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released the statement below on June 29. * * * WSA has been formed by members of community groups and individuals in Claremont, Cottesloe, Mosman Park, Peppermint Grove, Nedlands and Subiaco concerned about the growing wave of fear, anger and alienation across the western suburbs resulting from the erosion of our democratic rights and the threats to our communities and built and natural environment by the Barnett Government.

Hundreds of people braved heavy rain in Melbourne on July 1 to attend a rally to defend WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. The rally was organised by the .

More than 300 supporters of Julian Assange gathered at the State Library in Melbourne on July 1 to call for the Australian government to act to bring Assange home.

If you talk to the people in-the-know at the United Nations and other related agencies, they will tell you that our system of governance is not working well enough to solve the crises the world is facing. I guess this explains why the final lead document 鈥淭he Future We Want鈥 from the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil from June 13-22, was described by Yolanda Kakabadse, International Director of WWF, as 鈥渁 weak text without bones and without soul.鈥
The United States Supreme Court has upheld the core provision of Arizona鈥檚 vicious anti-immigrant law. The part of the law upheld requires police to determine the immigration status of anyone they stop, for whatever reason, if they 鈥渟uspect鈥 they are undocumented. Arizona Governor Jan Brewster claims the law would not result in racial profiling. But she is lying through her teeth. Everyone knows that in Arizona, the only grounds for 鈥渟uspicion鈥 is having brown skin. No white person will be 鈥渟uspected鈥 of not having papers.
So now we have a carbon price in Australia. The sky hasn鈥檛 fallen in but neither are we getting anywhere near doing what needs to be done to respond to the climate change crisis. Australia currently gets its energy in this mix: 鈥 Fossil fuels: 95%, comprising coal: 39%, gas: 22%, petroleum: 35% 鈥 Renewables: a miserable 5%. According to the Labor government's own projections, with the carbon price, by 2035 Australia's energy mix will be: 鈥 Fossil fuels: 91%, comprising less coal at 21%, more gas at 35%, petroleum: 36% 鈥 Renewables: rising slightly to 9%.
Despite escalating rhetoric and sectarian violence, it seems for the time being NATO is not planning a direct military assault against Syria along the lines of its attack on Libya last year. If NATO had been looking for a pretext for such an assault, the June 22 shooting down by Syrian forces of a air force F4 phantom jet belonging to NATO member Turkey provided one 鈥 notwithstanding evidence the plane was shot down in Syrian airspace.
There is something symbolic about the way media commentators have turned on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Here is a man heading an organisation that has exposed a whole array of serious war crimes committed by the most powerful nation on Earth and, for his troubles, confronts the real threat of extradition to the US via Sweden, where he could face a Supreme Court indictment and potential jail, torture or even the death penalty.
鈥淯nder Raul Castro, Cuba has begun the journey towards capitalism. But it will take a decade and a big political battle to complete, writes Michael Reid鈥. So began the lead article of the London Economist magazine鈥檚 March 24 special issue on Cuba, under the heading 鈥淩evolution in retreat鈥. It is a familiar refrain, but how much truth is there to it? Unfortunately for the credibility of The Economist, authoritative mouthpiece of the Anglo-imperialist ruling class, it鈥檚 a dog鈥檚 breakfast of factual errors, illogical arguments and wishful thinking.
The tour has been called one of the most ambitious of all time. The show has been called one of the greatest. Since The Wall tour started in late 2010, Roger Waters has awed hundreds of thousands of people with this astounding and complex show. And he鈥檚 taking it to one of the sites of of intense social struggle in July 鈥 Quebec, in support of the huge student struggle that has broken out there.
The Indonesian government has engaged in a spin campaign over the recent wave of mysterious shootings in Indonesian-occupied West Papua in an attempt to derail the struggle for independence. With no evidence, Indonesian police have blamed the shootings on the Free Papua Movement (OPM) and its armed wing, the National Liberation Army. Several Papuan independence activists were killed, along with others wounded or killed since the attacks began in late May.