Last year we had the hottest week, hottest day, month and year on record broken in Australia.
Worryingly, the fossil fuel companies already have 2795 gigatonnes of fossil fuels in reserves they planning on burning.
That is five times more than the planet can handle if we want to stay below two degrees of warming their business plans, the planet tanks. We need to rewrite this script and go down a different path.
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As we brace for the Coalition government's first budget 鈥 with its foreshadowed cuts to Medicare, education, welfare and public service jobs 鈥 the salt in these wounds was Prime Minister Tony Abbott's announcement that his government plans to buy 58 F35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter war planes for $12.5 billion.
About 2000 people rallied in Tasmania鈥檚 Upper Florentine Valley on April 27 to defend World Heritage listed forests.
The rally was organised by the Bob Brown Foundation to oppose the proposed removal of the Upper Florentine from the World Heritage Area by the federal government.
Organisers say the proposal will exclude some of the world鈥檚 most intact temperate forests and some of the tallest hardwood forests on Earth and would allow them to be opened up to environmentally destructive practices such as logging.
One of the custodial deaths that launched the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody will be remembered this year with a national day of action, rallies and marches.
Eddie Murray died while in police custody in 1981 and his family and supporters are demanding a new inquiry into his death. They claim missing clothes and a coroner's report, which proved he suffered a broken sternum while in custody, were proof that he was murdered.
For a man who spent nearly four decades of his 76 years under the restrictive eye of the United States correctional system, few have ever touched as many lives as Rubin 鈥淗urricane鈥 Carter. The world-class boxer-turned-wrongfully accused prisoner-turned-advocate for the rights of the unjustly jailed succumbed to cancer on April 20. But his memory and work will endure as long as there are people outside and inside the prisons of the world fighting for justice.
The Wilderness Society released this statement on April 19.
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BP, the company responsible for the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, plan to start deep sea drilling for oil and gas in waters in the Great Australian Bight off South Australia as early as 2015.
The Wilderness Society Campaigner Kathryn Warhurst said: 鈥淏P wants to drill in waters off South Australia that are far rougher, and far more remote than the Gulf of Mexico. That disaster was in 1.5 kilometres of water, here BP could be drilling in waters far deeper.
A national gathering of Aboriginal people is planned to coincide with the G20 in Brisbane later this year. The overall purpose of this gathering will be to reignite the push for self-determination and decolonisation.
Leaders of the world鈥檚 most powerful nations, from [US president] Barack Obama to [Russian president] Vladimir Putin, will converge on the Queensland state capital in November. The summit will take place from November 15-16 at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in South Bank.
Call it reckless, short-sighted or just 鈥減lane stupid鈥, but the federal government鈥檚 decision to press ahead with a second Sydney airport at Badgerys Creek defies logic.
Along with the noise pollution it will inflict on western Sydney, the airport will spawn a huge amount of extra carbon pollution 鈥 something we cannot afford in an age of dangerous climate change.
In his May Day speech at a large rally in Caracas, President Nicolas Maduro announced the extension of social programs and benefits to workers and the population in general. The opposition held its own march to criticise the state of the economy.
Some of Maduo's announcements to thousands of workers included: a new fund to protect and increase the value of workers鈥 social security savings, the extension of social programs to workplaces, and the introduction of free wifi in many public parks and urban spaces.
A new book exposing the reality of the Nauru detention centre was launched in Melbourne of April 28.
The Undesirables, written by former Salvation Army worker Mark Isaacs, details what he witnessed while stationed at the camp.
Isaacs said: 鈥淲hen we first went to the camp 鈥 it was purposely disorganised, supposedly to meet these men鈥檚 needs. When the government sent several hundreds of people to Nauru, we expected it to be ready.鈥
On my wall in London is my favourite photograph from South Africa. Always thrilling to behold, it is Paul Weinberg's image of a lone woman standing between two armoured vehicles, the infamous 鈥渉ippos鈥, as they rolled into Soweto. Her arms are raised, fists clenched, her thin body both beckoning and defiant of the enemy.
Boots Riley is lead singer of US-based hip-hop group The Coup and a radical activist, heavily involved in Occupy Oakland and other struggles. He was a featured speaker at the Marxism 2014 conference in Melbourne over April 17-20 where聽91自拍论坛 Weekly's Gemma Weedall spoke to him.
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