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NSW election campaign launched

BY LISA MACDONALD SYDNEY — The mood among the 52 delegates, representing nine NSW Socialist Alliance branches, was confident while tinged with a sense of urgency, when they gathered for the alliance's state conference on August 3. The

Narangba opposed

BY NICOLE HILDER BRISBANE — In a mostly peaceful action on August 7, 200 people picketed the Narangba irradiation facility construction site. Protesters have maintained a protest camp against Steritech and its contracted company Statham

On the box

Actively Radical TV — Sydney community television's progressive current affairs producers tackle the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), Sunday, 9pm. Phone 9565 5522. Visit <http://www.channel31.org>

Campaign for refugee sanctuary

BY GRANT COLEMAN WOLLONGONG — The Illawarra Refugee Action Collective (RAC) is campaigning to make the University of Wollongong a refugee safe haven. During the first week of August, students were greeted with life-size cardboard "refugees"

Murris rally over stolen wages

BY BILL MASON BRISBANE — More than 200 people, including representatives of Indigenous groups from all over Queensland, protested in the Roma Street Forum on August 3 against the state Labor government's compensation offer on the "stolen wages"

UNITED STATES: Hail to the thief

BY ERIC RUDER CHICAGO — "I'm all name and no money", George Bush claimed in 1986. In 1975, Bush returned to Texas after his stint at Yale and Harvard in the hope of copying his father's success in the Texas oil business. By the end of the

UNITED STATES: Bush threatens dockers' right to strike

BY DAVID BACON SAN FRANCISCO — A labour war is looming on the west coast docks, which could become the defining union conflict of the Bush administration. But the traditional issues of union bargaining — wages, benefits and working

A blue-print to shift further right

A blue-print to shift further right After six months of hoopla, the much-anticipated review of the ALP's structures was released on August 9. The document is part distraction — proposing minor changes to make the party appear more

Can unions stop the spread of labour hire?

BY STUART MARTIN In the last few years, the increasing use of labour-hire workers in the construction, manufacturing and telecommunications industries has generated a discussion among unionists about how to best fight it and preserve

Why the right hates Steve Earle

BY BILL NEVINS Steve Earle has always been intrigued by fighters, and by the reasons why they fight. He has championed union organisers, the impoverished, death-row inmates and indigenous rights activists. As one of America's most prominent

Workers' lives still expendable

BY RUTH RATCLIFFE "They were all swept along by the one idea: that they might still get through the adjoining disused mine if they could get there before the way was cut off... In their frightened hearts old slumbering beliefs came back to

An uproarious 'defence of the rich'

REVIEW BY IGGY KIM Abducting DianaWritten by Dario FoDirected and adapted by Shane MorganWith Hayley Buckley, Martin Viski, Moira Hunt, Mark Duffy, Mandy Thomas, Joanne Trentini and Shaun ParkerPlaying at the New Theatre, Sydney, until August 31