Issue 1388

News

After a month of protest, logging has been halted and the machines have leftNewry State Forest inwhat Gumbaynggirr custodian Sandy Greenwood described as a “historic moment”. Jim McIlroy reports.

Jason Siwat, a representative of the PNG Catholic Bishops Conference told a forum that refugees who were sent to Manus Island are now stuck in Papua New Guinea, reports Chris Slee.

Anti-war students and others protested atwo-day master class on nuclear submarines at the University of WA. Alex Salmon reports.

One hundred people protested outside Woodside's WA headquarters, calling on it to stop exploration for anew gas field at Burrup Hub off the Pilbara coast. Alex Salmon reports.

Dunghutti-Tharawal teenager George Campbell

The family of Dunghutti-Tharawal teenager George Campbellwho died while in the care of NSW Department of Communities and Justice are calling for urgent changes and accountability. Kerry Smith reports.

Residents are calling on Australia Post not to closeGlenroy Post Office, close to accessible public transport and in a bigshopping centre. Sue Bolton reports.

Grantley Ingram from the Demerge NSW Alliancesaid the 2016 forced amalgamation of councils has been a “failure” and called onNSW MPs to support binding plebiscites on council deamalgamations. Pip Hinman reports.

Construction union spokespersonJade Ingham spoketo Alex Bainbridge about the union's demands on Labor at its national conference.

No nuclear subs, no war on China: Anti-AUKUS protest

Thousands of people rallied against AUKUS, for forests and housing and rent reforms outside Labor's national conference. Alex Bainbridge reports.

Close to 150 residents packed out the Lara Golf Club to raise concerns about Prospect Hill International waste-to-energy incinerator proposal.Angela Carr reports.

Waterloo South resident and public housing activist Karyn Brown has condemned NSW Labor’s decision to demolish and redevelop Waterloo South. Rachel Evans reports.

The Sydney Knitting Nannas Against Gas and supporters called on Tamboran Resources to stopplans to frack the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory. Jim McIlroy reports.

Activists joined members of the Indian Diaspora outsideVictorian Parliamentto showsolidarity with the indigenous Kuki-Zo minority, who are being targeted by Hindu extremist organisations in Manipur. Jordan AK reports.

Rank-and-file teachers have launched a ticket to contest the NSW Teachers Federation elections whichruns until September 20.Sean Valenzuela andRachel Evans report.

Fifty refugees rallied outside the electorate office of Minister for Home Affairs Clare O’Neil to demand permanent residency for thousands living on temporary visas. Chris Slee reports.

The No New Gas Coalition says science is clear: there is no room for new gas projects in a climate catastrophe. Jim McIlroy reports.

Time's up Labor: climate protest outside national conference

“Protect Country and our climate” was the headline message of a protest outside the Labor Party national conference opening. Alex Bainbridge reports.

The Islamic Council of Victoriais among one of 40 Islamic organisations to call on the federal government touse its “considerable influence” to pressure the Indian government to stop the persecution of Muslims and other minorities in India. Peter Boyle reports.

A culturally significant Djab Wurrung Birthing Tree, near Buangor, has been vandalised promptingcallsfor better cultural heritagelaws. Kerry Smith reports.

Niko Leka asked Alexa Stewart from Rising Tide about the protest in Muloobinba/Newcastle in November to block the world’s biggest coal port.

The Monash University branch of the National Tertiary Education Union took their enterprise bargaining campaign to prospective students, after a year of very little progress.Brenna Dempsey reports.

Residents of Techno Park Estate in Williamstown are campaigning against their eviction by the Hobson Bay City Council.Elizabeth Bantas reports.

WALabor Premier Roger Cook’s decision to repeal thenew Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws comes after sustained opposition to them from vested mining, pastoral and farming interests. Chris Jenkins reports.

Koala puppetry at Naarm/Melbourne Rally for the Forests, August 12

The Rally for Forests in Naarm/Melbourne used puppetry to get its message across. Jordan AK reports.

