The predominantly Catholic and nationalist community of Ardoyne in north Belfast has been subjected to a campaign of violence as part of the sectarian 鈥渕arching season鈥.
In recent weeks, the six counties still claimed by Britain have been the scene of violence by 鈥渓oyalists鈥 鈥 those who support ongoing British rule and the privileges given to the Protestant majority to ensure loyalty to British rule. The article below was published by Irish Republican News on July 19.
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When Ecuador granted asylum to Assange in mid-2012, Sydney Morning Herald鈥檚 Peter Hartcher accused Assange of 鈥渉ypocrisy鈥 for accepting asylum from President Rafael Correa, 鈥渙ne of the world鈥檚 leading oppressors of free speech鈥.
Annabel Crabb joined in, writing in the SMH: 鈥淎 gazillion Assange Twitter fans [hailed] Ecuador and its president, Rafael Correa, as a hero of international free speech and human rights.
The Victorian government has escalated its plans to build an unpopular, costly and environmentally damaging East-West road tunnel.
The Age reported on July 15 that "about 250 residents have received a letter advising the east-west link road tunnel is likely to be constructed near their properties, triggering concern that many homes will be compulsorily acquired.
鈥淭he state government last week sent the letter to residents in Collingwood, Fitzroy and Clifton Hill on or near Alexandra Parade and whose homes could stand in the way of the multibillion-dollar tollway.
At time of writing, the new date for the federal election had not yet been set, but we already know who won: Pauline Fucking Hanson.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced a policy so driven by irrational racism that even Hanson could only have fantasised about it ever coming true: no asylum seekers who arrive by boat will ever be resettled in Australia, instead dumped in Papua New Guinea.
You know, some people knock Rudd's achievements, but he's just made Philip Ruddock look like a great humanitarian, and that takes real skill.
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The election of the United States鈥 first black president was one of those moments. Most of us remember where we were when we first heard about it.
I happened to be on Palm Island, a small community off the coast of Townsville, now home to more than 3000 Aboriginal people from different corners of Queensland. "Palm" is a former black penal colony, and to get sent there you had to commit such heinous crimes as refusing to stop speaking your native tongue, or getting caught hanging around a white Queensland town.
Forest protesters disrupted work in the southern Tasmanian town of Esperance on July 16, disrupting operations of Malaysian logging company Ta Ann.
The Huon Valley Environment Centre (HVEC) said 40 people occupied the logging area and one person held a tree sit, which was attached to the logging machines.
HVEC spokesperson Jenny Weber said: 鈥淐ontroversially Ta Ann continues to receive timber from old growth ecosystems, and this logging area is forest that was promised protection, and now tragically the ancient eucalyptus regnans and wildlife habitat is being lost.
Protesters are facing legal threats over their fight to protect the Dandenong Ranges from the yellow fluorescent arches of McDonald's franchises.
In a proposal first rejected by the local council last year, McDonald鈥檚 was later given approval by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) to build a restaurant opposite the local primary school in the small town of Tecoma. VCAT made the decision despite strong opposition from local residents, including a petition with 2000 signatures.
For the third time since the Victorian government sold off the Yallourn power station in 1996, Yallourn power workers have been locked out of their workplace. In 2000, the workers were locked out for seven weeks.
Yallourn power station鈥檚 owner, Energy Australia, locked out all 75 shift operators at midday on June 21 after the workers began industrial action by limiting power output.
They are not being paid and are not accruing any leave or service. Even operators who were on holidays or sick leave have had their pay stopped. The company has locked the workers out indefinitely.
"We don't want oil or gas mining in our country,鈥 Aboriginal traditional owner Eddie Mason, based in Maningrida, a community in eastern Arnhem Land, told a rally in Sydney on July 19. 鈥淲e are protecting our land and sea rights."
About 100 people rallied with visiting Arnhem Land residents outside the offices of US-based oil exploration company Paltar Petroleum.
"We are saying no to Paltar,鈥 Mason said. 鈥淲e don't want exploration destroying our land and waters. You are welcome to visit our country, but don't destroy it.
Former senator and Labor Party ALP national president Stephen Loosely observed that in the lead-up to the 2007 federal election the Howard government鈥檚 unfair work laws 鈥 known disingenuously as Work Choices 鈥 could not have withstood unionism鈥檚 industrial response had the previous Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser tried to introduce them.
But by 2006, an industrial campaign was beyond their capacity, a fact that was equally recognised by the unions.
In the two years preceding the 2007 election, the ACTU ran what was effectively an election campaign for Labor.
This statement was released on July 19 by the Protect Arnhem Land community group, based in Maningrida, Northern Territory; The Wilderness Society; the Environment Centre NT; and the Australian Marine Conservation Society.
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Arnhem Land traditional owners have forced US oil and gas company Paltar to meet with them by travelling to the firm鈥檚 Australian headquarters in Sydney.
Paltar had steadfastly refused to talk to the traditional owners about its near-shore drilling plans that threaten their food, water and culture.
It is now depressingly clear for all to see that whether Liberal or Labor win the coming Australian federal election, we are going to end up with a government that is more right-wing than the last.
How did it come to this? And how can we escape the political spiral to a moral abyss?
The politicians in the ALP and in the Liberal-Nationals who have shaped this latest reactionary turn in the spiral 鈥 most notably around attacks on refugee rights and climate change 鈥 cannot be let off the hook.
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