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Janet Giles: 'Unions need to be activist organisations'

BY JOHN MCGILL ADELAIDE — Janet Giles, former president of the South Australian branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU), was recently elected unopposed as the secretary of the South Australian United Trades and Labor Council (UTLC). She

Flags, solidarity and sleeping bags

BY TAMARA PEARSON  BATHURST — Charles Sturt University's (CSU) solution to federal funding cuts is to axe courses and fire staff. The students' response has been to organise. The students have been camping outside CSU management's

Letter from an Afghan refugee

NAURU — I am an Afghan asylum seeker from Nauru camp. I am writing this letter hoping that you would understand and help us. About nine months ago the Australian government brought us to Nauru Island and put us in a very bad camp called

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"

Museworthy: Unborn

Museworthy: Unborn At 3am I paint the solesof my daughter's feetwith red glitter There are no reasons to deathbut how greatunreason The silver cars on their dark wheelsare parkingin our street The baby of the poor womanhas put its

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

High Court ruling: Refugees denied justice

BY SARAH STEPHEN Two Indonesians of Chinese descent fled to Australia from Indonesia seeking asylum on the basis of religious and ethnic persecution after the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998. Assessed as separate cases, they were

TURKEY: US pushes Ankara toward war with Iraq

BY ERTUGRUL KURKCU ISTANBUL — Top Pentagon brass may have doubts about the feasibility of the circulating war plans for Iraq, but George Bush's envoys have convinced Turkish decision-makers that a US military operation to overthrow Saddam

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

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

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"

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