Residents called on Labor to stand by the northern suburbs and acquire the site to ensure the future of Preston Market. Darren Saffin reports.

RisingTide climate justice activist Alexa Stuart talks to Nikola Leka aboutthe plans for the biggest-ever blockade of Newcastle’s coal port.

Iván Barreto Lopezand Marianniz Díaz Hernández spoke to students and staff at the University of Sydney about Cuba's remarkable achievements in spite ofthe punishing US blockade. Rachel Evans reports.

Analysis

Jadavpur University students protesting for a safe campus after the death of 18-year-old Swapnadeep

Socialist Alliance condemns the recent brutal attackon students by the Akhil Bharatiya Vidya Parishad hate mobs — the youth wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the West Bengal police.

Housing protest outside the Labor national conference, August 19

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's argument that long-term government is counterposed to pro-working class policies contains major flaws, arguesAlex Bainbridge.

Former judges open letter on Voice

Agroup of former judges, who make upThe Australia Institute’s National Integrity Committee,issued an open letter to the Australian public calling for support for the Voice to Parliament, reports Kerry Smith.

Philip Lowe said heis proudof the RBA’s unpopular role in forcing working people to bear the burden of “fighting inflation”. But don’t count oninterest rates stopping rising inflation; unemployment is going up, too. Peter Boyle reports.

A report by the Antipoverty Centre,published by GetUp!,revealsjust how punishing “mutual obligation” schemes are for those on JobSeeker and Youth Allowance. Isaac Nellist reports.

The campaign for fairwater flow and better monitoring and regulation in the Murray Darling Basin Plan has to continue, argues Tracey Carpenter.

Margaret Kelly, who has been resisting the demolition of her home in the Barak Beacon housing estate, told a 鶹ý forum that the tenants thought they were intheir “lifetime home”.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee hasdecidedthat native title law had run roughshod over First Nations rights in deciding against the Wunna Nyiyaparli people. Paul Gregoire reports.

First Nations activists supporting the progressive No case say Labor could makepractical reforms now, without a referendum. PeterBoyle argues that, regardless of the referendum outcome, the strugglefor First Nations’ justice will have to continue.

We should be wary of any plea deal whichmakesAssange admit guilt, Binoy Kampmark argues, because itwouldbe merelychanging the prison warden.

As killings continue in Sydney streets, Greens MLC Cate Faehrmann has stepped up her call for the legal regulation of cocaine. Paul Gregoire reports.

Global warming —the result of fossil fuel burning —means bushfires will become more frequent and severe. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is blindingly obvious, as is adaptation. David Bowman reports.

World

Manipur

An eight-member fact-finding team, comprising leftists, lawyers, Dalit and women’s rights activists from across India, visited affected villages and relief camps across the northeastern state of Manipur from August 10‒14, reports Susan Price.

prisoners of war

Ukrainian state-backed project, “I Want to Live”, says it plans to start exchanging Russian prisoners of war (POWs) for anti-war political prisoners jailed in Russia, reports Federico Fuentes.

Maksym Butkevych

A Moscow court has rejected an appeal by Ukrainian human rights activist Maksym Butkevych against his 13-year jail sentence, reports Federico Fuentes.

Javier Milei cr Wikipedia

Extreme right libertarian candidate Javier Milei won just over 30% of the vote in Argentina’s August 13 primary elections. Federico Fuentes looks behind the result and what this could mean for October's presidential election.

Luisa Gonzalez

Luisa González of the left-wing Citizens Revolution Movement andDaniel Noboa of the right-wing National Democratic Action Alliance will contest a run-off election in October, following the outcome of Ecuador's August 20 general election, reports Peoples Dispatch.

