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The article below is an abridged editorial from US progressive magazine Against The Current. * * * The decade opened with the attacks of September 11, 2001 may have symbolically closed with the elite US death-squad assassination of Osama bin Laden. But the turmoil of these post-9/11 years, notably the self-inflicted wounds of US capitalism, have exceeded the terrorist mastermind鈥檚 wildest dreams. There are the wars that George W Bush, with the support of congressional Democrats, launched in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Emissions rise under carbon price Labor proposes a carbon price plan to 鈥渢ackle climate change鈥 and create what it calls a 鈥渃lean energy future鈥 by an implied decrease in greenhouse gas pollution. However the Australian government-endorsed Treasury modelling report, 鈥淪trong growth, low pollution鈥, shows that under the carbon price plan, Australia鈥檚 domestic greenhouse gas pollution will increase to 621 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent in 2020, bigger than now or in 2000.
Rodney Augustine is from the Nyulnyu and Jabirrjabirr people. He is a spokesperson for the group and is a member of the 鈥淜eep the Kimberley鈥 group, both based in Melbourne. He will speak at the activist conference in Melbourne, over September 30 to October 3.
World refugee day rally

Australian Solicitor-General Stephen Gageler, who defended the government鈥檚 Malaysia solution in the High Court, confirmed the court鈥檚 decision 鈥渃ast doubt鈥 on all offshore processing, immigration minister Chris Bowen said on September 4.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) will take place in Perth at the end of next month. It is a gathering of the government leaders of the 54 Commonwealth countries. The Commonwealth today has direct links to the earlier structures of the British Empire in which colonialists of a previous era used to boast that the 鈥渟un never sets鈥 on the places where they were killing and oppressing people.
Nicole Watson, a research fellow at the University of Technology Sydney鈥檚 , gave the address below at the Sydney launch of Walk With Us: Aboriginal Elders Call Out to Australian People to Walk with them in their Quest for Justice at Gleebooks, Sydney, on September 1. * * * At the outset I would like to pay my respects to the traditional owners of the land, the Gadigal people.
One hundred and twenty people packed out Gleebooks in Sydney on September 1 for the launch of Walk with Us 鈥 the latest book from the Aboriginal solidarity group . The book documents the detrimental impact of the Northern Territory intervention on Aboriginal people and features a call out from Aboriginal elders to Australians, asking them to walk with them in their quest for justice.
About 300 activists protested in Melbourne on September 9 against chocolate company Max Brenner鈥檚 sponsorship of elite Israeli military units, as part of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign (BDS) against Israeli apartheid in Palestine. Indigenous rights activist Robbie Thorpe told the rally: 鈥淓very struggle we see is about human life, their struggle is the same as ours because this is illegally occupied land too.鈥 Trade unionist Dave Kerin said: 鈥淭he only right solution is democratic, equal representation of all inhabitants of Palestine.鈥
British-based multinational corporation Serco Group is bidding for more contracts with Australian federal and state governments. Worth 拢4.3 billion ($6.6 billion), Serco markets itself as a 鈥渟olution to government鈥, which takes over government services and runs them for profit. It has run Australia鈥檚 disastrous and increasingly unstable refugee detention centres since 2009, owns two Australian super-prisons and took over Western Australia鈥檚 court security and custodial services in June.
The 鈥淪ay No to Government鈥檚 Income Management: Not in Bankstown, Not Anywhere鈥 campaign coalition released the petition below in August. To sign the petition, visit www.sayno2gim.info. * * * To the honourable president and members of the senate in parliament assembled: We the undersigned are opposed to the federal government鈥檚 income management system, which quarantines between 50% to 70% of Centrelink payments so they can only be used to buy 鈥減riority items鈥 at government-approved stores.
Chanting 鈥渟hame Barry, shame鈥, 35,000 people from dozens of unions and their supporters rallied in Sydney鈥檚 Domain on September 8 to oppose savage cuts to public services and job conditions. Contingents of teachers, nurses, firefighters, police, rail and bus workers, and public sector workers swelled the ranks of the protest, the largest union rally in the state in 20 years. The rally, held just two days after the O鈥橣arrell government handed down its budget, was almost double the size predicted by Unions NSW.
Last month the Remuneration Tribunal awarded to the heads of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA), the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).