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Western Australian public servants voted unanimously to continue their fight for a decent pay rise at a 1000-strong rally on the steps of Parliament House on May 8.
Cuba: How the Workers & Peasants Made the Revolution
By Chris Slee
Resistance Books, 2008
55pages, $6.00(pb)
Available from <http://www.resistancebooks.com>
The Rudd government has been rejecting asylum seeker claims at an extraordinary rate. A report by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), released on May 4, revealed that out of 42 ministerial decisions over five weeks, 41 appeals had been rejected 鈥 a 97.6% rejection rate.
鈥淸It] would be imprudent to tip the winners in the race for low emission technologies鈥, wrote Barney Glover, University of Newcastle deputy vice-chancellor, in an April 10 letter defending the university鈥檚 research in so-called clean coal technologies.
In presenting the state budget on May 6, Premier John Brumby announced that 鈥渄oing business in Victoria will become even easier鈥. The ALP government鈥檚 pro-corporate measures will cut almost $1.5 billion from taxes and costs for the big end of town.
The Australian speaking tour of Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) leader Jorge Schafik Handal Vega began in Sydney on May 6, with a public meeting attended by 50 activists, most from the local El Salvadorean community.
Plans are under way for the 2008 Resistance national conference, to be held at the University of Technology, Sydney from June 27-29. This year鈥檚 theme is: 鈥渨ar, racism, environmental destruction, homophobia, sexism 鈥 Turn anger into action!鈥
Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and state mines and energy minister Geoff Wilson were on hand in early May to celebrate Rio Tinto聮s announcement that the company would double exports of coal from Queensland in the next seven years.
Five unions met in Brisbane on May 6 to launch a national campaign for the abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC).
A May 8 meeting in Wollongong heard an eyewitness account of the political struggle within Venezuela from Carlos Sierra, a political leader in the radical Venezuelan youth organisation Frente Francisco de Miranda. The meeting was part of Sierra鈥檚 Resistance-organised tour which also took him to Newcastle and Sydney Universities.
The plan for the privatisation of electricity in NSW is like the mythical creature the hydra, which had multiple heads. It had to be 鈥渒illed鈥 many times before it would actually die 鈥 and every time it was 鈥渒illed鈥 it could bite back apparently unharmed.
鈥淲hat the hell is happening in NSW鈥, interstate callers have been asking the Socialist Alliance national office in recent days. Many are former activists in NSW left politics, and remember with bitterness the days when 鈥淪ussex Street鈥 (headquarters of Unions NSW and the ALP administration) could be relied upon to stifle any protest movement threatening the stability of NSW Labor in government.