Issue 22 - Mar

Stopping new coal power key task for movement

The campaign to stop new coal power stations is shaping up as one of the key issues for the climate movement—both in NSW and nationally. In early March the NSW...

Zero emission possible in ten years

Australia could cut emissions from electricity generation to zero in ten years for $40 billion a year, according to a preview of Beyond Zero Emissions’ first Zero Carbon Australia plan. The...

Carbon tax not the solution we need on climate

A carbon tax, proposed by The Greens as an alternative to Rudd's CPRS, would increase power prices for ordinary people, and be just as ineffective in encouraging renewables as carbon trading With Rudd’s...

Aboriginal home ownership: Macklin’s fantasy

On January 31, residents at Ilpeye Ilpeye town camp in Alice Springs became the only Aboriginal land owners in Australia’s history to hand their land back to the Federal...

More lies exposed: Intervention laws won’t restore Racial Discrimination Act

According to Minister Jenny Macklin, the new Intervention legislation would restore the Racial Discrimination Act (RDA), fulfilling a key Labor’s election promise. It’s a lie. Submissions to the Senate enquiry,...

ACTU backs BasicsCard workers

The attack on Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) that has gone along with the NT Intervention has cost thousands of Aboriginal jobs. People still on CDEP—some working up to 40...

Rudd’s austerity plans a danger to us all

Rudd came to office promising to be an “economic conservative”. His government is crafting a similar image as it prepares to fight this year’s election. Contrary to the received...

Surrogacy conscience vote reveals Bligh’s abortion hypocrisy

Last month, Queensland’s parliament decriminalised altruistic surrogacy. The reforms will allow same-sex couples to adopt children born to surrogate mothers. The laws passed 48 votes to 40 (two Labor...

Liberals revert to refugee bashing—but Rudd’s adding to the chorus

Tony Abbott is taking the Liberals back to the refugee bashing policies of the Howard era, saying he will re-impose temporary protection visas and turn boats around at sea....

Greek workers resist crisis and cutbacks

In every economic crisis, the central question is who shall bear the cost—the bosses or the working class? In Greece, that question is being fought out on the streets, with...

Obama sides with banks and big business

Americans are losing faith in Barack Obama. His election promises to sweep aside the Republican legacy of financial deregulation and privatisation with social reforms and market controls have come to...

How Afghanistan drove out the Russian empire

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979 they thought they were in for an easy victory. But they underestimated the power of the resistance, writes Dave CrouchIn the...

Obama’s surge brings more horror to Afghanistan

NATO began a massive new offensive in Afghanistan in February when 15,000 troops began an assault on the southern provincial town of Marjah. Operation Moshtarak is the biggest offensive since...

Corporations and climate change

We can’t trust the future of our planet to big business, argues Amy Thomas   On the surface, it seems corporations have changed their attitude to climate change. In 2000, companies like...

Gandhi’s Salt March and the myth of non-violence

Gandhi’s celebrated strategy of non-violent protest was not responsible for winning Indian independence, and actually held back the struggle, explains Lucy Honan As the police gathered forces and began...

Herron workers fight for fair redundancy offer

Workers at Sigma’s Herron pharmaceutical plant in Tennyson, Brisbane walked out on a week-long strike in February over their employer’s unfair redundancy offer. The plant is earmarked for closure. Herron’s...

Fair work decision undermines strike action at Star City

A planned 24-hour strike at Sydney’s Star City Casino during Chinese New Year was banned by a decision of Fair Work Australia. This is one of the busiest times...

Woodside strike ends in draw but fines set scene for showdown

The eight-day strike over motelling at Woodside in Western Australia has ended in a draw. But the industrial battle isn’t over by a long shot—not for Woodside, and not...

TAFE: “We will (partially) win”

“The best union meeting I’ve attended in years.” That was the response of many NSW TAFE teachers after a 3000-strong mass meeting filled and electrified the inside of Sydney...

Challenging portrayal of life at the bottom

Precious Directed by Lee Daniels, In cinemas now Watching Precious is a harrowing experience. Director Lee Daniels milks every dramatic movement of Sapphire’s novel Push in bringing Clarieece “Precious” Jones to...

Satire paints damning picture of masters of war

Review: In the Loop Directed by Armando Iannucci, In cinemas now IN THE loop is a satire about the government machinery of the US and Britain preparing for war against an...

A world destroyed without any explanation

Review: The Road Directed by John Hillcoat, In cinemas now The Road, a film based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Cormac McCarthy and brought to the screen by Australian...

Invaluable guide to climate science, but not solutions

Review: Storms of my grandchildren By James Hansen, Bloomsbury, $35 Last year James Hansen, one of the world’s best-known climate scientists, was arrested during a protest against the coal industry in...

No pride in Rudd’s homophobia

A Freens bill to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage was predictably defeated in the Senate last month. Rudd Labor maintained its commitment to the shameful ban. Labor Senator Nick...

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