The Australian government is moving to deport a 27 year-old Afghan asylum seeker, Ismail Mirza Jan, from Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in western Sydney to Kabul, Afghanistan.
Mirza Jan is an ethnic Hazara who fled Afghanistan after his father was killed by the Taliban for his imputed association with the political group Hezbe-e-Wahdat. At his mother鈥檚 urging, he was assisted by people smugglers to escape Afghanistan and has spent the last 11 years trying to seek safety from any country that will provide him protection and a chance at life.
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-- New York City police destroyed the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park in an early-morning surprise attack on November 15. Hundreds of people who were sleeping at the park found themselves surrounded by police with no warning, and then subject to arrest or the violence of the NYPD.
On November 16, police attacked and dismantled the Occupy Melbourne site in Treasury Gardens. Three activists were arrested. At a general assembly in City Square this evening, activists will plan their response.
鈥淎ny major decisions will be made in a democratic process tonight. Anyone is welcome, including the police commissioner [Ken Lay] and Robert Doyle,鈥 Occupy Melbourne activist Carl Scrase told the .
The released the statement below on November 14.
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Three student activists at Monash University are facing a disciplinary hearing for speaking out against mandatory detention.
released the statement below on November 15.
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Marriage equality advocates are disappointed Prime Minister Julia Gillard has today affirmed her opposition to same-sex marriage and has tried to pre-empt the outcome of Labor鈥檚 National Conference by calling for a conscience vote.
The Prime Minister鈥檚 comments are below and appear in an opinion piece published in the November 15 Age.
NSW Greens MP David Shoebridge gave the speech below in NSW Parliament on November 11. It is republished from .
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The Occupy movement began with a single protest in New York on September 17, 2011, called 鈥淥ccupy Wall Street鈥. This protest targets corporate greed and growing inequality across the globe. The protesters鈥 slogan 鈥淲e are the 99%鈥 refers to the vast disparity in wealth, particularly in the United States, between the wealthiest 1% and the rest of the country.
The Northern Inland Council for the Environment and The Wilderness Society Newcastle released the statement below on November 14.
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Environment groups have responded to news that the NSW government plans to stop a single coal seam gas pilot production well on the Liverpool Plains with calls for a far more extensive moratorium.
I originally heard about a proposed occupation in Brisbane when I was following the other global Occupy movements. I was immediately excited and very interested in being involved, as I have never really experienced anything like it before. From my (young) perspective, this was a significant and unique event, unparalleled since the anti-globalisation protests of the 鈥90s and early 2000s.
The role of notorious Malaysian-owned logging company Rimbunan Hijau (RH) is in the spotlight after Greenpeace activists blockaded one of its ships in Papua New Guinea on October 24.
Greenpeace was supporting about 200 local landowners from West Pomio, in New Britain, who were protesting against what they say was illegal logging by RH, AAP said on October 24.
Forty-thousand hectares of land was leased to RH 鈥 operating under a front company called Gilford 鈥 for 99 years for a palm oil plantation, without the consent of all landowners.
WikiLeaks has awakened many people to the cynical and violent workings of the political, military and corporate entities that run the world. For Christine Assange this awakening has been heightened because her son is WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange 鈥 now the target of the powerful 1% who have not appreciated his contribution to transparency.
鈥淚 started off on this journey saying WikiLeaks is great in theory but 鈥 I鈥檓 not going to support it publicly before I鈥檝e read everything I can on it,鈥 she told 麻豆传媒 Weekly. 鈥淚t was quite a journey for me.鈥
Nurses in Victoria are being threatened with an Alan Joyce-style lockout because they have campaigned for a modest 3.5% pay rise (just to keep up with the rising cost of living), superannuation and overtime improvements, and keeping patient-to-nurse ratios.
Australia鈥檚 four big banks, meanwhile, have a combined annual profit of $24.4 billion, up 12% from $21.7 billion a year ago.
This speaks volumes about the grossly distorted priorities in our society.
The government has undermined the right to a fair trial of up to 350 mostly Indonesian people now facing charges of 鈥減eople smuggling鈥 in Australian courts. It has done so by introducing hastily drafted, retrospective amendments to the Migration Act.
The People Smuggling Deterrence Bill 2011 was passed in the lower house November 1, supported by Labor and the Coalition. If carried by the Senate, it will amend the migration act to make it an offence to bring a person to Australia with 鈥渘o valid visa鈥.
Greens MP Adam Bandt and independent MP Rob Oakeshott spoke against the bill.
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