It’s an indication of how nervous the ruling class is about the prospect of economic collapse that Rudd the financial conservative has become Rudd the $42 billion man.

Workers across Europe are meeting the deepening recession and growing job losses with action. Over the course of the last weeks, literally millions of workers have taken to the streets with strike action and demonstrations.

Six hundred workers are occupying the Waterford Crystal factory in Ireland after receivers tried to sack them and close the plant.

Telstra workers went out on a strike for the second time in two months on Monday February 9. Following on from a four-hour stoppage late last year, unions called a 24-hour strike.

NSW TEACHERS have won a pay increase and the reinstatement of a state-wide staffing plan as part of a new 3-year-award.

As unemployment edges upwards, the myth that cutting wages can save jobs is being promoted once again. Accepting this would be a huge mistake that will hurt our living standards and make the recession worse.

Anyone expecting a less hawkish approach from Obama to the occupation of Afghanistan will be sadly disappointed.

Despite Israel’s declaration of ceasefire, the number of dead in Gaza continues to rise. Bombings and incursions into the Strip are still claiming civilian lives.

Held at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, the Canberra Convergence was set to coincide with the opening of Federal Parliament for 2009. The Convergence brought together Indigenous rights activists and union members from around the country.

Conservative Indigenous ALP political figure Warren Mundine has taken a position on the board of the Australian Uranium Association (AUA), the industry’s peak lobby group. He is also co-convener of a new Indigenous “dialogue group” established by the AUA.

Irene Fisher is a Jawoyn woman, whose people live mainly around Katherine in the “top end” of the Northern Territory. She works as chief executive of Sunrise Health, a network of 10 health centres servicing Aboriginal communities east of Katherine.  Below is the text of a speech given to a forum during the Canberra convergence against the NT intervention in early February.

The global economic crisis is entering a new phase, as production declines and governments desperately try to stop a global recession turning into depression.

Euphoric scenes marked the inauguration of Barack Obama—and the end of the Bush era. Millions who campaigned for an end to war and neo-liberal policy wept with joy as the first African American President moved into the White House. But the three weeks since have taken some of the gloss off.

“Seismic changes are underway”, writes Kevin Rudd in the latest issue of The Monthly. He declares that a “regime change” from the neo-liberal order to a renewed emphasis on the role of government intervention is now taking place.

Sara Poya was in Egypt in late January, at the end of the latest Israeli attacks on Gaza. She spoke with Solidarity.

The world has looked in horror at the carnage left after Israel’s attack on Gaza. The sheer scale of the massacre of more than 1400 people in less than a month has shocked and disgusted people from the UN and NGOs to individuals.

The Israeli assault on Gaza has exposed deep divisions between Arab ruling classes, their Western allies and the people of the region, argues Simon Assaf

Review: Trade Unionism in Australia: A history from flood to ebb tide, By Tom Bramble , Cambridge University Press, $49.95

Review: Milk, Directed by Gus Van Sant, In cinemas now

Review: Australia, Directed by Baz Luhrmann, In cinemas now

Solidarity held its annual decision making conference over the weekend of February 7 and 8.

The Rudd government came to power promising an “education revolution”. And a dramatic about face in government policy is desperately needed in the university system, which faced 11 years of cuts and underfunding inflicted by the Howard government.

Over five hundred people, representing 150 different groups active around climate change, took part in the climate action summit in Canberra from January 31 to February 3, culminating in a protest of around 2000 people at the opening of parliament.

The devastating Victorian bushfires should have been a harsh wake up call for Kevin Rudd. While Rudd comforted survivors and promised millions to rebuild the region, he has avoided the obvious—inaction on climate change will mean more bushfires.