This weekend unionists around Australia will march to celebrate the achievements of working people. While May 1 is the traditional day to remember the struggle of workers to form unions and fight for a better life, in Australia the marches and parades usually occur on the first weekend of May.
This year, a range of socialist and activist groups will be marching together in joint contingents across Australia behind banners saying, .
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released this statement on May 1.
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As workers around the world take to the streets to celebrate May Day, we are sharply aware that the capitalist system has reached a point of development where it threatens the habitability of the planet on which we all live.
As the packed galleries burst into an impassioned version of 鈥淧okarekare Ana鈥 (a well-known traditional Maori love song) in response to the passing of the Marriage Amendment Bill by 77-44 votes on April 17, a crowd of more than 1000 celebrated outside parliament in Wellington.
The vote made New Zealand the 13th nation to legalise same-sex marriage. France has since become the 14th.
A mob led by Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka attacked a clothing shop owned by Muslims in March, setting fire to clothes while police looked on.
The attack on the Fashion Bug shop in Pepiliyana, a suburb of Colombo, followed the spreading of a false rumour that a Sinhala Buddhist employee had been raped by a Muslim employee on the premises.
About 10,000 workers rallied in Melbourne on April 30, demanding better safety on Grocon construction sites.
The rally marched to the Grocon-owned site in Swanston street where a wall collapsed onto a public footpath in March and killed three people.
The march then moved to another Grocon site where a crane operator was killed earlier this year.
Protesters demanded industrial manslaughter laws for bosses be introduced.
International support for West Papua grows with push to include the occupied nation in regional body
West Papua has been gaining international support recently, especially in its pursuit of inclusion in the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG), a regional intergovernmental organisation that has supported the independence movements of its members.
Controversially, Indonesia, which has occupied West Papua for decades, has had observer status in MSG since 2011.
The 39th anniversary of Portugal鈥檚 1974 鈥渞evolution of the carnations鈥 that overthrew a 48-year-long dictatorship, was marked on April 25 by a huge march against austerity in Lisbon.
The symbols of that revolution 鈥 the carnations and the song 鈥淕randola, Vila Morena鈥 (broadcast in the early hours of April 25, 1974 as the signal to start the revolt )鈥 were massively present.
They now stand for the need for another rebellion, this time against the austerity imposed on the country by the 鈥渢roika鈥 -- the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund.
A selection of this week's politically-relevant celebrity news... Rebel Diaz Arts Collective finds new home http://bit.ly/11ztAet Cuban video game recreates revolutionary history http://gu.com/p/3enpq/tw Pussy Riot member denied early release from prison: http://gu.com/p/3fedq/tf Hear the new Neon Neon concept album about Italian publisher and leftwing activist Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. http://gu.com/p/3fak2/tw Rapper Danny Brown Gets Oral Sex On Stage, Continues Rapping http://bit.ly/ZUUbEF
The Campaign
Kings Konekted
Class A Records
April 19, 2013
www.classarecords.com
Kings Konekted have just released some of the choicest cuts in Australian hip-hop - and they were inspired by some of the cuts in Australian politics.
The Brisbane new EP The Campaign paints a pretty gritty picture of life under cost-cutting Queensland Premier Campbell Newman.
The close-knit Texas town of West, population 2800, was shaken to the core, literally and symbolically, on April 17 when the West Fertilizer Co facility exploded with the force of a small earthquake. The blast killed 14 people and injured more than 200.
Today, West resembles a war zone. Up to 75 homes and buildings were destroyed, including the local high school and a 50-unit apartment complex that was reduced to a skeleton. A nursing home near the facility was also damaged 鈥 133 residents had to be evacuated during the explosions and fire that followed.
The fertile plains of the Ord River Irrigation Area around Kununurra in Western Australia are being transformed by plantations of Indian sandalwood, Santalum album
It is the largest commercial production of Indian sandalwood in the world. In more than 60% of the total farming area around Kununurra, about 3500 hectares, sandalwood has supplanted food crops such as melons, pumpkins, legumes, chick peas, bananas, and many other crops.
The Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority released this statement on April 22.
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It is with considerable sadness that we announce the passing of Thomas Trevorrow at the age of 58 from a heart attack at his office at Camp Coorong, Meningie.
Trevorrow was a strong and proud Ngarrindjeri man and a leading advocate for Aboriginal rights in Australia. He worked throughout his life to better the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and to support the advancement and recognition of the Ngarrindjeri people.
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