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Woomera protest shows need for refugee inquiry

BY SARAH STEPHEN More than 200 Afghan asylum seekers held at the Woomera detention centre began a hunger strike, possibly as early as January 14. Reported by the mainstream press for the first time on January 19, as many as 70 of the hunger

Sub-contractor rips-off workers

BY SAM WAINWRIGHT SYDNEY — Before being forced to leave Australia, a group of six Korean building workers have won back-pay totalling nearly $100,000 owed to them by a sub-contractor installing paving for Burwood Council in Sydney's

'Cruel and unusual' Israeli punishments

Individual Sleep deprivation, often seated in painful positions. Painful handcuffing. Beating, including targeting of genitals. Prolonged incommunicado detention (described by the UN special rapporteur on torture as "itself a practice

Rally for Argentina

BY ALLEN JENNINGS Sixty people rallied at the Melbourne GPO on January 18 in solidarity with protests in Argentina against cuts to public spending and corporate globalisation. Protesters and city workers passing-by heard speakers from the

ZIMBABWE: Socialists condemn Mugabe's crack-down

BY NORM DIXON The International Socialist Organisation of Zimbabwe has strongly condemned moves by President Robert Mugabe's government to introduce "draconian semi-fascist laws" and the violent campaign launched by the ruling Zimbabwe African

Australia to violate maritime law

BY SARAH STEPHEN The Australian government is planning legislation that will make it illegal for civilian ships to pick up refugees at sea without permission. Such a law would have prevented Arne Rinnan, captain of the MV Tampa, from rescuing

and ain't i a woman?: Wives for blokes in the bush

There is a saying that if prostitution is the rental of the body, then marriage is the sale. There is no better way to describe the campaign initiated late last year by the National Farmers Federation and a yet-to-be-named national women's magazine

Refugee solidarity tour

Dozens of refugee rights supporters are travelling around Australia in a brightly painted 51-seater bus, visiting refugee detention centres and speaking at public events in numerous towns. The tour aims to show solidarity with detainees through

Seventh detention centre suicide

BY MICHELLE BREAR SYDNEY — The suicide of Lee Hanh in Villawood detention centre on January 8 brings to seven the number of deaths in Australian detention centres in the past three years. Four of those occured at Villawood. Hanh was taken to

Fugazi goes post-punk

The ArgumentFugaziAvailable at <http://www.dischord.com/bands/fugazi.shtml> REVIEW BY ALLY BLACK Fugazi are pioneers of the US punk scene. Their origins lie in the political and "straight-edge" scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s,

Red Earth kicks Custer's arse

When Worlds CollideRed EarthThird Mesa Music<http://www.tribalstew.com> REVIEW BY BILL NEVINS ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico — Peruvian Christian Orellana's well-amped peace pipe cuts through the rattle and gibber of a crowded south-western

PAKISTAN: Crackdown draws mixed reactions

BY EVA CHENG In a televised speech on January 12, Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf banned two Islamist groups active in Kashmir — Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed. The bans have helped ease military tensions between India and