More troops to Afghanistan will solve nothing
Kevin Rudd was expected to announce an increase in Australia’s troop commitment to Afghanistan, following his first meeting with President Obama in Washington.
His visit to the US comes the...
Rudd wants to lock in do-nothing climate plan
Rudd’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS), the government’s key mechanism for addressing climate change, is under fire on all sides. It’s not hard to see why.The scheme is premised...
Anti-privatisation campaign reignites in NSW
NSW unions are again locked in battle with the state Labor government over privatisation. With the government accelerating its planned sell-off of prisons, members of the Public Service Association...
Queensland state election–it’s business as usual
Labor won the Queensland election, but beyond Anna Bligh becoming Australia’s first elected woman premier, there was nothing to celebrate.
Suffering a swing of around 4 per cent, Labor...
Rudd won’t save jobs in the public service
Despite its promise to create jobs in the economic downturn, the Rudd government is imposing job cuts on the federal public service.
Cuts of 3.25 per cent in each...
Deceit and hypocrisy–Rudd’s sorry reportcard
Following his apology to the Stolen Generation, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd promised to deliver an annual “report card” on the government’s progress in addressing Indigenous disadvantage. This report card...
Aboriginal employment sacrificed for big business
During his “report card” speech Kevin Rudd claimed his government had “driven reforms through employment programs to give more Indigenous peoples the skills they need to get and keep...
Two way education becomes a one way street
In a shock move in October 2008 the former Northern Territory Minister for Education Marion Scrymgour declared that the first four hours of teaching in all Northern Territory schools...
A green new deal to meet capitalism’s crisis
We face two global crises, climate change and economic collapse. The answer to both is climate jobs, or what some have been calling a “green new deal”.
If we try...
Tension grows over ‘Pakistani Taliban’
Mass demonstrations in Pakistan have forced President Asif Ali Zardari to back down and fulfil an election promise to reinstate judges sacked by the government of Pervez Musharraf.
As US...
France rocked by general strike for jobs
The second general strike in two months brought France to a standstill on March 19. Millions demonstrated in 200 cities and towns around the country.
While many unions and...
Irish workers refuse to pay for the crisis
Anger at the Irish government’s response to the recession has exploded into angry and growing protests. Over 120,000 joined a protest in Dublin in late February, and unionists are...
Obama order continues US torture regime
On January 22 US president Obama signed his first Executive Order (EO). The order banned torture, directed the CIA to “shut what remains of its network of secret prisons”...
Stopping Rudd’s carbon plan
Solidarity spoke to two leading climate activists, John Hepburn from Greenpeace Australia Pacific and Damien Lawson from the Victorian Climate Action Centre, about the campaign against Rudd's Carbon Pollution...
Why “Buying Australian” won’t save jobs
Demanding the government "buy Australian" or impose tariffs has failed to save jobs in the past, and paints "foreign workers" as the enemy, writes Phil Griffiths
As job cuts start...
Migrants are not to blame for job losses
In response to the economic crisis, the federal government has moved to reduce Australia’s skilled migration intake.
Some unions not only welcomed this, but called for cuts to the 457...
Rosa Luxemburg: reform or revolution?
NINETY YEARS ago Rosa Luxemburg, one of the great revolutionaries of the twentieth century, was assassinated. This came in the midst of the mass revolt by the German working...
Excusing responsibility for the Holocaust?
Review: The Reader
Directed by Stephen Daldry, In cinemas now
The Reader is a story of illicit love, of betrayal and guilt, and of redemption. Kate Winslet won the Oscar for...
Former insider exposes carbon lobby deception
Review: Quarterly Essay “Quarry Vision: coal, climate change and the end of the resource boom”
By Guy Pearse, Black Inc, $16.95
AS DEBATE hots up over the Rudd government’s CPRS, the...
Brisbane Casino workers prepare for wage action
WORKERS AT Brisbane’s Treasury Casino are getting restless. The casino EBA expired on December 31, 2008. Since negotiations started in November 2008, Tabcorp, the Casino owners, have made just...
Still no right to strike under Workchoices-lite
MINOR CHANGS saw Rudd pass his “WorkChoices-lite” package through the Senate in late March.
But Rudd’s bill has failed to repeal the anti-strike laws contained in WorkChoices. Secret ballots are...
Fosters uses crisis as excuse to slash wages
Profitable companies are using the economic crisis as an excuse to sack workers and slash wages.
Despite a 9 per cent rise in profit to $713 million dollars last financial...
Bosses divide and conquer at Drivetrain
Bosses at Drivetrain Systems have used “divide and conquer” tactics to stop workers resisting mass sackings at an Albury-Wodonga gearbox factory.
The company dismissed all 338 workers without pay on...
Sydney University staff gear up for strike ballot
On February 25 meetings of approximately 200 members of the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) at the University of Sydney voted to seek a ballot authorising industrial action in...
The deregulation revolution in higher education
Julia Gillard recently announced the introduction of “demand driven” places at universities. Paddy Gibson spoke to Elly Howse, co-education officer of the Sydney University Student Representative Council on what...
Wave of occupations over Gaza sweeps campuses
The recent Israeli assault on Gaza sparked global outcry. In the US and UK, it has also produced a new wave of student militancy in opposition to imperialism in...
Support Pacific brands workers
Workers across the country were outraged with the announcement in February that Pacific Brands plans to sack 1850 workers. Many joined the factory workers’ rallies in Melbourne, Sydney and...
Letters
A tireless fighter for peace and socialism
Newspaper editors rarely allow the words “kindness”, “patience” and “socialism” to coexist in one sentence. However, you’ll need to indulge us, as we...
