Three Australian activists will take part in the , the successor to the first Freedom Flotilla to Gaza in May 2010 that was brutally attacked in international waters by Israeli commandos.
91自拍论坛 Weekly鈥檚 Pip Hinman asked former NSW Greens parliamentarian Sylvia Hale why she has joined the on the flotilla.
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鈥淣o trade with apartheid Israel鈥 was the main theme of a protest outside the 鈥淲ater Solutions for the Coal Seam Gas Industry Breakfast鈥, held at Brisbane's Sofitel Hotel on May 18.
A trade delegation from Israel was hosted at the breakfast, sponsored by the Australian Israel Chamber of Commerce and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland.
The protest, organised by Justice for Palestine Brisbane, attracted about 20 people who held placards supporting Palestinian rights and calling for Australia to impose economic sanctions against Israel.
Our society is heading in the wrong direction. According to a new 鈥淎ustralia鈥檚 Electricity Generation Mix 1960-2009鈥 commissioned by Environment Victoria, the proportion of Australia鈥檚 electricity generated by renewable energy has fallen from 19% in 1960 to 7% in 2008.
Because Australia today generates 10 times the amount of electricity as it did in 1960, coal-fired electricity generation has increased by more than 1200%.
The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) and the Socialist Alliance issued the joint statement below on May 19.
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The Socialist Party of Malaysia (PSM) and the Socialist Alliance in Australia denounce the recent agreement made between the governments of Malaysia and Australia, whereby Australia will send 800 asylum seekers who have been detained by Australian authorities to Malaysia in exchange for 4000 refugees currently in Malaysia.
Despite some targeted increases in funding in the area of health and disability, the Labor government鈥檚 2011 budget leaves Australians worse off.
The increased funding for mental health has been widely welcomed and is a result of a long, concerted public campaign. Over five years, $2.2 billion in mental health spending was identified with a focus on early intervention programs, as well as social and employment participation strategies.
Multicultural organisations, however, have criticised the absence of funding for the multicultural community.
The activity of British-based transnational conglomerate Serco in Australia has remained relatively unknown since it began taking government contracts in 1990. That is until the refugees locked up in its detention centres 鈥 under a $756 million government contract 鈥 started speaking out.
Horrific suicides, hunger strikes, self-harm, riotous protests, burning buildings and under-trained staff have finally put Serco in the headlines.
In its point-scoring endeavour to restore the budget to a surplus by 2012-13, Julia Gillard鈥檚 Labor government has decided to target the most vulnerable and needy in society.
Instead of targeting the high end of town and the corporate elite a punitive approach was chosen.
The budget deficit for 2011-12 is estimated to be $22.6 billion or 1.5% of gross domestic product. This compares with an estimated $49.4 billion deficit in this financial year, 2010-11. The budget is expected to return to surplus by $3.5 bilion in 2012-13.
Right wing media commentator Andrew Bolt launched his new interview show The Bolt Report on Channel 10 on May 8 with a classic display of the use of phony statistics.
Interviewing Afghan refugee Riz Wakil, Bolt that a five-year long survey of Afghan migrants showed 鈥渟omething like 94% are on Centrelink benefits, only 9% actually are employed鈥.
Yes, I am a feminist and I will be joining the Melbourne 鈥淪lutWalk鈥 on May 28, and I hope you will too! And, yes, I still cringe every time I mention the infamous word SlutWalk and my desire of wanting to be there, right in the middle of it.
NEWCASTLE 鈥 Four activists from Newcastle climate action group scaled the roof of climate change minister Greg Combet's office on May 16. They attached solar panels to the roof and unfurled a banner that read: 鈥淢ake polluters pay, fund renewable energy.鈥
Rising Tide spokesperson Naomi Hogan said: 鈥淲e have put these solar panels up on Minister Combet鈥檚 office to highlight the potential of renewable energy to power the nation.
Dressed mainly in black, with black flags and banners to show the death of democracy in Tasmania, 6000 people took to Launceston鈥檚 streets on May 14 to oppose Gunns鈥 proposed $2.3 billion pulp mill, to be built on the banks of the Tamar River.
Even though the US war on Vietnam ended nearly 40 years ago, the US鈥檚 saturation chemical bombing during that war is still wreaking havoc on the lives of at least 3 million people in Vietnam 鈥 including the newly born, making them third generation victims.
Nobody knows when the congenital deformities, one of many horrific health consequences of the toxic chemicals, will end.
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