A nuclear war using as few as 100 weapons would disrupt the global climate and agricultural production so severely that the lives of more than a billion people would be at risk, according to research released in April by International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War and its Australian affiliate, the Medical Association for Prevention of War.
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A team of progressive activists has formed an independent βHousing Actionβ ticket to run in the September 8 council elections in the City of Sydney.
The united platform βDecent housing is a human rightβ is a further step towards practical unity between independent socialists and members of the Communist Party of Australia (CPA) and the Socialist Allliance (SA).
The team has come together to challenge City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Mooreβs pro-corporate development stance. It is also championing public housing and human rights over pro-development and big business.
For two weeks βNothing in, Nothing outβ was the mantra on the picket as the trucks were turned away at the Coles warehouse in Somerton, Melbourne.
Angered by the fact that workers for Coles warehouses in other states were receiving better working conditions, even though they were doing the same job, the National Union of Workers (NUW) members at the Coles Somerton warehouse took action.
Coles owns the warehouse, but management is outsourced to Toll Logistics. Workers are paid below industry standards despite both companies making obscene profits.
Nuclear fission is an innately dangerous process β and the nuclear industryβs record of handling the dangers has been well short of perfect. Traditionally, thatβs been enough for the environment movement to reject nuclear energy.
Climate change, though, subjects this established position to an important challenge. The final death toll from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, by some estimates, could reach hundreds of thousands. But a full-scale climate disaster could kill most of humanity β thousands of millions of people.
Australiaβs spy agencies are seeking to drastically expand their powers to spy on Australian citizens online and through social media. They are also hoping to collect and keep the phone and internet data of all individuals for two years.
Some of the proposals appear to be broad enough to allow whistleblowing groups like WikiLeaks to be directly targeted.
Activists in Melbourne have won a big victory for the right to political protest after the charges against the Max Brenner 16 were dismissed on July 23. The court trial lasted for 17 days in May.
The 16 Palestine solidarity activists had been arrested and charged over a protest outside the Max Brenner chocolate shop in QV Square, Melbourne in July last year. The protest was part of the campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel and the occupation of Palestine.
What an ideal opportunity that was, to at last engage the local residents with the Olympics. When it turned out there weren't enough security staff, they should have employed east London's famous criminal community.
The Refugee Action Coalition in Sydney released the statement below on July 27, after Tamil deportee Dayan Anthony was released from custody after being missing for 16 hours.
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The Refugee Action Coalition has welcomed the release of Tamil asylum seeker Dayan Anthony from custody in Sri Lanka, but has rejected reports that Dayanβs recanting his claim of torture as a product of duress.
The Victoria Refugee Action Collective released the statement below on July 27.
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Distraught family members of deported Tamil asylum seeker Dayan Anthony have finally been reunited with him. Anthony was deported from Australia on July 25.
He was interrogated for 16 hours after being handed over to the Sri Lankan police intelligence unit (CID) at Colombo airport. During this time, the Sri Lankan police refused to give the family any information.
Members of building unions went on strike from July 25 at Lend Lease projects around Australia to push for a new national Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA).
The Construction Forestry Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) said βthe main points of disagreement in the dispute relate to wages and other issuesβ, including job security, site allowances and adding Western Australian workers to the agreement.
Construction National Secretary Dave Noonan said: βThe CFMEU continues to negotiate with Lend Lease on the agreement.
Lynas, an Australian corporation that is trying to operate a toxic rare earth refinery in Kuantan, Malaysia, failed in its latest attempt to silence criticism from community groups opposed to the refinery.
A small action in Sydney on July 27 outside the NSW Corrections Department - called by the Indigenous Social Justice Association - marked the latest Aboriginal death in custody: Peter Clarke who died in the Alice Springs on April 3, 2012. The rally was addressed by Ray Jackson (ISJA), Raul Bassi (ISJA), Diane Fieldes (Socialist Alternative) and Rachel Evans (Socialist Alliance). The ISJA has promised to hold a protest to make every Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal death in police or prison custody in Australia.
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