released this statement on July 31.
***
The conviction of US Private First Class Bradley Manning for 19 offences, including five counts of espionage, is a travesty of justice.
Manning is not a spy who betrayed his country, but a courageous whistleblower who acted on his conscience when he leaked US government documents to WikiLeaks.
He should have been commended, not prosecuted, for revealing evidence of war crimes, human rights abuses and corruption.
975
On July 26, radical hip-hop producer Agent of Change released a "beat tape" to mark the 60th anniversary of the start of the Cuban Revolution. Agent of Change, also known as London-based activist and writer Carlos Martinez, said: "The 18 hip-hop instrumentals - with a couple of feature verses from Fidel Castro and Nelson Mandela - celebrate Cuban culture, drawing influence and samples from Cuba鈥檚 diverse musical heritage."
About 2000 people joined the second march and rally in Sydney on July 28 against prime minister Kevin Rudd's plan to send refugees who arrive in Australia by boat to Papua New Guinea.
This was significantly bigger than the previous weekend's protest. Another rally and march will be held on August 4, 2pm at Sydney Town Hall Square.
Photos by Pip Hinman and Peter Boyle.
Millions protesters of were again in the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities on July 26, both for and against the former Muslim Brotherhood government. Security forces attacked the pro-Morsi protesters, killing many in a fresh massacre.
Ahram Online reported that these were the largest mobilisations since the June 30 protests that brought down the elected, but increasingly unpopular, Muslim Brotherhood-aligned government of President Mohamed Morsi.
Palestinian teacher and activist Sireen Khudiri, 25, was released from an Israeli prison on July 15 after two months in jail. A court decision was made to release her on bail worth 7000 shekels ($2483). Khudiri is now home with her family.
Many people wrote letters and signed petitions to protest Khudiri鈥檚 jailing, promoted awareness of her situation or posted or wrote messages of support. It is likely these efforts had an impact in helping free Khudiri.
Socialist Alliance released this statement on July 30.
***
Newly endorsed Socialist Alliance candidates for the Senate in NSW, Jim McIlroy and Reg Dare, said: "The current hysteria against asylum seekers, pushed by both the Kevin Rudd government and the Liberal opposition, is aimed at drawing public attention away from the real source of economic insecurity in this country 鈥 the billionaires and their stolen wealth.
James Packer鈥檚 $1.4 billion Crown Casino development at Barangaroo on Sydney Harbour was approved by the NSW government on July 5.
The high-rollers鈥 casino will reach 70 storeys, with 350 six-star rooms and 80 luxury apartments. It will be designed to attract the so-called whales of the gambling world.
In their relentless race to the bottom on refugee policy, the two big parties in Australia try their best to focus the public's attention on a so-called battle to stop the 鈥減eople smugglers鈥.
This is supposed to justify the policy of indefinitely detaining, torturing and expelling the few thousand desperate refugees who try to get to Australia on leaky boats from Indonesia.
But what about targeting the real criminals, the refugee makers?
The following motion was passed by Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) executive council on July 26.
***
鈥淭he VTHC believes refugees should not be punished for fleeing war and persecution to seek asylum. This is a right granted to all people under Australian and international law.
鈥淭here are over 10 million refugees in the world.
鈥淟ast year, Australia granted 13,759 humanitarian visas. This is less than 0.2% of the world鈥檚 refugees. Australia ranks 12th in the world by GDP, yet we rank 71st in taking refugees by GDP. By any measure, we do not do our fair share.
Anyone with even superficial experience with how aged people are treated would be disgusted and outraged by the standards of most nursing homes, a result of neoliberal policies in Australia.
An investigation by ABC TV鈥檚 Lateline on July 15 found many elderly people living in aged care facilities are grossly neglected. Advocacy groups have called it 鈥渁 national human rights emergency鈥.
The issue typically gets mentioned in the media only when a spectacle is involved, like a fire in a nursing home that costs lives.
Foreign Minister Bob Carr said recently that the rising number of Iranian asylum seekers coming to Australia are 鈥渆conomic migrants鈥. The overall rate of asylum seekers has increased this year and Iranians have become the largest group of people arriving by boat, making up about one third of the total.
A former Tehran University student, Behzad Bargheri, spoke to 50 people at a public meeting on Iran on July 20.
Bargheri told the meeting in Melbourne that during the 1980s the Islamic Republic regime took 鈥渉arsh and bloody measures鈥 to suppress the left. Many thousands of leftists were arrested, tortured and murdered.
The universities were closed for several years. When they reopened they had been purged of leftist students.
- Page 1
- Next page