The following statement was released by the Socialist Alliance on October 8.
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On October 17, 2001, the Liberal/National Coalition government of John Howard deployed Australian troops to Afghanistan, just nine days after the US had begun bombing one of the most poverty-stricken and war-weary nations on Earth.
The then newly-formed Socialist Alliance responded to this attack and its reputed catalyst, the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, by noting the US' hypocrisy and pledging to campaign against then president George W. Bush's 鈥渨ar without end鈥.
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There are many myths around the issue of asylum seekers in Australia. Yet, when you look at the facts, it鈥檚 obvious that asylum seekers aren鈥檛 a problem. The problem is Australia鈥檚 punitive policies, including mandatory detention of asylum seekers arriving by boat, which contravene international law.
Lack of transparency ensures that human rights are abused daily in Australia鈥檚 detention centres, creating many mental health problems for people who are already traumatised.
The policy of mandatory detention will cost the taxpayers more than $1 billion dollars over the next four years.
When US director Danny Schechter鈥檚 2006 film In Debt We Trust predicted a huge financial crisis was coming, he was laughed at. It turned out he was right.
His latest film, Plunder: The Crime of Our Time shows how the crisis was created by Wall Street bankers breaking the law to manipulate the markets 鈥 and suggests a bigger crisis is on the way.
The Pacific Solution
By Susan Metcalfe
Australian Scholarly Publishing, North Melbourne, 2010
Review by Julian Gormly
About 50 people attended politics in the pub at the Queensberry hotel on October 12, to discuss the upcoming November 27 Victorian elections.
Greens candidate for Melbourne, Brian Walters, spoke about the Victorian ALP government鈥檚 record. He said the contract for the proposed desalination plant is secret, but the cost is likely to be about $18 billion.
The plant will use huge amounts of electricity and add to greenhouse pollution.
The campaign against South Australian Labor treasurer Kevin Foley's latest budget is gathering strength.
The second rally protesting against the wide-ranging budget cuts 鈥 particularly to the public sector 鈥 organised by SA Unions, attracted up to 10,000 people on 14 October. Members of the Legislative Assembly were invited to speak, including independents, the Liberal Party and Family First. The campaign has called on the Upper House MPs to block the legislation.
Immigration minister Chris Bowen visited East Timor on October 11 to push Australia鈥檚 offshore detention centre plan.
He also visited Indonesia and Malaysia over October 12-14. Bowen鈥檚 purpose was to enforce 鈥渟trong cooperation with regional neighbours鈥 on Australia鈥檚 border control.
He said he wanted East Timor to 鈥減lay a role鈥 by allowing the Australian government to build a refugee detention centre there.
Sound Strike is an organisation of musicians across the United States who oppose the extremely racist SB 1070 law in Arizona that targets migrants. Sound Strike artists have pledged to support the international boycott of Arizona until the law鈥檚 repeal.
The organisation is planning to release 鈥淪ound Strike Songs鈥, a series of exclusive collections of songs that will be sold at www.thesoundstrike.net.
This year is the 15th anniversary of the Nargar Kovil school massacre in Tamil Eelam, the Tamil area of Sri Lanka. On September 22, 1995, the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) bombed Nargar Kovil Maha Vidyalayam schoolyard, which was crammed with 750 children on their lunch break. Reports of the number of children killed vary from 26 to 70. Twelve of the children killed were six or seven years old. One hundred and fifty were injured, including 40 seriously. Twenty-two children had their limbs amputated. Ten of the amputees were under 12.
In the following article Margarita Windisch explains why she is running as Socialist Alliance candidate for Footscray in the November 27 Victorian election. Socialist Alliance鈥檚 other candidates are Mitch Cherry for Bellarine, Trent Hawkins for Brunswick and Ron Guy for Melton.
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I moved to Australia from Austria in the late 鈥80s and currently teach welfare work at Victoria University TAFE in Footscray. There I have had firsthand experience of the Brumby government鈥檚 misguided 鈥渟kills reform鈥 agenda for the sector.
In early September, two transsexual men lost an appeal in Western Australia鈥檚 Supreme Court to be legally recognised as men. The negative ruling has consequences for other transsexual and transgender cases. The men are considering appealing to a higher body.
Gina Wilson, spokesperson for Organisation Intersex Internationale (OIS), told 91自拍论坛 Weekly: 鈥淭he two appellants underwent top surgery [mastectomies] and were on hormone replacement therapy 鈥 testosterone. They were living as men and accepted as men by society and friends.
The Australian federal government spends more money on private schools than most other wealthy countries, and spends less than most on public education.
A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, Education at a Glance 2010, showed Australia gave 16.9% of education money to private schools and 71.9% to government schools.
The US spends 0.2% and 99.8% respectively.
Most money for private school funding comes from the federal government, which argues that 鈥済rants鈥 and 鈥渟ubsidies鈥 make private schools more affordable.
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