On the September 14 anniversary of the collapse of Lehmann Brothers, Obama gave a speech to Wall Street declaring that the global economy had been pulled “back from the brink”.

The “Switch off Hazelwood” campaign organised a public meeting in Victoria’s Latrobe valley, prior to last month’s 500-strong rally at the Hazelwood power plant, to explain the aims of the protest and try to win local workers to supporting the climate movement. Solidarity spoke to Mark Ogge of Beyond Zero Emissions, who spoke at the meeting.

Climate negotiations were high on Kevin Rudd’s agenda during his visit to the US for the G20 meeting. Rudd tried to position himself as the global face of action, preparing his own compromise proposal to try to rescue negotiations leading up to the Copenhagen summit in December.

Open letter to the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) and Labor MP Kelvin Thompson

The expansion of the coal industry exposes the fraud of Kevin Rudd’s claims that his government is tackling the climate crisis. The likelihood that the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme will pass the Senate in some form is doing nothing to stop the massive expansion of emissions intensive industries.

David Turner, who worked at Solar Systems before its collapse, talked to Solidarity about the lack of government support for the company and the solar power industry in Australia generally

The campaign to save Solar Systems holds the potential for uniting the fight for jobs and renewable energy.

The bashing murder on July 25 of young Aboriginal man, Kwementyaye Ryder, by a group of five white men highlights the violent extremes of racism festering in Alice Springs.

Conservative Aboriginal leader Noel Pearson has used recent school attendance figures to trumpet the success of the punitive Family Responsibilities Commission (FRC).

The horrible ordeal faced by the Cairns couple, Tegan Leach and her partner Sergie Brennan, charged “for procuring an abortion” is set to continue after they were committed to trial on a date yet to be fixed.

Labor’s Fair Work Act has lifted the sense of intimidation felt about union membership among many workers.

“Green shoots” is the buzzword of economic commentary over the last few months. They are meant to re-assure us that the global crisis will not be as bad as first feared. There is now talk that the recession is already over.

A good deal of the official optimism about the Australian economy’s prospects is based upon the belief that Australia’s number one trading partner, China, can lead us out of recession.

After a number of failed attempts, deposed President Manuel Zelaya unexpectedly returned to Honduras in late September and took up residence inside the Brazilian embassy.

Afghanistan has reached a turning point. Recent media headlines such as “where Empires go to die” and “Afghanistan: Tipping Point” signal that after eight years, the future of Western control of the country looks doubtful.

Right-wing hysteria has dominated the political debate about health care reform in the US.
The Republican right wing has gained renewed traction with their bizarre claims that public health care would mean “rations care” and “death boards” for the disabled and elderly.

Caster Semenya, world champion South African runner, is both “a woman… and a man!” So said the New York Daily News, days after the results of “gender tests” had been leaked to the Australian media.
While the mass media struggles to get its head around the idea that a human being could exist outside the rigid ideas of gender, Semenya’s athletic life—not to mention her private life—has been all but destroyed.

Seventy years after the end of World War II, it is still celebrated as the good war, a necessary war for democracy to counter the threat of fascism.

As companies around the world sack workers and close their doors in response to economic crisis, Jasmine Ali demonstrates the importance of the demand for nationalisation

The tenth anniversary of East Timor’s vote for independence was marked on August 31, with around 650 Australian troops and 200 Federal Police still stationed there and likely to remain for another ten years or longer.

Balibo
Directed by Robert Connolly, In cinemas now

National Tertiary Education University members at 16 universities across the country stopped work on September 16 as part of the NTEU national bargaining round to fight increased workloads, a blow-out in class sizes, casualisation and other attacks on jobs and conditions.

Anna Bligh was hoping that a combination of time and spin would be enough for Queensland workers to get used to her unpopular decision to privatise $15 billion worth of public assets. How wrong she was.

The 2009 NSW Labor conference is shaping up to be a focal point of anger at the Nathan Rees government. At the Sydney Entertainment centre on the weekend of 15, 16 November, Rees will face defiance both inside and outside the conference.

Review: Framework of Flesh
By Humphrey McQueen, Ginninderra Press, $30

Review: Beautiful Kate
Directed by Rachel Ward, In cinemas now

In July Aboriginal elders from the Ampilatwatja community began a walk-off protest against the Intervention. Solidarity spoke to Richard Downs, one of the protest leaders.