If there were an Olympics for climate amorality, Australia鈥檚 capitalists would be hauling in the medals.
Just consider this quote from Queensland coal baron Clive Palmer in the December 15 Australian: 鈥淭he Galilee Basin overall has got 100 billion tonnes of thermal coal, so it鈥檚 a great reservoir for Queensland in the future, so you鈥檇 be crazy not to develop it.鈥
And it鈥檚 not just coal, but any greenhouse-polluting fuel that can be can be dug or drilled from the landscape or seabed. Take Australia鈥檚 natural gas industry, poised now for a vast expansion.
875
About 2000 people rallied in Melbourne on March 26 to support equal marriage rights.
Speakers included Sally Goeldner from Trans Victoria, comedian Joel Creasey and James Campbell from the Melbourne-based gay and lesbian underage group and Minus-18.
Protesters marched to the Marriage Registry at Treasury Place.
For more information on the campaign, visit www.equallove.info
About 500,000 people marched in London on March 26 against the British government鈥檚 program of huge spending cuts. Called by the Trade Union Congress (TUC), the march drew people from every part of Britain 鈥 a splendid cross section of the country with numbers dominated by the working class.
The Australian government recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the government of Afghanistan and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
It permitted the forcible deportation of Afghan refugees 鈥 including children separated from their families 鈥 from Australia back to Afghanistan.
Refugee advocates have sharply criticised the MOU. They say it does not guarantee the safety of returned asylum seekers and point out that the Afghanistan puppet government is illegitimate and corrupt.
The largest anti-nuclear protests in German history were held on March 26. About 250,000 people marched in Germany鈥檚 four largest cities.
Under the slogan 鈥淔ukushima Warns: Pull the Plug on all Nuclear Power Plants鈥, more than 120,000 took to the streets of Berlin, 50,000 in Hamburg, 40,000 in Koeln and upward of 40,000 marched in Muenchen.
In state elections held the next day, the German Greens won a historic victory in Baden-Wuerttemberg. They will form Germany鈥檚 first-ever Green-led government.
They also tripled their vote in elections in Rheinland-Pfalz.
About 30 people attended a rally in King George Square on April 1 to call on Western powers to stop the bombing of Libya. Adrian Skerritt, from the Stop the War Collective, told the rally: 鈥淭he main reason for intervention by the US and its allies in Libya is that the West cannot handle being sidelined by the popular revolutions which have swept the Arab world in recent months.
鈥淵et, the US has acted against Gaddafi because he is isolated in the region. They haven't intervened in Yemen or Bahrain, where the repression is just as severe, because they are client states of Saudi Arabia.
More than 100 people rallied outside the South Australian Parliament on March 25 in solidarity with the people of the Middle East.
The focus of the rally was the attacks on protesters by snipers in Yemen, the invasion of Bahrain by Saudi troops and the ongoing civil war and bombing in Libya.
People from various Middle Eastern communities waved flags and placards demanding an end to the military crackdowns.
At the Bali Process summit held on March 30, immigration minister Chris Bowen and foreign affairs minister Kevin Rudd signed a 鈥渞egional framework to prevent people smuggling鈥 with 41 nations.
But they failed to bully East Timor into agreeing to an Australian detention centre on its soil.
Rudd said the agreement 鈥 ultimately intended to stop asylum seekers reaching Australia 鈥 鈥渞epresents a significant win鈥 for Australia. Bowen said it 鈥渓ays a framework for further bilateral discussions鈥 with East Timor.
Climate change is often called the greatest environment threat facing humanity.
The threat is very real. Unless we cut carbon pollution fast, runaway climate change will worsen existing environmental and social problems, and create new ones of its own.
But it鈥檚 no longer enough to simply refer to the climate crisis. Climate change is one part of a broader ecological disaster, brought about by an economic system that relies on constant growth, endless accumulation and ever-deepening human alienation.
Rob Stary, an Australian lawyer representing WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Julian Assange, spoke to the on February 4. In the interview below, Stary discusses the persecution of WikiLeaks and the failure of the Australian government to uphold Assange鈥檚 rights.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters rallied across Yemen on April 1 in the largest mobilisation so far calling for the removal of President Ali Abdulla Saleh, Associated Press said that day.
Protests took place in at least 14 provinces.
Saleh鈥檚 unwillingness to stand down has claimed m ore lives. Protesters have blamed Saleh for an explosion in an ammunition factory that killed about 150 people on March 28.
Protesters said Saleh鈥檚 government allowed the factory to be overrun by supposed al-Qaeda members who left the factory open for looters, Voanews.com said on March 30.
More than 200 people took to Adelaide鈥檚 streets on March 26 in the first March for Survival.
Organised by the Climate Emergency Action Network (CLEAN) the protest called on people to support victims of the recent floods, cyclones and bushfires and to demand serious emission cuts (60% of 1990 levels by 2020) and 100% renewable energy by 2020.
CLEAN鈥檚 John Rice introduced the rally. 鈥淔or me the enduring image of these disasters is that of the Lockyer Valley and the foundation slab of a house which was swept away, taking the entire family inside,鈥 he said.
- Previous page
- Page 2
- Next page