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Sydney May Day rescued

BY LISA MACDONALD SYDNEY — It rained hard on May 6, the day scheduled for the traditional May Day rally and march. But, determined not to let the weather deter them, hundreds of activists nevertheless turned up to the assembly point in Hyde Park

Keeping the poor poor

BY MELANIE SJOBERG If you are one of the estimated 1.8 million low-paid workers in Australia reliant on an award for your wage, your pay packet will soon receive a $13 (before tax) boost, courtesy of the national wage case decision handed down by

Post office inquiry a farce, say ill workers

BY BILL MASON BRISBANE — A report into the mysterious concentration of illnesses at the Capalaba Post Office, south-east of the city, has been described by former workers as "superficial" and "a farce". Up to 40 current and former Australia

ALP: Whose light on which hill?

BY JOHN PASSANT "We have a great objective — the light on the hill — which we aim to reach by working for the benefit of mankind." So spoke Labor Prime Minister Ben Chifley half a century ago. Now Kim Beazley, celebrating the 100th anniversary

PHILIPPINES: Wave of repression as masses protest

BY SONNY MELENCIO MANILA — While President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo formally lifted the week-long "state of rebellion" she had declared on May 7, the "terror effect" remains. The police and army are still maintaining checkpoints around this city

Looking out: Not fitting the establishment's agenda

It is not fashionable today to write something good about an ex-convict. Nevertheless, that is what I am setting out to do in this essay. I received a letter recently from a correspondent who lives in Wales. In it, she relates having met a

'scab busters' claim victory in Mobil dispute

BY BRONWEN BEECHEY ADELAIDE — The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has claimed victory after a strike at Mobil's Port Stanvac refinery. The strike was part of a long-running dispute with Mobil over plans to reduce the work force at Port

Socialist Alliance says: End locking up of refugees!

BY ALISON DELLIT As the 2001 federal election approaches, immigration minister Philip Ruddock has signalled that the government intends to make racist scapegoating of refugees a central part of its re-election strategy. Launching the

'There is hope for a better future'

BY KATHY NEWNAM ADELAIDE — Following the overwhelming success of Adelaide's M1 blockade of the Australian Stock Exchange, more than 500 people joined the annual May Day parade here on May 5. A spirited contingent of Socialist Alliance members

BRITAIN: Foot & mouth — the cure is worse than the disease

BY NORM DIXON  Television viewers across the world could be forgiven for believing that rural Britain has been struck down by a plague of biblical proportions. Nightly, as the foot and mouth disease (FMD) “crisis” unfolded, breathless

loose cannons

The mouth of a tiger? "What is safer than being in the hands of the police?" — Malaysian deputy national police chief Jamil Johari, responding to accusations that people arrested under the Internal Security Act have been mistreated. Also?

'Little changed since Seattle'

BY SEAN HEALY A major international trade union confederation has told the World Trade Organisation that, in its view, the trade body has learned nothing from the defeat of attempts to launch a new, comprehensive round of trade talks at its last