Ukraine hydro plant destroyed

Powerful interests are still pushing Kyiv in the direction of fossil fuels and nuclear energy, writes Simon Pirani.

kids climate change

In Montana, in the United States, a court has found in favour of 16 young people, aged from 5 to 22, who argued that their constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment was violated by permitting fossil fuel projects, reports Binoy Kampmark.

Bernardo Arévalo de León

Centre-left candidate Bernardo Arévalo de León from the Movimiento Semilla (Seed Movement) won a decisive victory in Guatemala's presidential run-off election on August 20 against the “pact of the corrupt”, reports Laura Salome Canteros.

Henrietta Lacks

Cancer victim Henrietta Lacks’ family reached an out of court settlement withmedical company Thermo FisherScientific in the United States on August 2, related to the unauthorised use of her cervical cancer cells in medical research since the 1950s, reports Malik Miah.

John Smith

In Part 2 of our interview, John Smith, author of Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitationand Capitalism’s Final Crisis, discusses Russia, China, multipolarity and anti-imperialism today with 鶹ý's Federico Fuentes.

Left Bloc Portugal Jorge Costa

In Part 2 of our interview, Left Bloc leader Jorge Costa discusses the recent rise of the far-right Chega (Enough) party in Portugal, with 鶹ý’s Dick Nichols.

Indian students are demanding their University take action against hazing rituals, which they say are linked to growing Islamophobic and casteist attacks, reports Isaac Nellist.

Maui FEMA

Barry Sheppard reports on the deadly firestorm in Maui and how real estate developers are seeking to profiteer from the disaster.

Niger

Nigerian group, Socialist Labour, released a statement on August 1, in response to the coup in the neighbouring country of Niger and the threat of foreign military intervention including by Nigeria.

niger-cnsp-abas-france

Vijay Prashad argues that the recent coups in West Africa represent “Colonel’s Coups” — coups of ordinary people who have no other options. That is why the coup in Niger is being defended in mass rallies from Niamey to the small, remote towns that border Libya.

Elections across six states in Malaysia resulted in a continuation of the status quo on August 12. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party of Malaysia also contested the elections, cooperating with the youth-based Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA), in a bid to counter the growing race- and religion-based politics in the country, reports Isaac Nellist.

Solidarity Minded

Peter Boyle spoke to Ryan Capozzi from Solidarity Minded, a mutual aid group specialising in mental health that is planning to work with Yezidi survivors of the Daesh (Islamic State) massacre in Iraqi Kurdistan nine years ago.

Paradise Bombed

International scrutiny of Indonesia's brutal occupation of West Papua was given a boost with the release of the documentary Paradise Bombed, which details Indonesia’s military occupation of West Papua and its 2021 bombing of Kiwirok and surrounding remote mountain villages, reports Leo Earle.

Fukushima dumping Sth Korea

Scientists, environmentalists and fisherfolk from around the Pacific took part in a global media conference on August 10 as part of the campaign to stop Japan’s planned dumping of nuclear waste water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean, reports Peter Boyle.

Two small progressive parties,the Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) and the Malaysian United Democracy Alliance (MUDA) have been campaigning for a "new politics" in the August 12 Malaysian state elections, reports Peter Boyle.

Culture

Oppenheimer movie

The atomic bomb created the conditions of contingent catastrophe, forever placing the world on the precipice of existential doom. But in doing so, it created a philosophy of acceptable cruelty, worthy extinction and legitimate extermination— explored in Christopher Nolan's film, Oppenheimer, writes Binoy Kampmark.

Eco-Worrier

Jenny Fitzgibbon reviews Hannah Gwatkin's climate cabaret, Eco-Worrier, which is on again at Sydney's Fringe Festival in September.

Cabaret performer and "Eco-Worrier" Hannah Gwatkin speaks with Alex Bainbridge about her climate cabaret coming up at the Sydney Fringe.

Up from ashes we rise

This poetry and prose anthology book was conceived in the wake of New Mexico's worst natural disaster in written history, writesBill Nevins.