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The High Court declared last year's senate election in Western Australia void on February 20. Western Australians will head to the polls as early as March 29 to re-elect six senators, because after 1300 ballots went missing during the count, it was impossible to determine the last two senate spots from the election.
Calls to boycott the Sydney Biennale unless it cuts ties with major sponsor Transfield 鈥 which holds government contracts to provide welfare services in immigration detention centres on Nauru and Manus Island 鈥 have been gaining momentum. A group of high-profile artists involved in the Biennale have , calling on them to withdraw from the funding agreement with Transfield.
For days after the National Party (NP) was declared the winner of widely disputed elections on November 24, thousands of people protested on the streets of the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa. The student movement in particular declared that they were not going to be intimidated by widespread political persecution in the country.
Oil workers march in support of the government

鈥淲HERE IS MURDEROUS DICTATOR #NICOLASMADURO HOLDING #LEOPOLDOLOPEZ ?IS LOPEZ TORTURED,DEAD?INSANE MONSTERS CAN鈥橳 BEAR PPL KNOWING THE TRUTH?鈥 So tweeted singer, actress and renowned Venezuelan political analyst Cher on February 19. Cher was far from the only celebrity to express support for the right-wing protests in Venezuela, and such tweets symbolise how much the source of disinformation and attacks on Venezuela and its democracy has shifted from mainstream to social media.

Sue Bolton was elected to Moreland City Council in north Melbourne in November 2012 on the platform of 鈥渃ommunity need not developer greed鈥. As a member of the Socialist Alliance, Bolton sees it as important to take up the 鈥渂read and butter鈥 issues as well as broader social justice issues. Bolton does not seek to just represent residents, but encourages residents to get involved in local community campaigns and feel empowered to take up issues with the council themselves.
About 700 people attended a public forum called 鈥淲e are one, but we are many: Working towards a humane refugee policy鈥 hosted by the Combined Refugee Action Group (CRAG) in Geelong on February 18. Taking place on the same day that news broke of the appalling treatment of refugees and asylum seekers on Manus Island and the death of one person after the compound had been attacked, the mood among the crowd was of anger and disbelief.
Murdoch Universiity administration has acted to close down student club stalls in the academic orientation week prior to classes beginning and the clubs and societies "O-day". Resistance: Young Socialist Alliance was one club that set up a small stall on February 17. Campus security were called to remove the stall from campus. Resistance members complied with the request and packed up the stall, settling to hand out leaflets promoting events on campus. Murdoch University then demanded the leafleting stop.
In what the Sydney Morning Herald as the "darkest night" in Sydney Football Club's history, active supporters of the A-League football (soccer) club 鈥 known as "the Cove" 鈥 staged a walkout during the February 8 match against Adelaide United in protest against heavy-handed security tactics.
The Socialist Alliance released this statement February 19. *** Over the weekend of February 15-16, the socialist youth organisation Resistance merged into the Socialist Alliance of which it was previously an affiliate. Members of the Socialist Alliance aged 26 and under are now part of a new youth wing called 鈥淩esistance: Young Socialist Alliance鈥.
Three years ago, the Museum of Broken Relationships was set up in Zagreb by former lovers Olinka Vistica and Drazen Grubisi to display items symbolising the end of various personal relationships. This museum is a metaphor for how the nationalists in the countries of the former Yugoslavia view their past 鈥 a broken relationship remembered with mementos and nostalgia, but nothing else. The recent uprisings in Bosnia-Hercegovina are the biggest attempt to rebuild that relationship since sniper fire broke up the Sarajevo demonstration against national divisions in 1992.
After the collapse of Ansett Airlines and National Textiles in 2001 鈥 both of which owed their employees millions of dollars in unpaid entitlements 鈥 the then-John Howard government was forced to introduce legislation establishing the General Employee Entitlements and Redundancy Scheme, which guaranteed basic entitlements for workers if a company went broke.
It鈥檚 impossible to ignore any longer just how cruel and irrational the government鈥檚 war on refugees has become after violent attacks in the Manus Island detention centre left one dead and scores injured. The threat of expulsion to Manus Island is particularly terrifying for some asylum seekers given the criminalisation of homosexuality in Papua New Guinea. Amnesty International said last year that staff would be forced to report suspected same-sex activity in the detention centre. PNG can prosecute same-sex people with a penalty of 14 years jail.