilla, Israel announced an easing of its illegal blockade, intending to deflect criticism from its inhumane and illegal policies.
Despite their talk about democracy, the governments of the US and other Western nations are very interested in stopping the wave of democratic uprisings across the Arab world.
The threat of real democracy is not compatible with the system of economic dominance and political control that the US enforces across the world.
The US will do everything it can to stop the resource-rich Arab countries from escaping its clutches, especially when it has already spent so much effort on propping up tyrannical governments across the region.
The public forum 鈥淏reaking Australia's silence: WikiLeaks and freedom鈥 took place on March 16 at the Sydney Town Hall. More than 2000 people attended. The event was staged by the Sydney Peace Foundation, Amnesty, Stop the War Coalition, and supported by the City of Sydney.
It can sometimes feel like we鈥檙e losing a race against time to avoid environmental catastrophe and social collapse.
Climate change is already extinguishing species, destroying essential food production and forcing thousands of people to flee their island homes.
People are directly affected by more wars than ever before in history.
While the underlying causes of the recent global financial crisis remain, governments are imposing vicious austerity policies on the majority of people in the Global North and South to pay for the capitalists鈥 greed.
The United Nations Security Council voted on March 19 to approve a military intervention into Libya, with 10 votes in favour and five absentions. It was presented as a response to calls from besieged rebels fighting the Muammar Gaddafi dictatorship for a 鈥渘o-fly zone鈥 to protect them, especially in the rebel stronghold of Benghazi.
Israeli settlers observed their own 鈥淒ay of Rage鈥 on March 17, launching reprisal attacks on Palestinians for the recent murder of a settler family in an illegal Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank.
It was also in response to Israeli authorities鈥 demolition of a settlement structure.
Israeli settlers in the Palestinian West Bank have long carried out the much-publicised 鈥減rice tag鈥 policy of intimidation and violence against Palestinians and their property every time Israeli officials have demolished a settler outpost.
The Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh is under increased pressure to step down after the defection in recent days of key tribal leaders, government ministers, diplomats and army units. The defectors have pledged support for anti-government protesters.
Tens of thousands of people marched in the capital, Sana鈥檃, on March 25 to demand Saleh step down, AlJazeera.net said that day. However, the article said Saleh gave a defiant speech to supporters, insisting he would only hand over power 鈥渢o capable, responsible hands鈥.
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